Having been enabled, through divine Grace to give up ourselves to
the Lord, and likewise to one another by the will of God, we account
it as incumbent upon us to make a declaration of our faith and practice,
to the honour of Christ, and the glory of His name; knowing, that
as with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, so with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation; which is declared as follows.
- We believe, That the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament,
are the Words of God, and the only rule of faith and practice.
- We believe, That there is but one only living and true God;
that there three Persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son and the
Holy Ghost, Who are equal in nature, power, and glory; and that the
Son and the Holy Ghost are as truly and properly God as the Father.
These three Divine Persons are distinguished from each other by peculiar
relative properties. The distinguishing character and relative property
of the First Person is begetting; He has begotten a Son of the same
nature with Him, and Who is the express image of His Person; and therefore
is with great propriety called the Father. The distinguishing character
and relative property of the Second Person is that He is begotten,
and He is called the Only Begotten of the Father, and His own proper
Son; not a Son by creation as angels and men are, nor by adoption
as saints are, nor by office as civil magistrates are, but by nature,
by the Father's eternal generation of Him in the divine nature; and
therefore He is truly called the Son. The distinguishing character
and relative property of the third person is to be breathed by the
Father and the Son, and to proceed from Both, and is very properly
called the Spirit or Breath of both. These three distinct Divine Persons,
we profess to reverence, serve and worship as the one true God.
- We believe, That before the world began, God did elect a
certain number of men unto everlasting salvation; whom He did predestinate
to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ of His own free grace,
and according to the good pleasure of His will; and that in pursuance
of this gracious design, He did contrive and make a covenant of grace
and peace with His son Jesus Christ, on behalf of those persons, with
all their grace and glory, were put into the hands of Christ, and
made His care and charge.
- We believe, That God created the first man Adam, after His
image, and in His likeness, an upright, holy, innocent creature, capable
of serving and glorifying Him, but he sinning, all his posterity sinned
in him, and came short of the glory of God; the guilt of whose sin
is imputed; and a corrupt nature derived to all his off-spring descending
from him by ordinary and natural generation; that they are by their
first birth carnal and unclean; averse to all that is good, incapable
of doing any, and prone to every sin; and are also by nature children
of wrath and under sentence of condemnation, and so are subject, not
only to a corporal death, and involved in a moral one, commonly called
spiritual, but are also liable to an eternal death, as considered
in the first Adam, fallen and sinners; from all which there is no
deliverance, but by Christ the second Adam.
- We believe, That the Lord Jesus Christ, being set up from
everlasting as mediator of the covenant, and He having engaged to
be surety of His people did in the fullness of time really assume
human nature, and not before neither in whole nor in part; His human
soul being a creature, existed not from eternity, but was created
and formed in His body by Him that formed the spirit of man within
Him, when He was conceived in the womb of the virgin; and so His human
nature consists of a true body and a reasonable soul, both which,
together, and at once the Son of God assumed into union with His Divine
Person, when made of a woman and not before, in which He really suffered
and died as the substitute of His people, in their room and stead;
whereby He made all that satisfaction for their sins which the law
and justice of God could require, as well as made way for all those
blessings which are needful for them both for time and eternity.
- We believe, That the eternal Redemption which Christ has
obtained by the shedding of His blood is special and particular, that
is to say that it was only intentionally designed for the Elect of
God, and Sheep of Christ, who only share the special and peculiar
blessings of it.
- We believe, That the justification of God's Elect is only
by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, without the consideration
of any works of righteousness done by them; and that the full and
free pardon of all their sins and transgressions, past, present and
to come, is only through the blood of Christ according to the riches
of his grace.
- We believe, That the work of regeneration, conversion, sanctification
and faith is not an act of man's free will and power, but of the mighty,
efficacious and irresistible grace of God.
- We believe, That all those who are chosen by the Father,
redeemed by the Son, and sanctified by the Spirit, shall certainly
persevere, so that not one of them shall ever perish but shall have
everlasting life.
- We believe, That there shall be a Resurrection of the dead,
both the of the just and the unjust; and that Christ will come a second
time to judge both the quick and the dead; when He will take vengeance
on the wicked, and introduce His own people into His Kingdom and Glory,
where the shall be for ever with Him.
- We believe, That Baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances
of Christ, to be continued until His second coming; and that the former
is absolutely requisite to the latter; that is to say, that those
only are admitted into the communion of the church, and to participate
of all the ordinances in it, who upon profession of their faith, have
been baptised by immersion, in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
- We believe, That singing of Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual
Songs vocally is an ordinance of the Gospel to be performed by believers,
but that as to time, place, and manner, everyone ought to be left
to their liberty in using it.
Now
all each of these doctrines and ordinances we look upon ourselves
under the greatest obligation to embrace, maintain and defend; believing
it is our duty to stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving
together for the faith of the Gospel.
And
whereas we are very sensible that our conversation, both in the world
and the church, ought to be as becometh the Gospel of Christ, we judge
it our incumbent duty, to walk in wisdom toward them that are without,
to exercise a conscience void of offence toward God and men, by living
soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.
And
as to our regards to each other in our church communion, we esteem
it our duty to walk with each other in all humility and brotherly
love; to watch over each other's conversation; to stir up one another
to love and good works; not forsaking the assembling of ourselves
together, as we have opportunity, to worship God according to His
revealed will; and when the case requires, to warn, rebuke and admonish
one another, according to the rules of the Gospel.
Moreover,
we think ourselves obliged to sympathise with each other in all conditions,
both inward and outward, which God, in His providence, may bring us
into; as also to bear with one another's weakness, failings and infirmities;
and particularly to pray for one another and that the Gospel, and
the ordinances thereof, might be blessed to the edification and comfort
of each other's souls, and for the gathering in of others to Christ,
besides those who are already gathered.
All
which duties we desire to be sound in performance of, through the
gracious assistance of the Holy Spirit; whilst we both admire and
adore the grace which has given us a place and a name in God's house,
better than that of sons and daughters. Isa.56;5
The
Carter Lane Declaration, the Goat Yard Declaration
and the 1655 Midlands Declaration of Faith were used by many congregations,
and are still used by some gatherings in English speaking countries.
Articles
of Faith became necessary to make a stand against the continued attacks
on the Gospel, the Glory of God, the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ
and on the work of the Holy Spirit, by the peddlers of error.
©
John Cargill
email: John Cargill <johncargill@lineone.net>
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