CREED OF THE FREE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN ITALY. (FREE ITALIAN CHURCH.)

Declaration of Principles, adopted unanimously in General Assembly at Milan, June, 1870.

[From the Fifth Evangelization Report of the Free Christian Church in Italy. Florence, 1876.]

1. God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost has manifested his will in Revelation, which is the Bible, the alone perfect and immutable rule of faith and conduct.

2. God created man perfect in his own image and likeness, but Adam, disobeying the Word of God, sinned, and thus by one man sin has entered into the world, and death by sin. On this account human nature in Adam and by Adam has become corrupt and sinful; and we are all born in Adam with the inclination to do evil, and the inability of doing well what God has commanded; therefore, naturally, we are all sinners under condemnation.

3. God does not desire the death of the sinner, but that he should come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved.

4. Salvation comes from the eternal and gratuitous love of the Father; it is obtained through the expiatory sacrifice, resurrection, and intercession of the Son; it is communicated by the Holy Spirit, who regenerates the sinner, unites him to Christ by faith, comes and dwells in him, produces peace in his heart, giving him the assurance of the entire remission of his sins, making him free, guiding and consoling him by means of the Word which he himself has given, sealing and guarding him until the day of the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

5. The Christian, redeemed with a great price, ought to glorify God in his body, soul, and spirit, which belong to God, walking in holiness, without which no man can see the Lord. In order to this, he finds strength in communion with him who says to him, 'My grace is sufficient for thee.'

6. Believers, regenerated in Christ, form the Church, which can not perish nor apostatize, being the body of the Lord Jesus.

7. In addition to the universal priesthood of believers, God himself has established in the Church various special ministries for the perfecting of the saints and the edifying of the body of Christ, which ministries ought to be recognized by the Church itself.

8. The Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven and transform our body of humiliation into a glorious body. In that day the dead in Christ shall rise first, and the living who are found faithful shall be transformed, and thus together shall we be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, to be forever with the Lord; and, after his Kingdom, all the rest shall rise to be judged in judgment.

These articles are held to suffice as a testimony of a Christianity purely evangelical, without pretending that there are no other doctrines in the Bible to be believed. It is also clearly asserted that this 'Declaration of Principles' does not pretend to infallibility. The Word of God is alone infallible and immutable. Nor is it looked upon as the cause or title to salvation, but simply as the outward bond of unity in the faith and the banner of the Church.

THE CONFESSION OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, COMMONLY CALLED QUAKERS. A.D. 1675.

[The fifteen Theological Theses or Propositions of ROBERT BARCLAY, which are the text of his 'Apology,' contain the most authoritative summary of the principles and doctrines of the RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, commonly called QUAKERS. The 'Apology' appeared first in Latin, 1675, and then repeatedly in English and other languages, and was widely distributed by the Society as a standard doctrinal treatise. I have taken the text from the magnificent copy of the 8th English edition, Birmingham, 1765, 4to. On this and other Quaker Confessions, see Vol. I. pp. 864 8qq.]

THESES THEOLOGICÆ.

TO THE CLERGY, OF WHAT SORT SOEVER, UNTO WHOSE HANDS THESE MAY COME;

BUT MORE PARTICULARLY

To the Doctors, Professors, and Students of Divinity in the Universities and Schools of Great Britain, whether Prelatical, Presbyterian, or any other;

ROBERT BARCLAY, a Servant of the Lord God, and one of those who in derision are called Quakers, wisheth unfeigned repentance, unto the acknowledgment of the Truth.

FRIENDS,-Unto you these following propositions are offered; in which, they being read and considered in the fear of the Lord, you may perceive that simple, naked truth, which man by his wisdom hath rendered so obscure and mysterious that the world is even burthened with the great and voluminous tractates which are made about it, and by their vain jangling and commentaries, by which it is rendered a hundredfold more dark and intricate than of itself it is which great learning, so accounted of-to wit, your school divinity, which taketh up almost a man's whole lifetime to learn, brings not a whit nearer to God, neither makes any man less wicked, or more righteous than he was. Therefore hath God laid aside the wise and learned, and the disputers of this world; and hath chosen a few despicable and unlearned instruments, as to letter-learning, as he did fishermen of old, to publish his pure and naked truth, and to free it of those mists and fogs wherewith the clergy hath clouded it, that the people might admire and maintain them. And among several others, whom God hath chosen to make known these things-seeing I also have received, in measure, grace to be a dispenser of the same gospel-it seemed good unto me, according to my duty, to offer unto you these propositions; which, though short, yet are weighty, comprehending much, and declaring what the true ground of knowledge is, even of that knowledge which leads to Life Eternal; which is here witnessed of, and the testimony thereof left unto the Light of Christ in all your consciences. Farewell, R. B.

