panic Tx:soL()..iv':.&L .v^ Division Section No,.... /6/ THE HISTOR't^ x>^^ ^. A CONSTITUTION, RULES OF DISCIPLINE, AND CONFESSION OF FAITH OF THE CALYINISTIC METHODISTS IN WALES. Caiviy\'is+ic Me-Vnod\6t clnurcVi (Wales) ADOPTED AT THE ASSOCIATIONS OF ABEEYSTWTTH AND BALA, IN THE YEAE 1823. TEANSLATED FROM THE WELSH. ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL. PRINTED FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, BY JOHN ROBERTS, CHAPEL STREET, SALFORD : AND SOLD BY D. H. JONES, "GOLEUAD" OFFICE, DOLGELLEY. 1877. PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH TRAJS^SLATION". The work of translating this book for the second time into English was entrusted bj^ the General Assembly of the Connexion to the late Eev. E. Powell, of Holt, and myself. Mr. Powell spared no pains to do his part of the work well. But death removed that faithful servant before his task was finished, and I found it neces- sary to translate the whole book afresh. The references to texts of Scripture, on which the entire structure of doctrine is, of course, made to rest, are taken from the first Welsh Edition (Bala : Saunderson, 18-4). It seemed to me a duty to give those references, and those only, that are authorised by the Connexion. Some obvious misprints have been corrected. A kindly word is due to the memory of the previous translator, the more so because his name is now little known. Mr. David Davjes was born at Aberystwyth in the year 1802. His mother was sister- in-law to the Eev. Thomas Jones, of Denbigh. His father was brother to Mr. Robert Davies, of Aberystwyth, who married a daughter of the late Rev. D. Charles, of Carmarthen. When a boy he received instruction from the Rev. Mr. Griffiths, then Vicar of Llanbadarn. His father removed to Carnachen Wen, in Pem- brokeshire. But being from a child weakly and unfit for the boisterous life of a public school, he was placed in the family of the well-known Congregational minister. Dr. Leifchild, of London, under whose care he remained for nearly three years. In consequence of his father's death, he returned, in 1824, to Pembrokeshire. He was once high sheriff of the county. In 1826 he married a lady from Shropshire, after which he resided, first in Bristol, afterwards at Castle Green, near Cardigan. He died at Worcester, where he had gone to seek medical advice, in the year 183G. He is said to have been a most godly man, liberal to every IV. PBEFACE. good cause, and respected by all. At one time he had some thought of entering the ministry, but nothing came of it. He deserves to be remembered as the originator of the Ministers' Fund in South "Wales, having himself contributed £100 to it, and by his zealous efforts succeded in establishing it on a basis which has of late years been strengthened and extended. His translation of the ''Cyffes Ffydd'' was first published in 1827. A second edition appeared in 1834, and two editions at least have been published since then. It may be not amiss to add that the General Assembly wished the present translation to be a perfectly independent one. Among the friends, to whom I am indebted for assistance in bringing the translation through the press, my best thanks are due to the Eev. William Evans, M.A., of Aberyswyth, for several suggestions, and especially to the Eev. Owen Jones, B.A., of Liverpool, who assisted me in correcting all the proofs and verifjdng all the references. T. C. E. Aberystwyth, Feb. 19, 1877. i^C)^ / I PKEFACE TO THE FIRST WELSH EDITION. ~For about sixty-five years after the Connexion came into exist- ence, the Calvinistic* Methodists in "Wales had. no public standard or declaration of their Constitution, Doctrines, Rules of Discipline, and History. During that time every man was free to form his own opinion of them. In the year 1801 we first published our "Rules of Discipline," setting forth the outlines of our church government and organization, and the rules by which we would have all the members of our Societies order their life and conversa- tion. But we had not then published any summary of doctrinal principles, or Confession of Faith. Now, however, eighty-seven years after the birth of the Connexion, we have, for several; reasons, considered it proper and necessary, and unanimously agreed, as a Connexion throughout the Principality, to set forth more fully our Constitution, Organization, Rules of Discipline, and Confession of Faith, together with a short History of the beginning and progress of the Lord's work among us. These things are contained in the following pages. [1823.] * When we published the " Rules of Discipline," about twenty-three years ago, it was unnecessary for us to denominate ourselves Calvinistic, since this Connexion was, at that time, the only one, in North Wales at least, to which the name of Methodists was applied. But, as others in Wales are now called Methodists, we think it right to adopt the denomination of Calvinistic, for the sake of distinction. PREFACE TO THE WELSH EDITION OE 1876. The General Assembly of the Connexioii entrusted to a Com- mittee the task of editing and publishing this edition of the Confession of Faith. No change has been made in the body of the work, and the few alterations and explanatory notes, which were agreed upon by the Quarterly Associations of North and South Wales and by the General Assembly, have been inserted in the Appendix. Page. History of the Connexion 1 Method of Ordination I7 Rules of Discipline 23 Constitution and Church Government : — I. Of the Private Societies 33 IT. Of the Monthly Meetings . . . . 35 III. Of the Quarterly Assocations 36 CONFESSION OF FAITH. 1. Of the Being of God • ^ 39 2. Of the Scriptures 39 3. Of the Attributes of God 41 4. Of the Persons of the Trinity 41 — - 5, Of God's Decree '42 6. Of the Creation 43 7. Of God's Providence in the Preservation and Government of the World 43 8. Of IMan in his Original State of Innocence 43 9. Of the Covenant of Works 44 10. Of the Fall of Man, and Original Sin 44 11. Of the State of Man by Nature 45 ^^^2. Of the Election of Grace 45 1 3. Of the Eternal Covenant of Grace 46 14. Of the Person of the Father, and the work ascribed to Him in the Plan of Salvation 47 15. Of the Person of Christ, the Mediator 48 16. Of the Offices of the Mediator 48 17. Of the Humiliation and Exaltation of Christ 49 18. Of Redemption 51 19. Of the Intercession of Christ .. 52 20. Of the Person and Work of the Holv Ghost 53 VIU. CONTENTS. Page. 21. Of the Necessity for th(- Work of the Holy Ghost to appl\ the Plan of Salvation 54 22. Of the Call of the Gospel 54 23. Of Union with Christ 55 24. Of Justification 55 25. Of Adoption 56 26. Of Regeneration . . ^ 56 27. Of Sanetification 57 28. Of Saving Faith and its Fruits 58 29. Of Repentance unto Life 58 30. Of the Moral Law 59 31. Of Good Works 60 32. Of Peace of Conscience 61 33. Of the Assurance of Hope 62 -34. Of Perseverance in Grace 63 35. Of the Church 64 36. Of Church Fellowship 65 37. Of the Ordinances of the Gospel 65 38. ■ Of Baptism 66 39. Of the Lord's Supper 66 40. Of Obedience to the Civil Government 67 41. Of Death and the State of Men after Death 68 42. Of the Resurrection 69 43. Of the General Judgment 70 44. Of the Eternal State of the "Wicked and the Godly 71 APPENDIX. I. Ordination of Ministers : — Sixth Rule , .. 73 II. Ordination of Ministers : — Ordination Service 74 III. Rules of Discipline : — (1.) Seventh Rule 75 (2.) Twentieth Rule 76 IV. Constitution and Church Government 76 Y. Articles of Doctrine : — Eighteenth Article, " On Redemption." 77 HISTOEY OP THE CALYUSTISTIC METHODISTS. There is a natural impulse in man to join in society and friendship ; and union has ever been the means of securing mutual protection and aid. It is true that God's grace produces a great change in those who are brought under its influence ; but it should be observed that it changes their inclinations, not as they are creatures, but as they are sinful and corrupt creatures. He that is made a new creature has still the same faculties ; but those faculties, defiled by sin, are renewed to holiness by the Holy Ghost. The social impulses, therefore, are not only left unimpaired, but elevated by the Spirit of grace to seek holy ends, and transformed into spiritual graces. The Church of Christ is a spiritual society, founded upon, and springing from, the union of the members with one another, in their Head, which is the Lord Jesus. All the true members are united together in this glorious Head. Erom Him they aU receive a measure of his spirit of love and sympathy, and, in virtue of this union, are touched with a feeling of each other's sufferings, sorrows, and joys. Glorious indeed is the fellowship of the Church : for its members are united to God as their Father, to Christ as their Head and Spouse, to each other in Him, and to the Holy Spirit as the bond of union and its life for ever. It is manifest that mutual enjoy- ment of this union greatly increases their happiness and joy on earth and in glory : " I in them, and thou in me," says Christ to his Father, " that they may be made perfect in one." John xvii. 23. They are not, and never will be, perfect, without this exalted fellowship. ''How good," therefore, " and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Ps. cxxxiii. 1. These considerations, as well as the example of the Apostles and the early churches,* and the various exhortations to union in * That the Churches of Christ from the first, aoad sometimes the elders, held private meetings, besides those public assemblies at which the Gospel was preached to believers aud unbelievers, is very clear from maoy passages in the Book of Acts, the Epistles and 2 HISTOET. Scripture, led to the formation of tlie private societies among the Methodists. In this manner they unite together as members of the Chui'ch of Christ militant on earth, for the purpose of praying for and with each other, instructing each other, comforting the feeble-minded, warning the unruly, supporting the weak, and speaking a word in season to the fainting soul. There are thousands in Wales who can boldly testify to the spiritual benefit, comfort, and edification resulting from these societies. Ungodly revilers and blasphemers have mocked them ; but the reproach of such men is no proof that these societies are not a part of God's service. On the contrary, if they were not of God, why should the enemies of God blaspheme ? In order more fully to explain the origin and nature of these Societies, we shall here give a short account of the rise, progress, and organization of the Calvinistic Methodists in Wales. When a reformation of religion took its rise in this country in the former half of the eighteenth century, the name of Methodists was attached to the leaders and supporters of the movement and their followers. This reformation began in Oxford in the year .^1729. In November of that year, a Mr. Morgan, Mr. John Wesley, and a few other earnest young men, who were members of the University, agreed to meet together in the evenings to read the Greek Testament and other books. Shortly afterwards they agreed to visit the prisoners in the Castle once a week. Finding that their efforts were acceptable, and their exhortations profitable to the prisoners, they further agreed to visit the sick and the poor in all parts of the city, for the purpose of reading and praying with them, and supplying them with money to buy food and medicine. In the,year 1735, the celebrated Mr. Whitfield, at that time eigh- teen years of age, joined them. Their number in Oxford was now fourteen. In course of time their orderly life and persevering exertions gave rise to the name of Methodists. A youth happened the Letters to the Seven Churches in the Book of Revelation. Let the reader well consider the following and other passages : Acts, i. 13 — 15 ; ii. 1 ; iv. 23, 31 ; vi. 2, 6 ; xi. 1, 4, 22 ; xii. 12 ; xiii. 1, 2 ; xiv. 22, 23, 27 ; xv. 1—6, 22, 23, 32, 40, 41 ; xvi. 40; xviii. 22; xix. 9 ; XX. 1, 7, 18, 19, &c. ; xxl. 4, 5, 17—19, &c. ; 1 Cor. v. 4, U, 12, 13 ; xiv. 19, 23, 26 ; Col. iv. 16 ; Heb. X. 25 ; 3 John, 9, 10 ; Jude, 12. Tlie whole of the Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, &c., 5:c., prove the same thing. It is therefore beyond doubt that the early Christians had their Private Societies. HISTOEY. 3 io say of them, " Here is a new sect of Methodists sprung up," in allusion to an ancient sect of physicians, called Methodists, who practised by prescribed rules and allowed no experiments.* But the leaders of this small Society soon differed in their views of the principles of religion. In the year 1741 the Methodists in England divided into two sects, the one Calvinistic, under the leadership of Mr. Whitfield, the other Arminian, following Mr. John Wesley and Mr. Charles Wesley, f Similar causes produce similar effects. In the year 1735, the Eeformation spread to Wales, and the name of Methodists followed it there. The Welsh Eeformation began in this way. Howell Harris, Esq., of Trevecca, in Breconshire, had gone up to Oxford with the intention of taking orders. But he was soon wearied of the disorder and immorality of the place, and returned to his friends in Wales. In his native parish, and, by degrees, in the neighbour- ing parishes, he began to exhort from house to house. His fame spread through the country, and multitudes gathered to hear him. He is said to have spoken with such authority that many cried out on the spot under a sense of their lost condition. Family worship was introduced into many houses that had hitherto been prayerless. Upon this, the enemy awoke to oppose him; but, in spite of mockery, contempt, and threats, Harris went on his way unhindered till the end of the summer of 1736. In that year, at the request of many friends, he opened a school, first at Trevecca, afterwards in the parish church, and many young people came to him for further instruction in spiritual things. He frequented also the rehearsals of the choir, inspired by the same absorbing desire of speaking to them concerning their eternal interests. Many were convinced of sin by this means ; whereupon he formed private societies in various places. This is the first beginning of the private societies among the Methodists in Wales. In the following year, 1737, a gentleman in Eadnorshire requested Mr. Harris to preach at his house. In consequence of this many of the better class of • Gillies's Historical Collections, [Glasgow, 1754,] vol. II., pp. 53—60 ; Buck's Theological Dictionary;^. Ill, [Ed. 1816 ; p. 492, Henderson's Ed., 1847 ;] Evans's Sketch, p. 167, [Eighth Ed., 1803 ; p. 199, Burn's Ed., 1851 ;] Hanes Crefydd yn Nghymru, [by D. Peter; Carmar- then, 1816,] p. 626 ; Hanes y Bedyddtcyr, [by Joshua Thomas ; Carmarthen, 1778,J p. 54. t Evans's Sketch, [p. 200, Burn's Ed., 1851 ;] Buck's Theological Dictionary [s. v., Methodists, Protestant ;] Hanes Crefydd yn Nghymru, [p. 626.] 4 HISTOET. people came to hear Hm, and gave him a kind reception. He had up to this time kept on the school and gone about exhorting in the evenings, on the Sundays, and during the holidays. But towards the end of this year he was dismissed from the church school. This, however, opened the way for him to go wherever he was called, day and night alike ; and oftentimes he would address the people three, four, or five times on the same day. The opposition which he encountered kept pace with his success. The magistrates threatened fines and penalties ; the clergy denounced him as a deceiver and false prophet ; the common people almost eveiywhere were prompt to create a disturbance and pelt him with stones. It was not his custom to preach from any particular text of Scripture. He spoke what the Lord gave him at the time to speak, and that usually, as a son of thunder, with a view to alarming and convincing the ungodly. The work made such progress that, before the spring of the year 1739, three or four years after he had entered upon his public ministry, Mr. Harris had established about thirty societies in South "Wales. This was stated by himself in a conversation which he had with Mr. Whitfield, at Cardiff, on the 8th March of that year. Though these two eminent men had already known each other by report and by letter, they had never before met. This meeting cheered and revived the courage of both. On the 14th of the following August, Mr. Whitfield started on his second voyage to America.* The Eev. Grifiith Jones, of Llanddowror, in Carmarthenshire, was a very remarkable man, an earnest preacher, mighty in the Scrip- tures, diligent in the discharge of his laborious duties, and very successful in his ministry. It was within the pale of the Established Church that this eminent man continued to labour, though he preached occasionally in various parishes throughout the coimtry. He had been twenty- eight years in the ministry when Mr. Harris entered upon his work.f Ho did great service to the Welsh people, not only in his public ministrations, but also by his generous liberality. He obtained for them two editions of the Bible, and * Gillies's Historical Collections, vol. II., p. 110, t Tnjxorfa, vol. II. : JIuiics ij Pair/tedi'j Griffith Jones. Sec also his Life in the Gospel ^lagazine, for July [and August] 1777. HISTOET. 5 €stablislied tlie free circular schools, in most parts of tlie Princi- pality, for the purpose of teaching the poor to read. He published an accountof these schools annually for twenty-four years, from 1737 to 1760. In the latter year the schools numbered 215, the scholars 8,687. The schools were established six or seven years before the date at which his report of them begins.