for purposes of convenience, Presbyterians do not receive all Calvin's views without qualification ; neither do they admit that they owe their system to the Genevese re- former, for they claim for it a higher antiquity, reaching even beyond the great champion Augustine to no less an authority than St. Paul. They assert that the Re- formers of the 16th century were agreed upon the points named, as appears from the harmony of the Augsburg Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Helvetic Con- fession, the Scotch Confession, the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, the French Confession pre- sented to Francis II, the Belgic Confession, and the De- crees of the Synod of Dort in 1618.
The Westminster Confession, rejecting the Apocry- pha, recognises Holy Scripture as the only infallible rule of faith and practice. Hence every position is sup- ported by proof-texts. The Confession teaches that there are in the godhead three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. To God are ascribed the works of creation, providence, and redemption. Man having fall- en, the Covenant of Works is replaced by the Covenant of Grace, of which Christ is the Mediator and Admin- istrator for his elect people. Divine sovereignty and man's free agency are both fully and equalh' admitted, without attempting to explain this high mystery, but rather requiring it to be handled with special providence and care. The doctrine of the Divine Purpose, Decree, Predestination, or Fore-ordination, is guarded from fatal- ism or perversion in several ways: it is explicitly stated that neither is God the author or approver of sin ; nor is violence offered to the will of the creature; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established ; and they who perish are punished for their sins. The Covenant of Works having been broken by the first man, who was the federal head, representa- tive, and root of his race, a consequent, corruption of nat- ure, a disability of the will to spiritual good, and a liabil- ity to suffering and death, temporal and eternal, were conveyed to all his posterity. Effectual calling consists in the special grace of God operating on the minds and hearts of all those whom he has predestinated to eternal life in the reception of which grace men are passive, yet submit most freely, being made willing by his pow- er. Elect infants dying in infancy, and other elect per- sons who are incapable of the outward call, are never- theless regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when, where, and how he pleaseth. That all infants dying in infancy come under the above conditions ami are saved is a general sentiment of Presbyterians, so far as can be collected from their pub- lished writings. (See Chalmers, Rom. lect, xiv, xxvi; dimming, Infant Sale. p. 25; Smyth, Bereaved Par- ents, p. Yd ; Junkin, Justification, p. 143; Hodge, System of Theology [see Index].) Justification consists, not in inherent righteousness, nor in imputing the act of faith or any other act as righteousness, but in the par- don of sin for Christ's sake, and the accepting as right- eous by imputing the righteousness of Christ received by faith. Adoption and sanctification accompany justifica- tion. Saving faith is a fiducial belief of the truth, and is shown to be sincere and active by repentance and good works, as evidential of regenerating grace. The perseverance of the saints is not owing to anything in them, but to the grace of God, which will not suffer them finally to fall away. Personal assurance does not belong to the essence of faith, and may be dimmed or lost, but it is a high privilege, and every believer should strive to attain it. It does not lead to laxity of morals, for the law, though no longer a covenant of works, is still binding as a rule of life and conduct.
II. Worship. — The Presbyterian forms of worship are extremely simple. The reading of a portion of Script- ure, extemporaneous prayers, the singing of two or three psalms or hymns, a sermon or exhortation, and the pronouncing of the apostolic benediction at the close by the minister, comprise the entire service.
PRESBYTERIAN ISM
550
PRESBYTERIANISM
When no preacher is present, tbe people conduct the meeting themselves, an elder presiding and directing the several parts of reading, prayer, and praise. Noth- ing ''.'in be simpler or more flexible, capable of adapting itself to the necessities of the missionary or the Btreet- preacher, a- well as to the wants of the most cultivated audiences. Bui while the Presbyterian Church neither uses nor condemns a liturgy, she provides for the dig- nity and propriety of divine service by means ofa Direc- tory for Public Worship as a guide, and by requiring ministers to qualify themselves for this duty, no less than for thai of preaching, by reading, premeditation, and habitual communion with Cod in secret.
Presbyterians keep the Sabbath-day strictly as a day of resl and devotion ; l>nt they have conscientious scru- ples against the obligatory observance of such days as ( Ihristmas, < lood-Friday, and Easter. The key to their practice in this and other respects (as declining to bow at the name of Jesus, avoiding the sign of the cross in baptism and its form in church architecture, refusing sponsors and confirmation, not marrying with a ring, discountenancing clerical vestments, etc) is to be found in the adoption by the early Presbyterians of the prin- ciple that nothing is allowable in divine worship but w hal is divinely commanded, in opposition to the prin- ciple! that everything is allowable except what is for- bidden, and only two sacraments are recognised as of di- vine warrant -baptism and the Lord's Supper. Dipping or immersion is not in so many words forbidden, but is pronounced not necessary, and the ordinance is consid- ered io be rightly administered by pouring or sprinkling — purification, not burial, being the idea symbolized thereby. The infant children of one or both believing parents have a right to baptism in virtue of the Abra- liamic covenant, which, being anterior to .Moses, was mi ill'., led and unrepealed by the abrogation of the Mo- saic law. Baptism being regarded as a public Church ordinance, private baptisms, except in cases of absolute necessity, are discouraged. The Lord's Supper is only a commemoration with bread and wine, and the idea of a sacrifice or of the real presence is carefully repudiated. At. the same time, the spiritual presence of Christ, bis special nearness to worthy receivers, and a peculiar blessing are as strongly maintained. To avoid the ap- pearance of adoration of the elements, as well as better to conform to the supposed original posture of the apos- tles, this sacrament is taken sitting, either in the adja- cent pews or around long tables provided for the pur- pose. To this ordinance such only are admitted as have on profession of t heir faith in Christ been received into the membership ot the Church by (be session, or