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I. COMMON CONFESSION OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE REFORMED CHURCH IN THE KINGDOM OF POLAND, IN THE GRAND DUCHY OF LITHUANIA AND THE RESPECTIVE PROVINCES OF THE KINGDOM, FOR THE CLARIFICATION OF DISPUTED POINTS AT

THE COLLOQUY AT THORN IN 1645, PRESENTED ON SEPTEMBER 1

We thus profess, above all else, that we accept the sacred canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, originally written in Hebrew in the Old and in Greek in the New by the prophets and apostles by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; which we acknowledge as the only perfect rule of our faith and worship; wherein one finds clearly expounded all that is necessary for salvation; or, as the blessed Augustine says, which contains the faith and the way of life, that is to say, hope and love.

This is, as it were, a compendium regarding what we are to believe: the Apostles ' Creed, into which we all have been baptized; regarding what we should do, the Ten Commandments, whose chief content consists in the love of God and of neighbor; and regarding that for which we ought to pray and hope, contained in the Lord's Prayer. This faith is also confirmed by our Lord Jesus Christ through the institution of baptism as the sacrament of initiation or rebirth, and through the Lord's Supper as the sacrament of spiritual nourishment.

Thus we believe that the saving doctrine is contained in these principal points, for whose spread and preservation in the church, our Lord has also instituted the sacred ministry (which must preach the gospel and administer the sacraments) and armed it with the spiritual power of the keys against the unbelieving and disobedient.

However, if in these principal heads of Christian doctrine, a doubt or dispute over their actual sense should develop, then we profess further that we accept the Nicene and Constantinopolitan Creeds as sure and undoubted expositions of Scripture (entirely with the same words in which it is explained in the third session of the Council of Trent) as the foundation on which all who profess faith in Christ essentially agree, and as the firm and only foundation which the gates of hell will never overcome.

We also confess that the so - called Athanasian Creed agrees therewith as well, no less than do the confessions of the first Council of Ephesus and the Council of Chalcedon, and that which in the fifth and sixth councils were set over against the Nestorians and Eutychians; as well as that which the first council at Mileve and the second council at Orange taught from Scripture against the Pelagians. And further, that which the early church from the times of the apostles onward has with one accord and in well-known agreement believed and taught as a necessary article of faith, we likewise profess to believe and teach according to the Scriptures.

By this confession of our faith, we, as true catholic Christians, dissociate ourselves from all old and new heresies, which the ancient universal church unanimously rejected and condemned according to Scripture. 

That which otherwise concerns the controversies which in the memories of our fathers have divided the churches of the west by a grievous schism, we profess that we hold the opinion, which is also in the Augsburg Confession (which was presented to Emperor Charles V in the year 1530 by the Protestant princes and cities of this kingdom, that is declared to be the unaltered [invariata] or the renewed and rectified faith), as also according to the Scriptures; in the Bohemian and Sendomir [Sandomierz] Confessions, and which has held sway in the Reformed congregations of this kingdom for nearly an entire century. For these three confessions, although differing from each other somewhat in expression, but in the substance itself agreeing with Scriptures and, among themselves, in the necessary principal points of the faith, according to the Consensus of Sendomir, which was accepted and incorporated into our churches in the year 1570, and through an alliance of peace and public security established and confirmed in this kingdom. 

II. OUR DECLARATION IN ITS PARTICULARS

1. Of the Rule of Faith and Worship

  1. The Holy Scripture, given by God in the books of the Old Testament through Moses and the prophets, and in the books of the New Testament through the evangelists and apostles, is the only infallible and absolute guide and rule of Christian faith and worship, enjoined to ministers of both church and state. In her is so much that is clearly and openly expounded, that one finds therein all that encompasses the faith and conduct of life, or all that is necessary for salvation, as it is declared in our recent declaration with others concerning the Word of God. 

  2. Those books which are not in the Hebrew canon of the Old Testament, but exist merely in Greek text, are called apocryphal and therefore may not be numbered in the divine canon, expressly under pain of anathema, even though they may be read with benefit for the edification of the church. 

  3. The reading of Scripture in the mother tongue is by no means to be refused to the laity, or counseled against as dangerous or harmful, but is rather to be allowed as free and useful; indeed, it is to be recommended. 

  4. Translations of the Scriptures are allowed, although they require the common judgment of the church for their acceptance. However, no one at all is to use, prefer, or consider, much less declare, as the original source the Latin Vulgate, under threat of anathema. But it should be referred to only where it agrees with the original texts, the Hebrew and Greek of the Old and New Testaments. These translations can be interpreted by every believer in the clear and easily understandable texts out of the consensus of the different translations, although the more difficult texts should only be expounded by the learned. 

  5. Concerning the doctrines of the faith or the regulations of life necessary to salvation, there is no Word of God in existence, or which can be shown to be such with certainty, which is not written or grounded in the Scripture, but is only commended by the unwritten traditions of the church. 

  6. No pope, bishop, or council of bishops on earth, neither as a higher and more infallible judge, nor through judicial authority, or under pain of anathema, can dictate as an article of faith that which is not openly taught in Scripture, or cannot be derived from certain necessary and evident deduction from Scripture, and cannot be confirmed through the approval of the early church. 