THE FIRST PROPOSITION.

Concerning the true Foundation of Knowledge.

Seeing the height of all happiness is placed in the true knowledge of God (This is life eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent'),' the true and right understanding

'John xvii. 3.

of this foundation and ground of knowledge is that which is most necessary to be known and believed in the first place.

THE SECOND PROPOSITION.

Concerning Immediate Revelation.

Seeing 'no man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son revealeth him;"' and seeing the revelation of the Son is in and by the Spirit; therefore the testimony of the Spirit is that alone by which the true knowledge of God hath been, is, and can be only revealed; who as, by the moving of his own Spirit, he converted the chaos of this world into that wonderful order wherein it was in the beginning, and created man a living soul, to rule and govern it, so by the revelation of the same Spirit he hath manifested himself all along unto the sons of men, both patriarchs, prophets, and apostles; which revelations of God by the Spirit, whether by outward voices and appearances, dreams, or inward objective manifestations in the heart, were of old the formal object of their faith, and remain yet so to be; since the object of the saints' faith is the same in all ages, though set forth under divers administrations. Moreover, these divine inward revelations, which we make absolutely necessary for the building up of true faith, neither do nor can ever contradict the outward testimony of the Scriptures, or right and sound reason. Yet from hence it will not follow that these divine revelations are to be subjected to the examination, either of the outward testimony of the Scriptures or of the natural reason of man, as to a more noble or certain rule or touchstone; for this divine revelation and inward illumination is that which is evident and clear of itself, forcing, by its own evidence and clearness, the well-disposed understanding to assent, irresistibly moving the same thereunto; even as the common principles of natural truths move and incline the mind to a natural assent: as, that the whole is greater than its part; that two contradictory sayings can not be both true, nor both false which is also manifest, according to our adversaries' principle, who-supposing the possibility of inward divine revelations-will nevertheless confess with us that neither Scripture nor sound reason will contradict it: and yet it will not follow, according to them, that

1 Matt. xi. 27.

the Scripture or sound reason should be subjected to the examination of the divine revelations in the heart.

THE THIRD PROPOSITION.

Concerning the Scriptures.

From these revelations of the Spirit of God to the saints have proceeded the Scriptures of truth, which contain: 1. A faithful historical account of the actings of God's people in divers ages, with many singular and remarkable providences attending them. 2. A prophetical account of several things, whereof some are already past, and some yet to come. 3. A full and ample account of all the chief principles of the doctrine of Christ, held forth in divers precious declarations, exhortations, and sentences, which, by the moving of God's Spirit, were at several times, and upon sundry occasions, spoken and written unto some churches and their pastors: nevertheless, because they are only a declaration of the fountain, and not the fountain itself, therefore they are not to be esteemed the principal ground of all truth and knowledge, nor yet the adequate primary rule of faith and manners. Nevertheless, as that which giveth a true and faithful testimony of the first foundation, they are and may be esteemed a secondary rule, subordinate to the Spirit, from which they have all their excellency and certainty; for as by the inward testimony of the Spirit we do alone truly know them, so they testify that the Spirit is that guide by which the saints are led into all truth: therefore, according to the Scriptures, the Spirit is the first and principal Leader.' And seeing we do therefore receive and believe the Scriptures, because they proceeded from the Spirit, therefore also the Spirit is more originally and principally the rule, according to that received maxim in the schools, Propter quod unumquodque est tale, illud ipsum est magis tale. Englished thus: 'That for which a thing is such, that thing itself is more such.'

THE FOURTH PROPOSITION.

Concerning the Condition of Man in the Fall.

All Adam's posterity, or mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, as to the first Adam, or earthly man, is fallen, degenerated, and dead, deprived

1 John xvi. 13; Rom. viii. 14.

VOL. III.-EEE