CONFESSION OF AUGSBURG. that remission is given freely for the Son | heart of man is wicked," Jer. vii. 9.—Part of God, not for any merits of ours, or any of Art. 1, 2. worthiness of ours. Also, they do not rightly show what sin is, and feign that man is able to satisfy the law of God, and that, by the fulfilling of the law, he becometh just before God in this life. ... Now sin is that, whatsoever is contrary to the justice of God, (which is an order in the mind of God, which he did afterward manifest by his own voice in the law and in the Gospel), whether it be original disobedience or actual; for the which the person is guilty, and condemned with everlasting punishment, except he obtain remission in this life, for the Son the Mediator's sake. ... All that come into the world are, through Adam's fall, subject to God's wrath and eternal death and this corruption of man's nature comprehendeth both the defect of original justice, integrity, or obedience, and also horrible blindness and disobedience; that is, to wit, to want that light and knowledge of God which should have been in our nature, being perfect, and to want that uprightness, that is, that perpetual obedience, that true, pure, and chief love of God, and those other gifts of perfect nature.-Art. 2. CONFESSION OF WIRTEMBERG. We believe and confess that, in the beginning, man was created of God, just, wise, endued with freewill, adorned with the Holy Spirit, and happy; but that afterwards, for his disobedience, he was deprived of the Holy Spirit, and made the bondman of Satan, and subject both to corporal and eternal damnation: and that evil did not stay in one only Adam, but was Neither do we dislike that usual definition, if it be well understood, original sin is a want of original justice, which ought to be in us; because that original justice was not only an acceptation of mankind before God, but, in the very nature of man, a light in the mind, whereby he might assuredly believe the Word of God; and a conversion of the will unto God, and an obedience of the heart agreeing with the judgment of the law of God, which was graffed in the mind; and, as we said be-derived into all the posterity.-Chap. 4.. fore, man was the temple of God. And when we consider what original justice doth signify, then the privation opposite thereto is less obscure. Therefore, original sin is, both for the fall of our first parents and for the corruption which folfoweth that fall, even in our birth to be subject to the wrath of God, and to be worthy of eternal damnation, except we obtain remission of sins for the Mediator's sake. And this corruption is to want now the light or the presence of God, which should have shined in us; and it is the estranging of our will from God, and the stubbornness of the heart resisting the law of the mind, as Paul speaketh, Rom. vii. 23; and, that man is not the temple of God, but a miserable mass, without God, and without justice. These wants, and this corruption, we say to be sin; not only a punishment of sin, and a thing indifferent; as many of the sententiaries do say, that these evils are only as a punishment, and a thing indifferent, but not sin. And they do extenuate this original evil, and then they feign that men may satisfy the law of God, and by their own fulfilling of the law become just. The church must avoid ambiguities. Therefore we do expressly name these evils corruption; which is often named of the ancient writers, evil concupiscence. But we distinguish those desires which were created in our nature, from that confusion of order which happened after our fall; as it is said, "The CONFESSION OF FRANCE. We believe that man, being created pure and upright, and conformable to the image of God, through his own fault fell from that grace which he had received; and thereby did so estrange himself from God, the fountain of all righteousnesss, and of all good things. . . . For although be can somewhat discern between good and evil, yet we affirm, that whatsoever light he hath, it straightways becometh darkness, when the question is of seeking God: so that by his understanding and reason he can never come to God.-Art. 9. Moreover we say, that this frowardness of nature doth always bring some fruits of malice and rebellion, in such sort, then even they which are most holy, although they resist it, yet they are defiled with many infirmities and offences, so long as they live in this world.-Art. 11. Yet we deny that God is the author of evil, or that any blame of things done amiss can be laid upon him, seeing His will is the sovereign and most certain rule of all righteousness.-Art. 8. CONFESSION OF BELGIA. We believe that God created man good, just, and holy. But he knew not, neither did he well understand, his excellent state, bnt wittingly and willingly did make himself subject to sin, and so, consequently, unto eternal death and male diction. CONFESSION OF BOHEMIA, OR THE WALDENSES. He lost those excellent | true holiness, after the true image of God; gifts wherewith the Lord had adorned him, but he fell into sin of his own accord; by so that there were but a few little sparks the which fall, whole mankind is made corand small tracks of those graces left in rupt, and subject unto damnation. Hence him. Acts xiv. 16, 17, the which, not- it is that our nature is defiled, and become withstanding, are sufficient to leave men so prone unto sin, that except it be rewithout excuse: because that, what light newed by the Holy Spirit, man of himself soever we have, is turned into palpable can neither do nor will any good.-Art. 2. darkness, even as the Scripture itself teacheth. For who is so bold as to brag that he is able to perform whatsoever he listeth, when, as Christ himself saith: "No man can come unto me, except my Father, which hath sent me, do draw him?" (John vi. 44.) Who dare boast of his will, which heareth that "all affections of the flesh are enemies against God?" (Rom. viii. 7.) Who will vaunt of his understanding, which knoweth that "The natural man cannot perceive the things of the Spirit of God?" (1 Cor. ii. 14.) To conclude, who is he that dare bring forth any one cogitation of his own, which understandeth this, that we are "not of ourselves to think any thing," but that "if we are sufficient, it is altogether of God?" (2 Cor. iii. 5.)