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04 - The Westminster Confession of Faith · Philosophy and Faith

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  Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen of good works. One, good works are only
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  Speaker 1: such as God has commanded in his Holy Word, and
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  Speaker 1: not such as without the warrant thereof, are devised by
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  Speaker 1: men out of blind zeal or upon any pretense of
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  Speaker 1: good intention. Two. These good works done in obedience to
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  Speaker 1: God's commandments are the fruits and evidences of a true
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  Speaker 1: and lively faith. And by them believers manifest their thankfulness,
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  Speaker 1: strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession of
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  Speaker 1: the gospel, stop the mouths of the adversaries, and glorify God,
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  Speaker 1: whose workmanship they are created in Christ Jesus. Thereunto that,
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  Speaker 1: having their fruit unto holiness, they may have the end
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  Speaker 1: eternal life. Three. Their ability to do good works is
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  Speaker 1: not at all of themselves, but wholly from the Spirit
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  Speaker 1: of Christ, and that they may be enabled thereunto. Beside
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  Speaker 1: the graces they have already received, there is required an
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  Speaker 1: actual influence of the same Holy Spirit to work in
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  Speaker 1: them to will and to do of His good pleasure.
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  Speaker 1: Yet are they not hereupon to grow negligent, as if
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  Speaker 1: they were not bound to perform any duty unless upon
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  Speaker 1: a special motion of the spirit. But they ought to
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  Speaker 1: be diligent in stirring up the grace of God that
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  Speaker 1: is in them. Four, They who in their obedience attain
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  Speaker 1: to the greatest height which is possibly in this life,
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  Speaker 1: are so far from being able to superarrogate and to
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  Speaker 1: do more than God requires, as that they fall short
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  Speaker 1: of much which in duty they are bound to do. Five.
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  Speaker 1: We cannot, by our best works, merit pardon of sin
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  Speaker 1: or eternal life at the hand of God, by reason
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  Speaker 1: of the great disproportion that is between them and the
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  Speaker 1: glory to come, and the infinite distance that is between
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  Speaker 1: us and God, whom by them we can neither profit
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  Speaker 1: nor satisfy for the debt of our former sins. But
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  Speaker 1: when we have done all we can, we have done
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  Speaker 1: but our duty and our unprofitable servants. And because as
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  Speaker 1: they are good, they proceed from His spirit, and as
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  Speaker 1: they are wrought by us, they are defiled and mixed
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  Speaker 1: with so much weakness and imperfection that they cannot endure
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  Speaker 1: the severity of God's judgment. Six. Notwithstanding the persons of
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  Speaker 1: believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also are
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  Speaker 1: accepted in Him, not as though they were in this
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  Speaker 1: life wholly unblameable and unreprovable in God's sight, but that He,
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  Speaker 1: looking upon them in his son, is pleased to accept
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  Speaker 1: and reward that which is sincere although accompanied with many
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  Speaker 1: weaknesses and imperfections. Seven works done by unregenerate men. Although
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  Speaker 1: for the matter of them, they may be things which
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  Speaker 1: God commands and of good use, both to themselves and others.
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  Speaker 1: Yet because they proceed not from an heart purified by faith,
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  Speaker 1: nor are done in a right manner according to the Word,
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  Speaker 1: nor to a right end the glory of God, they
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  Speaker 1: are therefore sinful and cannot please God or make a
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  Speaker 1: man meet to receive grace from God. And yet their
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  Speaker 1: neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing unto God.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen of the perseverance of the Saints. One, they
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  Speaker 1: whom God has accepted in his beloved, effectually called and
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  Speaker 1: sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall
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  Speaker 1: away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere
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  Speaker 1: therein to the end and be eternally saved. Two. This
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  Speaker 1: perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will,
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  Speaker 1: but upon the immutability of the decree of election flowing
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  Speaker 1: from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father,
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  Speaker 1: upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 1: the abiding of the Spirit and of the Seed of
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  Speaker 1: God within them, and the nature of the covenant of
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  Speaker 1: grace from all which arises also the certainty and infallibility
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  Speaker 1: thereof three. Nevertheless, they may, through the temptations of Satan
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  Speaker 1: and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them,
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  Speaker 1: and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall
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  Speaker 1: into grievous sins, and for a time continue therein, whereby
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  Speaker 1: they incur God's displeasure and grieve his Holy Spirit, come
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  Speaker 1: to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts,
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  Speaker 1: have their hearts hardened and their consciences wounded, hurt and
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  Speaker 1: scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves. Chapter eighteen
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  Speaker 1: of Assurance of Grace and Salvation One. Although hypocrites and
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  Speaker 1: other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes
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  Speaker 1: and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God
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  Speaker 1: and a state of salvation, which hope of theirs shall perish,
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  Speaker 1: Yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and
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  Speaker 1: love him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good
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  Speaker 1: conscience before him, may in this life be certainly assured
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  Speaker 1: that they are in the state of grace, and may
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  Speaker 1: rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which
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  Speaker 1: hope shall never make them ashamed. Two. This certainty is
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  Speaker 1: not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a
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  Speaker 1: fallible hope, but an infallible assurance of faith, founded upon
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  Speaker 1: the divine truth of the promises of salvation, the inward
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  Speaker 1: evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made,
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  Speaker 1: the testimony of the spirit of adoption, witnessing with our
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  Speaker 1: spirits that we are the children of God, which spirit
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  Speaker 1: is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed
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  Speaker 1: to the day of redemption. Section three. This infallible assurance
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  Speaker 1: does not so belong to the essence of faith, but
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  Speaker 1: that a true believer may wait long and conflict with
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  Speaker 1: many difficulties before he be partaker of it. Yet, being
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  Speaker 1: enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are
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  Speaker 1: freely given him of God, he may, without extraordinary revelation,
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  Speaker 1: in the right use of ordinary means, attain thereunto and
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  Speaker 1: therefore it is the duty of everyone to give all
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  Speaker 1: diligence to make his calling and election, sure, that thereby
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  Speaker 1: his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy, in
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God, and
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  Speaker 1: in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience, the
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  Speaker 1: proper fruits of this assurance. So far is it from
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  Speaker 1: inclining men to looseness. Four true believers may have the
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  Speaker 1: assurance of their salvation diverse ways, shaken, diminished, and intermitted,
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  Speaker 1: as by negligence in preserving of it, by falling into
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  Speaker 1: some special sin which wounds the conscience and grieves the spirit,
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  Speaker 1: by some sudden or vehement temptation, by God's withdrawing the
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  Speaker 1: light of his countenance, and suffering even such as fear
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  Speaker 1: him to walk in darkness and to have no light.
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  Speaker 1: Yet are they never so utterly destitute of that seed
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  Speaker 1: of God and life of faith, that love of Christ,
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  Speaker 1: and the brethren, that sincerity of heart and conscience of duty,
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  Speaker 1: out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this
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  Speaker 1: assurance may in due time be revived, and by the
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  Speaker 1: which in the meantime they are supported from utter despair.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter nineteen of the Law of God. One, God gave
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  Speaker 1: to Adam a law as a covenant of works, by
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  Speaker 1: which he bound him and all his posterity to personal, entire,
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  Speaker 1: exact and perpetual obedience, promised life upon the fulfilling, and
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  Speaker 1: threatened death upon the breach of it, and endued him
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  Speaker 1: with power and ability to keep it. Two. This law,
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  Speaker 1: after his fall, continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness,
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  Speaker 1: and as such was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai
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  Speaker 1: in ten commandments and written in two tables, the first
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  Speaker 1: four commandments containing our duty towards God and the other
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  Speaker 1: six our duty to man. Three. Besides this law, commonly
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  Speaker 1: called moral, God was pleased to give to the people
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  Speaker 1: of Israel as a church under age ceremonial laws, containing
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  Speaker 1: several typical ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring Christ His graces, actions, sufferings,
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  Speaker 1: and benefits, and partly holding forth diverse instructions of moral duties,
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  Speaker 1: all which ceremonial laws are now abrogated under the New Testament.
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  Speaker 1: Four to them, also as a body politic, he gave
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  Speaker 1: sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the state of
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  Speaker 1: that people, not obliging under any now further than the
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  Speaker 1: general equity thereof may require. Five. The moral law does
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  Speaker 1: forever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to
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  Speaker 1: the obedience thereof, and that not only in regard of
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  Speaker 1: the matter contained in it, but also in respect of
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  Speaker 1: the authority of God, the creator, who gave it. Neither
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  Speaker 1: does Christ in the Gospel any way dissolve, but much
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  Speaker 1: strengthen this obligation. Six. Although true believers be not under
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  Speaker 1: the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby
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  Speaker 1: justified or condemned, yet is it of great use to
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  Speaker 1: them as well as to others, in that as a
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  Speaker 1: rule of life, informing them of the will of God
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  Speaker 1: and their duty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly,
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  Speaker 1: discovering also the sinful pollutions of their nature, hearts, and lives.
