word, or beside it, in matters of faith or worship." So that to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commandments out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience;12 and the requiring of an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience and reason also.13 11 Acts iv. 19; v. 29. 1 Cor. vii. 23. Matt. xxiii. 8-10. 2 Cor. i. 24. Matt. xv. 9. 12 Col ii. 20, 22, 23. Gal. i. 10; ii. 4, 5; v. 1. 13 13 Rom. x. 17. Rom. xiv. 23. Isa. viii. 20. Acts xvii 11. John iv. 22. Hos. v. 11. Rev. xiii. 12, 16, 17. Jer. viii. 9. EXPOSITION. In this section the doctrine of liberty of conscience is laid down in most explicit terms. The conscience, in all matters of faith and duty, is subject to the authority of God alone, and entirely free from all subjection to the traditions and commandments of men. To believe any doctrine, or obey any commandment, contrary to, or beside, the word of God, out of submission to human authority, is to betray true liberty of conscience. And be the power and authority whose it will; be it that of a magistrate or a minister, of a husband, a master, or a parent, that would require an implicit faith and an absolute blind obedience, it would destroy liberty of conscience. The rights of conscience have been frequently invaded by rulers, both civil and ecclesiastical. By the Church of Rome the statements of our Confession are directly contradicted, both in doctrine and in practice. They teach that the Pope, and the bishops in their own dioceses, may, by their own authority, enact laws which bind the conscience, and which cannot be transgressed without incurring the same penalties which are annexed to every breach of the divine law. And they have actually imposed many articles of faith, and enjoined numberless rites and ceremonies, as necessary in the worship of God, which have no foundation in Scripture; and they require implicit faith in all their decrees, and a blind obedience to all their commands. Against the tyrannical usurpations and encroachments of that Church this section is principally levelled. No person on earth can have authority to dictate to conscience; for this would be to assume a prerogative which belongs to none but the supreme Lord and Legislator. "There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy." James iv. 12. Such a power was prohibited by Jesus Christ among his followers: "The kings of the Genfiles exercise lordship over them, but ye shall not be so." Luke xxii. 25. It was disclaimed by the inspired apostles: "Not that we have dominion over your faith," said the apostle of the Gentiles, "but are helpers of your joy." 2 Cor. i. 24. From the principles laid down in this section, it manifestly follows, that a right of private judgment about matters of religion belongs to every man, and ought to be exercised by every Christian. Christians are expressly required to examine and prove every doctrine by the unerring rule of the word of God. Isa. viii. 20; 1 John iv. 1. They ought to be ready to render a reason of the hope which is in them, (1 Pet. iii. 15); and this none can do who receive the doctrines and commandments of men with implicit faith and blind obedience. Whatsoever is not done in faith, nor accompanied with a personal persuasion of the obligation or lawfulness of it in the sight of God, is pronounced to be sin. Rom. xiv. 23. It follows no less clearly, from the principles here laid down, that when lawful superiors command what is contrary to the word of God, or beside it, in matters of faith and worship, their commands do not bind the conscience. The obedience which the Scriptures command us to render to lawful superiors, whether parents, or husbands, or magistrates, is not unlimited; there are cases in which disobedience becomes a duty. No one doubts that the precept, “Children, obey your parents in all things," is a command to obey them only in the exercise of their rightful parental authority, and imposes no obligation to implicit and passive obedience. The case is equally plain with regard to the command, "Wives submit to your own husbands." And it cannot be questioned that the obedience due to magistrates is also limited. The precept, "Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, must be understood as a command to obey magistrates only in the exercise of their rightful authority, and in all things lawful. The same inspired teachers who enjoined in such general terms obedience to rulers, themselves uniformly and openly disobeyed them whenever their commands were inconsistent with other and higher obliga. tions. "We ought to obey God rather than men," (Acts v. 29), was the principle which they avowed, and on which they acted. When the apostles were charged by the Jewish Council to speak no more in the name of Jesus, their unhesitating answer was, "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." Acts iv. 19, 20. No command to do anything morally wrong can be binding on the conscience. SECTION III. They who, upon pretence of Christian liberty, do practise any sin, or cherish any lust, do thereby destroy the end of Christian liberty; which