Art. XIII. Of the Law of God.--We believe that the law of God, revealed in the Ten Commandments, and more clearly disclosed in the words of Christ, is forever established in truth and equity, so that no human work shall abide except it be built on this foundation. We believe that God requires of every man to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with his God; and that only through this harmony with the will of God shall be fulfilled that brotherhood of man wherein the kingdom of God is to be made manifest.
Art. XIV. Of the Church and the Sacraments.--We believe in the Holy Catholic Church of which Christ is the only Head. We believe that the Church Invisible consists of all the redeemed, and that the Church Visible embraces all who profess the true religion together with their children. We receive to our communion all who profess and obey Christ as their divine Lord and Saviour, and we hold fellowship with all believers in Him. We receive the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, alone divinely established and committed to the Church, together with the Word, as means of grace; made effectual only by the Holy Spirit, and always to be used by Christians with prayer and praise to God.
Art. XV. Of the Last Judgment.--We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will come again in glorious majesty to judge the world and to make a final separation between the righteous and the wicked. The wicked shall receive the eternal award of their sins, and the Lord will manifest the glory of His mercy in the salvation of His people and their entrance upon the full enjoyment of eternal life.
Art. XVI. Of Christian Service and the Final Triumph.--We believe that it is our duty, as servants and friends of Christ, to do good unto all men, to maintain the public and private worship of God, to hallow the Lord's Day, to preserve the sanctity of the family, to uphold the just authority of the state, and so to live in all honesty, purity, and charity, that our lives shall testify of Christ. We joyfully receive the word of Christ, bidding His people go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, and declare unto them that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, and that He will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. We confidently trust that by His power and grace, all His enemies and ours shall be finally overcome, and the kingdoms of this world be made the kingdom of our God and His Christ. In this faith we abide; in this service we labor; and in this hope we pray. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
The Confessional Statement of the United Presbyterian Church of North America.
In 1925, the United Presbyterian Church of North America adopted a Confessional Statement which stands for the boldest official attempt within the Presbyterian family of Churches to restate the Reformed theology of the sixteenth century. It contains forty-four articles, whereas the Westminster Confession contains thirty-three articles. Some of the Westminster headings are omitted, such as 'of effectual calling,' of 'God's eternal decree,' and 'of the perseverance of saints,' and statements of similar or the same import are given under such headings as 'of the divine purpose,' 'of the Gospel call,' and 'of the security of believers.' The Confessional Statement omits for the most part distinctly theological and technical language, but accompanies all its articles with elaborate Scripture texts. Such expressions as elect persons, elect infants, foreordained, imputed, decree of election, covenant of works, covenant of grace, are not repeated, but in their stead such expressions are used as believers, children of God, chosen of God. The Assembly's act making the Statement law provides that 'wherever the Confession deviates from the Westminster standards, its declarations are to prevail.' The Preamble is as follows:
The United Presbyterian Church of North America declares afresh its adherence to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, Larger and Shorter, as setting forth the system of doctrine taught in the Scriptures, which are the only infallible and final rule of faith and practice. Along with this it affirms the right and duty of a living Church to restate its faith from time to time so as to display any additional attainments in truth it may have made under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Accordingly, by constitutional action consummated June 2, 1925, it adopted the following Confessional Statement. This Statement contains the substance of the Westminster symbols, together with certain present-day convictions of the United Presbyterian Church.
The articles treat of God, divine revelation, Holy Scripture, the divine purpose, creation, providence, angels, the sin of man, salvation, election, God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the atonement, the Gospel call, regeneration, saving faith, repentance, justification, adoption, sanctification, union with Christ, the security of believers, assurance, the law of God, the study of God's Word, prayer, praise, Sabbath observance, the sacraments, lawful oaths and vows, the Church, Church order, the ministry, Church fellowship, the family, civil government, the social order, the intermediate state, the second advent, the resurrection, the judgment, the life everlasting, Christian service and the final triumph. The following statements are given in full:
Art. X. Of Election.--We believe that the Eternal Father, before the foundation of the world, in His own good pleasure gave to His Son a people, an innumerable multitude, chosen in Christ unto salvation, holiness, and service; that all of these who come to years of discretion receive this salvation through faith and repentance; and that all who die in infancy, and all others who are given by the Father to the Son and are beyond the reach of the outward means of grace, are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Holy Spirit, Who works when and where and how He pleases.
Art. XV. Of the Gospel Call.--We believe that the gospel is a revelation of grace to sinners as such, and that it contains a free and unconditional offer of salvation through Christ to all who hear it, whatever may be their character or condition; that the offer is in itself a proper motive to obedience; and that nothing but a sinful unwillingness prevents its acceptance.
