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First Head Of
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Second Head Of Doctrine
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Third & Fourth Head Of
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Fith Head Of Doctrine
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Article 1
As all men have sinned in Adam, lie under the curse, and are deserving of
eternal death, God would have done no injustice by leaving them all to perish
and delivering them over to condemnation on account of sin, according to the
words of the apostle: That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be
brought under the judgment of God (Rom. 3:19). And:
For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God
(Rom. 3:23). And: For the wages of sin is death
(Rom. 6:23).
Article 2
But in this the love of God was manifested, that He sent his only begotten Son
into the world, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have
eternal life (I John 4:9; John 3:16).
Article 3
And that men may be brought to believe, God mercifully sends the messengers of
these most joyful tidings to whom He will and at what time He pleases; by whose
ministry men are called to repentance and faith in Christ crucified. How then
shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a
preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent
(Rom. 10:14, 15).
Article 4
The wrath of God abides upon those who believe not this gospel. But such as
receive it and embrace Jesus the Savior by a true and living faith are by Him
delivered from the wrath of God and from destruction, and have the gift of
eternal life conferred upon them.
Article 5
The cause or guilt of this unbelief as well as of all other sins is no wise in
God, but in man himself; whereas faith in Jesus Christ and salvation through Him
is the free gift of God, as it is written: By grace have ye been saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God
(Eph. 2:8). Likewise: To you it hath been granted in the behalf of
Christ, not only to believe on him, etc. (Phil. 1:29).
Article 6
That some receive the gift of faith from God, and others do not receive it,
proceeds from God's eternal decree. For known unto God are all his works from
the beginning of the world (Acts 15:18, A.V.). Who
worketh all things after the counsel of his will (Eph.
1:11). According to which decree He graciously softens the hearts of the
elect, however obstinate, and inclines them to believe; while He leaves the
non-elect in His just judgment to their own wickedness and obduracy. And herein
is especially displayed the profound, the merciful, and at the same time the
righteous discrimination between men equally involved in ruin; or that decree of
election and reprobation, revealed in the Word of God, which, though men of
perverse, impure, and unstable minds wrest it to their own destruction, yet to
holy and pious souls affords unspeakable consolation.
Article 7
Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby, before the foundation of
the world, He has out of mere grace, according to the sovereign good pleasure of
His own will, chosen from the whole human race, which had fallen through their
own fault from their primitive state of rectitude into sin and destruction, a
certain number of persons to redemption in Christ, whom He from eternity
appointed the Mediator and Head of the elect and the foundation of salvation.
This elect number, though by nature neither better nor more deserving than
others, but with them involved in one common misery, God has decreed to give to
Christ to be saved by Him, and effectually to call and draw them to His
communion by His Word and Spirit; to bestow upon them true faith, justification,
and sanctification; and having powerfully preserved them in the fellowship of
His Son, finally to glorify them for the demonstration of His mercy, and for the
praise of the riches of His glorious grace; as it is written: Even as he chose
us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blemish before him in love: having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through
Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved
(Eph. 1:4, 5,6). And elsewhere: Whom he
foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified:
and whom he justified, them he also glorified (Rom. 8:30).
Article 8
There are not various decrees of election, but one and the same decree
respecting all those who shall be saved, both under the Old and the New
Testament; since the Scripture declares the good pleasure, purpose, and counsel
of the divine will to be one, according to which He has chosen us from eternity,
both to grace and to glory, to salvation and to the way of salvation, which He
has ordained that we should walk therein (Eph. 1:4, 5;
2:10).
Article 9
This election was not founded upon foreseen faith and the obedience of faith,
holiness, or any other good quality or disposition in man, as the prerequisite,
cause, or condition on which it depended; but men are chosen to faith and to the
obedience of faith, holiness, etc. Therefore election is the fountain of every
saving good, from which proceed faith, holiness, and the other gifts of
salvation, and finally eternal life itself, as its fruits and effects, according
to the testimony of the apostle: He hath chosen us (not because we were, but)
that we should be holy, and without blemish before him in love
(Eph. 1:4).