* The celebrated Daniel Eowlands, of Llangeitho, in Cardiganshire, was probably the first clergyman of the Established Church openly to come to Mr. Harris's assistance, and the first of the Welsh clergy to be called a Methodist. We shall in this place -cite the words of a writer of another denomination, who was a contemporary of these men and knew them well : — "A great number of the Welsh people, youths as well as others, were totally irreligious, frequenting dances and drunken carousals, and indulging in other ungodly amusements. Yet most of them considered themselves members of the Church of England. Mr. Harris visited all parts of the country, uttering terrible denun- ciations against all swearers, blasphemers, drunkards, fighters, liars, and Sabbath-breakers. He scattered, so to speak, the fire of hell among them. He exhorted from house to house, or in the open air ; no matter where, if he could only gather a congregation. In this he was not unlike Mr. Walter Cradoc, Mr. Vavasor Powell, and others, who had itinerated through various parts of Wales about a hundred years before him. But this was so great a novelty in our days that large crowds collected to hear him. About the same time, Mr. Daniel Eowlands, a clergyman in Cardiganshire, began to preach with unusual power. I remember hearing him preach in the year 1737, or thereabouts, to a large congregation in Carmarthenshire. I heard some Dissenters say, as they were returning home, that they had never heard his equal in the Church of England, except Mr. Griffith Jones, and that no other such light had in their days been kindled in the Church. Shortly afterwards appeared Mr. William Williams and Mr. Peter Williams, in Carmar- thenshire, Mr. Howel Davies, in Pembrokeshire, all of them clergymen of the Church of England ; and several others in various * His account of these Schools was written in English under the name of " Welch Piety: [or a collection of the several accounts of the circulating Welch Charity Schools ;" in three Tolumes, London.] b HISTOEY. parts of the country. These men, together vnih a great number of exhorters, some of whom were more eminent than the rest, preached thi'oughout Wales. In this manner the whole country was stirred. The people forsook their sinful amusements, conversed about religion, and gathered together in religious societies. Thus a great reformation spread through the land. Ever since that time the knowledge of God has wonderfully increased throughout Wales ; for many people, who had never entered a chapel and seldom a church, were induced to come to hear the gospel preached in dwelling-houses, highways, and hedges."* Another writer speaks of the reformation in these words : — '* This reformation not only gave birth to a new sect in Wales, but also revived the existing sects ; for though the Dissenters in Wales possessed even then eminent and useful men, yet a spiritual sleep and stagnation had, to a great extent, overtaken all sects. At the Methodist reformation, the day broke and the sun rose upon all the Calvinistic sects throughout England and Wales."! The spiritual condition of the whole kingdom was similar to that of Wales. "It is said that the whole kingdom of England was tending fast to infidelity. ' It is come,' says Bishop Butler, | ' I know not how, to be taken for granted by many persons, that Christianity is not so much as a subject of inquiry, but that it is, now at length, discovered to be fictitious. And accordingly they treat it, as if, in the present age, this were an agreed point among all people of discernment, and nothing remained but to set it up as a piincipal subject of mirth and ridicule, as it were by way of reprisals, for its having so long interrupted the pleasures of the world.' There is every reason to believe that the Methodists were the instruments of stemming this torrent. "§ Of this reformation a godly clergyman, || speaking of Mr. Whit- field, observes : "He was raised up to shine in a dark placfe. The * ffanes y Bedyddwyr ymhlUh y Cymry, p. 53. t Banes Prydain Fawr, [by Titus Lewis,] pp. 567, 8, [Ed. 1810 ; p. 599, Ed. 1857.] t [Advertisement prefixed to the First Edition of the Analogy.] § Buck's Theological Dictionary [5. v. Methodists, Protestant,] p. Ill ; [p. 492, Hender- son's Ed., 1847.] II Mr. New-ton, in his Funeral Sermon for Mr. Whitfidd. His text \vas John, v. 35. [This sermon is not in Cecil's Edition of Newton's Works, but a part of it is given in the Appendix to Dr. GilUes's Memoirs qf Whitfield. It was preached at Ohiey, Nov. 11, 1770.] HISTOEY. • state of religion, wlien lie first appeared in public, was very low in our established cburch. I speak the truth, though to some it may be an offensive truth. The doctrines of grace were seldom heard from the pulpit, and the life and power of godliness were little known. Many of the most spiritual among the Dissenters were mourning under the sense of a great spreading declension on their side." Another writer,* after citing Mr. Newton's words, adds: '^I believe this sums up the whole truth concerning the religious condition of England and Wales before the rise of Methodism." The reformation spread as a mighty conflagration, which torrents of derision and persecution, so far from extinguishing, kindled into a fiercer blaze. Before the close of the year 1742, ten clergymen had come forward to aid the work. Mr. Harris writes to Mr. Whitfield, in a letter dated October 15, 17-12 : "I have heard," he says, *'most glorious news from Wales of the success attending brother Eowlands and many others. . They are wounded by scores, and flock under the word by thousands. . . . There is [are] now in Wales ten clergymen, who are wonderfully owned of the Lord Jesus Christ. "f Another writer, in a letter written on the 26th October of the same year to the editor of the Glasgow Weekly History, in giving "some account of religion in the Principality of Wales," thus speaks of Mr. Daniel Eowlands : * ' He had at his church some time ago above two thousand communicants. Almost all the lower part of the county is becoming religious, since Mr. Howell Harris and the Methodists laboured there. "J It is supposed that Mr. William Williams was the first Methodist clergyman to leave the Established Church. This occurred in' the year 1743, three years after he had entered the ministry. He was never in full orders, the Bishop having refused to give him priest's orders because of his irregular conduct in preaching in places other than the parish churches. § ♦ Hanes y Bedyddioyr yn mhlith y Cymry : At y Darllenyddy t Gillies's Historical Collections, vol. II., p. 134. JGillies's Historical Collections, vol. II., p. 135- § Trysorfa, vol. II., p, 446. 8 HISTOEY. About this time, when Mr. W. Williams left the Church, the first Association was held by the Calvinistic Methodists in "Wales. They met in the house of a person whose name was Jeffrey Dafydd, of Ehiwiau, in the parish of Llanddousant, in Carmarthenshire. Mr. Howell Harris, the Eev. Daniel Eowlands, the Eev. W. Williams, and two or three exhorters were present. Though they were few in number, the meeting was greatly honoured with the Lord's presence.* A pious gentleman, Mr. JosejDh Williams, of Kidderminster, has inserted in his diary, under date of June 28, 1746, four years after this meeting, an account of an Association, held that week at Trevecca, at which he was present. He says, " We assembled for religious worship in a barn, near Mr. Howell Harris's. There were present three clergymen, viz., Mr. Daniel Eowlands, Mr. Howell Dayies, and Mr. Williams, and about twenty exhorters, f one of whom, Mr. Eichards,| preached and prayed in Welsh." After speaking of their love to one another, and the unction that rested upon them, he proceeds: "I learned from them that the Lord had remarkably raised up the Eev. Mr. Eowlands, in Cardiganshire, and Mr. Howell Harris, in Breconshire, at one and the same time with Mr. Whitfield and the Wesleys, and all independent of each other ; and had wonderfully owned their endeavoui's, and spread their influence over the greatest part of Wales ; and aU in the space of eleven years from the first beginning of it, so that ^Ndthin the principality of Wales, about six or seven clerg5Tnen,§ forty exhorters, and a hundred and forty religious societies, were now preaching and receiving the pure gospel of Christ," in connection with the Calvinistic Methodists. " Mr. Eowlands," he adds, "could teU me that he had three thousand communicants ; and Mr. Da\'ies told me that he has two thousand in Pembrokeshire : — so mightily hath the word of God grown and prevailed there !"|| * See Tnjsorfa: Hanes Mr. William Williams, [vol. II., p. 449.] t This name was, at that time, given to all preachers who had not taken orders in the Church of England. t This was probably the person who was generallj' called William Richard Llwyd, ol Llan^reitho. § The number of clergymen is not quite certain. Mr. Harris says, in the year 1742, that ten liad come forward to help the good work of the Methodist Reformation. See p. 7 II Evangelical Magazine, November, 1814, p. 418. HISTOET. y Ever since that time Associations have been held quarterly by the Methodists. Monthly Meetings also are spoken of as an established thing as early as 1747.* In that year a place of worship was built at Builth, in Breconshire, which is the first chapel erected by the Calvinistic Methodists in Wales. In the following year two others were built in Carmarthenshire, f While great success followed their labours in South Wales, they suffered in North Wales cruel persecutions and oppression. The poorest sort of people, who showed a readiness to receive the Gospel, had to pay fines to the amount of £80. Some were totally ruined, being robbed of all their scanty means of subsistence ; and even the pillow under the head of the child in its cradle was taken by their cruel persecutors. J In the year 1747, the brethren in South Wales exerted them- selves to make collections to assist their poor brethren, who had been thus robbed, in North Wales, and to defray the expenses of a lawsuit which they had instituted in defence of the Gospel. § The brethren in South Wales continued for many years, faith- fully and generously, to send preachers to North Wales and defray their expenses, for the purpose of assisting the few poor, miserable people, who had there been brought to love the Gospel. Many of those preachers were shamefully ill-treated in various places; some of them were in peril of their lives. In spite of hindrances and persecutions, the Gospel won its way in North Wales. This little sister, having at that time no breasts, soon became a joyful mother of children. Quarterly associations and monthly meetings were held, places of worship were built, in * [A reference to " Monthly Meetings " occurs in a letter of Howell Harris, dated April 18, 1743 : " The private Exhorters [are] to come themselves to our Monthly Meetings, that which is nearest them, where the Ministers and Superintendents are to be -also as many as can. I believe the plan in general is of Grod, and consequently will stand." Christian History, vol. III., Number ii., p. 28.] t See the " Christian History ; or, A General Account of the Progress of the Gospel in England, Wales, Scotland, and America : [so far as The Rev. Mr. Whitefield, his Fellow- Labourers, and his Assistants are concerned." London, 1741 and following years. The references are to the volume published in 1747.] Pp. 179, 180. X Inasmuch as descendants of the ringleader of these persecutions are now not only kindly disposed, but also liberal and helpful, to the cause of the Gospel, we refrain from enlarging upon this subject. § Christian History, pp. 180-1. 10 HTSTOEY. North as well as in South Wales, though for some years the hearers of the Gospel were not so numerous. But the Lord raised up eminent and successful preachers ; a few clergymen joined the Connexion ; and, under God's blessing on the united efforts of his servants, the work prospered in North "Wales also, as we see this day. Wo may now ask, in the words of the Prophet, " Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro ?" {Iscc. xlix. 21). In addition to the frequent and various onsets of public enemies and cruel persecutors of religion, the Methodists had, from time to time, to encounter among themselves the opposition of false doctrines. Before the year 1760, the flattering subtlety of Anti- nomianism was busily sowdng the seeds of carnal liberty. About the year 1765, Sandemanianism with brazen front assailed the Con- nexion. Before the year 1770, Sabellianism, the doctrine of the natural man, insinuated itself among us. In the first years of the present century, Neonomianism decked itself out in a new guise and, appearing specious to natural minds, well nigh spoiled some through its philosophy and vain deceit. Individuals, here and there, were deceived by one or another of these errors. Yet the connexion, as such, may, through the great mercy of God, say, in the Apostle's words (2 Tim. iii. 11), "Out of them aU the Lord delivered me." From time to time the Lord raised up men to labour zealously and faithfully for the truth, and, as watchmen on the walls, to guard his cause against the treachery and de\'ices of false teachers, as well as rightly to divide the word of truth and give to God's household their meat in due season. Besides the eminent men already mentioned, whose exertions were crowned with so great success at the beginning of the Methodist reformation, the Lord, in his great mercy, that the cause might not die away mth the first generation, raised up others, having the same spirit. Many of them had assisted the first reformers and been for years their contemporaries. They were thus trained to take their place, when the Lord would call their predecessors from their labours, as Joshua was trained by Moses, and Elisha by Elijah. Several of the second generation of Methodists had taken orders in the Church of England ; and the Lord raised up many laymen HISTOEY. 11 also, who became very useful and eminent preachers. A few of these are still living. We have already named the Eev. Howell Davies, who laboured in Pembrokeshire, and the Eev. Peter WilHams and the Eev. W. Williams, both of whom laboured in Carmarthenshire. These were men of might in the Methodist reformation. Two learned and eloquent clergymen, who greatly assisted the Connexion, still live in Pembrokeshire, the Eev. N. Eowlands, son of the eminent evangelist, Mr. D. Eowlands, of Llangeitho, and the Eev. D. Griffiths, incumbent of Nevern. Another respected and useful preacher of the name of Mr. John Harris laboured in that county. His son also, Mr. Evan Harris, and several others were acceptable preachers in the Connexion. In Glamorganshire laboured the Eev. D. Jones, of Llangan, and the Eev. W. Davies, of Neath, both of whom were eminently faithful and successful in their ministry, Mr. Y/. Thomas, of Pyle, Mr. David Williams, and many other estimable and useful men, some of whom remain to this day. In Cardiganshire, the Eev. John Williams, formerly of Lledrod, who still survives in old age, Mr. David Morris, Mr. William Eichard Llwyd, of Llangeitho, and many others, laboured with unusual power and success. In Car- marthenshire, Mr. William Llwyd, of Caio, and Mr. John Evans, of Cil Cwm, were earnest, zealous, and evangelical preachers. In Carnarvonshire, Mr. John Pierce, Mr. Eobert Eoberts, and Mr. Eobert Jones, who is still living, were highly esteemed as useful men. In Denbighshire, Mr. David Jones, of Adwy'r Clawdd, was eminently useful. So also was Mr. John Owens, of Berthen Gron, in Flintshire. He was the first to build a Methodist Chapel in that county, at Berthen Gron, in the years 1775-6. He finished his course of earnest and valuable work on the 1st of April, 1776. He died at Llangurig in Montgomeryshire, on his return from Llangeitho, whither he had gone to secure Mr. Eowlands's services at the opening of the chapel which he had built. Mr. John Evans, of Bala, was mighty in the Scriptures, firm and steadfast in upholding the principles of the Christian.religion. He stood as a faithful witness for the truth, in doctrine and discipline, for the unusually long period of seventy-five years. Mr. Thomas Jones, of Denbigh, was a man of great eminence, and, to the end of his life, one of the most useful men, in his sphere of labour, in every part of the Lord's work. 1 2 HISTOET. There were many other eminent and useful men whom in this short history we must leave unnoticed. "We shall, however, briefly refer to the labours of the Eev. T. Charles, of Bala, for the glory of Christ and the salvation of souls, in order to show how the Connexion was brought into its present form. Though named last, he was far from being the least. On the contraiy, we have no doubt that every unprejudiced man who knew him will readily say of him, in the words of Solomon {Prov. xxxi. 29): "Many have done virtuously, but thou excellcst them all." As Mr. Charles's "Life" has been published, we shall mention a few things only touching his work for God, and chiefly his work in our Connexion. He was born and bred in Carmarthenshire ; was educated for the ministry at the best schools in that county ; entered the University of Oxford, where he took orders in the year 1778; ministered for seven years within the pale of the Established Church, but, when every door of usefulness was closed to him* in the Church, at length, in the year 1785, joined the Methodists, among whom he laboured with eminent success to the end of his life. It was, probably, in August, 1785, that the celebrated ISIr. Daniel Eowlands, of Llangeitho, heard him preach, and joyfully said of him, " Charles is the Lord's gift to North "Wales." His biographer observes : "Yea, undoubtedly, we may add, to South Wales «Zso." Many are stDl living who will bear ready testimony to the truth of this remark. They may, indeed, now add, he was the Lord's gift not only to the whole of Wales, and not only to the v.iiole of Great Britain, but also to other countries and nations still afar off.* It is well known in "Wales, and even in England, that Mr. Charles laboured with great earnestness, in many ways, for the cause of Christ. The results of his labours are not confined to Great Britain. By means of the Missionary Society and the Bible Society he aimed at spreading the knowledge of the Lord over the face* of the earth. "When the Methodists began to unite together they had no fixed form of church government. They framed rules and regulations simply as the circumstances of the Connexion requii'cd, and in accordance with the precepts of Holy Scriptures. The clothes of » Cqfiant Mr. Charles [p. 161]. HISTORY. 13 the child will not fit the man. As the number of churches and of members increased, occasions arose, from time to time, for framing rules and settling points of discipline, having reference either to the whole Connexion, or to the work and province of the church officers, or to individual members. Mr. Charles, in co-operation with his brethren, did more than anybody else to give the Connexion its present form and organiza- tion. At an Association, held at Bala, June 9, 1790, the following rules were adopted for the order of proceedings at the Quarterly Associations : — 1. That those persons only who minister in the Church in holy things, that is, who labour in the doctrine or are leaders in spiritual things in the private societies, shall be members of the Association of North Wales. 3. That the Association be held quarterly at the place and time agreed to by the members themselves. 3. That the preachers meet apart at ten o'clock in the morn- ing of the first day of the Association, to exhort, instruct, and admonish each other in the spirit of love, that union and brotherly love may abound, and that, by mutual help, they may become the light of the world and salt which has not lost its savour. 4. That all who are, by the first rule, members of the Association, meet at two o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, and at eight o'clock on the following morning. The door shall be closed at haK- past two and half -past eight, after which none shall be admitted without the special permission of the assembly. 5. That the members assembled choose one of the brethren to preside. It will be his duty to see that all things are done decently and in order, and for edification. 6. That every member be at liberty to speak upon the subject under discussion, until the matter is decided. None shall make long speeches, unless it be at the request of the assembly on a subject of special importance. 7. That at one of these meetings spiritual subjects only be introduced. By spiritual subjects we mean the doctrines of the Gospel, together with a spiritual experience of them, religious exercises, church discipline, &c. Matters of business must be discussed and settled at the r-.-f-bpv meeting. 14 HISTOBT. 8. When no special subject is introduced for consideration, one of the members shall be examined with reference to his knowledge of the doctrines of the Gospel, his experience of them, and his fellowship with God. These things caimot be repeatedly neglected T^ithout injury to the Connexion ; neither will they be neglected as long as the life of religion and the power of godliness abide among us. Or else, let a portion of the Bible be read with deliberation and intelligence, and let a portion of the Bible or a doctrine of religion be laid down as a subject for consideration and enquiry. 9. Every disputed point shall be decided deliberately by a majority. The minority, who differ in opinion, should submit peaceably, and be kindly affectioned towards their brethren. 10. Every Monthly Meeting shall give to every one of its members, who is also a member of the Association, a printed certificate, in which his name and that of the Monthly Meeting shall be inserted. This only will give him admittance into the private meetings of the Association. 11. The Connexion in North Wales readily and affectionately in\'ite all their brethren from South Wales, that may be present, to take part in every discussion and deliberation, inasmuch as we are anxious to keep the unity of the Connexion unimpaired throughout Wales, and thankfully to acknowledge also our obligations to them for granting us the same privileges.* As the Connexion daily increased, and the number of clergymen that had joined us was becoming quite insuflB.cient to meet its requirements, it was found necessary to administer the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper more regularly. We cannot do better than cite the words of the late Mr. Jones, of Denbigh, on this subject. In or about the year 1809, he wrote as follows : — *' In this place I should state that several of my brethren, as weU as myself, had, for a year or two, been endeavouring to secure the administration of the ordinance of Baptism in the Connexion, of which we are members, and the more frequent and, if possible, more constant administration of the Lord's Supper. Hitherto tho members of the Coraiexion had usually had their children baptised in the Church of England ; many too had been in the habit of receiving the communion in the Church, though the * Trysorfa Ysbrydol, vol. I., p. 22. HISTOKY. 15 number of those that did so was becoming constantly less. A few clergymen, who had joined the Connexion, administered the ordinance of the Lord's Supper in several of our chapels. But they were few, and the Connexion was, through God's great goodness, increasing greatly throughout Wales, so that many of our churches were deprived of the Lord's Supper for a year or more ; to some of them it had riever been administered." Mr. Jones gives his reasons, in a letter to a friend, for believing in the necessity of securing the administration of the Sacraments in the Connexion : — "The following considerations," he says, "seem to me to have much force : "1. The Scriptures clearly and explicitly command the admini- etration of the two Sacraments in the Cljurch of Christ, and clearly favour the more frequent, if not also more constant, administra- tion of the Lord's Supper than is the case among us. "2. I cannot remember seeing any definition of the visible church, which did not include its being a congregation of people, in which the pure word of God is preached and the Sacraments are duly administered. "3. I observe that Baptism is not, as a rule, administered among us. "4. In several of our churches many of the members are very unwilling to have their children baptised in the Church of England and by her ministers. This unwillingness is increasing and spreading continually. And very few of our members are inclined to receive the communion in the Church of England. *' 5. The consciences of many of our fellow-members are offended l)y being compelled to seek baptism for their children from the unawakened ministers of the Church of England. "6. Many seek this ordinance from the ministers of another denomination, though they do it, for many reasons, unwillingly. "7. We ought not to incur the guilt of urging the members of the Connexion to seek either of the two Sacraments outside the pale of the Connexion to which they belong. To do so is contrary to the word of God and the usual practise of the Churches of God in every age and country."* * Cofiant Mr. Jones, pp. 69, 70. 16 HISTOEY. Mr. Charles and others gave this subject their serious and earnest consideration. In several of the Quarterly Associations the nature of the Ordinances of the Gospel "was discussed. Afterwards a Committee was formed, consisting of several of the most judicious, earnest, and godly elders, in various counties of North Wales, to take this important matter into consideration. Mr. Charles was chosen to preside. This Committee unanimously resolved that a number of preachers, in every county, should be ordained to ad- minister the ordinances. Accordingly, June, 1811, eight preachers were ordained in the manner described in the following pages. In August of that year, thirteen brethren were, in the same manner^ ordained in South Wales. IT THE METHOD OE ORDINATIOIir ADOPTED BY TKE CALVINISTIC METHODISTS IK WALES. The members of every general society must lay aside their own opinions, in order, by agreement on certain central points, to unite together, and, when formed into a society, co-operate in peace and without hindrance. Whoever refuses to do this has no fitn^s for being a member of any society. No one is required altogether to abandon his own opinions, but simply, as member of the society, to hold them in abeyance, or else cease to avail himself of the privileges that membership secures. It is unbecoming in any man to think that all will agree with him in their judgment on every subject, or that it is every man's duty to bow to his opinions. The Calvinistic Methodists in Wales are a very numerous body, and it would be unjust to expect all the members of so large a body to agree in every particular of church organization. Men differ in the extent of their knowledge and the measure of their grace. They also imbibe prejudices during their early training from which they cannot entirely rid themselves, and which must be tolerated for the sake of the usefulness and peace of the Connexion. To seek points of agreement, that wiU bring all to work peaceably together, is becoming and in itself desirable ; for it helps to promote the general welfare of the Connexion. Hitherto union and brotherly love have largely prevailed among us, and this, under the Lord's blessing, has been in a great measure the cause of our prosperity and usefulness. Disputes and contentions greatly hinder spiritual usefulness and edification. Speaking generally, the Connexion agrees on every important doctrine and rule of discipline. But, to ensure our mutual comfort and usefulness, change of circum- stances entails a corresponding change in our methods of procedure. The following rules, unanimously adopted by the Connexion, rest upon a broad foundation, so that the claims of no person's private convictions are unduly infringed. Inasmuch as the number of the clergy of the Established Church that labour in the ministry among us is insufficient, owing to the B 18 METHOD OF OEMNATION. growth of the Connexion, the extension of the work and the consequent increase in the number of churches, to administer the sacraments and ordinances to all the members of the Connexion, and inasmuch as the churches in the towns of England suffer great inconvenience because the holy sacraments cannot be administered to them except by ministers of other denominations — for these and other reasons we consider it proper and necessary — 1. To ordain a sufiicient number of preachers, in the several counties, to assist the clergy, who at present administer the ordinances in the Connexion. 2. To make our selection, in the first place, from among the senior preachers, who have given satisfactory evidence of their faithfulness, sobriety, earnestness, godliness, and gifts for the work of the Lord. 3. Not to choose anyone for ordination of whose life and ministry the Connexion has not had proof for at least five years, inasmuch as the Apostle charges Timothy to lay hands suddenly on no man, lest, by so doing, he should be partaker of other men's sins, nor to choose for the ofiB.ce of bishop a novice in the faith. 4. That the elders and the ordained ministers consult together once a year in their Monthly Meetings, whether it is necessary to ordain a larger number of preachers, and enquire who are the most worthy persons to be ordained ; and that they appoint two elders to represent them and make known their views at the Quarterly Association, at which the representatives of all the Monthly Meet- ings shall deliberate on the subject, and that afterwards these representatives shall, each at his own Monthly Meeting, make known the decision of the Association. 5. That the choice of every Monthly Meeting and its representa- tives be made known to and confirmed by the representatives of the whole Connexion assembled in the Quarterly Association ; and that the matter be decided annually at the Summer Associations, at which a greater number of representatives are likely to be present. 6. That no ordained preacher shall consider himself the minister of one church more than of another ; * but that all may administer, * Though they are not called to be stated ministers, yet they are expected to take more particular care of the church of which they are members and the neighbouring churches. METHOD OF ORDINATION. 19 as they do at present, the sacraments in every churcli within the Connexion, as their own convenience and the demand of the churches may determine.* 7. That their number shall be increased as the growth of the Connexion may require. 8. That the Connexion shall solemnly choose and ordain them in the following manner :— The third chapter of the First Epistle to Timothy and the first chapter of the Epistle to Titus shaU be read in their hearing; after which one of the ministers shall offer prayer; then they shall answer appropriate questions on the doctrines of the gospel, &c.; and, lastly, the Connexion shall be asked to signify its approval by show of hands, not by laying on of hands, unless that method be deemed more proper and desirable. We do not consider that the laying on of hands is essentially necessary to a due appointmentt to a holy office; for we have examples of persons bemg appointed to offices in the Church without it, for instance the twelve Apostles, the seventy, the apostle Paul, &c. ' 9. That the present method of administering the holy Supper be generally followed as closely as may be, though we bind no man to conform m thmgs debateable and doubtful, but aUow that latitude m all our arrangements which befits the broad dispensation of the * [See Appendix I.] t Men were formerly chosen and ordained in two ways; (1.) By prayer and casting of lots. In this manner Matthias was chosen in the place of Judas, Acts i 25 He was ordamed to an extraordinary office, that is, to be an Apostle instead of Judas and his appomtment required the direct interference of the Lord. (2.) By the people's vote which was given by show of hands : " And when they had ordained them elders in every church " Acts XIV., 23. The Greek word here used (x^iporovrmavTe^) means that the mem- bers of the Church chose the elders, and gave their vote by show of hands. The word is translated « choose " in 2 Cor. viii. 19, and Act^ x. 41. We have no instance of an ordinary mmister being ordained by laying on of hands, nor indeed of any except extraordinary persons laying their hands, and that only upon extraordinary persons ; and this was not done at their ordination. Paul and Barnabas were in their office long before that laying on of hands occurred, which is mentioned in Acts xiii. 1-3. They were extraordinary per sons, and called to an extraordinary work among the Gentiles. Timothy received oifis not ordination, by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery, 1 Tim. iv 14 But masmuch as ministers have nothing to bestow, we see no propriety in using the rite which signifies bestowal. An extraordinary gift was bestowed by an extraordinary person on another pei-son whose office was extraordinary. These considerations lead us to the conclu- sion, which IS accepted by many learned men of great eminence, that laying on of hands rs unnecessary to the ordination of any person, unless we had something to bestow thereby, as others had in former times. "«tuw 20 METHOD OF OBDrNATIOK". Gospel, in order that all may unite together without scruples of conscience. 10. That ordained preachers be authorised to administer the two ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 11. That every church or preacher that refuses to abide by these rules and regulations cease to belong to the Connexion, and to enjoy its privileges. The whole of the Connexion of Calvinistic Methodists, in North and South Wales, adopted these rules and regulations without a dissentient voice, and hitherto harmony and peace have prevailed among us. Every Connexion has a right to frame rules that they consider most in accordance with Scripture and inost expedient to themselves. He who cannot accept them is not bound to remain, but it would be becoming in him to depart in peace. At the Annual Meeting held at Bala* on the 19th and 20th of June, 1811, eight brethi-en were ordained in the following manner : First, the oldest and most revered member of the Connexion, John Evans of Bala, read 1 Tim. iii., making, as he read, simple and appropriate remarks on the qualifications required in ministers of the Gospel ; and when he had read the chapter, he prayed in language simple and appropriate to the occasion. Second, the Eev. T. Charles, of Bala, read, iu the hearing of all, the names of those who had been chosen by the Monthly Meetings : — Thomas Jones and John Davies, from Denbighshire ; John Elias and Eichard Lloyd, from Anglesey ; Evan Eichards, from Carnar- vonshire ; John Eoberts, from Merionethshire ; Evan Griffiths and William Jones, from Montgomeryshire; and Eobert Ellis, from Flintshire, t "SMien he had read the names of these brethren to the representa- tives of the Connexion, about three hundred ia number, the Eev. Thomas Charles requested them to signify by show of hands if thej' wished him to ask these brethren a few questions, in their * The ordination service held in South Wales was conducted in the same manner, but partly by different persons. t Mr. Eobert Ellis had been previously ordained by another denomination, before he joined the ilethodists. It was now he received permission to administer the sacraments in this Coimexion. METHOD OF ORDINATIOI^. 21 hearing, concerning tlie fundamental doctrines of tlie Christian religion. This being the unanimous wish of the assembly, he asked the following questions, to which he received very appropriate* and satisfactory answers : — What is your belief — 1. Concerning the being and attributes of God ? 2. Concerning the Trinity ? 3. Concerning the word of God ? 4. Concerning God's decree and election ? •o. Concerning God's providence ? 6. Concerning the fall and corruption of man ? 7. Concerning the moral law ? 8. Concerning the Person of Christ ? 9. Concerning the offices of Christ ? 10. Concerning the sacrifice of Christ and redemption ? 11. Concerning justification ? 12. Concerning the Person of the Holy Ghost ? 13. Concerning the work of the Holy Ghost in the plan of salvation ? 14. Concerning the call of the gospel ? 15. Concerning perseverance in grace ? 16. Concerning the resurrection ? 17. Concerning the general judgment? 18. What ordinances do you believe to have been divinely appointed ? 19. What is your belief concerning Baptism and the Lord's Supper — their purpose, use, and signification ? 