  7. Much less do we accept that the particular spirit of the believer himself is the judge of the Scripture or a rule of faith. Rather we profess that the believing as well as the teaching spirit, and every judgment, is to be guided and to be judged by the church and her pastors according to the Scripture as the only rule and infallible law for the highest of earthly judges.

2. Of the Most Holy Trinity, and of the Person and the Office

  1. We confess the article of the most Holy Trinity and the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man, as the actual foundation of the entire Christian faith and we believe it most certainly. But we now include a declaration of the article because no dissension occurs over it between our church and the Roman church, even though with justification we despise the majority of the questions and disputes of some learned men over so sublime a mystery, which should be believed in its noble simplicity more according to Scripture rather than probed with excessive curiosity, because they are more captious and meddlesome than useful. 

  2. We likewise believe the article on the office of our Lord Jesus Christ as a fundamental article, namely that the only begotten Son of the Father became flesh through Mary (who remained always a virgin) is our sole Redeemer and Mediator, and through this alone is the Foundation, the Head, the High Priest, and the Prophet, and likewise the sole King and Bridegroom of the church, in whom alone, the fullness of power, grace, and life resides, which from Him, as the head through the same Spirit, is poured out into all members according to the measure of each believer. 

  3. As Christ alone is our mediator and redeemer, none of the saints nor even the most blessed virgin Mary (even though we recognize her as the most blessed among women and praiseworthy above all others as the mother of God) may be called mediators between God and men. Nor is it to be assigned to Mary to be the queen of heaven with lordship over all creatures, which is the province of Christ alone. And outside our obligation to Christ, our Redeemer, no one may be committed or ordained to her special service. 

  4. Much less may anyone assign to a bishop or pope on earth that name or the power that belongs to Christ alone; that he is the Foundation, the Head, the Bridegroom, the sole King of the entire church; or that he, as the vicar of God and Christ, has full power both in spiritual and temporal things, be it direct or indirect, so that he can overthrow kings from their lordship, absolve subjects from the oath of loyalty taken before God and from other vows taken before those in God's stead, make saints and raise them to heaven, free souls from purgatory, and give precedence to others, and thus expand to such an extent his authority not only over all lands, but also into heaven and hell. 

3. Of Sin

  1. God is not at all the author of any sin, but rather the source and author of all good things; by contrast, the hater and avenger of all that is evil. 

  2. It is therefore outright calumny when that horrible blasphemy impugns our church-that we make God the author of sin. We abhor this profanity with all our hearts. Instead, we confess the providence of God in regard to sin and over the sinner himself, in the same way that it is taught by most theologians of the Roman church. 

  3. No less grave a calumny is it that we teach that Christ Himself may have sinned or may have despaired on the cross. This blasphemy we also reject with all our soul. 

  4. All men, Christ alone excepted, are conceived and born in original sin, even the most holy virgin Mary herself. 

  5. Original sin consists not only in the simple absence of righteousness, but also in depravity or inclination to evil which was propagated from Adam to all mankind. 

  6. Even though the natural faculty of free will remains after the fall in natural and civil things, one has, however, no ability to recognize, or to will, or to do supernatural and spiritual good, or to fulfill the law in its substance. In this respect, it is rightly called not so much a free will as a will that is a slave of sin and dead in sin, until it is awakened and freed through the grace of Christ. 

  7. Although in the regenerated, original sin, that which concerns the debt is abolished through the gracious remission, and concerning the depravity is more and more put to death through the grace of Christ, yet there remains in them (as long as they are in the flesh) the remnants of that depravity, particularly the evil inclinations and the stirrings of concupiscence which are therefore called in truth real sins, not only insofar as they are the punishment and origin of sin but also insofar as they strive against the law of God was well as against the Spirit of grace. This doctrine, because it is taught by the apostle himself, cannot be rejected as in error, much less condemned by anathema as heretical. 

  8. Each particular sin is by its nature mortal because it is contrary to the law and therefore deserves the curse of the law. Nonetheless, although not all sins are alike, none according to its nature is pardoned without the grace of Christ. 

  9. But in the reborn, the sins of ignorance and weakness, even though in themselves and according to their nature (if God were to deal with them according to the strictness of the law) are mortal sins, but as long as they do not nullify faith, love, and good intent, and are washed away through daily repentance, they are through God's grace not mortal sins, but pardoned, because they are not imputed unto death, but rather for the sake of Christ are remitted to those who have faith in Him. 

4. Of Grace

  1. From sin and death, there is no salvation or justification by the power of nature or through the righteousness of the law, but only through the grace of God in Christ, who redeemed us from wrath and the curse who were dead in sins through that only sacrifice of His death and through the merit of His perfect obedience in which He worked sufficiently for our, and not only for our, but also for the sins of the entire world. 

  2. Who has efficaciously through the Word of the gospel and Spirit of grace called the saved out of the kingdom of sin and death into the kingdom of grace and life and sealed them through the sacraments of grace. 

  3. Who justifies, or absolves from sin and accepts as children, the elect and truly repentant only for the sake of the merit of Christ, which they lay hold of by faith, and which is imputed to believers, purely out of grace, as members of Christ. 

  4. Who at the same time, from day to day, more and more renews and sanctifies them by the Spirit of love who is poured out into our hearts, unto sincere zeal in holiness and new obedience, that is to say makes them righteous and holy. 