Article 10
The good pleasure of God is the sole cause of this gracious election; which does
not consist herein that out of all possible qualities and actions of men God has
chosen some as a condition of salvation, but that He was pleased out of the
common mass of sinners to adopt some certain persons as a peculiar people to
Himself, as it is written: For the children being not yet born, neither having
done anything good or bad,
etc., it was said unto her (namely, to Rebekah), The elder shall serve the
younger. Even as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated
(Rom. 9:11, 12, 13). And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed (Acts 13:48).
Article 11
And as God Himself is most wise, unchangeable, omniscient, and omnipotent, so
the election made by Him can neither be interrupted nor changed, recalled, or
annulled; neither can the elect be cast away, nor their number diminished.
Article 12
The elect in due time, though in various degrees and in different measures,
attain the assurance of this their eternal and unchangeable election, not by
inquisitively prying into the secret and deep things of God, but by observing in
themselves with a spiritual joy and holy pleasure the infallible fruits of
election pointed out in the Word of God such as, a true faith in Christ, filial
fear, a godly sorrow for sin, a hungering and thirsting after righteousness,
etc.
Article 13
The sense and certainty of this election afford to the children of God
additional matter for daily humiliation before Him, for adoring the depth of His
mercies, for cleansing themselves, and rendering grateful returns of ardent love
to Him who first manifested so great love towards them. The consideration of
this doctrine of election is so far from encouraging remissness in the
observance of the divine commands or from sinking men in carnal security, that
these, in the just judgment of God, are the usual effects of rash presumption or
of idle and wanton trifling with the grace of election, in those who refuse to
walk in the ways of the elect.
Article 14
As the doctrine of divine election by the most wise counsel of God was declared
by the prophets, by Christ Himself, and by the apostles, and is clearly revealed
in the Scriptures both of the Old and the New Testament, so it is still to be
published in due time and place in the Church of God, for which it was
peculiarly designed, provided it be done with reverence, in the spirit of
discretion and piety, for the glory of God's most holy Name, and for enlivening
and comforting His people, without vainly attempting to investigate the secret
ways of the Most High (Acts 20:27; Rom. 11:33, 34; 12:3;
Heb. 6:17, 18).
Article 15
What peculiarly tends to illustrate and recommend to us the eternal and
unmerited grace of election is the express testimony of sacred Scripture that
not all, but some only, are elected, while others are passed by in the eternal
decree; whom God, out of His sovereign, most just, irreprehensible, and
unchangeable good pleasure, has decreed to leave in the common misery into which
they have wilfully plunged themselves, and not to bestow upon them saving faith
and the grace of conversion; but, permitting them in His just judgment to follow
their own ways, at last, for the declaration of His justice, to condemn and
punish them forever, not only on account of their unbelief, but also for all
their other sins. And this is the decree of reprobation, which by no means makes
God the Author of sin (the very thought of which is blasphemy), but declares Him
to be an awful, irreprehensible, and righteous Judge and Avenger thereof.
Article 16
Those in whom a living faith in Christ, an assured confidence of soul, peace of
conscience, an earnest endeavor after filial obedience, a glorying in God
through Christ, is not as yet strongly felt, and who nevertheless make use of
the means which God has appointed for working these graces in us, ought not to
be alarmed at the mention of reprobation, nor to rank themselves among the
reprobate, but diligently to persevere in the use of means, and with ardent
desires devoutly and humbly to wait for a season of richer grace. Much less
cause to be terrified by the doctrine of reprobation have they who, though they
seriously desire to be turned to God, to please Him only, and to be delivered
from the body of death, cannot yet reach that measure of holiness and faith to
which they aspire; since a merciful God has promised that He will not quench the
smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed. But this doctrine is justly terrible
to those who, regardless of God and of the Savior Jesus Christ, have wholly
given themselves up to the cares of the world and the pleasures of the flesh, so
long as they are not seriously converted to God.
Article 17
Since we are to judge of the will of God from His Word, which testifies that the
children of believers are holy, not by nature, but in virtue of the covenant of
grace, in which they together with the parents are comprehended, godly parents
ought not to doubt the election and salvation of their children whom it pleases
God to call out of this life in their infancy (Gen. 17:7;
Acts 2:39; I Cor. 7:14).
Article 18
To those who murmur at the free grace of election and the just severity of
reprobation we answer with the apostle: Nay but, O man, who art thou that
repliest against God? (Rom. 9:20), and quote the
language of our Savior: Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?
(Matt. 20:15). And therefore, with holy adoration
of these mysteries, we exclaim in the words of the apostle: O the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his
judgments, and his ways past tracing out! For who hath known the mind of the
Lord, or who hath been his counsellor? or who hath first given to him, and it
shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and unto him
are all things. To him be the glory for ever. Amen. (Rom.
11:33-36).
Article 1
God is not only supremely merciful, but also supremely just. And His justice
requires (as He has revealed Himself in His Word) that our sins committed
against His infinite majesty should be punished, not only with temporal but with
eternal punishments, both in body and soul; which we cannot escape, unless
satisfaction be made to the justice of God.
Article 2
Since, therefore, we are unable to make that satisfaction in our own persons, or
to deliver ourselves from the wrath of God, He has been pleased of His infinite
mercy to give His only begotten Son for our Surety, who was made sin, and became
a curse for us and in our stead, that He might make satisfaction to divine
justice on our behalf.
Article 3
The death of the Son of God is the only and most perfect sacrifice and
satisfaction for sin, and is of infinite worth and value, abundantly sufficient
to expiate the sins of the whole world.
Article 4
This death is of such infinite value and dignity because the person who
submitted to it was not only really man and perfectly holy, but also the only
begotten Son of God, of the same eternal and infinite essence with the Father
and the Holy Spirit, which qualifications were necessary to constitute Him a
Savior for us; and, moreover, because it was attended with a sense of the wrath
and curse of God due to us for sin.
Article 5
Moreover, the promise of the gospel is that whosoever believes in Christ
crucified shall not perish, but have eternal life. This promise, together with
the command to repent and believe, ought to be declared and published to all
nations, and to all persons promiscuously and without distinction, to whom God
out of His good pleasure sends the gospel.
Article 6
And, whereas many who are called by the gospel do not repent nor believe in
Christ, but perish in unbelief, this is not owing to any defect or insufficiency
in the sacrifice offered by Christ upon the cross, but is wholly to be imputed
to themselves.
Article 7
But as many as truly believe, and are delivered and saved from sin and
destruction through the death of Christ, are indebted for this benefit solely to
the grace of God given them in Christ from everlasting, and not to any merit of
their own.
Article 8
For this was the sovereign counsel and most gracious will and purpose of God the
Father that the quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious death of His
Son should extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon them alone the gift of
justifying faith, thereby to bring them infallibly to salvation; that is, it was
the will of God that Christ by the blood of the cross, whereby He confirmed the
new covenant, should effectually redeem out of every people, tribe, nation, and
language, all those, and those only, who were from eternity chosen to salvation
and given to Him by the Father; that He should confer upon them faith, which,
together with all the other saving gifts of the Holy Spirit, He purchased for
them by His death; should purge them from all sin, both original and actual,
whether committed before or after believing; and having faithfully preserved
them even to the end, should at last bring them, free from every spot and
blemish, to the enjoyment of glory in His own presence forever.