20. Do you sincerely approve of the church government of the Calvinistic Methodists in Wales ? 21. Do you intend, as far as it lies in your power, and with the Lord's help, to maintain the unity of the Connexion in the form in which the Lord has hitherto so greatly blessed it, and set your faces against all unprofitable and contentious disputes that tend to gender strifes ? When he had asked these questions and received their simple and intelligent answers, he requested the Connexion to declare, by show of hands, if they chose these brethren to administer the * [See Appendix II.] 22 METHOD OF ORDINATION. ordinances of Baptism and tlie L( id's Supper among them. They did SO unanimously. After this the Eev. Thomas Charles asked the brethren — 22. Do you, with full consent of mind, accept the call of the Connexion to administer the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and are you resolved to labour faithfully and diligently, to feed the flock of God by administering to them the divine ordinances with all earnestness, according to the help that God may give you ? They answered humbly and simply, ' "We do,' and earnestly desii-ed the prayers of the whole Connexion. After this, the aged brother, Eobert Jones of Carnarvonshire, addressed a few words of earnest exhortation to them and the Connexion generally, and closed the meeting with a fervent prayer appropriate to the occasion. At a meeting held at Llandeilo-Fawr the following brethren were ordained in a similar manner, to assist the clergy who might unite with them in South Wales: — John Evans, David Eees, Arthur Evans, and David Charles, from Carmarthenshire ; James James, David Parry, and Evan Evans, from Breconshire ; Ebenezer Morris, John Thomas, and Ebenezer Eichards, from Cardiganshire; Evan Harries, from Pembrokeshire ; Hopkin Bevan, from Glamor- ganshire ; and John Eees, from Monmouthshire. The Eev. John Williams, of Cardiganshire, offered prayer ; the Eev. Thomas Charles asked the questions ; and the Eev. John Williams, of Pantycelyn, closed the meeting with prayer. 28 ETILES OE DISCIPLI]01. We deem it necessary to lay down a few short and clear rules whereby we may order our conversation aright. It seemed to us that the following are all grounded upon Holy Scripture, which is our complete and certain rule, and none may be admitted into full and permanent membership in our private societies who do not assent, and earnestly endeavour to conform, to them. None may be admitted into membership of whom we cannot entertain a reasonable hope that they possess these qualifications : — I. That they be, in a measure, convinced of sia by the Holy Ghost, poor in spirit, sorrowing for sin after a godly sort, and seeking to be delivered from it : John xvi. 8 ; Ads ii. 37, 38 ; xvi. 30. II. That they be, more or less, convinced of their need of Christ, in his righteousness and grace, as a perfect Mediator and mighty Saviour : John xvi. 8, 9 ; Phil. iii. 7-9. III. That they hunger and thirst for Christ and his righteous- ness, and, consequently, show all diligence to make the right use of the means of grace, — the hearing of the word, the ordinances of the Gospel, and the assembling themselves together, to the end that they may grow in the knowledge of Christ and in likeness to him : Matt. v. 6 ; Heh. x. 25 ; Rom. x. 17. lY. That they hold no opinions or views which are contrary to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity ; for instance, that they do not deny the doctrine of the Trinity, &c. , &c. * Y. That they be not perverse disputers, ' ' doting about questions, and strifes of words," but humble, meek, easy to be entreated, showing a readiness to learn the way of God more perfectly : Acts xviii. 26 ; 1 Tim. vi. 4. VI. That they be bent upon forsaking all the paths of sin and shame, which are contrary to the word of God and mar the beauty of the christian character ; and that they have no fellowship with * On these doctrines, see " Confession of Faith." 24 ETJLF.S OF DISCIPLINE. the vanities of the "world, and the unfruitful works of darkness ; such as gatherings for foolish pleasure, wakes, dances, plays, banquettings, revellings, carousals, and other things of like nature: 2 Cor. vi. 17; Rom. xii. 2; 1 Cor. x. 31 ; Eph. v. 1, 4, 7, 18 ; Phil. iv. 8 ; Tit. ii. 11, 12 ; Isa. v. 22 ; 1 Pet. iv. 3. YII. That they be not yoked together in marriage with unbelievers,* nor, previous to or at their marriage, follow the wanton and corrupt practices of the world : 2 Tim. ii. 22 ; 2 Cor. vi. 14; Deut. vii. 3; Ezra ix. 1-3, &c. ; Mai. ii. 11. f Vm. That they be not covenant breakers, but conscientious in performing, as much as lies in them, all their lawful engagements. He that makes a covenant swears by the Lord, and the righteous God is witness. The righteous man *'sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not : " Ps. xv. 4 ; 1 Kings ii. 43 ; Rom. i. 31. J IX. That they hold family worship at least twice a day, " rule well their own house," and "bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord : " Jer. x. 25 ; Ps. Ixxix. 6 ; E])h. vi. 4; 1 Tim. iii. 4. X. That they, and all who are under their care, keep holy the Sabbath day, by abstaining on that day from worldly business, * Besides those nations -which do not profess and call themselves Christians, we are of opinion that the following persons must be classed among unbelievers : — 1. The enemies of religion and true godliness, who blaspheme all that will live godly in Christ Jesus. 2. Those whose ungodly life plainly shows that they are unbelievers. 3. Heretics and seducers, who deny the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, such as the divinity of Christ, justification by faith, the work of the Holy Spirit on the soul of the sinner, &c 4. All are unbelievers who are not in Church fellowship and do not study to observe the rites, and discharge the duties, of religion in private and in public. See " Trysorja Ysbrydol," vol. I., p. 25. t[AppendLx III. (1.)] t Covenants are the bonds of all union between man and man ; the covenant breaker destroys, therefore, everj' tie of social union, and by this means introduces into society distrust, disorder, injustice, and hatred. He -oho is unfaithful to his lawful engagements transgresses the ninth commandment, which requii-es us to speak the truth, as becometh saints, to as well as of our neighbour. Several instances are mentioned in Scripture of God's judgment upon covenant breakers, Joshua and tlic children of Israel made a league with the Gibeonites, to let them dwell among them in peace (Josh, ix ;) but Saul slew some of them (1 Sam. xiii.; for wliich there ■was a famine in the land for three years, and seven of Saul's sons were delivered into the hands of the Gibeonites and hanged (2 Sam. xxi.) A covenant breaker is a false swearer, and brings down God's judgment on his own head : "They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant, thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field ;" Bos. x. 4 ; see also Ezek. xvii, IG ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 13. EULES OF DISCIPLINE. 25 and those small matters wliich might have been attended to before, or left to another time, such as buying and selling, and speaking their own words, that is, speaking about the business of this life, the affairs of kingdoms, and the concerns of their neighbours ; and not only ,so, but they are required, not shortening the day by indulging in too much sleep, to spend it in holy deeds and words, in the worship of God, in hearing his word, in teaching the ignorant, and in those works which truly tend to God's glory and the good of immortal souls : Exod. xx. 8 — 11 ; Jsa. Iviii. 13, 14. XI. That they be sober, temperate in meats and drinks, not gluttons, nor drunkards. The heart is overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, which unfit men for the service of God, and shut them out of his kingdom: Luke xxi. 34; 1 Cor. vi. 10. XII. They must avoid all those modes and fashions of dress which tend to foster pride, wantonness, or extravagance, and "adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, as becometh those professing godliness." It seemed good to the Holy Ghost to give us directions respecting dress ; and it becomes us, as followers of Christ, to observe them with care and reverence : 1 Tim. ii. 10 ; 1 Pet. iii. 2. XIII. They must be men of pure lips ; their words must be few and gracious ; they must put away from them all oaths, curses, and corrupt communications, the taking God's name in vain, filthiness,* foolish talking, and jesting; they must not be double- tongued, backbiting, slanderous, despiteful,! but the reverse, truthful, generous in their judgment of others, and gentle; remem- bering that by our words we shall be justified, and by our words we shall be condemned, inasmuch as our words are the fruit and index of our hearts : Eph. v. 3, 4 ; Zeph. iii. 9 ; Matt. xii. 37. XrV". That they be men of few words in buying and selling, not contentious, not unduly praising what they sell, nor saying " it is naught, it is naught " of what they buy, not taking advantage of others' ignorance to put two prices on the same thing ; but, as far as they understand its value and the state of the market, asking and paying for aU goods the due and proper price. " And if thou * Filthiness, that is, unclean, impure, indecent words, gestures, or dress ; in short, «verything that leads to the sin of lewdness. t Despiteful.— Th.Q word means boastfulness in disposition or behaviour, a readiness to Bpeak disrespectfully of men, to lower and degrade them in the eyes of others. 26 KXTLES OF DISCIPLINE. sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another :" Lev. xxv. 14 — 17; Prov* XX. 10, 14 ; Deiit. ii. 6, 7. XV. That they do not make it their business to buy or sell run- ning goods, nor dishonestly deal in anything that is subject to duty, but endeavour, as far as possible, to deal only in lawful goods, and so * ' render tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom:" Rom. xiii. 7. XVI. They must not speak evil of dignities, or those that are in authority (which the Apostles considered to be one of the worst features in the character of the false teachers : 2 Pet. ii. 10 ; Jude 8) ; but, on the contrary, they must prove themselves, by word and deed, sincere and faithful subjects of the government, honouring the king and all that are in authority under him, and acknowledging with thankfulness the great kindness shown us, and the temporal and spiritual liberty and privileges which we enjoy: " Thou shalt not revile the judges,* nor curse the ruler of thy people :" Exod. xxii. 28 ; Eccles. x. 20; Rom. xiii. 1 — 7. XVII. They must not be usurers,! oppressors, J or misers ;§ they * [Marginal reading,] t "We are clearly of opinion that to exact fair and lawful interest is not usury in the worst sense of the word, nor forbidden in every case. For instance, when money is borrowed on interest for the purpose of trading and making a profit, is it not as just and proper for one man to gain by his money as it is for another to gain by his time or labour? The same thing may be said of other instances. But to exact immoderate interest is sinful, in the same way as it is sinful to demand so high a rent for laud that the tenant cannot pay it. It is true the Israelites were forbidden to lend upon usury to their brethren {Deut. xxid. 19, and in other places) ; but it is probable either that this foi-med part of the civil law of Israel, and was intended to remain in force so long only as the wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles stood, or else that it was forbidden to lend on usury, because the Israelites were never accustomed to borrow money for purposes of trade, but only for procuring the necessaries of life in time of trouble and poverty. See Exod. xxii. 25, 26 ; Lev. xxv. S5-37 ; Neh. v. 1-13. If it had been in itself sinful mider the gospel dispensation to exact interest, it is not likely that our Lord would, in his parables, have claimed the right of exacting it. Matt. xxv. 27 ; Luke xix. 23. X Oppressors.— Ihere are various kinds of oppression. For instance, a man is guilty of oppression when he is hard and austere towards his dependents, when he exacts from them too much service, and compels them to pay more than a fair and moderate price for what lie supplies them with, such as bread, clothing, land, or house. He is guilty of oppression when he covets houses, land, or business, to the injury of his poorer neigh-' hours. In this selfish spirit some men " join house to house, and lay field to field, till there be no place." In their oppressive eagerness they join small tenements to their large farms, and make it too difficult for their weaker neighbours to secui-e a few acres, from which to obtain food for their numerous families. Others oppress in trade, when they seek HULES OF DISCIPHNBi 27 must not play at lotteries or any other game of chance, but b© merciful, compassionate and generous, giving according to their ability to every good cause, recompensing good for evil, blessing for cursing, kindness for unkindness, " doing good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith :" Gal. vi. 10 ; Matt. V. 44—46 ; Prov. xxv. 21 ; Rom. xii. 20. XVIII. They must "do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure :" Lev. xix. 35 ; Prov. xx. 10. XIX. They must not borrow or buy on trust, without conscien- tiously endeavouring to repay in the manner and at the time agreed upon, or without having reasonable hopes of being able to repay. It is " the wicked that borroweth and payeth not again :" Ps. xxxvii. 21. XX. Brethren ought not go to law with one another, but should lay the matter in dispute before the church, and submit to the judgment of the church in every case of litigation. If a case arises in which a debtor is able to pay what he owes, but obstinately refuses to do so, he shall be expelled : the creditor will then be free from the restriction imposed by this rule.* XXI. No one who has failed in business and left debts unpaid shall be suffered to remain a member, unle ss he can show that he acted uprightly, kept his accounts honestly and carefully, did not live extravagantly, and in his difficulties endeavoured, as much as in him lay, to do what is right: "The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God :" 1 Cor. vi. 9. XXII. They must on no account use enchantment or witchcraft, f exorbitant profits, forestall the market in order unduly to raise the prices, and so destroy their neighbour's honest gains. " They covet fields, and take them by violence ; andhouses, and take them away : so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage." Mic. ii. 2 ; Isa. v. 8 ; Hab. ii. 9-11. § Misers. — The Welsh word (cybydd, from ctcb,) means " one who closes upon or clutches something." The Latin word {avarus) means " one who is eager and rapacious for money." There are two words in Greek which may be rendered by miser, the one signifying "a lover of money," and the other, " one who is eager for more." Let us remember that covetousness is idolatry in the sight of God : Col. iii. 6, But, though this lust and all worldly lusts are exceeding sinful in the sight of God when they lurk unseen in the heart, they are not amenable to church discipline except in so far as they manifest themselves in men's lives in the foi'm of deceit, violence, oppression, cruelty, or excessive and unseemly parsimony. ** [Appendix IIL (2).] t Witchcraft is chiefly used to remove, or to attempt to remove, bodily ailments by enchantments, and to injure, or attempt to injure, other men by such devilish means. To charm away warts or other ailments — what is it but to enquire of the evil spirit for a 28 EUIES OF DISCIPLINE. in any matter pertaining to man or beast ; nor have recourse to wizards and sorcerers ; nor bring offerings to 'wells, and must desist from all corrupt customs of tbe kind, -which are no better than to enquire of evil spirits: Lev. xix. 26, 31; Deut. xviii. 10, 11; Ilev. xxi. 8; xxii. 15. XXIII. It is required of all that live near the sea to show kind- ness* to those whom they may see in danger. And if a ship chance to be caught and driven by a storm, or wrecked on their coasts, let them show all readiness to help, to the utmost of their power, in saving the men's lives, and securing the cargo for the rightful owners. If any member act otherwise, he shall be forthwith expelled, and shall not be a second time admitted till he has made amends for the wrong he has done. "Thou shalt not oppress a stranger." "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets :" Exod. xxiii. 9 ; Matt. vii. 12. XXIV. They must not be idle, nor make a habit of wandering from place to place, instead of conscientiously following their call- ing and minding their own affairs; inasmuch as idleness and slothf ulness are grievous sins in themselves and lead to many other sins. ' ' Let him that stole steal no more ; but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth :" Ejph. iv. 28 ; 1 Tim. v. 13; Frov. xxxi. 27 ; 2 Thess. iii. 11. XXV. None shall be suffered to remain in church fellowship who cherish habitual hatred and prejudice against any of their brethren or live at variance with their neighboui's : Ejph. v. 2 ; Exod. xxiii. 1, cure ? To bring offerings to Elian's Well, or any other well, for the purpose of curing either ourselves or our animals, or in order to avenge ourselves upon any one, — ,what is it but to bring offeriugs to the devil, and seeking his devilish aid -when we find oiu-stlves too weak V These customs prevail in some parts of the comitry, to the great shame of the superstitious, ignorant, and ungodly inhabitants. — See " Trysoifa Ysbrydul," [vol.1.,] p. I(.i6. * It is painful to have to record that, in several parts of the country, those who dwell on the sea coast have, on the contrary, acted unmercifully, unjustly, and cruelly, towards men in circumstances that called for the tenderest compassion and kindest aid THe gentleness and kindness of the bai'barians mentioned in Acts xxviii. 