are the gude warkes of the secund Tabill, quhilk are maist pleising and acceptabill unto God, as thir warkes that are commanded be himselfe. The contrary quhairof is sinne maist odious, quhilk alwayes displeisis him, and provokes him to anger: As not to call upon him alone, when we have need; not to hear his word with reverence, to contemne and despise it; to have or worschip idols, to maintene and defend Idolatrie; lichtlie to esteeme the reverend name of God; to prophane, abuse, or contemne the Sacraments of Christ Jesus; to disobey or resist ony that God hes placed in authoritie (quhil they passe not over the bounds of their office); [711] to murther, or to consent thereto, to beare hatred, or to let innocent blude bee sched, gif wee may withstand it. [712] And finally, the transgression of ony uther commandement in the first or secund Tabill, we confesse and affirme to be sinne, [713] by the quhilk Gods anger and displesure is kindled against the proud unthankfull warld. So that gude warkes we affirme to be thir onlie, that are done in faith, [714] and at Gods commandment, [715] quha in his Lawe hes expressed what the offendendi libidinem cohibere: hæc sunt opera posterioris tabula, Deo imprimis grata ac accepta, utpote ab ipso imperata. Horum autem contraria in vitiorum genere sunt, Deo invisa, ingrata, eamque ad iram incitantia; quale est, non eum solum invocare cum res postulat; nolle verbum ejus reverenter audire, aut etiam aspernari ac parvi pendere; idola aut venerari aut apud se habere; cultum idolorum fovere ac tueri; nomen Dei venerabile parvi facere; prophanare, abuti, aut contemnere sacramenta a Domino instituta; non parere, ac etiam resistere iis quibus authoritas data est divinitus, præsertim quamdiu intra juris et muneris sui terminos sese continent; cædem facere, aut quo fiat coire et consentire; odium conceptum continere; pati ut innoxius fundatur sanguis cum impedire possis: ac breviter, quicquid adversus præcepta prioris aut posterioris tabulæ committitur, id peccatum esse asseveramus, ac tale peccatum quod iram, odiumque Dei adversus hominum ingratitudinem accendat. Itaque juxta nostram sententiam, ea opera bona sunt, quæ ex fide proficiscuntur, ac fiunt juxta præcepta
thingis be that pleis him. And evill warkis we affirme not only thir that expressedly ar done against Gods commaundement: [716] bot thir alswa that in matteris of Religioun, and worschipping of God, hes na uther asaurance bot the inventioun and opinioun of man: quhilk God fra the beginning hes ever rejected, as be the Prophet Esay, [717] and be our Maister Christ Jesus we ar taught in thir words, In vaine do they worschip me, teaching the doctrines the precepts of men. [718] Dei, qui, lege lata, quid fieri vellet diserte cavit. Contra, ea opera dicimus mala, non modo quæ aperte cum verbo Dei pugnant; sed ea etiam quæ in rebus quæ ad pietatem ac Dei cultum spectant, nullum aliud habent firmamentum, nisi ab hominis opinione et commento; hujus enim generis opera Deus ab initio usque semper rejecit et adversatus est, uti ex Esaia propheta, et his Christi verbis edocti sumus, Frustra me colunt, docentes doctrinas et præcepta hominum. Art. XV. Art. XV. OF THE PERFECTIOUN OF THE LAW, AND THE IMPERFECTIOUN OF MAN. LEGEM ESSE NUMERIS OMNIBUS PERFECTAM, HOMINES AUTEM IMPERFECTOS. The Law of God we confesse and acknawledge maist just, maist equall, maist halie, and maist perfite, commaunding thir thingis, quhilk being wrocht in perfectioun, were abill to give life, and abill to bring man to eternall felicitie. [719] Bot our nature is sa corrupt, sa weake, and sa unperfite, that we ar never abill to fulfill the warkes of the Law in perfectioun. [720] Zea, gif we say we have na sinne, evin after we ar regenerate, we deceive our selves, and the veritie of God is not in us. [721] Legem Dei maxime justam, æquabilem, et perfectam agnoscimus et fatemur, ea jubentem quæ, si perfecte pleneque præstarentur, vitam dare possent, et ad æternam nos perducere fælicitatem. Sed nostra natura adeo est corrupta et infirma, ut nunquam ad opera legis perfecte præstanda simus idonei; nam si peccatum nos habere etiam post regenerationem negemus, nosmetipsos decipimus, et veritas Dei non est in nobis. Propterea necesse erat, ut Christum, qui legis
