nem.

The oldest editions of the Westminster Shorter Catechism have the following addendum:

So much of every Question both in the E quæstione qualibet utriusque catechismi Larger and Shorter Catechism, is repeated in repetitum dedimus in responsione quantum rethe Answer, as, maketh every Answer an en- sponsionem quamlibet reddat propositionem intire Proposition, or sentence in itself: to the tegram, sive sententiam absolutam. Eo nempe end the Learner may further improve it upon consilio ut discenti ulterius utilis esse possit, all occasions, for his increase in knowledge quoties occasio tulerit, ad cognitionis ac pietaand piety, even out of the course of cate- tis incrementum, vel extra catechisandi ratio. chising, as well as in it.

And albeit the substance of the doctrine Et quamvis in alterutro Catechismo sulcomprised in that Abridgment commonly stantia doctrinæ in compendio illo (Symbole called, The Apostles' Creed, be fully set forth apostolico vulgo dicto) comprehensæ plene in each of the Catechisms, so as there is no perfecte exhibeatur, adeo quidem ut nulla sxnecessity of inserting the Creed itself, yet it is persit necessitas symbolum ipsum inserendi : here annexed, not as though it were composed nihilominus tamen hic illud subnectendum esse by the Apostles, or ought to be esteemed Ca- duximus ; non perinde quasi aut ab ipsis Apononical Scripture, as the Ten Commandments, stolis fuerit concinnatum, aut pariter cum decaand the Lord's Prayer (much less a Prayer, logo, ac oratione Dominica pro Scriptura caas ignorant people have been apt to make both nonica haberi debeat: (nedum certe pro ora. it and the Decalogue), but because it is a brief tione, quo nomine ignara plebecula cum illud sum of the Christian faith, agreeable to the tum decalogum in proclivi fuit ut usurparet), Word of God, and anciently received in the verum quod sit fidei Christianæ breve compenChurches of Christ.

dium, verbo Dei consentaneum, uc Ecclesiis

Christi antiquitus receptum.
CORNELIUS BURGES, Prolocutor

pro tempore.
HENRY ROBOROUGH, Scriba.
ADONIRAM BYFIELD, Scriba.

SYMBOLA EVANGELICA.

PARS TERTIA:

MODERN PROTESTANT CREEDS.

THE SAVOY DECLARATION OF THE CONGREGATIONAL

CHURCHES. A.D. 1658. (The Savoy DECLARATION consists of a lengthy Preface, a Confession of Faith, and a Platform of Dis. cipline. The first and last are given in fall; of the second, the chapters and sections in which it differs from the Westminster Confession of Faith. See Vol. I. pp. S29 sqq. The first edition appeared in Lon. don in 1658, as printed by John Field and sold by John Allen 'at the Sun Rising in Paul's Church-yard' (a copy of which is in possession of Rev. Dr. H. M. Dexter, of Boston).

The text is an exact reprint (except in spelling and punctuation) of the second edition, which appeared under the following title:

A

DECLARATION

OF THE FAITH and ORDER

Owned and practised in the Congregational Churches

IN ENGLAND;

Agreed upon and consented unto

By their

ELDERS and MESSENGERS

IN Their Meeting at the SAVOY,

Octob. 12. 1658.

LONDON Printed for D.L. And are to be sold in Paul's Church-yard, FleetStreet, and Westminster-Hall

, 1659.]

:

A PREFACE. Confession of the Faith that is in us, when justly called for, is so indispensable a due all owe to the Glory of the Sovereign GOD, that it is ranked among the Duties of the first Commandment, such as Prayer is; and therefore by Paul yoked with Faith itself, as necessary to salvation: with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is rade unto salvation. Our Lord Christ himself, when he was accused of his Doctrine, considered simply as a matter of fact by Preaching, refused to answer; because, as such, it lay upon evidence, and matter of testimony of others; unto whom therefore he refers himself: But when both the High-Priest and Pilate expostulate his Faith, and what he held himself to be; he without any demur at all, cheerfully makes Declaration, That he was the Son of God; so to the High-Priest : and that he was a King, and born to be a King; thus to Pilate. Though upon the uttering of it his life lay at the stake; Which holy Profession of bis is celebrated for our example, 1 Tim. vi. 13.

Confessions, when made by a company of Professors of Christianity jointly meeting to that end, the most genuine and natural use of such Confessions is, That under the same form of words, they express the substance of the same common salvation or unity of their faith; whereby speaking the same things, they show themselves perfectly joined in the same mind, and in the same judgment, 1 Cor. i. 10.

And accordingly such a transaction is to be looked upon but as a meet or fit medium or means whereby to express that their common faith and salvation, and no way to be made use of as an imposition upon any: Whatever is of force or constraint in matters of this nature, causeth them to degenerate from the name and nature of Confessions, and turns them from being Confessions of Faith, into Eractions and Impositions of Faith.

And such common Confessions of the Orthodox Faith, made in simplicity of heart by any such Body of Christians, with concord among themselves, ought to be entertained by all others that love the truth as it is in Jesus, with an answerable rejoicing: For if the unanimous opinions and assertions but in some few points of Religion, and that when by two Churches, namely, that of Jerusalem, and the Messengers of Antioch met, assisted by some of the Apostles, were by the Believers of those times received with so much joy, (as it is said, They rejoiced for the consolation) much more this is to be done, when the whole substance of Faith, and form of wholesome words shall be declared by the Messengers of a multitude of Churches, though wanting those advantages of Counsel and Authority of the Apostles, which that Assembly had.

Which acceptation is then more specially dne, when these shall (to choose) utter and declare their Faith, in the same substance for matter, yea, words, for the most part, that other Churches and Assemblies, reputed the most Orthodox, have done before them: For upon such a correspondency, all may see that actually accomplished, which the Apostle did but exhort unto, and pray for, in those two more eminent Churches of the Corinthians and the Romans, (and so in them for all the Christians of his time) that both Jew and Gentile, that is, men of different persuasions, (as they were) might glorify GOD with one mind and with one mouth. And truly, the very turning of the Gentiles to the owning of the same Faith, in the substance of it, with the Christian Jew (though differing in greater points than we do from our Brethren) is presently after dignified by the Apostle with this style, That it is the Confession of Jesus Christ himself; not as the Object only, but as the Author and Maker thereof: I will confess to thee (saith Christ to God) among the Gentiles. So that in all such accords, Christ is the great and first Confessor; and we, and all our Faith uttered by Us, are but the Epistles, (as Paul) and Confessions (as Isaiah there) of their Lord and ours; He, but expressing what is written in his heart, through their hearts and mouths, to the glory of God the Father : And shall not we all rejoice herein, when as Christ himself is said to do it upon this occasion : as it there also follows, I will sing unto thy Name.

Further, as the soundness and wholesomeness of the matter gives the vigor and life to such