2, shame and condemn Christians whose conduct is so unchristian and wicked. " Put on bowels of mercies, kind- ness," iic, Col. iii. 12. ■RTTLES OF DISCIPLINE. 29 XXVI. They must be careful to do tlie duties required of them in the word of God, in their several relations and conditions of life ; for example — Let the husbajstds be kind to their wives, "loving and giving^ them honour, as the weaker vessels : Eph. v. 25 — 31 ; Gen. ii. 24 ; xvi. 6 ; 1 Fet. iii. 1 ; Prov. v. 18, 19 ; Mai. ii. 14, 15 ; 1 Cor. vi. 9 ; vii. 33 ; Col. iii. 19 ; Ruth iii. 9 ; 1 Sam. xxx. 18. Let the wives *' submit themselves unto their own husbands, as unto the Lord :" Tit. ii. 4, 5 ; Eph. v. 22—24, 33 ; Col. iii. 18 ; 1 Pet. iii. 1, 5, 6; 1 Tim. ii. 11; v. 14; 1 Cor. vii. 34; xiv. 35; Prov. xiv. 1 ; xix. 14 ; xxxi. 12. Let PABENTS have their children in subjection and be kind to them, "bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord:" 2 Sam. xii. 16 ; Job. i. 5 ; Pent. iv. 9 ; vi. 7, 20, 21; vii. 3 ; Ps. Ixxviii. 5, 6 ; ci. 2 ; Prov. i. 10; xiii. 24; xix. 18; xxii. 6, 15; xxiii. 13 ; xxix. 15, 17 ; Eph. vi. 4 ; 2 Tim. iii. 15 ; 1 Chron. xxii. 14 — 16 ; 1 Tim. iii. 4 ; v. 8 ; Col. iii. 21 ; Gen. xxiv. 2, 4 ; xxx. 30 ; 2 Cor, xii. 14 ; Jer. xxix. 6. Let CHILDREN" be subject to their parents, " honouring and obey- ing them in the Lord;" Exod. xx. 12; Mai. i. 6; 1 Kings ii. 19; Prpv. i. 8 ; xiii. 1 ; xv. 20 ; xxix. 3 ; Eph. vi. 1 ; Col. iii. 20 ; Numh. xxx. 5; Judges xiv. 2 ; 1 Tim. v. 4; Gen. xlvii. 12. Let MASTERS do justly, yea, kindly towards their servants, "for- bearing threatening ;" Deut. xxiv. 14; Eph. vi. 9; Col. iv. 1; Job xxxi. 13 ; Lev. xix. 13 ; xxv. 43 ; Jer. xxii. 13 ; Matt. viii. 6 ; Gen. xviii. 19 ; Josh. xxiv. 15. Let SERVANTS respect their masters, be obedient to them, and serve them faithfully : 1 Tim. vi. 1, 2; Mai. i. 6; Eph. vi. 5, 6; Col. iii. 22 ; 1 Pet. ii. 18—20 ; Tit. ii. 9, 10. XXYII. Inasmuch as it is the duty of every Christian Church o have the charge of maintaining the gospel, and to have the care of the poor, every member that has the means is expected to contribute towards these objects, " as God hath prospered him :" 1 Cor. ix. 11—14; Gal. vi. 6; 1 Tim. v. 17, 18; 2 Cor. viii. 7—14; ix. 6, 10. To persist in conduct the reverse of this is to be unfaith- ful to the work of the Lord, and they who are guilty of suck conduct are unworthy of being among the flock of Christ. 80 ETJLES OF DISCIPLINE. ^ XX V ill. Let none be admitted into memberstip hastily, but let every candidate for membersliip first inform one of the elders* or members of his intention, before he appears personally at the church meeting ; that they may have time to make enquiries concerning him and be fully satisfied respecting his life and con- versation — not what he -was, but what he now is ; and when they are satisfied in their own minds, let him come himself before the church ; then let him be examined, if he shows signs of repentance and conversion, and if his soul is awakened to seek salvation. If they doubt his sincerity, let them take time to reconsider the matter, till they are more fully satisfied : *' The judges shall make diligent inquisition :" Beut. xix. 18; Lev. xiii. (the whole chapter.) XXIX. If an accusation be brought against any member, let the church carefully and impartially enquire into the truth of the charge, and judge upon proper and consistent evidence, before they exercise discipline. And if it be necessary to exercise discipline, let it be done in accordance with the word of God, in the spirit of meekness and love: Beut. xix. 15 — 18; Gal. vi. 1. The word of God teaches us that, according to the nature of the fault, the offender should not be spared, though he manifest sincere sorrow for his offence. XXX. If any member sees a fault or sin in his brother, let him go and tell him his fault between him and his brother alone, in the spirit of love ; then let him wait a short time, to see if God blesses his warning to restore his brother. But if he will not hear him, let him yet take with him one or two of the most spiritual of the brethren, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. Let them admonish him in the spirit of meek- ness, with a view to restoiing him. But if he shall neglect to hear them, let him tell it unto the church : and if he neglect to hear the church, let him be expelled : Matt, xviii. 15 — 17. XXXI. No person who has been expelled shall be a second time admitted, unless the church is satisfied that he repents of his fault or faults : Luke xvii. 3, 4. XXXII. That all things may be done decently and in order, for edification, let the church meetings be conducted according to the * One of the elders or members. — This, as a general rule, is considered the best mode of proceeding ; but at extraordinary times, or in special circumstances, it may be allowable to vary it a little. EULES OF DISCIPLINE. 31 following rules : — At the beginning of every meeting a portion of the word of God should be read in a thoughtful and intelligent manner; then let all unite in prayer and praise to the Lord. After this, let them speak upon a doctrinal truth, or other profit- able subject, that has a bearing upon their spiritual condition or experience, making known their fears, their doubts, their trials, and their consolations fyet no further than it is proper to spread the heart lefore men, J that they may be able, in the spirit of love, to direct, admonish, and exhort one another, as the case may require. Let them advise, warn, and comfort each other, declaring, with humility and thankfulness, what the Lord has done for their souls, to the praise of his love and grace. Let them "consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works." Let all things be done for spiritual edification. Still it is well not to protract the meeting to undue length. Two hours' length is enough for any meeting, except when special circumstances require that it should 1)0 prolonged : Ps. Ixvi. 16; Mai. iii. 16; 1 Pet. ii. 9; 1 T/ies. v. 11; 1 Cor. xiv. 40. XXXIII. No person shall preside at these meetings except those who have been chosen by the members, and approved by the Monthly Meeting. Before an elder is chosen, the church should lay the case before the Monthly Meeting ; and if it be thought necessary to elect another elder, two or three delegates should be appointed to direct and assist the church in its choice. In judging of the qualifications required in an elder, we should fix our eyes steadily and simply upon the word of God, and seek, not merely gifted, but also spiritual men, who love Christ, and ''hold the mystery of the faith* in a pure conscience ; " temperate men, not gluttonous nor given to wine ; liberal, not covetous nor greedy of filthy lucre ; truthful, not double-tongued ; gentle, no strikers ; ruling well their own house, and having their children in subjec- * The mystery of the faith, that is, the doctrines which are to be believed, and which are spiritual, glorious, arid very profound. The elders ought to understand, though they cannot fully comprehend, these mysteries, and hold them ; that is, believe and embrace them truly and e:tpfrimentally, in their souls, and hold them forth doctrinally before men, yea, hold them in the face of errors and persecutions, faithfully and consistently ; and that too •'in a pure conscience,"- a conscience purified by the blood of Christ, honest and guileless, before God, and leading to purity in all manner of conversation. The conscience cannot be pure without sincere faith in the gospel ; neither can it be pure if we are deceivers or hypocrites, or live in sin. 85 RULES OF DISCIPLINE. tion : 1 Tim. iii. ; John xxi. 15 — 17 ; Gal. vi. 1. Elders that have not these qualifications, are appointed by men, not set by Christ over his church. He teaches us to know and distinguish true teachers from false, not by their gifts, nor by their teaching only, but hy their works and fruits : Matt. vii. 15 — 20. XXXIV. All matters of dispute or doubt, that may arise in any church, should be discussed and settled, if possible, by the mem- bers among themselves. If that cannot be done, the matter should be referred to the Monthly Meeting ; and if it cannot be settled there, it should be referred to the Quarterly Association ; and let the judgment of the brethren there assembled be a final decision : £xod, xviii. 21—26. 33 COKSTITUTIOIT AITD CHTJECH GOYEENMENT. The Welsh* Calvinistic Methodists in Wales, England, &c., are ONE Connexion, which comprises various Societies, viz. ; — I. Pbiyate Societies. II. Monthly Meetings. m. QUAETEELY ASSOCIATIONS. I. — Of THE Private Societies. 1. Those persons only, together with their children, shall be members of the Private Societies, who possess that degree of knowledge, grace, and experience which is required in the Eules of Discipline,! and live accordingly. The Societies shall meet once a week in private, in addition to the public meetings held on Sundays and at other times. 2. Every Private Society shall be under the superintendence of two or more elders, chosen by the whole Society, and approved by the Monthly Meeting of the district, and possessing the qualifications mentioned in Eule XXXIII. J 3. Every Private Society shall admit members § and exercise * Several English churches belong to the Connexion in the Marches, the English parts of some Welsh counties, and on the borders of England. But aU have the same Constitu- tion and Church Government. t See Eules I. to XXVII. J [See Appendix IV.] § No one expelled from one society can be admitted into another, unless he repent him of the sin for which he was expelled. Further, when a member of one society removes, in the course of providence, to another society, it is requisite for him to receive a ticket or letter of dismissal, signed by the elders of the society of which he is a member. This certificate will admit him into the society at the place to which he removes. C 34 THE PErVATE SOCIETIES. discipline according to Eules XXYIII. — XXXI., and conduct tlie weekly meetings according to Eule XXXII. 4. Every Private Society lias authority to manage its own affairs, if it can do so for edification, in accordance with the views and judgment of the Connexion generally concerning truths of doctrine and discipline, in spiritual things and in matters of arrangement. But let every case of importance that may give rise to dispute or doubt, if the Society is unable to come to a decision, be referred to the Monthly Meeting of the district, which shall either decide finally at the time, or send proper persons to assist the church in coming to a correct and satisfactory decision, according to Eule XXXIV. 5. Though no Private Society or individual member is kept under a yoke of bondage by the Connexion, yet every person must submit to act in accordance with the opinion of the majority in the Private Society of which he is a member ; and the Private Society, as a whole, shall be subject to the Monthly Meeting in all matters of doctrine, discipline, and arrangement, that may concern the kingdom of Christ: 1 G(yr. xiv. 31, 32. 6. Before proceeding to elect an elder, every Private Society shall state at the Monthly Meeting the circumstances that seem to make such a course necessary. If it be the opinion of the Monthly Meeting that more elders are required, two or three persons shall be sent to advise and assist the church in choosing them. 7. If any member of a Private Society manifest a desire to enter the ministry, and if the Society consider him to some extent fit for the work, let the matter be laid before the Monthly Meeting, which shall send proper persons to assist the Private Society in forming a correct judgment of his fitness in point of experience, knowledge, character, godliness, and gifts. Let these persons report at the following Monthly Meeting, that the Connexion may be able to come to a decision respecting him. If the Monthly Meeting is satisfied, let him receive permission to exercise his gifts on probation. None shall undertake the work of the ministry except in the manner prescribed ; and none that may have been expelled from the ministry for erroneous doctrine or an ungodly life shall be restored, except in this manner. 35 n. — Of the Monthly Meetings. 1. Church officers only shall be members of the Monthly Meeting ; that is, preachers, and the elders of the Private Societies within that district, together with any Church officers belonging to other Monthly Meetings that may wish to attend. The Monthly Meeting shall be held once a month, within its own district, at the place and time agreed upon by the members. 2. It is the duty of every Monthly Meeting, not only to hold public services for preaching the Gospel, but also to hold conferences of a more private character, for the pui-pose of making inquiries into the religious condition of the place at which the meeting is held, and speaking to some of the ministers, and to the elders of that Society, concerning their experience of saving truths, their spiritual-mindedness, their growth in grace, the consistency of their lives, and their method of leading the flock of Christ. All necessary admonition, encouragement, and instruction, should be given them, that their conduct may become the house of God and their words be profitable to the souls of men. 3. The Monthly Meeting shall have the oversight of all the Private Societies within its district; decide every dispute that genders strifes and hinders the success of the Gospel ; secure, as far as possible, for all the Private Societies within the district, services for preaching the Gospel every Sunday and at other times, and the regular administration of the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper; arrange the itineracy of brethren from other districts ; and see that none of its members itinerate in other districts without its consent and permission. 4. The Monthly Meeting shall authorise proper persons to assist the Private Societies in choosing elders ; estimate the qualifications of candidates for the ministry ; examine those that have entered upon the work of the ministry with reference to their experience, doctrines, motives, and views of the nature of the work, and determine their field of ministerial labour. When the churches of the district have had sufficient proof of their fitness for the work of the ministry, and the Monthly Meeting has approved them, the Monthly Meeting shall recommend them to the Quarterly Association. 36 THE QFARTERLT ASSOCIATIONS. 5. It is the duty of the Monthly Meeting carefully to see that no doctrine be taught contrary to holiness, and that discipline be exercised in every Private Society within the district in accordance with the word of God and the rules of the Connexion. 6. The Monthly Meeting shall decide every question by the vote of the majority, subject to the control of the Quarterly Association. It will be its duty also to see that resolutions of the Quarterly Association affecting the whole Connexion are carried out, for the benefit and edification of all the. Private Societies. 7. The Monthly Meeting shall have oversight of aU business matters connected with the churches in the district, such as building chapels, devising the most efficient means to pay chapel debts, choosing and appointing trustees of all chapels, keeping in feafe custody all chapel deeds, and procuring new deeds or appointing new tmstees, whenever necessary.* 8. All the discussions and resolutions of the Monthly Meeting must be in accordance with the word of God and the rules of the Connexion. III. — Of the Quarterly Associations. 1. Church officers only shall be members of the Quarterly Association; that is, preachers, and the elders of the Private Societies ; or all members of the Connexion, in England and Wales, that are also members of a Monthly Meeting. 2. The Quarterly Associations shall be held twice in every three months ; that is, once in every three months in South Wales, and once in every three months in North Wales. The place and time at which the Quarterly Association shall be held shall be decided by the Association itself, in response to the invitation of the several Monthly Meetings, f * In order to exclude all false doctrines, no person shall be allowed to preach in any of the chapels of the Connexion, except with the consent of the elders and trustees, and that subject to the approval of the Monthly Meeting. t Various other Associations meet occasionally, and are conducted in a manner similar to that in which the Quarterly Associations are couducted. But they have not tlie same authority to carry into effect resolutions that have reference to the whole Connexion. They resemble rather the Monthly Meetings. But their resolutions may be of force with THE QUARTEELY ASSOCIATIONS. 37 3. In every Quarterly Association the whole Connexion is supposed to be present by representation ; and tlie Association has authority to decide all matters pertaining to the Connexion everywhere. It is the duty of the Association to take the oversight of the cause of Christ among the Calvinistic Methodists throughout England and Wales ; and revise and, if necessary, alter all resolutions of Private Societies and Monthly Meetings. 4. By the very nature and constitution of the Quarterly Associa- tion, every member ought to consider himself bound to act for the welfare alike of the whole Connexion throughout, and to divest himself of all local feeling, lest such partiality affect the resolutions of the Connexion, and local interests override and frustrate the general good and the interests of religion in the widest extent. o. At every Quarterly Association a chairman and a secretary shall be chosen, to keep order and expedite the work. 6. The meetings of the Quarterly Association shall consist of public services for preaching the Gospel, in accordance with the well-established custom of our Connexion; and three or more private conferences, at which preachers and elders shall be present. It is usual to transact matters of business at the conferences held . on the first day of the Association, and to take under consideration, at the conference held on the second day, doctrine, experience, and discipline.