And therfore, it behovis us to apprehend Christ Jesus with his justice and satisfaction, quha is the end and accomplishment of the Law, be quhome we ar set at this liberty, that the curse and malediction of God fall not upon us, albeit we fulfill not the same in al pointes. [722] For God the Father beholding us, in the body of his Sonne Christ Jesus, acceptis our imperfite obedience, as it were perfite, [723] and covers our warks, quhilk ar defyled with mony spots, [724] with the justice of his Sonne. We do not meane that we ar so set at liberty, that we awe na obedience to the Law (for that before wee have plainly confessed), bot this we affirme, that na man in eird (Christ Jesus onlie except) hes given, gives, or sall give in worke, that obedience to the Law, quhilk the Law requiris. Bot when we have done all things, we must falle down and unfeinedly confesse, that we are unprofitable servands. [725] And therefore, quhosoever boastis themselves of the merits of their awin works, or put their trust in the works of Supererogation, boast themselves in that quhilk is nocht, and pnt their trust in damnable Idolatry. est finis et consummatio, cum sua justitia et satisfactione apprehenderemus; qui in libertatem nos asseruit, ne in execrationem ac maledictionem Dei incideremus, etiamsi opera in lege jussa non omni ex parte plene perfecteque faceremus: Deus enim Pater, in corpore Filii sui Jesu Christi nos intuens, imperfectam nostram obedientiam boni consulit, et pro perfecta habet; operibusque nostris, quæ multis maculis polluta sunt, Filii sui justitiam prætendit. Neque tamen ita nos emancipatos dicimus, ut nullam legi obedientiam debeamus, obedientiam enim deberi supra aperte sumus confessi: illud autem affirmamus, neminem unquam præter unum Christum ita legi paruisse, parere, aut pariturum esse, quemadmodum lex exigit: sed cum omnia fecerimus, procumbamus oportet, ac fateamur ingenue servos nos inutiles esse. Quapropter quicunque operum suorum merita ostentat, aut in operibus supererogationis ullam collocat fiduciam, is se sciat id jactari quod omnino nihil est, et spem salutis in idololatria exitiabili collocare.
Art. XVI. Art. XVI. OF THE KIRK. DE ECCLESIA. As we beleve in ane God, Father, Sonne, and haly Ghaist; sa do we maist constantly beleeve, that from the beginning there hes bene, and now is, and to the end of the warld sall be, ane Kirk, that is to say, ane company and multitude of men chosen of God, who richtly worship and imbrace him be trew faith in Christ Jesus, [726] quha is the only head of the same Kirk, quhiik alswa is the bodie and spouse of Christ Jesus, quhilk Kirk is catholike, that is, universal, because it conteinis the Elect of all ages, of all realmes, nations, and tongues, be they of the Jewes, or be they of the Gentiles, quha have communion and societie with God the Father, and with his Son Christ Jesus, throw the sanctificatioun of his haly Spirit: [727] and therefore it is called the communioun, not of prophane persounes, bot of Saincts, quha as citizenis of the heavenly Jerusalem, [728] have the fruitioun of the maist inestimable benefites, to wit, of ane God, ane Lord Jesus, ane faith, and ane baptisme: [729] Out of the quhilk Kirk, there is nouther lyfe, nor eternall felicitie. And therefore we utterly Quemadmodum credimus in unum Deum, Patrem, Filium, et Spiritum Sanctum; ita firmissime tenemus, quod ab usque rerum initio fuerit, nunc extet, ac futura sit usque ad mundi finem una ecclesia, id est, unus coetus et multitudo hominum a Deo electorum, qui recte ac pie Deum venerantur et amplectuntur