—Art. 14. FORMER CONFESSION OF HELVETIA. Man being the most perfect image of God in earth, and having the chiefdom of all visible creatures; consisting of soul and body, whereof this is mortal, that immortal; after he was made holy of the Lord, he, by his own fault, falling into sin, drew whole mankind with him into the same fall, and made them subject to the same calamity. And this infection, which men term original, hath so invaded the whole stock, that the child of wrath and the enemy of God can by none other than by the Divine help of Christ be cured. For if there be any portion of good fruit remaining here, it being weakened daily by our sins declineth to the worse. For the force of evil doth get the upper hand; neither doth it suffer reason to bear the sway, nor the most divine faculty of the mind to have the pre-eminence. -Art. 8, 9. LATTER CONFESSION OF HELVETIA. Man was from the beginning created of God, after the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness, good and upright; but, by the instigation of the serpent and his own fault, falling from goodness and uprightness, he became subject to sin, death, and divers calamities; and such an one as he became by his fall, such are all his offspring, even subject to sin, death, and sundry calamities.-Chap. 8. CONFESSION OF BASLE. We confess, that in the beginning man was made of God, in righteousness and Touching the knowledge of himself, man is taught, and that after two sorts. First, that the Lord in the beginning made man after his own image and likeness, and adorned him with the gifts of his grace or bounty; that he ingraffed in him righteousness and his Spirit, a soul and body, together with all the faculties and powers thereof, and so made him holy, just, wise, immortal, and a most pleasant temple for his heavenly Spirit, in the mind, will, memory, and judgment; and bestowed on him the clear light of understanding, integrity, and a very ordinate or lawful love towards God and all his creatures; also, a full and absolute obedience, or ability to obey God; the true fear of God, and a sincere heart, and nature that man might be his own possession, and his proper and peculiar workmanship, created unto the praise of his glorious grace. The second part of the knowledge of a man's self standeth in this: That a man acknowledge aright the state of this fall, sin, and mortality. For that free liberty of choice, which God permitted to the will of man, he abused, and kept not the law of his justice, but swerved therefrom, insomuch as he obeyed the devil and those lying speeches of his, and gave credit unto them, and performed to the devil such faith and obedience as was due to God alone; whereby he stripped and bereaved himself and his posterity of the state of perfection and goodness of nature; and the grace of God, and those good gifts of justice, and the image of God, which in his creation were ingraffed in him, he partly lost them, and partly corrupted and defiled them, as if with horrible poison one should corrupt wine; and by this means he cast headlong both himself and all his offspring into sin, death, and all kinds of miseries in this life, and into punishments eternal after this life. Herewithal, this also is taught. that we must acknowledge our weakness, and that great misery which is engendered in us, as also those difficulties from which no man can ever deliver or rid himself by any means, or justify himself (that is, procure or get righteousness to himself) by kind of works, deeds, or exercises, seem they never so glorious. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death went over all men, forasmuch as all have sinned. Neither can I dued in his creation, and threatened he which is man only, and hath nothing death unto him if he did not perform the above the reach of this our nature, help same. another in this point. For since that original sin, proceeding by inheritance, possesseth the whole nature, and doth furiously rage therein; and seeing that all men are sinners, and do want the grace and justice of God; therefore saith God, by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah, "Put me in remembrance, let us be judged together; count thou if thou have anything, that thou mayest be justified; thy first father hath sinned, and thy interpreters" (that is, they which teach thee justice) "have transgressed against me." This, also, we must know, that the Lord God, for sin, doth permit and bring all kinds of afflictions, miseries, and vexations of mind, in this life, upon all men; such as are heat, cold, hunger, thirst, care, and anguish; sore labours, calamity, adversity, doleful times; sword, fire, diseases, griefs; and, at the last, also that intolerable and bitter death, whereby nature is overthrown: as it is written, "Thou shalt die the death." (Gen. ii. 17.). And these punishments are laid upon us, and are patiently to be borne, that we may acknowledge the greatness of our sin, and how grievous a thing it is; and therewithal, our own weakness, needs, and misery. and moreover, that they which be plunged in these miseries, and oppressed with these burdens, may be stirred up to repentance, and to seek for favour and help from God, which is a Father full of mercy and compassion.Chap. 4. CONFESSION OF IRELAND.