Article 9
This purpose, proceeding from everlasting love towards the elect, has from the
beginning of the world to this day been powerfully accomplished, and will
henceforward still continue to be accomplished, notwithstanding all the
ineffectual opposition of the gates of hell; so that the elect in due time may
be gathered together into one, and that there never may be wanting a Church
composed of believers, the foundation of which is laid in the blood of Christ;
which may steadfastly love and faithfully serve Him as its Savior (who, as a
bridegroom for his bride, laid down His life for them upon the cross); and which
may celebrate His praises here and through all eternity.
Article 1
Man was originally formed after the image of God. His understanding was adorned
with a true and saving knowledge of his Creator, and of spiritual things; his
heart and will were upright, all his affections pure, and the whole man was
holy. But, revolting from God by the instigation of the devil and by his own
free will, he forfeited these excellent gifts; and in the place thereof became
involved in blindness of mind, horrible darkness, vanity, and perverseness of
judgment; became wicked, rebellious, and obdurate in heart and will, and impure
in his affections.
Article 2
Man after the fall begat children in his own likeness. A corrupt stock produced
a corrupt offspring. Hence all the posterity of Adam, Christ only excepted, have
derived corruption from their original parent, not by imitation, as the
Pelagians of old asserted, but by the propagation of a vicious nature, in
consequence of the just judgment of God.
Article 3
Therefore all men are conceived in sin, and are by nature children of wrath,
incapable of saving good, prone to evil, dead in sin, and in bondage thereto;
and without the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit, they are neither able nor
willing to return to God, to reform the depravity of their nature, or to dispose
themselves to reformation.
Article 4
There remain, however, in man since the fall, the glimmerings of natural
understanding,[1] whereby he retains some knowledge of God, of natural things,
and of the difference between good and evil, and shows some regard for virtue
and for good outward behavior. But so far is this understanding of nature from
being sufficient to bring him to a saving knowledge of God and to true
conversion that he is incapable of using it aright even in things natural and
civil. Nay further, this understanding, such as it is, man in various ways
renders wholly polluted, and hinders in unrighteousness, by doing which he
becomes inexcusable before God.
Article 5
Neither can the decalogue delivered by God to His peculiar people, the Jews, by
the hands of Moses, save men.[1] For though it reveals the greatness of sin, and
more and more convinces man thereof, yet, as it neither points out a remedy nor
imparts strength to extricate him from this misery, but, being weak through the
flesh, leaves the transgressor under the curse, man cannot by this law obtain
saving grace.
Article 6
What, therefore, neither the innate understanding [1] nor the law could do, that
God performs by the operation of the Holy Spirit through the word or ministry of
reconciliation; which is the glad tidings concerning the Messiah, by means
whereof it has pleased God to save such as believe, as well under the Old as
under the New Testament.
Article 7
This mystery of His will God revealed to but a small number under the Old
Testament; under the New Testament (the distinction between various peoples
having been removed) He reveals it to many. The cause of this dispensation is
not to be ascribed to the superior worth of one nation above another, nor to
their better use of the innate understanding of God,[1] but results wholly from
the sovereign good pleasure and unmerited love of God. Hence they to whom so
great and so gracious a blessing is communicated, above their desert, or rather
notwithstanding their demerits, are bound to acknowledge it with humble and
grateful hearts, and with the apostle to adore, but in no wise curiously to pry
into, the severity and justice of God s judgments displayed in others to whom
this grace is not given.
Article 8
As many as are called by the gospel are unfeignedly called. For God has most
earnestly and truly declared in His Word what is acceptable to Him, namely, that
those who are called should come unto Him. He also seriously promises rest of
soul and eternal life to all who come to Him and believe.
Article 9
It is not the fault of the gospel, nor of Christ offered therein, nor of God,
who calls men by the gospel and confers upon them various gifts, that those who
are called by the ministry of the Word refuse to come and be converted. The
fault lies in themselves; some of whom when called, regardless of their danger,
reject the Word of life; others, though they receive it, suffer it not to make a
lasting impression on their heart; therefore, their joy, arising only from a
temporary faith, soon vanishes, and they fall away; while others choke the seed
of the Word by perplexing cares and the pleasures of this world, and produce no
fruit. This our Savior teaches in the parable of the sower (Matt. 13).
