REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



681 



bly of men, whereof all be not governed with the 

 spirit and Word of God) may err, and sometimes have 

 erred, not only in worldly matters, but also in things 

 pertaining to God. "Wherefore things ordained by 

 them as necessary to salvation are not binding, as 

 such, on a Christian man's conscience, unless it may 

 be proved that they be taken out of Holy Scripture. 

 No law or authority can override individual respon- 

 sibility, and, therefore, the right of private judg- 

 ment; for the individual Christian, as Christ dis- 

 tinctly affirms, is to be judged by the Word. The 

 only Kule of Faith is God's Word written. 



ART. XXIV. Of ministering in the Congregation. 

 Those who take upon themselves the office of public 

 preaching, or ministering the ordinances in the con- 

 gregation, should bo lawfully called thereunto, and 

 sent to execute the same. And those we ought to 

 judge lawfully called and sent, which be moved to 

 thiswork by the Holy Ghost, and are duly accredit- 

 ed by the Lord's People. That doctrine of " Apos- 

 tolic Succession," by which it is taught that_ the 

 ministry of the Christian Church must be derived 

 through a series of uninterrupted ordinations, wheth- 

 er by tactual succession or otherwise, and that with- 

 out the same there can be no valid ministry, no 

 Christian Church, and no due ministration of Bap- 

 tism and the Lord's Supper, is wholly rejected as 

 unscriptural, and productive of great mischief. This 

 Church values its historic ministry, but recognizes 

 and honors as equally valid the ministry of other 

 Churches, even as God the Holy Ghost has accom- 

 panied their work with demonstration and power. 



ART. XXV. Of the Sacraments. T$y the word 

 Sacrament this Church is to be understood as mean- 

 ing only a symbol or sign divinely appointed. Our 

 Lord Jesus Christ hath knit together his people in a 

 visible company by sacraments, most few in num- 

 ber, most easy to be kept, most excellent in signifi- 

 cation, viz., Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Those 

 five so-called Sacraments, that is to say, Confirma- 

 tion, Penance, Orders, Matrimony, and Extreme 

 Unction, are not to be counted for Sacraments of the 

 Gospel, being such as have grown partly of the cor- 

 rupt following of the apostles, partly are states of 

 life allowed by the Scriptures, but yet have no like 

 nature of sacraments with Baptism and the Lord's 

 Supper, for that they have not any visible sign or 

 ceremony ordained of God. And in such only as 

 worthily receive Baptism and the Lord's Supper are 

 they of spiritual benefit, and yet not that of the 

 work wrought (ex opere operato], as some men speak. 

 "Which word,, as it is strange and unknown to Holy 

 Scripture, so it gendereth no godly, but a very su- 

 perstitious sense. In such as receive them rightly, 

 faith is confirmed and grace increased by virtue of 

 prayer to God. But they that receive them un- 

 worthily, purchase to themselves judgment, as St. 

 Paul saith ; while it is equally true that none, how- 

 ever conscious of unworthiness, are debarred from 

 receiving them, if they are trusting in the Lord 

 Jesus Christ alone for salvation. 



ART. XXVI. Of Baptism. Baptism represents 

 the death of believers with Christ, and their rising 

 with him to newness of life. It is a sign of profes- 

 sion, whereby they publicly declare their faith in 

 him. It is intended as a sign of regeneration or 

 new birth. They that are baptized are grafted -into 

 the visible Church ; the promises of the forgiveness 

 of sin and of adoption to be the sons of God by the 

 Holy Ghost are visibly set forth. The baptism of 

 young children is retained in this Church, as agreea- 

 ble to ancient usage and not contrary to Holy Writ. 



ART. XXVII. Of the Lord's Supper. The Supper 

 of the Lord is a memorial of our Eedemption by 

 Christ's death, for thereby we do. show forth the 

 Lord's death till He come. It is also a symbol of the 

 soul's feeding upon Christ. And it is a sign of the 

 communion that we should have with one another. 

