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05450 A Puritan Confession of Faith Chapter Title Topic Introduction to The Confession 5451 1 Of the Scriptures 5500 2 Of God and the Holy Trinity 5510 3 Of God's Decrees 5513 4 Of Creation 5521 5 Of Divine Providence 5523 6 Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of its Punishment 5550 7 Of God's Covenant 5556 8 Of Christ the Mediator 5562 9 Of Free Will 5570 10 Of Effectual Calling 5575 11 Of Justification 5579 12 Of Adoption 5601 13 Of Sanctification 5602 14 Of Saving Faith 5605 15 Of Repentance to Life and Salvation 5608 16 Of Good Works 5614 17 Of Perseverance of Saints 5621 18 Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation 5624 19 Of the Law of God 5628 20 Of Christian Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience 5634 21 Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath 5651 22 Of Lawful Oaths and Vows 5659 23 Of the Civil Magistrate 5666 24 Of Marriage 5670 25 Of the Church 5676 26 Of the Communion of Saints 5682 27 Of the Ordinances 5685 28 Of Baptism 5700 29 Of the Lord's Supper 5704 30 Of the State of Man after Death, 5712 and the Resurrection of the Dead 31 Of the Last Judgment 5715 See Related Topics Spurgeon's Puritan Catechism 5900 The Sum of Saving Knowledge 5750 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 05451 INTRODUCTION TO A PURITAN CONFESSION OF FAITH _______________________________________________________________ "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Ro. 10:10 "Search the Scriptures" John 5:39 Language updated and clarified, and extra proof texts and material gathered from the "Westminster Confession of Faith" - 1644 "Second London Confession of Faith" - 1677 by Larry Pierce, 1992 Ontario, Canada _______________________________________________________________ Introduction ~~~~~~~~~~~~ The art of making catechisms and confessions reached its zenith in the time of the Puritans. During the most distressing times in England, the most famous English catechism and confession were drafted by the Puritans. All other attempts since then fall in the shadow of the work of the Westminster divines. This confession was produced by a unique people, men and women who lived such holy lives, they were derided by their enemies with the nickname of "pure-itans". J. I. Packer says of these godly men: "What did the Puritans have that we lack today? ... Maturity! We are spiritual dwarfs. Protestantism is man-centred, manipulative, success-oriented, self-indulgent, and sentimental, 3000 miles wide and half an inch deep. The Puritans by contrast were spiritual giants. They served a great God and had a passion for godliness. Their Christian experience was natural and unselfconscious, while ours is often artificial and boastful. They were committed to spiritual integrity and had a fear of hypocrisy." (From the Emmaus Journal, p. 79, Fall 1991, by permission) We have reproduced and updated the old Westminster work so you can more easily read and understand it. There is nothing sacred in old English spellings. We have not knowingly altered the intent of what was written, except on two points. In those times politics and the church were quite intertwined. I have followed the 1677 Confession and have omitted any chapters that would mix church and state. Also the chapter on Baptism was revised to reflect the 1677 Confession. However, in the main, this creed has been altered very little. I commend it to you for your study and edification. Objections to the Creeds: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ \\1) We have no creed but Christ.\\ Those who hold this view usually ignore any written creed of the church and indeed are usually quite unaware of any church history. This view contains no small amount of conceit. For, indeed they are saying in effect, that no one who has gone before has seen the truth in God's Word except them. This denies the very clarity of the Scriptures. How do we know they are correct? \\2) The creeds are old-fashioned.\\ All God's truth is ancient. C.H. Spurgeon said: "There shall be no new God, nor new devil, nor shall we ever have a new saviour, nor a new atonement. Why then should we be attracted by the error and nonsense which everywhere plead for a hearing because they are new? To suppose the Theology can be new is to imagine that the Lord himself is of yesterday. A doctrine lately true must of necessity be false. Falsehood has no beard, but truth is hoary with age immeasurable. The old Gospel is the only Gospel. Pity is our only feeling toward those young preachers who cry: `See my new Theology!' in just the same spirit as little Mary says: `See my pretty new frock!'" God's truth does not change any more than he can change. Paul said in Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and for ever." Spurgeon commenting on this verse said this. "Immutability is ascribed to Christ, and we remark the \\he was\\ \\evermore to his people what he now is,\\ for he was the same yesterday. Distinctions have been drawn by certain exceedingly wise men (measured by their own estimate of themselves), between the people of God who lived before the coming of Christ, and those who lived afterwards. We have even heard it asserted that those who lived before the coming of Christ do not belong to the church of God! We never know what we shall hear next, and perhaps it is a mercy that these absurdities are revealed one at a time, in order that we may be