Article 10
But that others who are called by the gospel obey the call and are converted is
not to be ascribed to the proper exercise of free will, whereby one
distinguishes himself above others equally furnished with grace sufficient for
faith and conversion (as the proud heresy of Pelagius maintains); but it must be
wholly ascribed to God, who, as He has chosen His own from eternity in Christ,
so He calls them effectually in time, confers upon them faith and repentance,
rescues them from the power of darkness, and translates them into the kingdom of
His own Son; that they may show forth the praises of Him who has called them out
of darkness into His marvelous light, and may glory not in themselves but in the
Lord, according to the testimony of the apostles in various places.
Article 11
But when God accomplishes His good pleasure in the elect, or works in them true
conversion, He not only causes the gospel to be externally preached to them, and
powerfully illuminates their minds by His Holy Spirit, that they may rightly
understand and discern the things of the Spirit of God; but by the efficacy of
the same regenerating Spirit He pervades the inmost recesses of man; He opens
the closed and softens the hardened heart, and circumcises that which was
uncircumcised; infuses new qualities into the will, which, though heretofore
dead, He quickens; from being evil, disobedient, and refractory, He renders it
good, obedient, and pliable; actuates and strengthens it, that like a good tree,
it may bring forth the fruits of good actions.
Article 12
And this is that regeneration so highly extolled in Scripture, that renewal, new
creation, resurrection from the dead, making alive, which God works in us
without our aid. But this is in no wise effected merely by the external
preaching of the gospel, by moral suasion, or such a mode of operation that,
after God has performed His part, it still remains in the power of man to be
regenerated or not, to be converted or to continue unconverted; but it is
evidently a supernatural work, most powerful, and at the same time most
delightful, astonishing, mysterious, and ineffable; not inferior in efficacy to
creation or the resurrection from the dead, as the Scripture inspired by the
Author of this work declares; so that all in whose heart God works in this
marvelous manner are certainly, infallibly, and effectually regenerated, and do
actually believe. Whereupon the will thus renewed is not only actuated and
influenced by God, but in consequence of this influence becomes itself active.
Wherefore also man himself is rightly said to believe and repent by virtue of
that grace received.
Article 13
The manner of this operation cannot be fully comprehended by believers in this
life. Nevertheless, they are satisfied to know and experience that by this grace
of God they are enabled to believe with the heart and to love their Savior.
Article 14
Faith is therefore to be considered as the gift of God, not on account of its
being offered by God to man, to be accepted or rejected at his pleasure, but
because it is in reality conferred upon him, breathed and infused into him; nor
even because God bestows the power or ability to believe, and then expects that
man should by the exercise of his own free will consent to the terms of
salvation and actually believe in Christ, but because He who works in man both
to will and to work, and indeed all things in all, produces both the will to
believe and the act of believing also.
Article 15
God is under no obligation to confer this grace upon any; for how can He be
indebted to one who had no previous gifts to bestow as a foundation for such
recompense? Nay, how can He be indebted to one who has nothing of his own but
sin and falsehood? He, therefore, who becomes the subject of this grace owes
eternal gratitude to God, and gives Him thanks forever. Whoever is not made
partaker thereof is either altogether regardless of these spiritual gifts and
satisfied with his own condition, or is in no apprehension of danger, and vainly
boasts the possession of that which he has not. Further, with respect to those
who outwardly profess their faith and amend their lives, we are bound, after the
example of the apostle, to judge and speak of them in the most favorable manner;
for the secret recesses of the heart are unknown to us. And as to others who
have not yet been called, it is our duty to pray for them to God, who calls the
things that are not as if they were. But we are in no wise to conduct ourselves
towards them with haughtiness, as if we had made ourselves to differ.
Article 16
But as man by the fall did not cease to be a creature endowed with understanding
and will, nor did sin which pervaded the whole race of mankind deprive him of
the human nature, but brought upon him depravity and spiritual death; so also
this grace of regeneration does not treat men as senseless stocks and blocks,
nor take away their will and its properties, or do violence thereto; but it
spiritually quickens, heals, corrects, and at the same time sweetly and
powerfully bends it, that where carnal rebellion and resistance formerly
prevailed, a ready and sincere spiritual obedience begins to reign; in which the
true and spiritual restoration and freedom of our will consist. Wherefore,
unless the admirable Author of every good work so deal with us, man can have no
hope of being able to rise from his fall by his own free will, by which, in a
state of innocence, he plunged himself into ruin.
Article 17
As the almighty operation of God whereby He brings forth and supports this our
natural life does not exclude but require the use of means by which God, of His
infinite mercy and goodness, has chosen to exert His influence, so also the
aforementioned supernatural operation of God by which we are regenerated in no
wise excludes or subverts the use of the gospel, which the most wise God has
ordained to be the seed of regeneration and food of the soul. Wherefore, as the
apostles and the teachers who succeeded them piously instructed the people
concerning this grace of God, to His glory and to the abasement of all pride,
and in the meantime, however, neglected not to keep them, by the holy
admonitions of the gospel, under the influence of the Word, the sacraments, and
ecclesiastical discipline; so even now it should be far from those who give or
receive instruction in the Church to presume to tempt God by separating what He
of His good pleasure has most intimately joined together. For grace is conferred
by means of admonitions; and the more readily we perform our duty, the more
clearly this favor of God, working in us, usually manifests itself, and the more
directly His work is advanced; to whom alone all the glory, both for the means
and for their saving fruit and efficacy, is forever due. Amen.
Article 1
Those whom God, according to His purpose, calls to the communion of His Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ, and regenerates by the Holy Spirit, He also delivers from the
dominion and slavery of sin, though in this life He does not deliver them
altogether from the body of sin and from the infirmities of the flesh.
Article 2
Hence spring forth the daily sins of infirmity, and blemishes cleave even to the
best works of the saints. These are to them a perpetual reason to humiliate
themselves before God and to flee for refuge to Christ crucified; to mortify the
flesh more and more by the spirit of prayer and by holy exercises of piety; and
to press forward to the goal of perfection, until at length, delivered from this
body of death, they shall reign with the Lamb of God in heaven.
Article 3
By reason of these remains of indwelling sin, and also because of the
temptations of the world and of Satan, those who are converted could not
persevere in that grace if left to their own strength. But God is faithful, who,
having conferred grace, mercifully confirms and powerfully preserves them
therein, even to the end.
Article 4
Although the weakness of the flesh cannot prevail against the power of God, who
confirms and preserves true believers in a state of grace, yet converts are not
always so influenced and actuated by the Spirit of God as not in some particular
instances sinfully to deviate from the guidance of divine grace, so as to be
seduced by and to comply with the lusts of the flesh; they must, therefore, be
constant in watching and prayer, that they may not be led into temptation. When
these are neglected, they are not only liable to be drawn into great and heinous
sins by the flesh, the world, and Satan, but sometimes by the righteous
permission of God actually are drawn into these evils. This, the lamentable fall
of David, Peter, and other saints described in Holy Scripture, demonstrates.
Article 5
By such enormous sins, however, they very highly offend God, incur a deadly
guilt, grieve the Holy Spirit, interrupt the exercise of faith, very grievously
wound their consciences, and sometimes for a while lose the sense of God's
favor, until, when they change their course by serious repentance, the light of
God's fatherly countenance again shines upon them.