per veram fidem in Jesum Christum, qui solus est caput ejus ecclesiæ, quæ et ipsa corpus est et sponsa Christi. Eademque est catholica, hoc est, universalis; quia omnium ætatum, nationum, gentium et linguarum electos continet, sive illi Judæi sint, seu gentes; iisque communio est et societas cum Deo Patre, cumque ejus Filio Jesu Christo per sanctificationem Sancti Spiritus: atque ideo non hominum prophanorum vocatur communio, sed sanctorum, qui etiam Hierosolymæ coelestis sunt cives, fruunturque bonis maxime inæstimabilibus, nempe uno Deo, uno Domino nostro Jesu, una fide, et uno baptismo. Extra hanc ecclesiam nulla est vita, nulla æterna fælicitas; idcirco plane ex diametro abhorremus ab eorum blasphemiis, qui asserunt, cujusvis
abhorre the blasphemie of them that affirme, that men quhilk live according to equitie and justice, sal be saved, quhat Religioun that ever they have professed. For as without Christ Jesus there is nouther life nor salvation; [730] so sal there nane be participant therof, bot sik as the Father hes given unto his Sonne Christ Jesus, and they that in time cum unto him, avowe his doctrine, and beleeve into him, [731] we comprehend the children with the faithfull parentes. [732] This Kirk is invisible, knawen onelie to God, quha alane knawis whome he hes chosen; [733] and comprehends as weill (as said is) the Elect that be departed, commonlie called the Kirk Triumphant, and they that zit live and fecht against sinne and Sathan as sall live hereafter. [734] sectæ, aut religionis professores fore salvos, modo vitæ suæ actiones ad justitiæ et æquitatis normam conformaverint: nam uti absque Jesu Christo nulla est vita, nulla salus; ita salutis ejus nemo erit particeps, nisi quem Pater dederit Filio suo Jesu Christo, quique ad eum dum tempus habet, adveniet, ejus doctrinam profitebitur, et in eum credet; cum adultis autem parentibus, pueros etiam comprehendi intelligo. Hæc ecclesia invisibilis est, uni Deo cognita, qui solus novit quos elegerit. Hæc æque continet electos, qui jam decesserunt, quos vulgo ecclesiam triumphantem appellant, ac eos qui nunc vivunt, et adversus peccatum et Satanam præliantur eosque qui post nos futuri sunt. Art. XVII. Art. XVII. OF THE IMMORTALITIE OF THE SAULES. DE IMMORTALITATE ANIMARUM. The Elect departed are in peace and rest fra their labours: [735] Not that they sleep, and come to a certaine oblivion, as some Phantastickes do affirtne; bot that they are delivered fra all feare and torment, and all temptatioun, to quhilk we and all Goddis Elect are subject Electi qui jam decesserunt, laboribus liberi, pace et tranquillitate fruuntur; non quod dormiant, aid oblivione sopiantur, ut fanatici quidam affirmant; sed quod ab omni metu, cruciatu, et tentatione sint exempti, quibus nos ac cæteri omnes electi Dei sumus obnoxii quamdiu
in this life, [736] and therfore do beare the name of the Kirk Militant: As contrariwise, the reprobate and unfaithfull departed have anguish, torment, and paine, that cannot be expressed. [737] Sa that nouther are the ane nor the uther in sik sleepe that they feele not joy or torment, as the Parable of Christ Jesus in the 16th of Luke, [738] his words to the thiefe, [739] and thir wordes of the saules crying under the Altar, [740] O Lord, thou that art righteous and just, How lang sall thou not revenge our blude upon thir that dwellis in the Eird? dois testifie. hac vita fruimur, ideoque nomine ecclesiæ militantis censemur: contra vero, reprobi et infideles qui decesserunt, in iis molestiis et cruciatibus degunt, quæ verbis exprimi non possunt. Neque enim aut illi ita sunt sopiti, ut omni sensu, aut hi, ut sensu poenarum careant; ut indicat Jesu Christi parabola quæ Lucæ XVI. est, item ut illa testificantur animarum verba sub altari clamantium, O Domine, qui sanctus es et justus, quoad usque non judicas et vindicas sanguinem nostrum de iis qui habitant in terra? Art. XVIII. Art. XVIII.