* 7. At every Quarterly Association, all matters pertaining to the district in which the Association is held shall have priority over matters that pertain to the Connexion generally, unless it be necessary to change the order of procedure. At the private conference, the brethren shall speak to all that are engaged in ministerial work, respecting their experience of the work of the Holy Ghost in their souls, their doctrinal knowledge of the truths the previous or subsequent consent of the Quarterly Associations. The Associations held in the towns and on the borders of England — for instance, in Liverpool, Manchester, Shrewsbury, Bristol, London, &c.,— are subject to the control of the Quarterly Associations held in the nearest districts. Their resolutions will have no authority if they be not previously adopted, or subsequently confimaed by the Quarterly Associations. * Every Monthly Meeting of North or South Wale?, as the Quarterly Association is held in the one or the other, is required to send two or three preachers and elders to represent it at the Quarterly Association. These representatives shall meet at eight o'clock in the morning on the first day of the Association, to discuss the more important subjects that will be brought under consideration at the private conferences of the Association. 38 THE QTTAETERLT ASSOCIATIONS. of the Grospel, and their motives in entering the ministry, before they shall be permitted to extend their ministerial labours beyond the district of the Monthly Meeting to which they belong. 8. It is at the private conference of the Quarterly Association that those who have been chosen to be ordained shall be approved and receive authority to administer the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, according to the rules agreed upon by the Connexion. 9. The Quarterly Association shall, in all its resolutions, have respect simply to the word of God and the rules already adopted by the Connexion. If at any time it is found necessary to pass a resolution not in accordance with an established rule of the Connexion, that rule must first of all be annulled, altogether or in part, as the case may be. But, before this is done, the question should be discussed, with all seriousness and deliberation, in at least two Quarterly Associations. Then, if the Connexion unani- mously, or a great majoritj'-, be in favour of altering or annulling the rule, let it be so altered or annulled. 10. Every question discussed at a Quarterly Association should be laid down and explained with the utmost possible clearness, that it may be satisfactorily decided by a majority of those who are present at the time. But important questions of doctrine or discipline, if there be a great diversity of opinion concerning them, it is right tO' discuss deliberately in several Quarterly Associations, until by far the greater part of the Connexion agree. Otherwise, let the matter be in part or altogether dropped. 11. Inasmuch as this Connexion was not formed by the union of several Societies or churches, but the Societies were formed in it as parts of a whole (in the same way as the members of the body are in the body from the jfirst), it cannot, by the very law of its nature, permit any separation from itself, by allowing any of the Societies that belong to it to become separate, independent churches ; neither can it permit its ministers to serve any church that may become independent. S9 CONFESSION OF FAITH. 1. Or THE Being of God. There is one God and only one true and living God. The light of nature in man proves the being of God. All nations acknowledge a God, or gods. Natural conscience, accusing or else excusing, proves the being of God, and man's responsibility to him for his actions, (a) The creation proves the being of God, as an effect proves that it had a cause. The creation could not have come into being of itself: it must have had a cause. (&) The being of man himself proves the being of God : forasmuch as one man is the offspring of another man, the first man must have existed ; consequently, he must have had a Creator. The order, beauty, adaptation, harmony, and consistence of the creation proves that a wise God gave it being, and upholds and governs all things, (c) All creatures answer purposes which they could not themselves have ordained or designed ; it is evident, therefore, that one great Governor rules over all.(f/) The terrible retributions that have befallen some of God's enemies in this world, and the terrors that have dismayed their consciences at death, after a life spent in denying God, prove his existence. (a) Rom. ii. 14, 15. (b) Ps. xix. 1- 3 ; Rom. i. 19. 20. (c) Is. xl. 26 ; Ps. cxlviii. 6 ; 2 Pet. iii. 5—7. {d) Exod. v. 2 ; ix. 27 ; xiv. 25. 2. Of the Scriptures. The Holy Scriptures — that is, the written word of God, the book commonly called the Bible — consist of all the books of the Old and New Testaments. The books of the Old Testament are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Euth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, 40 CONFESSION OF FAITH. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. The books of the New Testament are the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, The Acts, Paul's Epistles : to the Eomans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Epistle to the Hebrews, Epistle of James, First and Second Epistles of Peter, First, Second, and Third Epistles of John, Epistle of Jude, Eevelation of John. All the Scriptures — that is to say, the books of the Old and New Testaments — are the word of God. From him they came ; they were spoken by holy men of God ; they contain a full, sufficient, and perfect revelation of the mind and will of God, concerning all things that are necessary to be known for our salvation ; (a) and they are the only infallible rule of faith and obedience. The truths which they contain respecting God and the perfections of his nature are so exceeding broad and deep, that no one could have revealed them, except him who has a perfect knowledge of himself ; (6) the godliness and self-denial of the writers, the purity and holiness of all the truths contained in the Scriptures, the consistency of all the parts, though written by various persons and in various ages of the world, (c) the continued preservation of the Scriptures, though the strongest authorities on earth have assailed and sought to destroy them, the fact that it is their main design to manifest God's greatness and glory (cZ), their authority and influence over the hearts and lives of men, and the superiority of those nations which have had the Scriptures, in every age of the world, over other nations, in morals, knowledge, and all else that adorns humanity, — all these things prove beyond a doubt that the infinite God is their author, (e) Besides, we have no grounds for thinking that either men or angels are the authors of the Holy Scriptures ; we cannot suppose that bad men, in early times, were the authors of the Scriptures, without supposing also that evil had changed its former nature ; and it is very certain that evil spirits never fashioned those weapons which are destined to subvert their kingdom in the hearts of men ; and it wo aid not be consistent with the holiness of the elect angels, nor with the holiness of godly men, to utter a lie in the name of CONFESSION OF FAITH. 41 the Lord of Hosts ; it is, therefore, aLundantly evident tliat tlie Scriptures come from God, and from no other source. (/) (a) Isa. viii. 20 ; 2 Tim. iii. 15, 16 ; Rom. xv. 4 ; Luke xvi, 29—31 ; Rev. xxii. 18, 19. (6) Exod. iii. 14 ; Is. xlii. 8, 9; Josh. xxi. 45 ; Ps. cxix. 18. (c) 2 Pet. i. 20, 21 ; Ps. xii. 6 ; xix. 8 ; John x. 35. (d) Isa. ii. 17 ; xl. 8 ; lix. 21; Matt. xxiv. 35 ; Eom,. iii. 1,2. (e) Heb.iy. 12 ; Ps. xix. 7 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25 ; Rom. i. 16. (/) -Hos. viii. 12 ; Ps. cxi. 7, 8; 2 Cor. x. 4,6; iZer. xxii. 18,19. 3. Of the Attributes of God. Though the light of nature in man, and the works of creation, &c., clearly prove the being of God, and though reason proves that there is but one true God, (a) still we cannot know his attributes without a special revelation from himself. (6) No one knows God perfectly except himself, (c) In the Holy Scriptures we have God's witness concerning himseK ; and as he has witnessed in his word, so ought we to think and believe concerning him. The true God is a pure, invisible, self -subsisting Spirit; {d) without body, parts, or passions; eternal, without beginning, change, or end ; infinite and incompre- hensible; absolute, omnipresent, omniscient, and almighty; perfect in holiness, righteousness, wisdom, and goodness; long-suffering, gracious, and merciful ; forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin ; but terrible in his wrath ; for he will not at all acquit the wicked, but will visit sin with righteous judgment, (e) By the attributes of God we are to understand his properties. All his attributes are infinite ; and all perfections belong to God, and are his properties. (/). (a) Rom. i. 20 ; 1 Cor. viii. 4—6 ; Deut. vi. 4. (6) MaU. xi. 27 ; 1 Cor. ii. 14. (c) Heb. i. 1 ; 2 Pet. i. 19 ; 1 John v. 9 ; Matt. xxii. 29—32. (d) John iv. 24; Job xi. 7 ; 1 Tim. i. 17 ; jLuke xxiv. 39 ; James i. 17 ; Mai. iii, 6 ; Jer. xxiii. 23, 24; Ps. cxlv. 3—17 ; Gen. xvii. 1 ; Rom. xvi. 26; Is. vi. 3; Exod. iii. 14; Eph. i. 11; 1 Kings viii. 27; Rom. xi. 36. (c) Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7; Beb. xi. 6; Ps. v. 6; cxxx. 4; JVeh. ix. 32, 33; Nah. i. 2, 3. (f) Ps. Ixxxix. 6 ; Jer. x. 7 ; Isa. xl. 18 ; Gen. i. 27 ; Eph. iv. 24 ; Col. iii. 10. 4. Of the Persons of the Trinity. Though there is but one God, and though there cannot be more than one true God, still it is the clear testimony of Holy Scripture that there are in the Godhead three Persons, the Pather, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ; that these three are co-eternal and co-equal, not one before or after another, nor greater or less than 42 CONFESSION OF FAITH. another, but one God. (a) Every one of these Persons is true God, and the one Person is not the other Person; nevertheless, there is only one God. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are not names, offices, or attributes, but divine Persons ; (&) the Father an eternal Person, the Son an eternal Person, the Holy Ghost an eternal Person ; but the three Persons one eternal God. And while distinct offices and operations belong to one Person, more than to another in the plan of salvation, still the three Persons have the same divine attributes ; the three divine Persons have the same eternity, omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, &c. ;(c) the three have the same holiness, goodness, love, &c.; the objects of the love of the three Persons are the same ; (d) and the eternal decree is the decree of the Trinity. And, though we cannot com- prehend the doctrine of the Trinity, we ought to believe it,(e) because God so testifies concerning himself. God knows himself perfectly, and is the God of truth ; consequently, we ought stead- fastly to believe his testimony concerning himself. (a) 1 John V. 7 ; Matt. iii. 16, 17 ; xxviii. 19 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 13 ; John i, 1, 2, 14, 18 ; xv. 26 ; Oal. iv. 6. (6) Ileb. i. 3 ; Col. i. 15, 16 ; Acts v. 3, 4 ; xiiL 2—4 ; xv. 28 ; xx. 28 ; Ps. cxxxix. 7_10 ; John v. 26; Matt. xvii. 5. (c) Col. i. 17 ; John i. 1 ; xxi. 17 ; Matt, xviii. 20 ; Eev. i. 11; Is. ix. 6; Gen. i. 2; Beb. ix. 14; 1 Cor. ii. 10; iii. 16; Luke I 35; Acts vi. 10, [see Calvin in loc] (d) John iii. IG ; xiv. 21; xv. 9; xvi. 14, 15, 27, &c.; Eom. xv, 30; 2 Cor, viii. 9. (e) Job xi. 7—9 ; Ps. cxlv. 3. 5. Of God's Decree. God, from eternity, after the counsel of his own will, and for the manifestation and exaltation of his glorious attributes, decreed all that he would do in time and to eternity, in creation, in the government of his creatures, and in the salvation of sinners of the human race; yet so that he is not the author of sin nor constrains the will of his creature in its actions, (a). The decree of God depends not in the least upon the creature nor upon the foreknowledge of God himself ; on the contrary, God knows that certain things will be, because he has decreed that they should be. (J) God's decree is infinitely wise,(c) and perfectly just;((i) eternal, (e) free, (/) comprehensive, {g) secret, (A) gracious, {i) holy, {k) good, (Z) unchangeable, (m) and effectual, (n) (a) Eph. i. 11 ; Is. xiv. 24—27 ; xlvi. 10, 11 ; Job xiv. 5 ; xxxviii. 10, 11 ; Ps. cxlviii. 6 ; Prov. viii. 29 ; Jer. v. 22 ; Deut. xxxii. 8 ; Dan. iv, 35 ; Matt. x. 29, 30 ; Acts Iv. 28 ; XV. 18 ; xvii. 26. (6) Jer. xviiL 4—10 ; Matt, xi, 26 ; Is. xlvi. 10 ; Rom. ix. 19—21. CONFESSION OF FAITH. 43 (c) iZom. xi. 33. (d) Ps. cxlv. 17. (e) Ephes. iii. 11. (/) Rom. ix. 15, 16. {g) Eph.i.\\. (h) Deut. xxix. 29. (t) 2 Tim. i. 9. (,k) Eph. i. 4 ; i2o?rt. viiL 28. (0 i2om. viii. 28—30. (m) t/o6 xxiii. 13, 14 ; Rom. ix. 11. (w) Zs. xlvi. 10. 6. Of the Creation. In the beginning God (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,) created the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that therein is, for himself : *' For his pleasure they are and were created." "He hath done whatsoever he pleased." " The things which are seen were not made of things which do appear;" but he "spake the word, and 80 it was; he commanded, and it stood fast ; " and all things were made in six days, and everything was very good, (a) (a) Gen. i. ; ii. 1, 2; Heb. i. 2, 3 ; xi. 3; Job xxtI. 13; xxxiii. 4; Ps. xxxiii. 6,9; cxv. 3; Rev. iv. 11; Prov. xvi. 4; Jer.-x^ 12; Rom. i. 20; Col. i. 16; Acts xvii. 24; Exod. XX. 11. 7. Of God's Providence in the Preservation and Government of the World. God, in his wise, holy, and righteous providence, upholds and governs all creatures and all their actions, (a) His providence extends over all places, all events, all changes, and all times. (6) His providence, in its operation, is full of eyes to behold, and powerful to perform, and makes all things work together for good to them that love God. (c) It overrules the sinful actions of men ; nevertheless, it neither causes nor occasions the sinfulness of any of them, [d] (a) Heb. i. 3 ; Ps. ciii. 19. (6) Dan., iv. 34, 35 ; Acts xvii. 25—28 ; Job xxxviii. ; xxxix. ; xl. ; xli. ; Ps. civ. 24. (c) Prov. xv. 3 ; Matt. x. 29, 30 ; Is. xiv. 24, 27 ; xl. 26 ; xliii. 13 ; Rom. viii. 28. (d) Ps. Ixxvi. 10 ; 2 Kings xix. 28 ; Gen. 1. 20; Ps. 1. 21; 2 Sam. xvi. 10; xxiv. 1 ; 1 Chron. xxi. 17 ; 1 Kings xxii. 23 ; Acts ii. 23, 24 ; iv. 27, 28. 8. Of Man in his Original State of Innocence. The Lord God formed the first man, Adam, as to his body, of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living soul, spiritual, rational, and im- mortal, (a) He and in him all his offspring were made upright,, in the image and after the likeness of God, endowed with know- 44 eoNPEssioN OP faith. ledge, holiness, and righteousness. The law of God -was implanted as an instinct in his heart (i), and he was both endowed with power, and placed in advantageous circumstances, to keep it ; yet capable of changing and falling, (c) He stood only so long as he kept the commandment. He was perfectly happy, at peace with God, and enjoying his fellowship, and had dominion over all creatures on earth, {d) {a) Gen. i. 26, 27 ; ii. 7 ; Eccles. xii. 7 ; Matt. x. 28 ; xvi. 26 ; Heb. xii. 9 ; Acts vii. 59, 60. (b) Eccles. vii. 29; Col. iii. 10; Eph.iv. 24; Rom. ii. 14,15; Gen.ix. 6. (c) Gen. Hi. 6; Ps. xlix. 12 ; Rom. v. 12 ; Eccles. vii. 29. (cZ) Gen. i. 28 ; ii. 19, 20; Ps. viii. 6, 7. 9. Of the Covenant of Works. It pleased God to condescend to enter into covenant with the first man, Adam, adapted to his state of innocence, and consisting of a command, a threat, and a promise. The special command, which was the pledge of his obedience, was not to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree; the threat was that, if he ate thereof, he should die. The nature of the command and the threat leads us to infer that this covenant contained a promise also of life and happiness, if man obeyed the command, in contradistinction to the death threatened as the penalty of disobedience, (a) The law of our nature was all contained in this covenant ; so that it was impossible to transgress the special command of the covenant without trans- gressing, at the same time, the entire law of our nature. (6) Adam stood, in this covenant, not only as the natural root of all his offspring, but also as their covenant head and representative ; so that their happiness or misery, as well as his own, depended upon his obedience or disobedience, (c) (a) Gen. ii. 16, 17 ; Hos. vi. 7 [marginal reading] ; Rom. v. 12—21 ; vii. 10 ; x. 5 ; 1 Cor, XV, 22, 45—49 ; Malt. xix. 17. (6) James ii. 10. (c) Gen. ii. ; iii. ; 1 Cor. xv. 22 ; Rom. v. 12 18, 19. 10. Of the Pall of Man, and Original Sin. Though man, when God made the covenant of works with him, had power to obey and fulfil the conditions of the covenant, yet he disobeyed God and broke the covenant, (a) The serpent deceived Eve, and Adam hearkened unto the voice of his wife and wilfully transgressed the commandment of his Creator by eating of the CONPESSION OF FAITH. 45 forbidden fruit; and by this means he broke God*s covenant, {b) for- feited his right to the promised life, became subject to the threatened death, (c) lost his original uprightness and fellowship with God, and became totally corrupt in soul and body, (d) As he was the root and representative of mankind, his first sin is imputed to them, and his corruption flows into all his seed, who spring from him by natural generation, (e) In consequence of this natural corruption, mankind are become incapable of goodness, yea, opposed to all goodness and prone to all evil; and from this depraved nature springs all actual sin. (/) Original sin and all actual sins, in soul or body, are transgressions of God's holy law, bring the sinner under a curse, and expose him to the wrath of God, and to spiritual, temporal, and eternal misery, {g) (a) Eccles. vii. 29 ; Eom. v. 12. (5) Gen. iii. 6—8, 13 ; 2 Cor. xi. 3 ; JRom. iii. 23. (c) Rom. V. 12 ; vii. 10 ; Gal. iii. 10 ; Eph. ii. 1 ; Tit. iii. 3 ; Je7\ xvii. 9. (d) Eccles. vii. 29 ; Ps. xiv. 1—4 ; Eom. iii. 10—19 ; viii. 7, 8 ; Job xiv. 4 ; ilfarX' vii. 21— 23 ; Tit. i.l5 ; Col. i. 21. (e) Eom. V. 12—21 ; Acts xvii. 26 ; 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22, 45, 49. (/) Eom. iii. 10 ; v. 6 ; vii. 14 ; Gen. vi. 5 ; viii. 21 ; James i. 14 ; iii. 2 ; Eph. ii. 2, 3 ; Matt. xv. 19 ; Frov. xx. 9. (g) 1 John iii. 4 ; Eom. i. 18 ; iii. 9, 19 ; vi. 23 ; John iii. 36. 