Article 6
But God, who is rich in mercy, according to His unchangeable purpose of
election, does not wholly withdraw the Holy Spirit from His own people even in
their grievous falls; nor suffers them to proceed so far as to lose the grace of
adoption and forfeit the state of justification, or to commit the sin unto death
or against the Holy Spirit; nor does He permit them to be totally deserted, and
to plunge themselves into everlasting destruction.
Article 7
For in the first place, in these falls He preserves in them the incorruptible
seed of regeneration from perishing or being totally lost; and again, by His
Word and Spirit He certainly and effectually renews them to repentance, to a
sincere and godly sorrow for their sins, that they may seek and obtain remission
in the blood of the Mediator, may again experience the favor of a reconciled
God, through faith adore His mercies, and henceforward more diligently work out
their own salvation with fear and trembling.
Article 8
Thus it is not in consequence of their own merits or strength, but of God's free
mercy, that they neither totally fall from faith and grace nor continue and
perish finally in their backslidings; which, with respect to themselves is not
only possible, but would undoubtedly happen; but with respect to God, it is
utterly impossible, since His counsel cannot be changed nor His promise fail;
neither can the call according to His purpose be revoked, nor the merit,
intercession, and preservation of Christ be rendered ineffectual, nor the
sealing of the Holy Spirit be frustrated or obliterated.
Article 9
Of this preservation of the elect to salvation and of their perseverance in the
faith, true believers themselves may and do obtain assurance according to the
measure of their faith, whereby they surely believe that they are and ever will
continue true and living members of the Church, and that they have the
forgiveness of sins and life eternal.
Article 10
This assurance, however, is not produced by any peculiar revelation contrary to
or independent of the Word of God, but springs from faith in God's promises,
which He has most abundantly revealed in His Word for our comfort; from the
testimony of the Holy Spirit, witnessing with our spirit that we are children
and heirs of God (Rom. 8:16); and lastly, from a serious and holy desire to
preserve a good conscience and to perform good works. And if the elect of God
were deprived of this solid comfort that they shall finally obtain the victory,
and of this infallible pledge of eternal glory, they would be of all men the
most miserable.
Article 11
The Scripture moreover testifies that believers in this life have to struggle
with various carnal doubts, and that under grievous temptations they do not
always feel this full assurance of faith and certainty of persevering. But God,
who is the Father of all consolation, does not suffer them to be tempted above
that they are able, but will with the temptation make also the way of escape,
that they may be able to endure it (I Cor. 10:13), and by the Holy Spirit again
inspires them with the comfortable assurance of persevering.
Article 12
This certainty of perseverance, however, is so far from exciting in believers a
spirit of pride, or of rendering them carnally secure, that on the contrary it
is the real source of humility, filial reverence, true piety, patience in every
tribulation, fervent prayers, constancy in suffering and in confessing the
truth, and of solid rejoicing in God; so that the consideration of this benefit
should serve as an incentive to the serious and constant practice of gratitude
and good works, as appears from the testimonies of Scripture and the examples of
the saints.
Article 13
Neither does renewed confidence of persevering produce licentiousness or a
disregard of piety in those who are recovered from backsliding; but it renders
them much more careful and solicitous to continue in the ways of the Lord, which
He has ordained, that they who walk therein may keep the assurance of
persevering; lest, on account of their abuse of His fatherly kindness, God
should turn away His gracious countenance from them (to behold which is to the
godly dearer than life, and the withdrawal of which is more bitter than death)
and they in consequence thereof should fall into more grievous torments of
conscience.
Article 14
And as it has pleased God, by the preaching of the gospel, to begin this work of
grace in us, so He preserves, continues, and perfects it by the hearing and
reading of His Word, by meditation thereon, and by the exhortations,
threatenings, and promises thereof, and by the use of the sacraments.