  5. Who will finally eternally glorify those who persevere in faith and in love by means of His grace unto the end of this life as heirs of the kingdom of heaven, not out of any merit, but only out of the grace that is promised in Christ. 

  6. And so also in a fatherly manner rewards their good works which are done in faith in Christ and in love for Him through the grace of the Holy Spirit, without and beyond merit, with abundantly rich and unending reward for the sake of Christ. 

  7. He has chosen them from eternity in Christ, not on account of foreseen faith or any merit of works or of any condition, but rather out of pure and unearned grace, unto the grace of redemption that is given to them in time, unto calling, justification, adoption unto children, and persevering sanctification as well as unto the crown and glory of eternal life which can be attained through these means. 

  8. Meanwhile, those who remain, resisting the truth with their unrighteousness and defiantly scorning the offered grace of Christ, will be damned in a just judgment.

From this doctrine of grace, which we have stated in its most important points, wherein the entire foundation of our salvation is contained:

  1. It will hopefully be manifest that we absolutely disagree with Socinus, who in a godless manner denies and disputes the satisfaction and merit of Christ, even the salvation itself that is achieved through Christ's blood. 

  2. We deny that outside of the death of Christ the smallest part of our redemption or salvation can be attributed to a sacrifice, a merit, or to a satisfaction, whether it be from saints or from ourselves. 

  3. We also deny that the unregenerate, if they do that which is in themselves to do, make themselves capable through any claim on the first grace of calling (merit of congruity). 

  4. Also, we do not make the efficacy of calling grace dependent upon the free will of man, as if he through his own will, and not God through special grace, would finally decide. 

  5. We are falsely accused, however, as if we deny that the death and merit of Christ suffices for all, or as if we diminish His power. For we teach much the same as that which the Council of Trent taught in its sixth session, in the third chapter, namely: " Although Christ died for all, yet not all enjoy the benefit of His death; rather only they to whom the merit of His suffering is imparted. " We profess also that the cause or blame for this, whereby it is not imparted to all, lies in men themselves and in no way in the death and merit of Christ. 

  6. We are also falsely accused, as if we teach that not all those called through the Word of the gospel are earnestly, sincerely, or sufficiently called to repentance and blessedness by God, but rather that most are only seemingly and deceitfully called, only by signs through the revealed will, whereas the inner will of God's counsel is lacking and He does not therein wish blessedness for all. We profess that we are far removed from this notion, for which people have charged us, either through false understanding or by the untoward words of a few; and that in God we attribute the highest truth and fidelity to all of His words and works, but in particular to those words which accompany the grace which calls to salvation, we do not attribute to Him a will which stands in constant contradiction to itself. 

  7. Wrongly we are accused as if we deny that righteousness which lives within all believers, and claim that they are justified only through the external imputation of the righteousness of Christ, which occurs without any inner regeneration. For we teach that righteousness is imputed only to those who are repentant and have a lively faith in Christ. Likewise, through this faith, the Holy Spirit animates the contrite heart unto burning love for Christ, awakens zeal for the new obedience, cleanses one of evil affections, and thus commences the righteousness and sanctification of new life and perfects it from day to day. Here we add only this: that through one's own inherent righteousness (because it is imperfect in this life), no one can be confident in it or stand before the stern judgment of God. One does not become justified or absolved from the guilt of death through this righteousness, but rather only by means of the perfect righteousness of Christ and His merit, taken hold of by living faith. 

  8. Falsely we are accused as if we believe that one is justified through that faith alone which is without works and which consists only in trust; and that the sins of a man are forgiven him for the sake of Christ, even though he persists in all impenitence. For indeed we freely profess that such a faith is completely false and that not only is man not justified through it, but he also is much more grievously damned because he sinfully abuses that grace of God which is meant for freedom. Rather we call true, justifying faith only that which actively and confidently embraces the promise of the gospel, through which forgiveness and life in Christ is offered to the penitent, which consecrates itself with a true, contrite heart, and which works in love. We do not assert that this justifies because it is this alone, but because it alone takes hold of the promise of the gospel and so also the righteousness of Christ itself, and by means of and because of this faith alone, without any of our own merit, we become righteous. 

  9. Wrongly we are accused that through this doctrine, we remove the zeal for good works and deny their necessity. For from the aforementioned, it is obvious that neither justifying faith nor justification itself can have any place among adult believers without sanctification and zeal for good works. In this sense, we also recognize that they are indeed necessary for salvation, although not as meritorious causes of justification and salvation. 

  10. Wrongly we are accused as if we assert that the commandments of Christ can in no way be upheld by the faithful. For we teach that not by our own strength, but through the grace of the Holy Spirit, the commandments not only can be upheld, but indeed must be upheld by all; and certainly not by a mere desire alone or through an ineffectual resolution, but in true deed, and a true, sincere, and lasting zeal in all of life. They are not and cannot be kept so completely by any one in this life, with the result that we cannot satisfy the law of God through our ways and fulfill it altogether. Rather, from the feeling of our own imperfection and weakness, we must daily pray to God in humility for forgiveness of many errors and trespasses. 