11. Of the State of Man" by Nattjee. All mankind are by nature in a guilty, sinful, and miserable state, (a) By their relation to the first Adam they are under the law, as it is sanctioned in the covenant of works : and through his first transgression, all of them, forasmuch as they are in him, have been brought under the curse of the law, (6) which declares every one cursed that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. And by nature all are dead in tres- passes and sins, enemies in their mind by wicked works, every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts being only evil con- tinually, without any desire to know the Lord or to obey him, and justly deserving of eternal death, (c). (a) Is. Ixiv. 6 ; Eph. ii. 3 ; Ps. Ii. 5. (6) Rom. v. 12, 18 ; 1 Cor. xv. 22 ; Deut. xxvii. 26 ; Gal. iii. 10. (c) Eph. ii. 1—3 ; iv. 18 ; Col. i. 21 ; Gen. ii. 17 ; vi. 5 ; Job xxi. 14 ; Eom. vi. 23 ; viii. 7. 12. Of the Election of Grace. God from eternity elected and appointed Christ to be the covenant head, mediator, and surety of his church, to redeem and save it. (a) 46 CONFESSIOX OF FAITH. God elected also in Christ a great multitude, wliicli no man can number, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, to holiness and eternal life : {h) and appointed all the means necessary to accomplish this end. (c) This election is eternal, {d) righteous, (e) sovereign, (/) unconditional, (^) particular or per- sonal(^) and unchangeable. (?) The election of grace "^vrongs no one : though God in righteousness left some persons unpredestinated, yet, he did them no injustice ; they are in the same condition in \rhich they Tvould have been, if there had been no election ; and if there had been no election of grace, no flesh would have been saved, (k) (a) Is. slii. 1 ; Fph. L 22, 23 ; v. 25 ; Ps. Ixxxix. 19 ; Reb. vii. 22 ; 1 Pet i. IS, 19 ; Gal L 4 : Matt. i. 21. (b) John xiii. 18 ; ZpA. L 4, 11 ; Bom. TiiL, 29, 30, 33 ; 2 Tim. i. 9 ; 1 Theit. V. 9 ; liev. v. 9, 10 ; vu. 9. (c) Matt. xxviiL 18—20 ; AcU xxtL 18. ((f) Eph. L 4 ; iii. 11. («>) Rom. is, 13, 14 ; Ps. clxv. 17. (/) Pom. ix. 17—24. {g) Eph. i. 5—11 ; Matt. xL 25, 26; l.uke xii. 32. (A) John xiii. 18. (0 Rom. is., 11, 28, 29. (J:) Matt. xxiv. 22, 24, 31 ; R) The holy nature received ia regeneration acts in all those who are made partakers of it ia direct opposition to every form of corruption, and after God who created it.(c) This change produces in the whole man a lively impress of God's holiness, as a child bears the image of his father. (cZ) God alone is the author of this change. It is CONFESSION OF FAITH. 57 generally wrouglit by means of tlie word, and is set forth in Scripture under several names; such as quickening, forming Christ in the heart, partaking of the diyine nature, and circumcising the heart, (e) This change is wrought in order that men may glorify God by bringing forth the fruits of righteousness, and that the soul may be purified and so made meet to enjoy fellowship with God for ever. (/) (a) John iii. 3, 5, 8 ; 2 Cor. v. 17 ; 2 Pet. i. 4 ; Gal. vi. 15. (b) Eph. iv. 24 ; 2 Cor. v. 17. (c) 2 Pet. \. 4 ; Gal. v. 16, 24 ; Col. iii. 9, 10 ; 1 John iii. 14 ; v. 1, 4, 18 ; Eph. ii. 10 ; Phil. iv. 13 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 27 ;* Rom. vi. 12, 13 ; Heb. ii. 13. (d) Matt. v. 48 ; 2 Cor. iii. 18 ; Rom. viii. 29. (e) John i. 13 ; iii. 27 ; 1 Pet. i. 3, 4, 23 ; Tit. iii. 5 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 26 ; Eph. ii. 1, 4, 5 ; iii. 17 ; iv. 24 ; 1 Tim. i. 14 ; James i. 18 ; 1 Cor. iv, 15 ; Philem. 10 • 2 Cor. v. 17. (/) 1 John iii. 9 ; V. 1, 4 ; Rom. viii. 17. 27. Of Sanctification. All those who are united to Christ and justified through his righteousness are also sanctified. They receive virtue from his death, and from his resurrection, that, being dead to sin, they may be made alive to righteousness, (a) Their sanctification is personal and real, not imputative. (&) The word and the Spirit of God dwell in them;(c) the dominion of the whole body of sin has been destroyed; their several lusts are mortified and weakened from day to day;(cZ) and every grace is strengthened for every holy exercise ; for ' ' with- out holiness no man shall see the Lord. "(e) Sanctification is carried on throughout the whole man, yet is imperfect in this life, by reason of the corruption that also remains in every part.(/) Hence arises the continual warfare in the saints between the flesh and the spirit, (^f) Though the warfare continues and corruption is exceed- ing strong, and the saints are oftentimes sorely wounded, yet, through the intercession of Christ on their behalf, and fresh supplies of strength from the Spirit of grace, the regenerate nature is strengthened until it overcomes. (A) They grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God ; the good work begun in them will be finished. (*') Then shall they be without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, (y) (a) 1 Cor. vi. 11 ; Phil. iii. 10 ; Acts xx. 32 ; Rom. vi. 5, 6. (6) Heb. xii. 14 ; 2 Cor. vii. 1 ; Gal. v. 24 ; Rom. viii. 13 ; 1 Pet. ii. 11. (c) John xvii. 17 ; 2 Thess. ii. 13 ; Eph. iii. 16—19 ; V. 26 ; Col. i. 11. (d) Rom. vi. 6, 14 ; viii. 13 ; Heb. xiii. 12 ; Col. iii. 1—4 ; 1 Pet. iv. 2. (e) Ps. Ii. 6, 10 ; 1 Pet. ii. 2 ; iii. 4 ; Eph. iv. 24. (/) 1 Thess. v. 23 ; 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20 ; Rom. vi. 13 ; vii. 18, 23 ; 1 John i. 9, 10 ; Phil. iii. 12. (g) 1 Pet. ii. 11 ; Gal. v. 17 ; Rom. vii. 23 ; James i. 14. (h) Rom. vi. 14 ; 1 John v. 4 ; Eph. iv. 15, 16 ; 2 Pet. i. 4—8 ; iLi. 11, 58 CONFESSION OF J-AITH. 13, 18 ; Phil. iv. 8 ; Beb xii. 1—3. (t) 2 Pet. iii. 18 ; 2 Cor. iii. 18 ; vii. 1 ; Prov. iv. 18 • Phti. L 6. 0") £ph. i. 4 ; V. 26, 27 ; Pev. vii. 14. 28. Of Saving Faith aitd Its Fruits. Saving faith is a gracious instinct or principle, wrouglit in the heart by the Spirit of God; (a) whereby the soul is brought to believe the testimony of God in his word concerning all that he has spoken; (6) to believe the commandments so as to obey, the threatenings so as to tremble, the promises so as to accept and embrace them,(c) and especially to believe that we are utterly sinful, lost, and undone, without the Lord Jesus, and that through his propitiation and righteousness alone we are saved ;((Z) inasmuch as it is by this faith we receive and rest upon Christ alone for our salvation. (e) This is the faith of God's elect; it is this faith that God gives, that saves, justifies, works by love, purifies the heart, and overcomes the world. This faith is unfeigned, abides, looks unto the Lord, flees for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before it, takes hold of the Lord's strength, trusts him, puts on the Lord Jesus, feeds upon him, and lives to him.(/) This faith differs in degree in different Christians, and in the same Christian at different times. (^r) But the least degree of it differs in kind from the faith of hypocrites, and accompanies salvation. (7i) Neither is this faith ever without good works, which spring from it as its necessaiy and natural fruits, (t) (a) Eph. i. 19 ; ii. 8 ; Col. ii. 12 ; John iii. 16 ; vi. 35 ; 2 Thess. i. 11 ; ffeb. x. 39 ; xi. 1 ; Horn. i. 16 ; x. 17. (b) 2 Thess. ii. 13 ; John iv. 42 ; Acts xxiv. 14 ; 1 John v. 10. (c) Genl vi! 13, [22] ; xii. 1, 4; Is. Ixvi. 2 ; ffeb. xi. 7, 8, 13 ; 1 Tim, iv. 8. (d) Pom. i. 16, 17. iii. 25; V. 17—20 ; vi. 21 ; vii. 9 ; Acts ii. 37 ; iv. 12 ; xv. 11 ; xvi. 30, 31 ; Phil, iii. 9 ; Gal. ii'. 2o' (e) John i. 12 ; iii. 14, 15 ; vi. 47 ; Ads iv. 12; xx. 21 ; Eph. iii. 17 ; 1 Tim. i. 15 ; 2 Cor. v. 17 ; Rom. viii. 1 ; Phil. iii. 9. (f) Tit. i. 1 ; Eph. ii. 8 ; ffeb. vi. 18 ; x. 39 ; Pom. iii. 28 ; iv! 13 ; V. 1 ; xiii. 14 ; Gal. ii. 20 ; iii. 24 ; v. 6 ; Acts xv. 9 ; 1 John v. 4; 1 Tim. i. 6 ; 1 'cor. Xiii. 13 ; Luke xv. 18 ; xxii. 32 ; 2 Thess. i. 3 ; 75. xxvii. 5 ; xxviii. 16 ; xxxviii. 2 ; xlv. 22 ; m^umb. XXXV. 15; Josh. xx. 3; Gen. xix. 17; Malt. ix. 20 [—22] ; Ps. xl. 4; Jo'hnvi. H. ig) Heb. V. 13, 14 ; Rom. iv. 19, 20 ; xiv. 1 ; Matt, vi, 30 ; viii. 10 ; xv. 28. Qi) Luke xxii! 31, 32 ; Eph. vi. 16 ; 1 John v. 4, 5 ; Rom. viii. 17. (f) Eph. ii. 10 ; James ii. 17—26 • ffeb xi. 1—39. ' 29. Of Eepentance ui^to Life. God, in calling by his grace those who have arrived at years of discretion, gives them repentance unto life; that is to say, a CONFESSION OF FAITH. ' 69 change is wrouglit in their thoughts, belief, and lives, and deep, unfeigned sorrow produced, because they have sinned against him. (a) And inasmuch as corruption remains in the best of men on earth, all of whom, through the deceitfulness of their sins within and the temptations of the devil, offend in many things, God has provided, in the covenant of grace, that, when believers offend, they shall be renewed again through repentance. (6) Through the evangelical grace of repentance the Holy Spirit makes the believer sensible of the great evil of sin, and brings him to humble and abhor himself because of it, in godly sorrow to hate it, earnestly to pray for pardon of his past sins and for strength through grace to strive against sin, and fully to resolve, with the help of the Spirit, to walk before God unto all pleasing in all things, (c) Eepentance must needs continue during the whole life of the Christian, and is necessary because the body of death continues. It is his duty to repent, not only of sin in general, but also of all his particular sins.(c^) Such is the provision in the covenant for the safety of believers, that, as there is no sin so small but deserves condemnation, so there is no sin so great that it can bring condemnation upon him who truly repents, (e) The preaching of repentance is, therefore, at all times necessary. (/) (a) Zech. sii. 10 ; Acts xi. 18 ; xx. 21 ; Mark i. 15 ; Jer. xxxi. 19. (6) ] Kings viii. 46 [and following verses] ; Ps. xix. 12 ; li. 3, 4, 7, 10 ; Ixxxix. 32 ; cxxx. 3 ; csliii. 2 ; Hos. xiv. 1—4 ; Jer. xxxii. 39 ; Luke xiii. 6 ; Heh. iii. 13 ; James iii. 2. (c) Ezek. xvi. 61—63 ; xviii. 30,31; xxxTi. 31, 32; Pi. U. 4; cxix. 6, 59, 106, 128 ; Jer. 31,18; JoeZii. 12; Amos y. 15; Eos. xiv. 2, 4 ; 2 Kings xxiii. 25 ; 2 Cor. vii. 11 ; Luke i. 6 ; Eph. i. 7. {d) Rom. vii. 24 ; Ps. xxxii. 5, 6 ; li. 7—14 ; Prov. xxviii. 13 ; 1 John i, 9 ; Luke xix. 8 ; 1 Tim. i. 13, 15 ; Josh. vii. 19. (e) Luke xiii. 3 ; Acts xvii. 30 ; Rom. v. 12 ; vi. 23 ; vlii. 1 ; Matt. xii. 36 ; Is. i. 16" 18 ; Iv. 7 ; 2 Sam. xii. 13. {/) Luke xxiv. 47, 48 ; 2 Tim. ii. 25, 26 ; Acts iii. 19. 30. Of the MoEAii Law. Though Christ redeemed all his people from the curse of the law, as it was sanctioned in the covenant of works, (a) yet the moral law, the substance of which was written in the heart of man at his creation, (&) which was proclaimed by God from Mount Sinai in ten commandments, to declare God's authority over men and cause the offence to abound, to show the necessity for a mediator and to be a 60 CONFESSION OF FAITH. sclioolmaster to bring men to Clirist ; (c) which was also proclaimed by Christ in the gospel in two great commandments, love to God and love to our neighbour, the latter springing from and being evidence of the former, {d) — this law ever continues to be the rule of man's obedience to his Creator, in no degree changed under any dispensation, (e) This perfect law is spiritual, righteous, holy, and good, and contains in itself all that the Lord requires of men ; no change being possible in one of its commandments, while God is Creator and man a creature. (/) To magnify this law Christ was manifested in the flesh and fulfilled the work of redemption ; (g) and this is the law that the Holy Ghost Writes in te hearts of the redeemed, when they are restored to the image of Qod.{h) (a) Gal iii, 13 ; iv. 4, 5 ; Rom. vi, 14 ; viii, 3, 4 ; x. 4. (b) Gen. i. 26 ; ii. 17 ; Rom. ii. 14 ; t. 12, 19; vii, 10 ; X. 5 ; Eccles. vii. 29 ; Gal. iii. 10 ; Job xxviiL 28. (c) Exod. xx. 3—17 ; DeuL v. 6—21 ; Rom. v. 20; Gal. iv. 24. {d) Matt. v. 17^8 ; xxii. 36, 40 ; 1 Cor. ix. 21 ; Rom xiii. 8, 10. (e) Rom. ii. 14; iii. 19; xiii.8 ; Matt. v. 48; xxiu 36—40 ; Ps. xix. 7 ; James i. 25. (/) Deut. V. 32, 33 ; xii. 32 ; Ps. cxix. 96, 128, 151, 160 ; Rom. viL 12, 14; 1 Tim. i. 8 ; Eph. v. 1, 2 ; James ii. 10; Matt. v. 17, 18. (ff) Gal. iii. 13 ; iv. 4, 5 ; Rom. viii. 3 ; x. 4 ; Matt. iiL 15 ; v. 17 ; Is. xliL 21 ; 1 Pet. ii. 22. {h) Ileb. viii. 10 ; xii. 28, 29 ; Ps. xix. 11 ; cxix. 4, 6, 101, 104; Eom. viL 22, 25 ; 1 Cor. vii. 19 ; ix. 21 ; Matt. v. 19 ; Gal. iii. 21 ; James i. 23—25 ; ii 11 ; Jer. xxxL 33 ; Eph. v. 1 ; Phil. iiL 13, 14 ; 2 Cbr. vii 1 ; 1 John iii. 3. 31. Of Good Works. Good works are such works only as are commanded by God and are according to his will :(a) such as spring from a good and upright principle, and are done in faith and directed to a right end, that is, the glory of God : for as the tree must be good before it can bring forth good fruit, so a sinner must be reconciled to God, united to Christ, and made a partaker of his Spirit, before he can do one good work.(6) The best works of the best men are imperfect, and there- fore neither merit anything from God nor obtain salvation for men.(c) Notwithanding, good works are very necessary to be done at all times and to the utmost of our power, inasmuch as they have been ordained and commanded by God, and are the adornment and beauty of our profession, an example to others, and a means to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.((Z) (a) Rom. X. 2 ; xii. 2 ; i/ic. vi. 8 ; ffelK. xii. 21 ; Matt. xv. 9 ; Is. xxix. 13 ; 1 Pet. i. 18 ; l/Sam. XV. 21— 23; Johns.vi.2. {b) Eph. ii. 10; James ii 10, 18, 22 1 J/a«. v. 16 ; vii CONFESSION OF FAITH. 61 16—20 ; 1 Tim. i 5 ; ii. 9, 10 ; 2 Tim. ii. 21 ; John xiv. 15 ; xv. 1—8 ; Rom. xiv. 23 ; Tit. it 10 ; iii. 14. (c) Job ix. 2 ; Neh. xiii. 22 ; Luke xvii. 10 ; Rom. iii. 20 ; iv. 2—5 ; vii. 16—24 ; viii. 1—8 ; Eph. ii. 9 ; Tit. iii. 5—7 ; Job xxii. 2 ; xxxv. 7, 8 ; P5. xvi. 2 ; cxxx, 3 ; cxliii. 2; /s. Lxiv. 6; 2 Tt>n. i. 9; G^aZ. v. 6. (d) /oArt xiv. 15 : xv. 8 ; Eph. ii. 10 ; Tit. ii. -5—12 ; 1 Tim. vL 1 ; 1 Pet. ii. 12—15 ; Phil. i. 11 ; Rom. vi. 22 ; 1 /oAra ii. 29 ; iii. 7—10; Heb. vi. 11, 12 ; Col. L 10. 32. Of Peace of Conscience. Believers in tliis world enjoy peace of conscience. (a) Though their consciences have been truly awakened to bear witness for God, with the truth, against every sin in their hearts and lives, and declare the great evil of sin, the miserable state of the sinner, who deserves the wrath of God,(Z>) yet, because the sianer receives the atonement and rests by faith on the sacrifice and propitiation of Christ, his conscience is satisfied in what has satisfied God, enjoys true peace through the blood of the cross, and testifies that we have peace with God.(c) An appeased conscience does not permit the believer to live in sin, but is a tender, awakened, and faithful conscience, to bear witness against sin of every kind, — ■ against the enticements of the devil and the corruption of the heart. (cZ) Those who profess to have peace of conscience, and yet live in sin, deceive themselves, (e) Though peace of conscience is not founded on the man's experience, the purity of his motives, or the strictness of his life, pure motives and a strict walk in the ways of God are very helpful to keep and enjoy peace of conscience.(y) Conscience sometimes accuses the believer of sin and testifies that he deserves the frown and chastisement of God, though it does not pronounce sentence of condemnation upon him.((7) An appeased conscience is precious in prayer, in trouble, and in death, (/i) (a) 1 John ii. 3 ; iii. 14, 18, 19, 21, 24 ; v. 13 ; Rom. v. 2—5. {&) Gen. xxxLx. 9 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 8 ; Rom. vii. 14, 18 ; 1 Tim. i, 15 ; Acts xxiv 16. (c) Rom. v. 11 ; Heb. iv. 16 : vi. 11, 18, 19 ; ix, 14 ; x. 19—22 ; 2 Cor. i. 12 ; v. 19 ; Rom. viii. 15, 16 ; 2 Pet. i, 10 : 1 Cor. ii. 12. (d) Job viii. 13, 14 ; Deut. xxix. 19 ; Matt. vii. 22, 23 ; Rom. vi. 1 2; Col. iii. 1—3 ; 2 Cor. vii. 1; 1 John iii. 3; Jude 23 ; 1 Thess. v. 2 ; 1 Pet. i. 15; ii. 11. (e) 1 Thess. v. 3; Deut. xxix. 19; Phil. iii. 18, 19 ; Jude 12. (/) 2 Cor. i, 12 ; 1 John i. 7 ; iii. 19—21 ; John xiv. 21, 23 : XV. 14 ; 7s. xxxii. 17 ; lxiv. 4, 5 ; Ps. xviii. 23, 24; cxLx. 165 ; Acts ix. 31 ; 1 Thess. iii. 13. {g) Ps. xxx. 7; Ii. 1—14; Jer. ii. 17; iv. 18; Luke xxii. 61, 62. (A) Ps. Ixvi. 18—20; IxxiU. 28 ; Heb. x. 22; James iv. 8; 2 Cor. i. 5, 6, 12 ; 2 Pet. i. 10, 11 ; Phil. i. 19—23 ; Luke ii. 29 ; 1 Cor. xv. 55; Rom. v. 2. 62 confession op faith. 33. Of the Assurance of Hope. The assurance of hope is the result of true peace of conscience and a strict walk with God by faith. Hypocrites may deceive themselves with a false hope and a carnal presumption of being in the favour of God and in a state of salvation ; but their hope shall perish, (a) But all that believe in Christ, and love him in sincerity, and endeavour to walk before him in all good conscience, may, in this life, be certainly assured that they are in a state of grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God ; and their hope shall never make them ashamed. (i) This is not a doubtful conjecture, grounded on a false and feeble hope : it is " the full assurance of faith," resting on the blood and righteous- ness of Christ, as it is revealed in the gospel ; an inward evidence of saving grace in the soul ; and the witness of the Spirit to their adoption. The effect of this assurance is to make their hearts more humble and holy.