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  Speaker 1: So as examining themselves thereby they may come to further
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  Speaker 1: conviction of and hatred against sin, together with a clearer
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  Speaker 1: sight of the need they have of Christ and the
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  Speaker 1: perfection of his obedience. It is likewise of use to
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  Speaker 1: the regenerate to restrain their corruptions, in that it forbids sin,
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  Speaker 1: and the threatenings of it serve to show what even
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  Speaker 1: their sins deserve, and what afflictions in this life they
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  Speaker 1: may expect for them, although freed from the curse thereof
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  Speaker 1: threatened in the law, the promises of it in like
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  Speaker 1: manner show them God's approbation of obedience, and what blessings
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  Speaker 1: they may expect upon the performance thereof, although not as
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  Speaker 1: due to them by the Law as a covenant of works,
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  Speaker 1: so as a man's doing good and refraining from evil,
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  Speaker 1: because the Law encourages to the word one and deters
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  Speaker 1: from the other, is no evidence of his being under
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  Speaker 1: the law and not under grace. Seven. Neither are the
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  Speaker 1: forementioned uses of the law contrary to the grace of
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  Speaker 1: the Gospel. But do sweetly comply with it, the spirit
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  Speaker 1: of Christ subduing and enabling the will of man to
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  Speaker 1: do that freely and cheerfully, which the will of God
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  Speaker 1: revealed in the Law requires to be done. Chapter twenty
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  Speaker 1: of Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience one. The liberty
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  Speaker 1: which Christ has purchased for believers under the Gospel consists
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  Speaker 1: in their freedom from the guilt of sin and condemning
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  Speaker 1: wrath of God, the curse of the moral law, and
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  Speaker 1: in their being delivered from this present evil world bondage
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  Speaker 1: to Satan and dominion of sin, from the evil of afflictions,
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  Speaker 1: the sting of death, the victory of the grave, and
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  Speaker 1: everlasting damnation, as also in their free access to God,
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  Speaker 1: and their yielding obedience unto Him, not out of slavish fear,
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  Speaker 1: but a childlike love and willing mind, all which were
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  Speaker 1: common also to believers under the Law. But under the
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  Speaker 1: New Testament, the liberty of Christians is further enlarged in
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  Speaker 1: their freedom from the yoke of the ceremonial law to
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  Speaker 1: which the Jewish Church was subjected, and in greater boldness
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  Speaker 1: of access to the Throne of Grace, and in fuller
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  Speaker 1: communications of the free Spirit of God than believers under
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  Speaker 1: the Law did ordinarily partake of two. God alone is
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  Speaker 1: lord of the conscience, and has left it free from
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  Speaker 1: the doctrines and commandments of men, which are in anything
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  Speaker 1: contrary to His word or besold it, if matters of
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  Speaker 1: faith or worship, so that to believe such doctrines or
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  Speaker 1: to obey such commands out of conscience is to betray
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  Speaker 1: true liberty of conscience, and the requiring of an implicit
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  Speaker 1: faith and an absolute and blind obedience is to destroy
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  Speaker 1: liberty of conscience and reason. Also three, they who, upon
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  Speaker 1: pretense of Christian liberty, do practice any sin or cherish
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  Speaker 1: any lust, do thereby destroy the end of Christian liberty,
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  Speaker 1: which is that, being delivered out of the hands of
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  Speaker 1: our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear, in
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  Speaker 1: holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. Four.
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  Speaker 1: And because the powers which God has ordained and the
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  Speaker 1: liberty which Christ has purchased, are not intended by God
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  Speaker 1: to destroy, but mutually to uphold and anad preserve one another,
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  Speaker 1: They who, upon pretense of Christian liberty, shall oppose any
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  Speaker 1: lawful power or the lawful exercise of it, whether it
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  Speaker 1: be civil or ecclesiastical, resists the ordinance of God. And
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  Speaker 1: for their publishing of such opinions or maintaining of such
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  Speaker 1: practices as are contrary to the light of nature or
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  Speaker 1: to the known principles of Christianity, whether concerning faith, worship,
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  Speaker 1: or conversation, or to the power of Godliness, or such
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  Speaker 1: erroneous opinions or practices, as, either in their own nature
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  Speaker 1: or in the manner of publishing or maintaining them, are
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  Speaker 1: destructive to the external peace and order which Christ has
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  Speaker 1: established in the Church. They may lawfully be called to
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  Speaker 1: account and proceeded against by the censures of the Church,
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  Speaker 1: and by the power of the civil Magistrate. End of
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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty