5T4 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



ministers for their holy office, qualifies all other 

 officers in the Church for their special work, and 

 imparts various gifts and graces to its members. 

 He gives efficacy to the word and to the ordi- 

 nances of the Gospel. By him the Church will 

 be preserved, increased until it shall cover the 

 earth, purified, and at last made perfectly holy 

 in the presence of God. 



"Overture No. 10. Shall the following chapter 

 on the Gospel be added to the Confession of Faith 

 and numbered xxxv? 



"CHAPTER XXXV. OF THE GOSPEL. 



"I. God, in infinite and perfect love, having 

 provided in the covenant of grace, through the 

 mediation and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, 

 a way of life and salvation sufficient for and 

 adapted to the whole race of man, doth freely 

 offer this salvation to all men in the Gospel. 



" II. In the 1 Gospel God declares his love for the 

 world, and his desire that all men should be 

 saved; reveals fully and clearly the only way of 

 salvation; promises eternal life to all who truly 

 repent and believe in Christ; invites and com- 

 mands all to embrace the offered mercy; and by 

 his Spirit accompanying the Word pleads with 

 men to accept his gracious invitation. 



" III. It is the duty and privilege of every one 

 who hears the Gospel immediately to accept its 

 merciful provisions; and they who continue in 

 impenitence and unbelief incur aggravated guilt 

 and perish by their own fault. 



" 1 V. Since there is no other way of salvation 

 than that revealed in the Gospel, and since in the 

 divinely established and ordinary method of grace 

 faith cometh by hearing the Word of God, Christ 

 hath commissioned his Church to go into all the 

 world and to make disciples of all nations. All 

 believers are, therefore, under obligation to sus- 

 tain the ordinances of religion where they are al- 

 ready established, and to contribute by their 

 prayers, gifts, and personal efforts to the exten- 

 sion of the kingdom of Christ throughout the 

 whole earth. 



"Overture No. 11. Shall any change in the 

 numbers appearing in the declaratory statement, 

 in the numbering of the new chapters, and in the 

 wording of the preamble proposed in Overture No. 

 8, made necessary by the adoption of any or some 

 of the above overtures, be committed to the chair- 

 man of the Revision Committee under the direc- 

 tion of the General Assembly ? " 



The understanding of the committee of the 

 work enjoined upon it in the preparation of the 

 Brief Statement of the Reformed Faith found ex- 

 pression in the following resolution, which appears 

 in its records: 



" Resolved, That it is the sense of this com- 

 mittee that the Brief Statement of the Reformed 

 Faith which the Assembly has ordered us to pre- 

 pare should be made with the view to inform 

 and enlighten the people in regard to the sig- 

 nificance and religious meaning of the Reformed 

 Faith, and not with the view of becoming a test 

 of orthodoxy for ministers, elders, and deacons." 



The following is the Brief Statement of the 

 Reformed Faith constituting the second part of 

 the report: 



" ARTICLE I Of God. We believe in the ever- 

 living God, who is a spirit, and the Father of our 

 spirits; infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his 

 being and perfections; the Lord Almighty, most 

 just in all his ways, most glorious in holiness, un- 

 searchable in wisdom, and plenteous in mercy, 

 full of love and compassion, and abundant in 

 goodness and truth. We worship him, Father, 

 Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons in one God- 



head, one in substance and equal in power and 

 glory. 



" ART. II Of Revelation. We believe that 

 God is revealed in nature, in history, and in the 

 heart of man; that he has made gracious and 

 clearer revelations of himself to men of God who 

 spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit; 

 and that Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, is 

 the brightness of the Father's glory and the ex- 

 press image of his person. We gratefully receive 

 the Holy Scriptures, given by inspiration, to be 

 the faithful record of God's gracious revelations 

 and the sure witness to Christ, as the Word of 

 God, the only infallible rule of faith and life. 



"ART. Ill Of the Eternal Purpose. We believe 

 that the eternal, wise, holy, and loving purpose 

 of God embraces all events, so that while the free- 

 dom of man is not taken away, nor is God the 

 author of sin, yet in his providence he makes 

 all things w r ork together in the fulfilment of 

 his sovereign design and the manifestation of his 

 glory ; wherefore, humbly acknowledging the mys- 

 tery of this truth, we trust in his protecting care 

 and set our hearts to do his will. 



" ART. IV Of the Creation. We believe that 

 God is the creator, upholder, and governor of all 

 things; that he is above all his w r orks and in them 

 all; and that he made man in his own image 

 meet for fellowship with him, free and able to 

 choose between good and evil, and forever re- 

 sponsible to his maker and Lord. 



"ART. V Of the Sin of Man. We believe that 

 our first parents, being tempted, chose evil, and so 

 fell away from God and came under the power 

 of sin, the penalty of which is eternal death ; and 

 we confess that, by reason of this disobedience, 

 we and all men are born with a sinful nature, 

 that we have broken God's law r , and that no man 

 can be saved but by his grace. 



"ART. VI Of the Grace of God. We believe 

 that God, out of his great love for the world, 

 has given his only begotten Son to be the Saviour 

 of sinners, and in the Gospel freely offers his all- 

 sufficient salvation to all men. And we praise 

 him for the unspeakable grace wherein he has 

 provided a way of eternal life for all mankind. 



"ART. VII Of Election. We believe that 

 God, from the beginning, in his own good pleasure, 

 gave to his Son a people, an innumerable nixilti- 

 tude, chosen in Christ unto holiness, service, and 

 salvation; we believe that all who come to yens 

 of discretion can receive this salvation only 

 through faith and repentance ; and we believe that 

 all who die in infancy, and all others given by the 

 Father to the Son who are beyond the reach of 

 the outward means of grace, are regenerated and 

 saved by Christ through the Spirit, who works 

 when and where and how he pleases. 



"ART. VIII Of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We 

 believe in and confess the Lord Jesus Christ, the 

 only mediator between God and man, who, being 

 the Eternal Son of God, for us men and for our 

 salvation became truly man, being conceived by 

 the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin ^lary, 

 without sin : unto us he has revealed the Father, 

 by his Word and Spirit, making known the per- 

 fect will of God ; for us he fulfilled all righteous- 

 ness and satisfied eternal justice, offering himself 

 a perfect sacrifice upon the cross to take :i\\:iy tin' 

 sin of the world; for us he rose from the dead and 

 ascended into heaven, where he ever intercedes for 

 us; in our hearts, joined to him by faith, he abides 

 forever as the indwelling Christ; over us, and 

 over all for us, he rules; wherefore, unto him we 

 render love, obedience, and adoration as our 

 prophet, priest, and king forever. 



" ART. IX Of Faith and Repentance. We be- 





