peuples leur doivent estre sujets people ought to be subject and et obeïssans en vertu de cet ordre, obedient unto them, by virtue of

non seulement pour l'ire, mais pour la conscience, en toutes les choses qui sont conformes à la Parole de Dieu, qui est le Roy des Rois, et Seigneur des Seigneurs.

that ordination, not only for fear, but also for conscience' sake, in all things that are conformable to the Word of God, who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

XXXIII. Enfin, qu'il faut re- XXXIII. Finally, that we ought cevoir le Symbole des Apôtres, to receive the symbol of the Aposl'Oraison Dominicale, et le Deca- tles, the Lord's Prayer, and the logue, comme pieces fondamenta- Decalogue as fundamentals of our les de nôtre creance, et de nos de- faith and our devotion. votions.

And for a more ample declaration of our faith we do here reiterate the same protestation which

Et pour plus ample declaration de nôtre creance, nous reïterons icy la protestation que nous fimes imprimer l'an 1603 assavoir que we caused to be printed in 1603, nous consentons à la saine Doc- that is to say, that we do agree trine, avec toutes les Églises Re- in sound doctrine with all the Reformées de France, d'Angleterre, formed Churches of France, Great du Païs-Bas, d'Allemagne, de Britain, the Low Countries, GerSuisse, de Boheme, de Pologne, many, Switzerland, Bohemia, Pod'Hongrie, et autres, ainsi qu'elle land, Hungary, and others, as it is est exprimée en leur Confession set forth by them in their confesd'Ausbourg, selon la declaration sions; as also in the Confession of qu'en a donné l'Autheur. Et Augsburg, as it was explained by promettons d'y perseverer Dieu the author,' promising to persevere aidant, inviolablement en la vie et constantly therein with the help of en la mort, estans prets de signer God, both in life and death, and cette verité eternelle de Dieu de nôtre propre sang, comme l'ont fait nos predecesseurs depuis le tems des Apôtres, particulierement en ces derniers siecles.

being ready to subscribe to that eternal truth of God with our own blood, even as our ancestors have done from the days of the Apostles, and especially in these latter ages.

1 Viz., the editio variata of 1540, which Calvin subscribed at Strasburg.

Et pourtant nous prions bien

Therefore we humbly entreat

humblement toutes les Églises all the Evangelical and Protestant

Evangeliques et Protestantes, de Churches, notwithstanding our povnous tenir, nonobstant nôtre pau- erty and lowness, to look upon us vreté et petitesse, pour vrais mem- as true members of the mystical bres du corps mystique de Jesus body of Christ, suffering for his Christ, soufrans pour son Saint name's sake, and to continue unto Nom; et de nous continuer l'as- us the help of their prayers to sistance de leurs prieres envers God, and all other effects of their Dieu, et tous autres bons offices charity, as we have heretofore de leurs charités, comme nous les abundantly experienced, for which avons déja abondamment experi- we return them our most humble mentés, dont nous les remercions thanks, entreating the Lord with avec toute l'humilité, qui nous est all our heart to be their rewarder, possible, et suplions de tout nôtre cœur le Seigneur qu'il en soit luy

and to pour upon them the most precious blessings of grace and

même le remunerateur, versant sur glory, both in this life and in that elles les plus precieuses benedic- which is to come. Amen. tions de sa grace et de sa gloire,

et en cette vie, et en celle qui est à venir. Amen.

ADDITIONS À LA SUS-DITE CONFESSION.

Briéve justification touchant les points, ou articles de Foy, que nous imputent les Docteurs de Rome, en commun avec toutes les Églises Reformées. Nous accusans de croire,

1. Que Dieu soit autheur du Peché. 2. Que Dieu n'est pas tout Puissant. 4. Que Jesus Christ s'est desesperé en la Croix.

5. Que dans les œuvres du salut, où l'home est mû par l'Esprit de Dieu, il n'y coopere non plus qu'une piece de bois, ou une pierre.

6. Qu'en vertu de la Predestination, il n'importe que l'on face bien ou mal.

ADDITIONS TO THIS CONFESSION.'

Brief justification concerning the points or articles of faith which the doctors of Rome impute to us and to all the Reformed Churches. They accuse us of believing the following arti

cles :

1. That God is the author of sin; 2. That God is not omnipotent; 3. That Jesus Christ fell into despair upon the cross;

4. That man, in the work of salvation, where he is moved by the Spirit of God, is no more active than a log or a stone;

5. That, according to our notion on the subject of predestination, it is of no consequence whether we do good or evil;

1 Omitted by Henderson and Hazlitt. 2 The error in numbering (4 for 3, etc.) is Leger's.

THE CONFESSION OF THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. A.D. 1829 (1813).

[The Confession of the CUMBerland PresbyTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES (which was organized in 1810, and embraces a large and active membership in the Western and Southern States), is a semi-Arminian revision of the Westminster Confession of Faith. It was adopted in 1813, and finally revised in 1829. It retains the thirty-three chapters in the same order, with the American alterations of Chaps. XXIII. and XXXI., and a few immaterial omissions and additions. The only serious change is in the chapter on Predestination, while even the chapter on Perseverance is essentially retained. We present both texts in parallel columns.