able to endure their stupidity without dying of amazement. Why, every child of God in every place stands on the same footing; the Lord has not some children best beloved, some second-rate offspring, and others whom he hardly cares about. These who saw Christ's day before it came, had a great difference as to what they knew, and perhaps in the same measure a difference as to what they enjoyed while on earth in meditating upon Christ; but they were all washed in the same blood, all redeemed with the same ransom price, and made members of the same body. Israel in the covenant of grace is not the natural Israel, but all believers in all ages. Before the first advent, all the types and shadows all pointed one way -- they pointed to Christ, and to him all the saints looked with hope. Those who lived before Christ were not saved with a different salvation to that which shall come to us. They exercised faith as we must; that faith struggled as ours struggles, and that faith obtained its reward as ours shall. As like as a man's face to that which he sees in a glass is the spiritual life of David to the spiritual life of the believer now. Take the book of Psalms in your hand, and forgetting for an instant that you have the representation of the life of one of the olden time, you might suppose that David wrote but yesterday. Even in what he writes of Christ, he seems as though he lived after Christ instead of before, and both in what he sees of himself and in what he sees of his Saviour, he appears to be rather a Christian writer than a Jew; I mean that living before Christ he has the same hopes and the same fears, the same joys and the same sorrows, there is the same estimate of his blessed Redeemer which you and I have in these times. Jesus was the same yesterday as an anointed Saviour to his people as he is today, and they under him receive like precious gifts. If the goodly fellowship of the prophets could be here today, they would all testify to you that he was the same in every office in their time as he is in these our days." (from Sermon No. 848, January 3, 1869) In another article Spurgeon said: "Those who labour to smother `Calvinism' will find that it dies hard, and, it may be, they will come, after many defeats, to perceive the certain fact that it will outlive it opponents. Its funeral oration has been pronounced many times before now, but the performance has been premature. It will live when the present phase of religious misbelief has gone done to eternal execration amid the groans of those it has undone. Today it may be sneered at; nevertheless, it is but yesterday that it numbered among its adherents the ablest men of the age; and tomorrow, it may be, when once again there shall be giants in theology, it will come to the front, and ask in vain for its adversaries." "Calvinism, pure and simple, is but one form of Evangelism; it is not perfect, for it lacks some of the balancing truths of the system which arose as a remonstrance against its mistakes, but still it contains within it so large a measure of divinely immortal truth that it will never die. `Modern thought' is but the thistledown upon the hillside; the wind shall carry it away, but the primeval mount of `Calvinism', which is none other than Pauline or Christian doctrine, shall stand fast for aye." (The Sword and the Trowel, Feb. 1874, p. 31) These old creeds embody the truth of God as the church saw it at that time. We can learn much from what they wrote. "Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where [is] the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. ..." (Jeremiah 6:16) \\3) The creeds contained errors.\\ So does your phone book, but you use it anyway. No creed is perfect, not even this one. However, it does contain such a large body of God's truth, you will benefit from the study of it. Indeed, after some study, what you now consider errors, you may find were not errors at all. \\4) The creeds are too difficult to understand.\\ This objection is really against God himself. In effect they are saying the Bible is too difficult to understand. Peter in referring to Paul's epistles: "As also in all [his] epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as [they do] also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." (2 Peter 3:16) Note that Peter did not say they were impossible to understand. He did not say everything was difficult to understand. If he had, you may have an excuse. However, there is much in the Bible that can be easily grasped by a person of average intelligence. To not even try is foolish. I have found that even though there are things I do not understand today, as I keep studying, my knowledge grows. These creeds are the attempts by holy men of old to give you a road map into the deeper things of God's truth. Study them carefully and they will be better understood as time passes. There are many things you may not agree with. These ideas will stretch you spiritually. Keep studying. Some of the truths in these writings took me years to understand. Conclusion ~~~~~~~~~~ Take these two creeds, "The Confession" and the "Shorter Catechism". Master the shorter catechism first, and then study the "Confession" As time goes by you will better understand the truths contained in these two Puritan writings. Do not give up! May you be known for your holy living just as the Puritans were. God bless your study of his Word. Your servant in Christ, Larry Pierce 05452 next 5500 05499 next 5451