  11. Wrongly we are accused that we assert that the justified cannot lose the grace or assurance of God and the Holy Spirit, even though they freely live in sin. For we teach much to the contrary that the reborn themselves, as often as they fall back into sin against their consciences and persist there for a long time, retain for that time neither the living faith nor the justifying grace of God, much less the assurance thereof and the Holy Spirit. Rather they burden themselves with a new debt of wrath and eternal death, and therefore, if they are not awakened by the special grace of God (which we do not doubt in the elect) and renewed in repentance again, naturally they too must be damned. 

  12. We further deny that faith in Christ justifies only in an awakening, preparatory, introductory manner, because faith awakens particularly to love and to other virtues, such as indwelling righteousness. 

  13. We deny also that we become justified through an inherent righteousness, so that by virtue of it we are exculpated from the debt of death before the judgment of God, accepted as His children and declared worthy of eternal life. For in this juridical sense the term " justified by the Holy Spirit " is used in this doctrine. For in this proper sense, it can also be said that the faithful are justified, that is to say, made just and holy through love and other virtues affected in them. But this righteousness is imperfect in this life, and therefore, as mentioned above, it cannot by any means stand before the stern judgment of God. And this is principally observed in this doctrine. 

  14. Hence, we also disagree with those who teach that the reborn satisfy the justice of God for their sins through their good work and actually earn forgiveness or life-indeed through legal actions or because of the inner worth of their works or because they have balanced out their rewards. From this, a covenant or promise cannot be assumed, as some desire it. 

  15. We also disagree with those who teach that the reborn can perfectly fulfill the law of God in this life, not only the part in perfection, but also its standard, so that they live without any sin, which would be in itself and according to its nature mortal sin; indeed they are even able to perform works that are beyond what is required and go beyond legal perfection and thereby acquire merit not only for themselves, but also for others. 

  16. Also, we disagree with those who teach that without special revelation, no one can know that he has acquired the grace of God with that certainty which no deception can destroy, and therefore all must always doubt of grace. But even though we profess that the faithful and justified cannot overconfidently and carelessly count on the grace of God and often struggle with anxieties and doubts, they nevertheless can and should (as we teach according to Scripture) struggle for certainty in this life with the help of the grace of God and achieve that certainty by which the Holy Spirit witnesses with our spirits that we are children and heirs of God. This witness can no deception destroy, even though not all who boast of the Spirit of God have this witness in truth. 

  17. Finally, we teach that not all people are elected, and that the elect are chosen not because of the foreseen merit of their works, or because of a foreseen disposition in them towards faith, or because of the assent of their wills, but from the simple grace which is in Christ. And thus the number of those who are elected by God and who are to be saved remains constant. 

  18. Meanwhile, we declare that a completely foreign notion is attributed to us by those who accuse us of teaching that eternal election and reprobation are unconditional, without any regard to faith or faithlessness, or to the good and evil works which are done. For we assert much more that in election, faith and obedience are foreseen in those to be elected, certainly not as the origin or ground of election itself but rather as means of salvation which are predestined to them by God. In reprobation, not only original sin, but also, with respect to adults, faithlessness and obstinate impenitence are not actually predestined by God, but foreseen and permitted in the reprobate themselves as the proper ground of rejection and damnation; and they are rejected in that most just judgment.

Therefore, we hold fast to the conception of this deep mystery of election by grace, which, according to Scripture, Augustine defended in ancient times against Pelagius, and to which the most excellent teachers of the Roman Church themselves hold even today, especially the followers of Thomas Aquinas. 

5. Of the Worship Service

  1. The sole true God, is one in being and threefold in persons; the all-knowing, almighty, omnipresent, Creator and Giver of all good things, who turns away evil, and is the all-sufficient, most merciful Savior who should be honored by us in private and in public worship, and certainly in the manner which He Himself has prescribed in His Word. 

  2. To honor any other person or thing that is not God in a religious or divine manner is idolatry; but to honor the true God in ways not prescribed or established by His Word is superstitious and vain and sometimes idolatrous. 

  3. Reverence which is fitting to God consists first in pious worship, as well and especially in that inward worship, given through the deepest humility of the soul and submission before God as the highest and most holy Lord of all things, and as the everywhere present Searcher and Judge of the hearts and reins; as well as by the external worship, through bowing and prostration of the body, lifting up of the hands, and other similar gestures, which are rooted in inner reverence and will be judged according to it. For these can also be used as civil gestures which show civil honor. 

  4. So also in prayer, by which we ask God to bestow bodily as well as spiritual gifts and the turning away of evil, in order for it to be pleasing to Him, must be conducted in the name of and in the confidence in our only Mediator, Jesus Christ. 

  5. Thereto pertains also the singing of God's praise through psalms and hymns of praise; the giving of thanks for received blessings, as well as the worshipful hearing of the divine Word; the participation in the sacraments in faith and likewise the permissible oath, by which we invoke God, the Lord of the heart, as the witness of truth and the avenger of deception. Finally, also the holy vow, whereby we sanctify and consecrate ourselves and all of our dealings and actions as spiritual offerings to God. 

  6. Outward sacrifices, modeled and decreed in the law, are characteristics of the Old Testament, and are fulfilled and superseded through the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross. 

  7. We recognize that each and every part of the worship service we have discussed cannot simply be performed in private, at any place or time, but is also or especially to be performed publicly or in the public congregation of the church; and also certain places, namely the temple and holy building, if one can have them, are to be designated. 

  8. At the public or official worship service, it is befitting to use a language familiar to all the people, so that each of the faithful can say Amen to the prayers, to the hymns of praise, and to the preaching. 

  9. Certain times are also to be named for public worship. We observe the day of the Lord throughout the entire year, as well as certain feast days, such as the birth, circumcision, passion and resurrection, the ascension, Pentecost, and so forth. 

  10. Some of the days are consecrated to the remembrance of saints, such as the blessed virgin Mary, the archangel Michael, and the apostle. We celebrate, not actually to confer worshipful veneration on them in themselves, but rather in order to exalt in grateful memory the grace of God demonstrated through them and to move ourselves to emulate them. 

  11. Moreover, we believe that it is permissible for Christian magistrates, in collaboration with the overseers of the church, to arrange from time to time either thanksgivings for a particular blessing or fast and prayer days for a great danger or a pressing concern. 

We believe that these teachings are opposed to true worship in the manner that is prescribed in the New Testament: 

  1. When one believes that after the sacrifice of Christ performed once on the cross, yet another bloodless, so- called sacrifice of atonement for the living and dead, must be offered daily. We assert that it is neither ordered nor used nor approved in the New Testament. 

  2. When the consecrated host is elevated or brought forth for adoration in the name of Christ; 

  3. When adoration or invocation, whether outwardly or inwardly, are directed towards created things or persons, be they angels or deceased saints, as intercessors or as helpers and givers of gifts; and psalms and hymns of praise that ought to be dedicated to God alone are applied to them; 

  4. When one worships either the invisible or incomprehensible God Himself or Christ or deceased saints in graven, cast and painted images; and teaches that the images themselves are not only in an accidental and figurative manner representatives of the original, but also are to be revered actually and in themselves by the congregation. 

  5. When one demonstrates veneration for or places faith in relics of saints, be they authentic or dubious and suspicious. 

  6. When one dedicates feasts to the saints, sanctifies a temple, presents vows, or makes vows or oaths in their name. 

  7. When one repeats a certain number of times the Lord's Prayer and the angelic salutation or other prayer formulas, directed either to God Himself or to the most holy virgin and other saints with the notion of this as a merit or work of satisfaction for sins. 

  8. When one reckons monks ' vows as meritorious and works of supererogation in the worship of God. 

  9. When one believes that the state and the chastity of clerics, undertaken in the absence of the special gift of abstinence and not without the danger of incontinences, is not only commendable or, at least, to be excused, but is also a meritorious service of God. 

  10. When one goes on pilgrimages to holy places (principally during so-called jubilee years) with the notion of acquiring a special grace of God or forgiveness of sins. 

  11. When one employs creatures of God such as water, salt, oil, wax candles, and other things not only in the natural uses ordained by God, but also consecrates them to spiritual or supernatural uses, so that one sets by them a certain power to turn away devilish sorceries or for the safety of the soul and the body. 

  12. And finally, when one believes that fasts (in particular during the forty days before Easter) are in themselves pleasing and meritorious or satisfying to God; and indeed believes not only in true fasts, such as were the custom in the first church, as useful exercises in repentance, but also in such fasts that consist more in the selection rather than the lack of food, and are more often spent by many in the enjoyment of delicacies than in the abstention from food. 

  13. If these and similar things which are too numerous to count are too far removed from the true worship of God, then we are of the opinion that one can quickly do away with those things that remain in the church that are not without danger of giving offence, which are found in customs and ceremonies which were introduced only through long or ancient usage, which either militate against God's Word or lack a sound foundation, or which finally by their performance, according to experience, work more to the ruin and deterioration than to the advantage and edification of the church. 

6. Of the Sacraments

  1. Sacraments are outward and clear signs, seals, and witnesses of God's will, through the Word which is joined to the elements, instituted by God Himself to show forth the invisible grace which is promised in the Word of the covenant to seal it by means of these signs. 

  2. There are in truth actually only two sacraments in the New Testament: baptism and the Lord's Supper. These differentiate themselves from the sacraments of the Old Testament for the most part in that those testify to the future appearance of Christ while these witness to Christ's accomplished work. 

  3. The truth or authenticity of the sacrament is not to be judged according to the worthiness or unworthiness of those who dispense them or those who receive them, but alone according to the truth and will of God, who has instituted them. 

  4. Therefore, they also do not work or confer grace through the mere action without any good inclination toward God in their use, but rather through the power of the promise, which must be accepted with true faith. 

  5. And so the efficacy of the sacrament depends not upon the intent of the minister, if only the divinely instituted form itself is observed with respect to its performance or administration. 

  6. Although those customs which belong to good order are left to the freedom of the church, nevertheless no customs except those which Christ Himself has ordained may be made compulsory under threat of excommunication, as belonging to the nature or the validity of the sacrament by any church or by her pastors. But those that have crept in through abuse or superstition are properly done away with. 

  7. Out of the law, it is also clear that we do not accept mere empty and ineffectual signs or mere earmarks of an outward confession. For in addition to the mysterious signs, we attribute (according to the divine ordinance) a certain sealing of the divine promises, at the same time a true and infallible presentation of that which is promised, all which occurs in a manner which is fitting and peculiar to them and which must be received with a living faith. 

  8. So we believe, in conclusion, that only those who truly believe are truly made partakers of the gifts which are presented through signs and the Word, but unbelievers and hypocrites, because they partake of the signs in an unworthy manner and do not receive that which is signified with a true faith, incur to themselves guilt and judgment.

 

7. Of Baptism

  1. Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, instituted by Christ the Lord, which must be administered by servants of the Word as well to children born in the church as to those adults joining the church through the profession of their faith, by washing with water along with prayers to the most Holy Trinity, in order to signify and testify to the inward washing or forgiveness of sins achieved through the blood of Christ; and likewise to testify to the beginning of renewal through the Holy Spirit or regeneration. 

  2. That this sacrament, because of the institution of Christ, is completely necessary as a well-ordained means of salvation, we profess in faith. Although we do not hold its importance to be so absolute that whoever should depart this life without outward baptism, be he a child or adult, through whatever accident that may happen, but without any contempt of the sacrament, is thereby of necessity damned. We much more believe here that the rule governs that it is not deprivation but contempt of the sacrament which condemns. 

8. Of the Holy Supper

  1. Just as baptism is the sacrament of our spiritual rebirth in Christ, so is the Holy Supper the sacrament of our spiritual nourishment in Christ, through which Christ Himself presents and communicates to us His body given for us and the blood of the New Testament which is poured out for us through the symbols of bread and wine, sanctified by the sovereign power of His Word, which He has commanded us to eat bodily and visibly in remembrance of His sacrifice. 

  2. Thus, this sacrament consists in earthly things (in the bread and wine), as well as in heavenly things (the body and blood of the Lord). Both these things are indeed offered to us in different yet in the truest, most substantial and real manners. Namely, we lay hold of the earthly things in a natural, corporeal, and earthly manner, but lay hold of the heavenly things in a spiritual, mysterious, and heavenly manner, as inscrutable to reason and perception and with faith alone, by means of which we apprehend the words of the promise and that which is promised itself, namely Christ crucified, with all His benefits. 

  3. Therefore, the earthly elements, bread and wine, both in name and in truth are the body and blood of Christ, certainly not communicated in essence or corporally but sacramentally and mysteriously and by means of the sacramental union, which does not consist in the mere signification nor only in the sealing, but in the combined and simultaneous administration and imparting of the earthly and heavenly elements. 

  4. In the same sense, the ancients say (and we with them) that bread and wine change into the body and the blood, certainly not according to the being and nature, but according to the use and service, and not by name or by that which is perceived by the senses, as by that which faith sees and receives in them by the power of the promise. 

  5. Therefore, the entire operation of the holy communion is called an offering by the ancients and specifically, with good reason, an offering of thanks; for these holy symbols, which are in a mysterious way the body and blood of Christ, are offered by prayer of thanksgiving to God and imparted to us in thankful commemoration and appropriation in faith of that single sacrifice which is the true and real sacrifice of atonement accomplished once on the cross. 

  6. Albeit, we do not accept a transubstantiation, whereby the elements of bread and wine would be annihilated in their essence or essentially transformed into the body of Christ; 

  7. Nor any inclusion, inner or accompanying presence, local or bodily presence, or any such union of the elements with the body of Christ whereby the same is eaten with the mouth by the unbelieving and godless as well as by believers. 

  8. Nor yet a true and actual sacrifice of atonement of the body and blood in the Lord's Supper. 

  9. Albeit, we also do not direct the worship of Christ (which we unconditionally profess is most necessary in the administration of the Holy Supper) to the elements or to an invisible body hidden in them, but rather to Christ Himself, who reigns at the right hand of the Father. 

  10. So we absolutely refuse mere, empty, and idle signs, and moreover, that which they signify, seal, and minister, we receive as the most certain means and efficacious instruments by which the body and blood of Christ (indeed Christ Himself with all His good gifts) is offered to each participant, but distributed to the faithful, granted to and received by them as saving and regenerating food of the soul. 

  11. Also, we most certainly do not deny the true presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper, but only the local and corporeal manner of presence and its essential union with the elements. But we believe His presence with us to be holy and indeed not an imagined, but rather the truest, most essential and actual presence. Namely, it is that mysterious union of Christ with us which He Himself promises in His Word, presents in the symbols and so effects through the Spirit, which we accept in faith and perceive through love, according to that old expression: " The notion we perceive, the type and manner we do not know, in the presence we believe " (Motum sentimus, modum mescimus, praesentiam credimus). 

  12. Thence, it is also clear that not only the strength, the ability and force, or good gifts of Christ are offered and imparted, but principally the essence of the body and blood of Christ Himself or the sacrifice which was given and slaughtered on the cross for the life of the world. We receive our part in this sacrifice and union with Christ Himself, as thereby also in the merits and benefits which His sacrifice gained by faith. And as He abides in us, so too we abide in Him; 

  13. And indeed, not merely with respect to our souls, but also with respect to our bodies. For although we receive the earthly things with our bodily mouth, so in the faith of our hearts, we receive it as the actual instrument, the heavenly thing, according to that old verse: " That which the teeth chew is only enjoyed by the body; but the soul enjoys that which it apprehends in faith " (German: Was die Zähne zerkaun, nur das wird leiblich genossen; Aber die Seele geniesst, was sie im Glauben ergreift. Latin: Ventrem, quod terminus, mentem, quod credimus, intrat; lit., " We chew that which enters the stomach and believe that which enters the mind "). So by means of this faith, not only our spirits, but also our bodies themselves, are united and bound to the body of Christ through His Spirit in the hope of the resurrection and of eternal life. Thus, we are flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones, and are one body with Him in a mysterious manner. Whereof the apostle says with good reason: " the mystery is great " (Eph. 5:32). 