is, that, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear, in holiness, and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.14 -- SECTION IV. And because the powers which God hath ordained, and the liberty which Christ hath purchased, are not intended by God to destroy, but mutually to uphold and preserve one another; they who, upon pretence of Christian liberty, shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercise of it, whether it be civil or ecclesiastical, resist the ordinance of God.15 And for their publishing of such opinions, or maintaining of such practices, as are contrary to the light of nature, or to the known principles of Christianity, whether concerning faith, worship, or conversation; or to the power of godliness; or such erroneous opinions or practices, as either in their own nature, or in the manner of publishing or maintaining them, are destructive to the external peace and order which Christ hath established in the Church; they may lawfully be called to account, and proceeded against by the censures of the Church.16 14 Gal. v. 13. 1 Pet. ii. 16. 2 Pet. ii. EXPOSITION. 2 John 10, 11. 2 Thess. iii. 14. 1 Tim. vi. 3-5. Tit. i. 10, 11, 13; iii. 10. Matt. xviii. 15-17. 1 Tim. i. 19, 20. Rev. ii. 2, 14, 15, 20; iii. 9. The liberty pleaded for in our Confession is not absolute and uncontrollable. To assert that men have a right to think and act as they please, without respect to the moral law, and without being responsible to God, would be atheistical. And, if men are considered as socially united, and as placed under government, their natural rights, in religious as well as in civil things, must be liable to restraint and regulations, so far as the interests and ends of society require. * * * * Although civil rulers may restrain, and, when occasion requires, may punish the more flagrant violations of the first table of the moral law, such as blasphemy, the publishing of blasphemous opinions, and the open and gross profanation of the Sabbath; yet they are to repress these evils, not formally as sins, which is the prerogative of God, nor as scandals, in which light they come under the cognizance of the Church, but as crimes and injuries done to society. **** All sound Presbyterians disclaim all intolerant or compulsory measures with regard to matters purely religious. They maintain that no man should be punished or molested on account of his religious opinions or observances, provided there is nothing in these hurtful to the general interests of society, or dangerous to the lawful institutions of the country in which he lives. The section implies that men may be found opposing lawful powers, or the lawful exercise of them in the things specified; and that they are not entitled to plead a general irresponsibility in matters of that kind. Notwithstanding such a plea, they may be called to account, and proceeded against.' For, be it observed, it is not the design of this paragraph to state the objects of church censure or civil prosecution; its proper and professed object is to interpose a check on the abuse of liberty of conscience, as operating to the prejudice of just and lawful authority. It is not sin as sin, but as scandal, or injurious to the spiritual interests of Christians, that is the proper object of Church censure; and it is not for sins as such, but for crimes, that persons become liable to punishment by magistrates. The compilers of the Confession were quite aware of these distinctions, which were then * CHAPTER XXI. OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP, AND THE SABBATH-DAY. SECTION I. The light of nature showeth that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all; is good, and doeth good unto all; and is, therefore, to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible. representation, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.2 1 Rom. i. 20. Acts xvii. 24. Ps. cxix. I 2 Deut. xii. 32. Matt. xv. 9. Acts 68. Jer. x. 7. Ps. xxxi. 23; xviii. 3. Rom. x. 12. Ps. lxii. 8. Josh. xxiv. 14. Mark xii. 33. xvii. 25. Matt iv. 9, 10. Deut. xv. 1-20. Exod. xx. 4-6; Col. ii. 23. EXPOSITION. Religious worship consists in that homage and honour which we give to God, as a being of infinite perfection; whereby we profess our subjection to, and confidence in him, as our chief good and only happiness. It may be viewed as either internal or external; the former consisting in that inward homage which we owe to God, such as loving, believ ing, fearing, trusting in him, and other elicit acts of the mind; the latter consisting in the outward expression of that homage, by the observance of his instituted ordinances. Concerning the external worship of God, our Confession affirms, in the first place, that God can be worshipped acceptably only in the way of his own appointment. As God is the sole object of religious worship, so it is his prerogative to prescribe the mode of it. Divine institution must, therefore, be our rule of worship; and whatever may be imagined to be useful and decent, must be examined and determined by this rule. It is not left to human prudence to make any |