 Transubstantiation (or the change of the substance 

 of bread and wine into the very body and blood of 



Christ), in the Supper of the Lord, cannot be proved 

 by Holy Writ, is repugnant to the plain words of 

 Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a sacrament, 

 and hath given occasion to many and idolatrous su- 

 perstitions. Consubstantiation (or the doctrine that 

 Christ is veiled under the unchanged bread and 

 wine, and that his very body and blood are present 

 therein and separate the one from the other) is 

 utterly without warrant of Scripture, is contradic- 

 tory of the fact that Christ, being raised, dieth no 

 more, and is productive, equally with transubstan- 

 tiation, of idolatrous errors and practices. We feed 

 on Christ only through his word, and only by faith 

 and prayer ; and we feed on him whether at our pri- 

 vate devotions, or in our meditations, or on any oc- 

 casion of public worship, or in the memorial sym- 

 bolism of the Supper. The elements of the Lord's 

 Supper were not by Christ's ordinance designed to 

 be reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshiped. 



ART. XXVIII. Of Both Kinds. The Cup of the 

 Lord is not to be denied to any of his people, for 

 both the bread and the wine, bv Christ's ordinance 

 and commandment, ought to be ministered to all 

 Christian men alike. 



ART. XXIX. Of Unworthy Persona ministering in 

 the Congregation. Although in the visible Church 

 the evil be ever mingled with the good, and some- 

 times the evil have chief authority in the ministra- 

 tion of the word and ordinances : yet, forasmuch as 

 they do not the same in their own name, but in 

 Christ's, the believer is not deprived of the benefits 

 of God's ordinances ; because, though they be min- 

 istered by evil men, yet are they Christ's institution, 

 and set forth his promise. Nevertheless, it apper- 

 taineth to the discipline of the Church, that inquiry 

 be made of evil ministers, and that they be accused 

 by those that have knowledge of their offenses: and 

 finally, being found guilty, by just judgment, be de- 

 posed. 



ART. XXX. Of the one Oblation of Christ finished 

 upon the Cross. The Offering of Christ once made 

 is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satis- 

 faction, for all the sins of the whole world, both 

 original and actual : and there is none other satis- 

 faction for sin, but that alone. And as there is only 

 this one sacrifice in the Christian Church, once made, 

 never to be repeated, so there is but the one Priest, 

 even Jesus Christ, the Apostle and High Priest of 

 our profession. Wherefore the sacrifices of masses, 

 in the which it is commonly said that the Priest 

 offers Christ for the quick and the dead, for the re- 

 mission of pain or guilt, or any representations of 

 the Lord's Supper as a sacrifice, are blasphemous 

 fables and dangerous deceits. 



ART. XXXI. Of Certain Erroneous Doctrines and 

 Practices. The Romish doctrines concerning purga- 

 tory .penance, arid satisfaction, have no support from 

 the Word of God, and are, besides, contradictory of 

 the completeness and sufficiency of the redemption 

 in Christ Jesus, of justification by faith, and of the 

 sanctifying efficacy of God the Holy Ghost. Praying 

 for the dead is man's tradition, vainly invented, and 

 is in violation of the express warnings of Almighty 

 God to the careless and unconverted. The adora- 

 tion of relics and images, and the invocation of 

 saints, besides that they are grounded upon no war- 

 ranty of Scripture, are idolatrous practices, dishonor- 

 ing to God, and compromising the mediatorship of 

 Christ. It is also repugnant to the Word of God to 

 have public prayer in the Church, or to minister the 

 ordinances, in a tongue not understood by the people. 



ART. XXXII. Of Confession and Absolution. Pri- 

 vate confession of sins to a priest, commonly known 

 as Auricular Confession, has no foundation in the 

 Word of God, and is a human invention. It makes 

 the professed penitent a slave to mere human author- 

 ity, entangles him in endless scruples and perplexi- 

 ties, and opens the way to many immoralities. If 

 one sin against his fellow-man, the Scripture re- 

 quires him to make confession to the offended party ; 