  14. Finally, concerning the usages which are parts of this sacrament, we add at least this: that Christ Himself bade all no less to drink from the chalice than to eat the bread, and that the power to do away with the customs which He Himself ordained, either in part or completely, or to transfer a usage to another purpose or intent, or to add another custom as obligatory under threat of excommunication, belongs to no mortal.

9. Of Confirmation

  1. We believe that it merits approval that the doctrine of the laying on of hands (which in Hebrews 6:12 is bound together with the doctrine of baptism) relates to that ordinance of the church, according to which children who have been instructed in the catechism should be presented to the congregation before one allows them to partake in the Lord's Supper, in order for them to give an account of their faith and to be commended to God with prayers, along with the application of the custom of the laying on of hands, a practice, alongside of prayer and blessing, which was common in the time of the patriarchs and thereafter. We gladly permit this intercession and commendation to God on the part of the adult believers, followed by the customary examination, to be called " confirmation, " as this custom is also observed in an orderly manner in our congregations. 

  2. We deny however: 

    • a. That confirmation is in truth a sacrament of the New Testament. 

    • b. That it impresses an indelible mark onto the soul. 

    • c. That both of these must be believed under punishment of excommunication. 

    • d. That confirmation is not only to be compared with baptism, but also to be preferred to it on two points: namely because of the dignity of the minister, who is the bishop alone; and because of the completeness of the effect. 

10. Of Penitence

  1. Here it is not disputed whether conversion of the heart toward God and an inner abhorrence for sins that is combined with anguish is required for the forgiveness of sins. For we assert that such repentance has been demanded in both Testaments as a standing condition for the forgiveness of sin, which the sinner however does not merit (for the merit and satisfaction made by Christ alone accomplishes this when we dedicate ourselves in living faith). But it is fulfilled through the aforementioned condition, whereby it is given to desire the divine mercy. This inner penitence, we assert, suffices for secret sins of which the sinner is conscious and which are known only to God. 

  2. However, we consider it to be permissible and very valuable to anxious consciences to seek shelter in the counsel of those who because of their office better understand the nature and characteristics of sin; and to seek solace from one's own pastor through a confession of the sin which disturbs the troubled heart. For this reason, in our opinion, private absolution can be retained as useful. 

  3. Regarding graver sins, however, which have caused offense in the congregation and are known to a number of people, we demand outward and public repentance and assert that against such sins the church and its leaders can and should use the authority of the keys, so as to bind them by means of the authority of the church; and when they have produced the fruits of penitence, loosen them again by the authority of the office which God has conferred upon them for this purpose. 

  4. We deny, however: 

    • a. That any outward penitence, be it private or official, whether in penance or in the actions of the clergy, considered individually or together, is a true sacrament of the New Testament and that it must be considered as such under punishment of excommunication. 

    • b. That a confession by enumeration of each and every mortal sin which one recalls after dutiful and careful meditation, as well as of those hidden sins and of those which are against the last of the Ten Commandments, is necessary for the forgiveness of sins according to divine law, so that it must be made secretly and before a priest alone and that this must be believed under pain of excommunication. 

    • c. Since the satisfaction and merit of Christ alone makes us free, not only from debt, but also from all intrinsic satisfaction- making punishments, we deny that they are necessary for redemption from eternal or temporal punishment, in part in this life by ecclesiastical satisfaction or in part after this life by the satisfactionmaking penance of purgatory. 

    • d. We deny also that indulgences, as they are in use in our day, have any value. 

    • e. Wrongly, it is ascribed to us that we reject all repentance and that we promise atonement to sinners without contrition and abhorrence of the life that has previously been led and without a vow of sincere improvement. 

11. Of Extreme Unction

  1. We confess that the apostle anointed the sick with oil, whereby they were also healed in body. We profess also that the epistle of James commands that the elders of the congregation are to call on the sick in order to anoint them with oil and they are to pray for them, for the recovery of health. Also, we profess that in our day the office of the minister demands that they visit the sick and that they comfort them both through the preaching of the gospel and through the distribution of Holy Communion, and that they pray along with the congregation for their welfare. 

  2. We deny, however: 

    • a. That, as the gift of miraculous healing has ended, this custom of oil remains of use in the church. 

    • b. That it is instituted as a true sacrament of the New Testament by Christ, and that it must be believed to be such under pain of excommunication. 

12. Of Ordination

  1. We acknowledge that everything must take place in the church in an orderly and decent manner and that no one is legally authorized to exercise the office of preacher in the church except he be called to the teaching office, be it through a direct and extraordinary call or be it a usual call which uses means, not only on the basis of an inner incitement of the Holy Spirit and with the preceding granting of sufficient gifts, but also in the effective, outward consent of the congregation and especially of its leaders, through the election of the congregation and confirmed through ordination, that is, the laying on of hands by the elders. And we acknowledge that also among the ministers of the divine Word, there are certain degrees of office and gifts that are granted by God. 

  2. We deny, however: 

    • a. That ordination is a sacrament of the New Testament. 

    • b. That ordination confers grace simply through the action itself and impresses a mark upon the soul of the ordained. 