See The Confession of Faith of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, revised and adopted by the General Assembly, at Princeton, Ky., May, 1829, published by its Board of Publication in Nashville, Tenn. Comp. Vol. I. pp. 813 sqq.]

CUMBERLAND CONFESSION.

CHAPTER III.-The Decrees of God.

I. God did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, determine to act or bring to pass what should be for his own glory.'

WESTMINSTER CONFESSION.

CHAPTER III.-Of God's Eternal Decree [Am. ed. Decrees].

I. 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,2 nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.3

II. Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions; yet

II. God has not decreed any thing respecting his creature man, contrary to his revealed will or written word, which declares his hath he not decreed any thing besovereignty over all his creatures, the ample provision he has made for their salvation, his determina- upon such conditions.5 tion to punish the finally impen

3

'Heb. ii. 9 ; Matt. xxii. 4; Isa. xlv. 22; 1

Tim. ii. 4, 5, 6; Rev. xxii. 17; Isa. lv. 1; John iii. 16; Rom. viii. 25; 1 John ii. 24, 10.

cause he foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass

1

Eph. i. 11; Rom. xi. 33; Heb. vi. 17;
Rom. ix. 15, 18.

2 James i. 13, 17; 1 John i. 5; [Am. ed. Eccl.
vii. 29].

Acts ii. 23; Matt. xvii. 12; Acts iv. 27, 28;

John xix. 11; Prov. xvi. 33.

Acts xv. 18; 1 Sam. xxiii. 11, 12; Matt. xi. 21, 23.

5 Rom. ix. 11, 13, 16, 18.

itent with everlasting destruction,'

and to save the true believer with

an everlasting salvation.

NOTE. The remaining six sections of the Westminster Confession, which contain the knotty points of Calvinism, are entirely omitted. Instead of them an official explanation is attached, as follows:

'We think it better, under the head of Decrees, to write what we know to be incontrovertible from the plain Word of God, than to darken counsel by words without knowledge. We have elsewhere acknowledged the doctrine of predestination to be a high mystery. We are free to acknowledge that in our judgment it is easier to fix the limits which man should not transcend, on either hand, than to give an intelligent elucidation of the subject. We believe that both Calvinists and Arminians have egregiously erred on this point: the former by driving rational, accountable man into the asylum of fate; the latter by putting too much stress on man's works, and leaving too much out of view the grace that bringeth salvation, and thereby cherish[ing] those legal principles that are in every human heart. We think the intermediate plan on this subject is nearest the WHOLE truth; for surely, on the one hand, it must be acknowledged, the love of God, the merits of Christ, and the operation of the Holy Spirit are the moving, meritorious, and active causes of man's salvation; that God is a sovereign, having a right to work when, where, how, and on whom he pleases; that salvation, in its device, in its plan, and in its application, is of the Lord; and that without the unmerited agency and operation of the Spirit of God not one of Adam's race would or could ever come to the knowledge of the truth-for God is the author as well as the finisher of our faith. Therefore God, as a sovereign, may, if he pleases, elect a nation, as the Jews, to preserve his worship free from idolatry; many nations for a time, as Christendom, in which to spread his gospel; individuals, as Cyrus and others, to answer a particular purpose; Paul and others for apostles; Luther and Calvin to promote the Reformation. But as it respects the salvation of the soul, God as a sovereign can only elect or choose fallen man in Christ, who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. But it appears to us incontestible, from God's Word, that God has reprobated none from eternity. That all mankind become legally reprobated by transgression is undeniable, and continue so until they embrace Christ. "Examine yourselves," etc. "Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates ?" (2 Cor. xiii. 5). Now this can not mean eternal reprobates, or all who have not Christ in them would be such, the absurdity of which will at once appear to every common capacity. Reprobation is not what some have supposed it to be, viz., a sovereign determination of God to create millions of rational beings, and for his own glory damn them eternally in hell, without regard to moral rectitude or sin in the creature. This would tarnish the divine glory, and render the greatest, best, and most lovely of all Beings most odious in the view of all intelligences. When man sinned he was legally reprobated, but not damned: God offered, and does offer, the law-condemned sinner mercy in the gospel, he having from the foundation of the world so far chosen mankind in Christ as to justify that saying in 1 Tim. iv. 10, "Who is the Saviour of all men, especially of them that believe." This is a gracious act of God's sovereign electing love, as extensive as the legal condemnation, or reprobation, in which all mankind are by nature. But, in a particular and saving sense, none can be properly called God's elect till they be justified and united to Christ, the end of the law for righteousness (none are justified from eternity), as appears evident from the following passages of God's Word: "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? Who is he that condemneth ?" (Rom. viii. 33, 34). Now it is certain [that] the unbeliever is chargeable and condemned. Again, "If it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect" (Matt. xxiv. 24). It is evident that a man must be enlightened in the knowledge