Article 15
The carnal mind is unable to comprehend this doctrine of the perseverance of the
saints and the certainty thereof, which God has most abundantly revealed in His
Word, for the glory of His Name and the consolation of pious souls, and which He
impresses upon the hearts of the believers. Satan abhors it, the world ridicules
it, the ignorant and hypocritical abuse it, and the heretics oppose it. But the
bride of Christ has always most tenderly loved and constantly defended it as an
inestimable treasure; and God, against whom neither counsel nor strength can
prevail, will dispose her so to continue to the end. Now to this one God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be honor and glory forever. Amen.
And this is the perspicuous, simple, and ingenuous declaration of the orthodox doctrine respecting the five articles which have been controverted in the Belgic Churches; and the rejection of the errors, with which they have for some time been troubled. This doctrine the Synod judges to be drawn from the Word of God, and to be agreeable to the confession of the Reformed Churches. Whence it clearly appears that some, whom such conduct by no means became, have violated all truth, equity, and charity, in wishing to persuade the public:
That the doctrine of the Reformed Churches concerning predestination, and the
points annexed to it, by its own genius and necessary tendency, leads off the
minds of men from all piety and religion; that it is an opiate administered by
the flesh and the devil; and the stronghold of Satan, where he lies in wait for
all, and from which he wounds multitudes, and mortally strikes through many with
the darts both of despair and security; that it makes God the author of sin,
unjust, tyrannical, hypocritical; that it is nothing more than an interpolated
Stoicism, Manicheism, Libertinism, Turcism; that it renders men carnally secure,
since they are persuaded by it that nothing can hinder the salvation of the
elect, let them live as they please; and, therefore, that they may safely
perpetrate every species of the most atrocious crimes; and that, if the
reprobate should even perform truly all the works of the saints, their obedience
would not in the least contribute to their salvation; that the same doctrine
teaches that God, by a mere arbitrary act of his will, without the least respect
or view to any sin, has predestinated the greatest part of the world to eternal
damnation, and has created them for this very purpose; that in the same manner
in which the election is the fountain and cause of faith and good works,
reprobation is the cause of unbelief and impiety; that many children of the
faithful are torn, guiltless, from their mothers' breasts, and tyrannically
plunged into hell: so that neither baptism nor the prayers of the Church at
their baptism can at all profit them ; and many other things of the same kind
which the Reformed Churches not only do not acknowledge, but even detest with
their whole soul.
Wherefore, this Synod of Dort, in the name of the Lord, conjures as many as
piously call upon the name of our Savior Jesus Christ to judge of the faith of
the Reformed Churches, not from the calumnies which on every side are heaped
upon it, nor from the private expressions of a few among ancient and modern
teachers, often dishonestly quoted, or corrupted and wrested to a meaning quite
foreign to their intention; but from the public confessions of the Churches
themselves, and from this declaration of the orthodox doctrine, confirmed by the
unanimous consent of all and each of the members of the whole Synod. Moreover,
the Synod warns calumniators themselves to consider the terrible judgment of God
which awaits them, for bearing false witness against the confessions of so many
Churches; for distressing the consciences of the weak; and for laboring to
render suspected the society of the truly faithful.
Finally, this Synod exhorts all their brethren in the gospel of Christ to
conduct themselves piously and religiously in handling this doctrine, both in
the universities and churches; to direct it, as well in discourse as in writing,
to the glory of the Divine name, to holiness of life, and to the consolation of
afflicted souls; to regulate, by the Scripture, according to the analogy of
faith, not only their sentiments, but also their language, and to abstain from
all those phrases which exceed the limits necessary to be observed in
ascertaining the genuine sense of the Holy Scriptures, and may furnish insolent
sophists with a just pretext for violently assailing, or even vilifying, the
doctrine of the Reformed Churches.
May Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who, seated at the Father's right hand, gives
gifts to men, sanctify us in the truth; bring to the truth those who err; shut
the mouths of the calumniators of sound doctrine, and endue the faithful
ministers of his Word with the spirit of wisdom and discretion, that all their
discourses may tend to the glory of God, and the edification of those who hear
them. Amen.