Art. XVII. Of Saving Faith.--We believe that saving faith is the gift of God; that in it there is not merely an assent to the truth that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Saviour of sinners, but also a cordial acceptance and appropriation of Him, and a fixed reliance upon Him, as our Saviour; that this faith, which involves the conviction of the mind, the trust of the heart, and the obedience of the will, rests solely upon the free and unlimited offer of Christ made in the gospel to sinners of mankind; and that such faith is the necessary and all-sufficient condition and channel for the communication of every spiritual gift and the progressive realization of salvation.
Art. XXXIV. Of the Ministry.--We believe that Jesus Christ as the Head of the Church has appointed therein the official ministry of reconciliation; that He calls men to this ministry through the working of the Holy Spirit in their hearts and by the orderings of providence; and that those thus called are to be set apart by ordination, whereby they are solemnly invested with the authority, powers, and duties of their sacred office.
Art. XL. Of the Second Advent.--We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, Who at His ascension was received up into heaven, will come again to earth in person, visibly, with power and great glory; that His coming marks the consummation of the Kingdom of God; that the time thereof is reserved in the Divine counsels; and that this blessed hope is to be cherished as an incentive to watchful living and faithful witness-bearing on the part of Christ's followers.
Protestant and Roman Catholic Catechisms.
Luther's Small Catechism, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Catechism of the Book of Common Prayer, and the Westminster Shorter Catechism, all having ecclesiastical authorization, are printed in full in this volume. Calvin's Catechism, which had 372 questions and answers, is treated in Volume I, pp. 467-70. The author of the first Roman Catholic catechisms, Peter Canisius, 1521-97, has recently been canonized and made a doctor of the Church. Leo XIII.'s encyclical on Canisius, 189¹). included a severe condemnation of the Protestant Reformation and Reformers. The following Protestant catechisms of recent origin have had Church approval.
1. The Evangelical Free Church Catechism for Use in Home and School, 1898, was prepared by a committee under the direction of the National Council of the Evangelical Free Churches of England. The committee consisted of Congregationalists, Baptists, Wesleyan Methodists, Primitive Methodists, representatives of the Methodist New Connexion, and United Methodist Free Church, Presbyterians, and Bible Christians. The object of the catechism was 'to express the Christian doctrines held in common by all Evangelical Free Churches.' It consists of fifty-two questions and answers, the first question being "What is the Christian Religion?"
2. The School Catechism, 1904, was prepared by a "Conference of Members of the Reformed Churches in Scotland" namely ministers of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Congregational Union, the Episcopal Church in Scotland, the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church of Scotland. The conference convened at the invitation of the Church of Scotland. The catechism was "designed not to supersede the distinctive catechisms officially recognized by the several Churches" but to serve in schools where "the children of various Churches are taught together." It has 64 questions and answers, followed by the Apostles Creed, its first question being "Who created the heavens and the earth?"
3. The Intermediate Catechism, 1913, prepared by a committee appointed by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., was approved by the Assembly of 1913 in so far as it 'directed the Board of Publication to print the catechism for distribution in the hope that it will be the means of advancing the cause of religious instruction in the home and in our churches.' It contains seventy-two questions and answers, with proof texts. The first question is "What do we most need to know?" Roman Catholic catechisms of high authority are:
1. A Catechism of Christian Doctrine, prepared and enjoined by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, 1884, has appeared in several forms adapted to different ages and bears the imprimatures of Cardinals McCloskey, Gibbons, Hayes, and other high American dignitaries. It opens with the question, "Who made the world?"
2. Catechismo della dottrina cristiana--Catechism of Christian Doctrine,--1912, contains 433 questions and answers and opens with the question, 'Who created us?' It is 'published by the order of his Holiness, Pope Pius X.' In a letter, dated Oct. 18, 1912, Pius X., after declaring that from the first days of his pontificate he had cherished the greatest concern for the religious instruction of Christian people and in particular children, 'approved and prescribed the catechism for the dioceses and ecclesiastical province of Rome' and called upon priests, teachers, and Christian parents to teach it with all zeal. In 1924, it was ordered by the Italian government taught in the primary schools of Italy. A number of Italian manuals have appeared explaining the answers by historic illustrations and doctrinal explanations. The Manual issued in Turin, 1914, containing 590 pages, is dedicated to Pius X.
The definitions of the Church given in these five catechisms are the following:
The Evangelical Free Church Catechism: [2249]
The Holy Catholic Church is that Holy Society of believers in Christ Jesus which He founded, of which He is the only Head, and in which He dwells by His Spirit; so that, though made up of many communions, organized in various modes, and scattered throughout the world, it is yet One in Him.
The School Catechism:
The Church of God is the whole body and brotherhood of Christian People of all countries and all times united by the Holy Spirit to the one Head, the Lord Jesus Christ.