    • c. That one must believe both under pain of excommunication. 

    • d. That the pastors of our congregations have lacked or lack a legitimate sending, calling, and ordination which accord with the Word of God. 

13. Of Marriage

  1. We assert that marriage is a holy and divine institution; and we are therefore of a different opinion, with the apostle (1 Tim. 4:3), from those who prohibit marriage, either openly reproving it or depreciating it in a covert way as if it were not holy, but rather impure. 

  2. Meanwhile, we deny: 

    • a. That it is truly a sacrament of the New Testament and must be considered such under pain of excommunication. 

    • b. That marriage was forbidden to the clergy by Christ or by the early church. 

14. Of the Church

  1. From that which is spoken by the Word of God, of Christ, the Head of the church, and further of the sacraments and divine worship, it is easy to discover how we should think of the true and false church, as well as the common and the particular church. For the true church is nothing other than the congregation of believers, who under one head, Christ, are called by the same Spirit of grace from the power of darkness to the kingdom of God by the Word of the gospel. And they are bound both by the inner communion of faith, of love, and of hope, as well as by the external communion of the sacraments and the entire worship service, and by church discipline. 

  2. Therefore, although those true and living members of the church are only those who are both inwardly and outwardly bound in communion with Christ as the head of the church and with the church as His spiritual body, but because the inward communion and union with the church are things that are invisible, according to the judgment of love all of those who remain in the outward, visible confession of saving faith and in the communion of the true worship of God and of church discipline must be considered members of the church, even if some of them may be hypocrites before God. 

  3. The universal church is therefore the community of believers who are scattered across the earth. And they all are and remain a single catholic (or universal) church, so long as they remain united under a single head in heaven, Christ, and through a single spirit of saving faith and love, and a single confession, even if they are not and cannot be bound together in a common, external government on this earth, but are scattered from each other in ever so diverse and even hostile nations, kingdoms or free states; and as concerns the outward communion or government of the church are completely separated from each other. 

  4. But particular churches are those which are also bound by the outward ecclesiastical rule of a city or of a people in an ordered communion of saints. 

  5. Therefore, these can and must be judged by those same marks whether they are true or false churches; namely, by their profession of the same saving faith, by the indisputable Word of God, by the pure administration of those sacraments which are instituted by Christ, by the communion of the worship which is commanded by God and by ecclesiastical discipline. By these are all other accidental marks that man can put forward to be restricted and judged. 

  6. Meanwhile, we do not deny that there are among these churches varying degrees of purity and perfection; and that they do not immediately cease to be a true church of Christ if there is something which is not pure in all its parts, either in doctrine or in administration of the sacraments or in the other portions of the worship service, usages and church discipline; but instead some errors are mingled into the saving faith or troublesome liberties into church discipline, if meanwhile it retains at least the foundation of the saving doctrine, the exercise of faith and worship of God, and does not completely dissolve the bond of Christian and brotherly love with other churches. 

  7. But if any church destroys the foundation of saving faith and divine worship, and obstinately breaks the bond of Christian love with other churches which hold fast to the foundation, we consider her no longer as a true church, but rather as a false church. 

  8. Whereas we do not at all deny that it sometimes happens or can happen in the universal church in the whole world that she may entirely fall away from the saving faith and worship of God, so we do not acknowledge that any particular church, whichever it may be, is given this primacy by Christ that she can never err in faith or leave it; and that although she may be susceptible in church discipline to various scandals, just as much as other churches, but in the doctrine of the faith and the practice of worship is always free from every error and the possibility to err, and remains pure. 

  9. Concerning government of the church, we believe that although she is in truth monarchial in relation unto Christ (the one king and monarch of the entire universal church), yet the outward government of particular churches on earth (according to the ordinance of Christ) is aristocratic; however, in such a way that we do not deny to the bishops or superintendents or inspectors a certain precedence of rank and rule over the other elders. 

  10. We deny, however, that there is any single head or monarch on earth invested by divine right to whom each and every church in the world, their bishops and individual believers must be subject as a requirement of salvation, under pain of excommunication, so that without this subjection, they can neither be true members of Christ nor of the catholic church. 

And this is now the declaration of the specific doctrines of the Reformed Church of this kingdom concerning disputed points which had earlier been set before the Lords of the Roman Catholic Church and were read in public meeting on September 16. Because we noted, however, that their tempers were somewhat aroused by some expressions so that they solemnly declared themselves to be against their adoption in the conference, so we were of a mind, after mature consideration of the matter, to once again relent so that it would not seem as if we through our fault had given occasion for the breaking off of this friendly conference. And that is why we changed some things which appeared in their manner of expression to be displeasing to them or which seemed more properly to belong in a second conference, such as the proofs of the disputed points and the elucidation of the same. This is a power which we had already freely and unrestrainedly reserved for ourselves in the first clause of this declaration; then as now, we voluntarily reserved for ourselves the right to clarify those points which still may appear obscure. And we wish to reserve for ourselves this freedom to declare our beliefs further, and hope that the Lords of the Roman Catholic Church will ungrudgingly grant this to us, as the rules of this colloquy have it. 

 

Kilde: James T. Dennison Jr., Reformed Confessions of the 16th and 17th Centuries in English Translation: 1523-1693, ( Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2008-2014 ), 1-4.

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