(c) A true believer may have to wait long and strive with many difficulties before he enjoys this assurance ;{d) but being enabled by the Spirit rightly to use the means of grace and divine ordinances, and being taught to know the things which are *' freely given him of God," he can attain it without a miraculous revelation of any kind;(e) and it is the duty of every christian to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure, that he may largely experience the love of God and joy in the Holy Ghost, and more boldly, usefully, and cheerfully walk in the path of duty.(/) The christian's assurance may in divers ways be shaken and impaired: if he falls into any sin and grieves the Spirit, he loses the light of God's countenance, and walks in darkness. ((/) But the christian can never lose that seed of God which is in him, or the life of faith, or the love of Christ. The Spirit restores him in God's good time, and meanwhile keeps him from utter despair. The evil of his sin is revealed to him, and he is chastened by the Lord, that he may not be condemned with the world. But he is strengthened in all his affliction to hop© in God; yea, he has hope in his death.(/i) (a) Job XX. 5 ; Prov. xi. 7 ; Is. xxviii. 15 ; Luke vi. 49 ; Matt. xxr. 11, 12. (b) Heb. vL 11, 17—19 ; 1 John ii. 3 ; v. 19 ; 2 Cm-, v. 1 ; Rom. v. 2, 5. (c) 1 John i. 3, 4, 7 ; iii. 2, 24 ; Heb. X. 19—23 ; Rev. i. 5 ; 2 Cor. i. 21, 22 ; iv. 14, 17 ; v. 5 ; Phil. i. 21 ; Ps. Isiii. 8 ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 5 ; Rom. Tiii. 15, 16 ; xiv. 17 ; xv. 13 ; Eph. i. 13, 14. (d) 1 John ii. 28 ; v. 13 ; 1 Pet. V. 12 ; 2 Pet. i. 10 ; Rom. xiv. 1 ; 1 Cor. iii. 1, 2 ; Heb. v. 11—14; Is. 1. Itt; Mark ix. 24. CONFESSION- OF FAITH. 63 (c) John xiv. 26, 27 ; xvi. 22 ; Rom. viii. 26, 27 ; xv. 13 ; 1 Cor. ii. 10 12. (/) 2 PeM 10 • -Rom. V. 5 ; Tit. iii. 5-7; P5. iv. 6 ; cxix. 32 ; Ej>h. iii. 17-19 ; Rom. xiv. 17 ; ^cfo ix. 31. ig) Cant. v. 2, 6 ; Ps. xxxi. 22; li. 8, 12, 14 ; Ixxvii. 1—9 ; Matt. xxvi. 69—72 ; Is. 1. 10 • Ivii. 17, 18 ; Ixiv. 5 ; Eph. iv. 30. (A) 1 John iii. 9 ; Luke xxii. 32 ; Job xiii. 15 : Ps. Ixxiii. 14 : i/ic.7u. 7— 9; /s.liv. 7— 10. 34. Of Perseverance in Grace. Those whom God has made accepted in the beloved, has effectually called, and sanctifies by his Spirit, cannot totally and finally fall away from a state of grace, but will certainly be enabled to perse- vere to the end and saved.(a) Their perseverance depends, not upon their own will, but upon the immutabiHty of God's decree, the election of grace, the strength of the Father's love, the sufficiency of Christ's propitiation, the efficacy of his interces- sion, their union with Christ, the indwelHng of the Spirit, the seed ,of God within them, the nature and steadfastness of the covenant, and the promise and oath of God. It follows that their perseverance is certain and infallible. (6) It is true they may, through the temptations of Satan and the world, the great strength of inward corruption, and their neglect of the means of grace, fall into sins, and, for a time, continue m them, whereby they incur God's displeasure, grieve the Holy Spirit, impair their grace, lose their comfort, harden their hearts, wound their consciences, bring down upon themselves temporal judgments, do hurt to others, and cause the name of God to be blasphemed, (c) Notwithstanding this, they will be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation; yet their fall wiU be made very bitter to them.(^) Those who continue to Uve undisturbed in sin, and flatter themselves that they are in a state of grace, have much reason to tear that they deceive themselves, (e) For perseverance in grace implies, not only continuance in the possession and enjoyment P™f ges, but also continuance in holiness, diligence, and watchfulness, in a holy walk and conversation, in the earnest domg of aU duties, and in the use of all means of grace. Nothing is more opposed to sin than perseverance in grace; and he that so endures m grace to the end shall be saved. (/) 1 i? "-^f V'- ^^^- '■ ^ ' "^'^'^ ^'- ^^' ^^' 40 ; ^- 28, 29 ; Joi xvii. 9 ; 1 Pet. i 5 9 • 2^':"i I'S r P; -^ ^^.lxxxiv.7; 1 Thess.r. 24. (.) i?o«.. viii. 31-39 ; ix! H, 16; 2 Tim. 18 19; Phil. n. 13; Jer.xxxi.3; JohnK.28; xiii.l; xiv. 16 17 • xvii II 24- Job xxxux. 24; m ii. 14; 1 i>e. iii. 18 ; ^^6. vii. 25; ii 12, Is'; .. 10, 14 • xiu'o, iSe' 64 CONFESSION OF FAITH. xxii. 32 ; 1 John ii. 19, 27 ; iii 9; 2 Thess. iii. 3. (c) Ps. xxx. 7 ; xxxii. 3 ; li. 8—14 ; Matt. xxtI. 70—74 ; 2 Sam. xi. 27 ; xii. 14 ; Is. Ixiii. 17 ; Lxiv. 5, 9 ; Rev. ii. 4 ; Cant. v. 6 ; Mark xvi. 14. {d) 1 Pet. i. ."J ; yi«/6 23, 24 ; Is. liv. 7—10 ; Jer. ii. 19 ; iii. 12 ; iv. 18 ; 1 Cor. xL 32 ; Ps. Ixxxix. SI, 32 [-34]. (e) Rom. vi. 1, 2 ; Jude 4 ; Phil. iii. 18, 19 ; 2 Pet. u. 9, 10 ; Eeb. iv. 1 ; xii. 14—16. (/) 1 Pe^ i. 13—16 ; iii. 8 ; Rom. ii. 7 ; i/e6. xii. 1, 2 ; vi 11 ; xiii. 7 ; 2 Pei. i. 6—8 ; 2 Jjot. ii. 3—6 ; 1 Cor. ix. 23—27 ; MaU. xxiv. 13 ; Rev. iL 10. 35. Of the Church. God has his church in every age, and under every dispensation. It consists of all the people of God in heaven and earth, and may, therefore, be regarded as militant and triumphant. That portion of the church which is on earth, the church militant, consists of all professing christians throughout the world, and may be divided into the visible church and the mystical church, (a) The universal visible church on earth are all those who have been called out and set apart for holy ends, to profess the christian reli- gion, to read the word of God, and to observe the ordinances of the gospel; that is, all who profess themselves believers, together with their children, — unless their parents, through neglect, deprive them of the privileges of the kingdom of heaven, or they them- selves despise their birthright, as profane Esau did, or grow up to be persecuting scoffers, who shall be cast out, as Ishmael.(6) A ijarticular visible church is a congregation of faithful men, and their children, assembling with their officers in one place, where the true doctrine is preached, and the ordinances and discipline, which Christ instituted in his church, are observed and enforced. (c) The mystical church is that which God loved, Christ purchased, and the Holy Ghost sanctifies, and which Christ will present to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. The true church can be but one; for "She is one;" and Christ is her only Head, Prophet, Priest, and K"ing.(d) (a) Gen. iii. 15 ; Col. L 18 ; Acts vii. 38 ; Heb. xi. 2—40 ; Matt. xxv. 1—4. (6) Ps ii. 6 ; xc. 16 ; cxlvii. 13; Rev. vii. 9; Rem. xi. 16 ; xv. 9—12 ; Eph. ii. 13, 19—22 ; iu. 15, 21 ; iv. 11, 12 ; vi. 4 ; 1 Tim. iii. 15 ; 1 Cor. L 2 ; vii. 14 ; x. 2 ; xii. 12, 13 ; Matt. xiii. 47 ; Is. ix. 7 ; xliv. 3—5 ; Ixv. 23 ; Ixvi. 22 ; Acts ii. 39 ; Gen. xvii. 7, 12 ; xxL 9, 12 ; xxv. 33, .34 ; Deut. x. 15 ; Ezek. xvi. 20, 21 ; xM. 16, 18 ; xlvii. 22, 23 ; Jer. xxx. 20; Joel ii. 16, 17 ; Esther x. 3 ; Neh. ii. 19 ; Prov. xxii. 6 ; Mai. ii. 15 ; Gal. iv. 30 ; Eeb. xii. 16. (c) 2 Cor. i. 1 ; viii. 1 ; Gal. L 13, 22 ; 1 Thess. i. 1 ; Acts xv. 41 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 34 ; Rom. xvi. 4 ; Col. iv. 15 ; Rev. i. 11—20 ; iL ; iiL (d) Eph. i. 10, 22 23 ; iv. 4 ; v. 23, 25—27, 32 ; Rom. v. 8 ; 1 John iv. 10 ; Acts iii. 22 ; xx. 28, 32 ; 1 Pet. i. 2 ; Cant. vi. 9 ; 1 Cor. xii. 13, 20, 27 ; Matt. xvi. 18 ; Col. i. 18; Heb. iv. 14. i5 ; vii. 25, 26 ; xii. 23 ; Ps. ii. 6 ; xlv. 13—15. confession of faith. 65 36. Of Church Fellowship. Tkrough their Tinioii with Clirist, their head, the saints are united to one another, have special communion in each other's spiritual gifts and graces, (a) and are bound to perform such duties towards each other as conduce to their mutual profit and edification. (&) It is the duty of those who profess godliness to maintain fellowship and communion with each other in the public worship of God, to love each other as brethren, and to do good especially unto them who are of the household of faith, by relieving, according to their ability, each other's various necessities, (c) But this spiritual or religious union and fellowship in church- membership does not weaken any tie of natural relationship, or take away or in the slightest degree infringe the title, personal or civil, of every member of the Church to his possessions and goods. (cZ) (a) 1 John i. 3 ; m. 14 ; Eph. ii. 5, 6 ; iii. 17—19; iv. 3—6; 1 Cor. xii. 25—27 ; Ads ii. 41 [-47] ; iv. 32. (6) Rom. i. 11—14 ; xv. 5—7 ; 1 Thess. v. 11—14; Eph. iv. 15. 16 ; 1 Cor. iii. 21, 22 ; xii. 7 ; xiv. 12 — iO. (c) Luke vs.. 49, 50 ; Eph. iv. 3—7 ; Eeb. iii. 13 ; x. 24, 25 ; AcU ii. 42—46 ; xi. 29, 30 ; 7s. ii. 3 ; 1 Cor. xi. 20 [-26] ; 1 John iii. 16—18 ; Gal. vi. 2, 10 ; Rom. xii. 5 ; Mai. iii. 16 ; Col. iii. 16 ; 1 Pet. iv. 10, 11 ; 1 Thess. v. 14. {d) Exodus xx. 15 ; Eph. iv. 28 ; vi. 1—9 ; Acts v. 4 ; 1 Cor. vii. 24, 39 ; 1 Pet. iii. 7 ; 1 Tim. v. 1—3, 17 ; Eph. vi. 1—9 ; Rom. xii. 6—16. 37. Of the Oedinances of the Gospel. Christ, the head of the church, has instituted ordinances, means of grace, and an order of worship, to be used in the church by all his people, — in private, in the family, and in the congrega- tion, (a) Through these ordinances, God gives grace, and nouiishes and increases the grace given. They are the ordinances of preach- ing, reading and hearing the word, prayer, praise, mutual instruc- tion and conference, church discipline, and the sacraments of Baptism , and the Lord's Supper.(6) ThesQ ordinances are to be observed especially on the Lord's day (that is, the first day of the week), which was sanctified to be wholly spent in the service of God.(c) They are to be obsei^ed at other times also. No specific lules have been given respecting the length of the service, the manner of conducting it, and every matter of detail; but the church is required to judge and act E 66 CONFESSION OF FAITH. according to the general rules: — *'Let all things be done with charity, unto edification, decently, and in order."(^) (a) Deut. V. 32. 33 ; xii. 32 ; Joshua xxiv. 14 ; Mark xii. 33 ; Col. ii. 23 ; John xx. 23 ; Eph. iv. U— 14 ; Ps. cxlx. 68 ; Prov. viii. 34 ; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 31 ; Luke i. 6. [b) Matt. vi. 6, 12—15 ; xiii. 19 ; xxvlii. 19 ; Mark xi. 24 ; xvi. 15; Acts ii. 42 ; x. 2, 33, 42 ; xv. 21 ; 1 Tim. ii. 8 ; vi. 3 ; 2 Tim. iv. 2 ; Rev. i. 3 ; John iv. 21 ; v. 14. 39; xiv. 13, 14 ; James i 22 ; v. 13, 16 ; Heh. iii. 13 ; iv. 2 ; x. 24, 25 ; xii. 28 ; Is. Ixvi. 2 ; Phil. iv. 6 ; Eph. ii. 18 ; v. 19 ; vi. 18 ; Col. iii. 16, 17 ; iv. 2 ; Ps. Ixv. 2 ; Ixxiv. 7 ; 1 Pet. ii. 5 ; iii. 7 ; Rom. viii. 26 ; Ercles. v. 1, 2 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 14 [—19 ;] Mai. i. 11 ; Jer. x. 25 ; 2 .Sam. vi. 18. (c) ^tocZh5 xx. 8 ; Is. Ivi 6, 7 ; ilcto XX. 7 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 1,2; iJer. i. 10 ; 2 rm. iv. 2. (d) 1 Cor. xiv, 26, 40 ; xvi. 14 ; Eph. iv. 2, 15, 16. 38. Of Baptism. Baptism is an ordinance which Christ, as King, instituted in his church, to be observed to the end of time, (a) and to be administered only by ministers appointed and sent by Christ himself. (6) It is duly administered by sprinkling or pouring water on the baptized person, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, (c) It should be administered but once on the same person. ((i) All who profess themselves believers, and their infant children, have a scriptural right to this ordin- ance. (e) It is an emblem of their death unto sin, and of newness of life unto righteousness. (/) This ordinance is not essentially necessary to salvation; yet it is a sin wilfully to neglect it, inasmuch as that would be an act of disobedience to a positive command of Christ, (gr) It should be administered publicly in the congregation, except when circumstances make the private administration of it necessary. (A) (a) Malt, xxviii. 19, 20 ; Col. ii. 1 1, 12 ; Gah iii. 27 ; John i. 33 ; iii. 26 ; iv. 1, 2 ; Rom. vi. 3—6. [h) Matt, xxviii. 19 ; Heh. v. 4. [c) Matt. iii. H ; xxviii. 19; Adsi. 5 ; ii. 38; viii. 36—38 ; X. 47 ; 1 Pet. i. 2 ; iii. 20;21 ; Mark vii. 4—8 ; Luke xi. 38 ; 1 Cor. x. 2 ; Heb. ix. 10 ; X. 22 ; xii. 24 ; Is. Iii. 15 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 25. (d) Eph. iv. 5. (e) Mark x. 13—16 ; xvi. 15,' 16 ; Acts ii. 38, 39, 41 ; viii. 37, 38 ; xvi. 33 ; 1 Pet. iii. 21 ; Gen. xvii. 7 ; 1 Cor. vii. 14 ; x.'l, 2; xii. 13 ; Is. xl. 11 ; Iii. 15 ; Gal. iii. 9-14. 27—29 ; Col. ii. 11, 12 ; Ps. cxxvii. 3 ; Luke xviii. 15 ; 1 John ii. 12, 13. (/) Rom. v, 18 ; vi. 3—7 ; Eph. ii. 3 ; v. 26 ; h. l.xiv. 6 ; Job xiv. 4 ; Ps. Ii. 5 ; Zech. xiii. 1 ; Heb. ix. 12—14 ; xii. 24 ; 1 John i. 7 ; Gal. iii. 27 ; Tit. iii. 5; Rom. vi. 3—7 ; Col. ii. 11—13; John iii. 5—8. (g) Gal. vi. 15 ; Acts ii 38, .^^9 ; viii. 13, 23 ; Exodus iv. 24—26 ; Luke vii. 30 ; Mark xvi. 16. (h) Acts ii. 38, 39 ; x. 2—48-. 39. Of the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is, equally with baptism, an ordinance sym- bolical and sacramental; and no other ordinance than these two CONFESSION OF FAITH. 67 is STicli.(a) In this ordinance, by breaking, giving, and receiving bread, by giving, receiving, and drinking of the cup, is shown in the church our Lord's death till he come in the clouds.(&) This is done by his command, in remembrance of him, — of his person, his love, his humiliation, his sufferings, his death, and his aIl-suflB.cient propitiation, (c) By this means we profess that we truly receive him, believe in him, love him, feed upon him by faith, are united to him, and,^ in him, to one another ; and, as good soldiers of Christ, live unto him who died for us.{d) This is an ordinance for the nourishment and growth of believers in grace, to be often observed in the church by all who can discern the Lord's body, examine themselves, and do this in remembrance of Christ. (e) It is to be administered by ministers of the gospel, as Christ has prescribed. It is for them to set apart the elements of bread and wine with prayer and thanks- giving, break the bread, take the cup, partake themselves of the elements, and then distribute them to the congregation. (/) Ignor- ant persons and the openly profane, or those who, professing godliness, have fallen into sin, are unworthy, till they repent and amend their ways, to partake of the Lord's Supper, and, if they partake, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, and eat and drink damnation to themselves. ((/) (a) 1 Cor. X. 16, 17, 21 ; xi. 23—26 ; xii. 13. (6) Matt. xxvi. 26—28 ; Mark xiv. 22— 24 ; Luke xxii. 19—21 ; 1 Cor. xi. 26. (c) 1 Cor. v. 7 ; xi. 25 ; Heb. xii. 2—4. (d) John i. 12 ; Ti. 53—58 ; Eph. iii. 17 ; 1 Cor. x, 17 ; 2 Tim. ii. 3, 4 ; 2 Cor. v. 15 ; Eom. xii. 1.- (e) 1 Cor. xi. 26, 28 ; Acts ii. 42, 46 ; xx. 7 ; Heb. ix. 26 ; John vi. 54—57. (/) 1 Cor. iv. 1,2; x. 16 ; Eom. X. 15 ; Matt, xxviii. 19, 20 ; Mark xiv. 23, 24. {g) I Cor. v. 6—13 ; x. 20—22 ; xi. 27, 29, 30 ; 2 Thess. iii. 6, 14, 15 ; Matt. vu. 6 ; Ps. 1. 16, 17 ; 2 Cor. vi. 16, 17. 40. Of Obedience to the Civil Government. God, the Supreme Euler and King of all the world, (a) has ordained kings and all that are in authority to be, under him, rulers of men, for his own glory, and the common weal of the people. (&) He has also invested them with authority, to be a terror to evil doers, and, when necessary, to execute wrath upon them. They are also sent by him for the praise and protection of them that do well.(c) 68 CONFESSION OF FAITH. It is the duty of all tlie subjects to reverence and honour them; to obey them in all things that are in accordance with the word of God;((Z) to pray and give thanks for them, to honour and obey their laws, to pay whatever tax or tribute they impose, without murmuj, concealment, or fraud, (e) "We should consider our duty to honour and obey the king to rest upon the ordinance and authority of God, whose minister he is, and not* upon the king's personal virtues. (/) (a) Ps. xlvii. 2 ; xcv. 3 ; ciii. 19 ; Dan. iv. 34, 35, 37 ; Jer. x. 10 ; Prov. viii. 16, 16 ; 1 Tim. vi. 15. (6) Rom. xiii. 1, 2, 4 ; Ps. xxi, 5 ; Ixxxii. 3, 4 ; cxxxviii. 4, 5 ; Is. xlix. 23 ; Ix. 16 ; Rev. xxi. 24 ; Ezra vii. 27. (c) Rom. xiii. 3, 4 ; 1 Pet. ii. 14. (d) Rom. xiii. 1 ; 1 Pet. ii. 13—17 ; Til. iii. 1 ; 2 Pet. ii. 10, 11 ; Jude 8, 9. (e) 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2 ; Ezra vi. 10 ; Neh. i. 11 ; Fs. XX. [see Luther on this Psalm] ; Ixxii. 1 ; Prov. xxiv. 21 ; Exodus viii. 9 ; Jer. xxix. 7 ; fiom. xiii. 5—7. (/) Rom. xiii. 4, 6 ; 1 Fet. ii. 13—17 ; Tit. iii. 1, 2. 41. Of Death, and the State of Men after Death. Death consists in the separation of body and soul for a time. (a) Though man in his original state was not subject to death, every man, in consequence of sin, is subject to death: "it is appointed unto men once to die. "(6) The godly and the ungodly, the one as well as the other, are subject to death ;(c) but the godly are delivered by Christ from the hurt of death, and to them death is turned into gain, whereas to the wicked it will be an unutterable loss, and the entrance into death everlasting. (cZ) At death the bodies return to the earth and see corruption ; but the souls are a spiritual substance, and neither die nor sleep, but are brought at ojice before the throne of God,(e) Then will the spirits of the righteous, made perfect, be received into glory, there to wait, in tl;e full enjoyment of God in Christ, for the redemption of their bodies. (/) But the souls of the unrighteous are cast into hell, where they are reserved in torments and outer darkness for the judg- ment of the great day. There is no other place for souls departed from the body than these tvfo.{g) (a) Gen. iii. 19 ; Eccles. xii. 7 ; Acts xiii. 36 ; Luke xxiii. 43. (b) Rom. v. 12 ; vi. 23 ; Ps. xc. 3 ; Heb. ix. 27. (c) Ps. xlix. 7—10 ; Eccles. ix. 2. (d) Phil. i. 21 ; Lule ii. 29 ; xii. 20 ; xvi. 22, 2.'^ ; 1 Cor. xv. 55 ; Ps. xxiii. 4. (e) Eccles. xii. 7 ; Acts xiii. 36 ; Lu/:e x.xiii. CONFESSIOIf . OP FAITH. 69 43 ; Heb. be. 27. (/) 2 Cor. v. 1—4, 8 ; Phil. i. 23 ; Hei. xii. 23 ; 2 Tim. iv. 6—8 ; Acts iii. 21 ; Eph. iv. 10. {g) Luke xvi. 22, 23 ; Job xviii. 18 ; xxvii. 8 ; Acts i. 25 ; /M