-1615. In the beginning of time, when no creature had any being, God, by his word alone, in the space of six days, created all things, and afterwards by his providence doth continue, propagate, and order them according to his own will. The principal creatures are angels and men. Of angels, some continued in that holy state wherein they were created, and are, by God's grace, for ever established therein; others fell from the same, and are reserved in chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day. The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn, and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God. Wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasing and acceptable unto God. Without the grace of God preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will. All sins are not equal, but some far more heinous than others; yet the very least is of its own nature mortal, and, without God's mercy, maketh the offender liable unto everlasting damnation. God is not the author of sin; howbeit he doth not only permit, but also by his providence govern and order the same, guiding it in such sort by his infinite wisdom, as it turneth to the manifestation of his own glory, and to the good of his elect. -Arts. 5, 6. FIRST CONFESSION OF SCOTLAND.-1560. By which transgression, commonly called original sin, was the image of God utterly defaced in man; and he, and his posterity of nature, became enemies to God, slaves to Satan, and servants to sin. Insomuch that death everlasting hath had, and shall have, power and dominion over all, that have not been, are not, or shall not be, regenerate from above: which regeneration is wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost. -Art. 3. CONFESSION OF WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. Our first parents being seduced by the subtlety and temptation of Satan, sinned in eating the forbidden fruit. This, their sin, God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory. By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body. They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and the same death in sin and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by ordinary generation. Man being at the beginning created according to the image of God, (which consisteth especially in the wisdom of his mind, and the true holiness of his free-will), had the covenant of the law engrafted in his heart; whereby God did promise unto From this original corruption, whereby him everlasting life, upon condition that we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and he performed entire and perfect obedience made opposite to all good, and wholly inunto his commandments, according to that clined to all evil, do proceed all actual measure of strength wherewith he was en-transgressions.-Chap. 6. THE CONFESSION OF THE ENGLISH AND | kind are born in sin, and that a fatal incliWELSH BAPTISTS, 1689, hath the same nation to moral evil, utterly incurable by import, in nearly the same words. human means, is inherent in every desCONFESSION OF THE WELSH METHODISTS-ation. Sec. 4, 5, 6. cendant of Adam.-Congregational Declar 1823. ... Though man, when God made the cove-CONFESSION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. nant of works (obedience) with him, had We say also, that every person is born power to obey and perform the conditions of that covenant, yet he disobeyed and broke the covenant forfeited his right to the life which was promised to him, and became the subject of that death with which he was threatened. . . . (This) original sin, and every subsequent actual sin in soul and body, is a transgression of the holy law of God; it brings the sinner under the curse and indignation of God, and makes him the subject of spiritual, temporal, and eternal misery.-Art. 10. CONFESSION OF WESLEYAN METHODISTS. The extent of the fall, the astonishing spread of original corruption is such, that, by nature, among the thousands and millions of the human race, there is none righteous, no not one. The consequence of original sin was, that man incurred death of every kind, not only temporal, but also spiritual and eternal. By losing his original righteousness, he became, not only mortal, as to his body, but also spiritually dead, dead to God, dead in sin: void of that principle which St. Paul terms "the life of God." in sin, and leadeth his life in sin; that nobody is able truly to say his heart is clean; that the most righteous person is but an unprofitable servant; that the law of God is perfect, and requireth of us perfect and full obedience; that we are able by no means to fulfil that law in this worldly life; that there is no mortal creature which can be justified by his own deserts in God's sight.-Doctrine of the Church of England. Art. 18. Jewel's Apol ogy. We have offended against thy holy laws; we have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and there is no health in us.-The General Confession. The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength, and good works, to faith, and calling upon God. Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God, by Christ, preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.-39 Art. 10. ART. III. -- OF THE SUFFICIENCY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES FOR SALVATION. and is profitable for doctrine, &c.—2 Tim. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, It remains, then, that the only true and rational way of accounting for the general wickedness of mankind, in all ages and nations, is pointed out in these words: In Adam gll die. In and through their first parent, all his posterity died in a spiritual sense; and they remain wholly "dead in trespasses and sins," till the second Adam makes them alive. By this " one iii. 16. man sin entered into the world and passed upon all men.' And through the infection which they derive from him, all men are, and ever were by nature, entirely "alienated from the life of God, without hope, without God in the world."-Wesley's Works. Vol. IX., p. 218. Vol. XIV., pp. 76, 261. And Warren's Chronicles of Methodism. CATENA PATRUM. These things are laid before our eyes openly, and without ambiguity, in the various parts of the Scriptures. All the Scriptures, the prophets, the Gospel, can be heard equally by all, openly and without ambiguity. Those who close their eyes to so clear a revelation, seem very stupid, and are not willing to see the light CONFESSION OF INDEPENDENT DISSENTERS, of instruction.-ST. IRÆNEUS. A.D. 177. Contra Itares. Bk. ii., chap, 16. 1833. They believe that man was created after the divine image, sinless, and, in his kind, perfect. They believe that the first man disobeyed the Divine command, fell from his state of innocence and purity, and involved all his posterity in the consequences of that fall. They believe that, therefore, all man Let those whose eyes are dimmed by a bad education, and by evil doctrines, hasten to approach the light, the truth, the Sacred Scriptures, which will reveal to them things that cannot be written. The Sacred Scriptures light the spark of the soul; they open its eye that it may see; and like the husbandman who grafts a tree, they communicate something new to the soul.-ST. CLEMENT, of Alexandria. A.D. 190. Stromatum, Lib. 1., p. 274. My son! first of all read the Holy Scriptures attentively; but I say attentively, for it is with much attention that those Divine writings ought to be read, lest they should be too hastily spoken or judged of. If thou dost persevere in the study of the Holy Book with seriousness and faith, knock, and that which is now closed to thee will be opened by that porter of whom Jesus speaketh in the gospel. (St. John x. 3.) Still it is not enough to seek and to knock: the most necessary thing for understanding Divine things is prayer. The Lord exhorts us to pray when he says, not only "Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you," but also, "Ask, and it shall be given you."-ORIGEN. A.D. 220. Letter to Gregory Thaumaturgus. Philocali, chap. 13. Beloved brethren, the teachings of the Gospel are God's instructions, the foundation upon which our faith must be built; the helm which guides us in our voyage; the fort which defends our salvation. In instructing the obedient souls of believers on earth, these teachings will lead them to mansions which are in heaven.-ST. CYPRIAN. A.D. 258. Opera, de Oratione dominica, in initio, p. 217. If you wish to say anything besides what is written, why do you dispute with us? We are determined to say and to know nothing, save what is in the Scriptures.ST. ATHANASIUS. A.D. 325. De Incarnatione Christi. The Sacred Scriptures, inspired by God, are sufficient for the discovery of truth.IBID.-Oratio contra Gentes. It is just and necessary that every one should learn from the Scriptures, inspired by God, that which is useful in making them grow in piety; and that they should not become accustomed to human traditions.-ST. BASIL. A.D. 370. Regulæ breviores, Responsio, 95. To attempt to take anything away from the Scriptures, or to add anything to them, is to fall from the faith, and is a most presumptuous crime.-IBID.-Sermo de fide, 224, p. 244. The Apostles have written, and our Lord himself has spoken, in the gospels, not that a few merely, but that all should understand. Plato wrote, but he wrote for a small number, and not for the nations: scarcely three men understood him. But these-that is, the princes of the Church, and of Christ-have written, not for a few, but for all men.-ST. JEROME. A.D. 390. Comment. S. Hieron, in Ps. 87. Who does not know that the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are contained within certain limits, and that they are to be preferred to all posterior letters of bishops; so that it is impossible to doubt or question the uprightness and truth of that which is written? These are certainly the books of the Lord, the authority of which we all acknowledge, believe, and obey. There let us seek the Church, there let us discuss our cause. Let us reject all arguments derived from any other source than the canonical books. I do not want the Holy Church to be defended by human documents, but by God's oracles.-ST. AUGUSTINE. A.D. 396. De Unitate Ecclesiæ, p. 341. Let no one utter before me such cold and reprehensible words as these: "I am a man of the world; I have a wife and children: it is not my business to read the Holy Scriptures; that is for those who have renounced the world, and lead a solitary life with God?" What sayest thou, O man? Is it not thy business to read the Holy Scriptures, because thou are disturbed by various cares? On the contrary, it is much more thy business than that of those of whom thou speakest. Far from the battle field, they do not receive many wounds; but thou, who art always on the battle field, are continually wounded, and therefore needest many more remedies to heal thee. Let us not neglect, therefore, to procure Bibles, lest we be mortally wounded. Let us not heap up gold, but let us collect Bibles. The very sight of the Bible fills us with horror for sin. What will it be when the assiduous study of it shall have made our soul one of those living stones of which the sanctuary of the Deity is built. ST. CHRYSOSTOM. A.D. 400. In Lazarum Conc. 3. The grace of the Holy Spirit caused these books to be written by publicans, by sinners, by tent-makers, by shepherds, by herdsmen, by unlettered persons, that no one might resort to this pretext; that the contents of the Scriptures might be understood by all; that the mechanic, the servant, the poor widow, the most ignorant of men, might be profited by them. As the teachers of all ages, these holy writers, who have been enlightened by the grace of the Holy Spirit, have explained everything in a clear and distinct manner, so that each may understand them, without resorting to any other person. "And I, brethren," says St. Paul, "came not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom," Take the Bible in thy hand; read it; remember carefully what thou hast understood; read over frequently that which seems obscure; if, after repeated study, thou dost not yet understand, ask a more enlightened brother |