The
Canons of Dort
First
Head of Doctrine
Divine
Election and Reprobation
Article 1
As all men have sinned in Adam, lie under the curse, and are
deserving of eternal death, God would have done no injustice by leaving them all
to perish and delivering them over to condemnation on account of sin, according
to the words of the apostle: That every mouth may be stopped, and all the
world may be brought under the judgment of God (Rom. 3:19). And: For all
have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). And: For
the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23).
Article 2
But in this the love of God was manifested, that He sent
his only begotten Son into the world, that whosoever believeth on him should
not perish, but have eternal life (1 John 4:9; John 3:16).
Article 3
And that men may be brought to believe, God mercifully sends
the messengers of these most joyful tidings to whom He will and at what time He
pleases; by whose ministry men are called to repentance and faith in Christ
crucified. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? (Rom.
10:14, 15).
Article 4
The wrath of God abides upon those who believe not this
gospel. But such as receive it and embrace Jesus the Saviour by a true and
living faith are by Him delivered from the wrath of God and from destruction,
and have the gift of eternal life conferred upon them.
Article 5
The cause or guilt of this unbelief as well as of all other
sins is no wise in God, but in man himself; whereas faith in Jesus Christ and
salvation through Him is the free gift of God, as it is written: By grace
have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God (Eph. 2:8). Likewise: To you it hath been granted in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, etc. (Phil. 1:29).
Article 6
That some receive the gift of faith from God, and others do
not receive it, proceeds from God's eternal decree. For known unto God are
all his works from the beginning of the world (Acts 15:18, A.V.). Who
worketh all things after the counsel of his will (Eph. 1:11).
According to which decree He graciously softens the hearts of the elect,
however obstinate, and inclines them to believe; while He leaves the non-elect
in His just judgment to their own wickedness and obduracy. And herein is
especially displayed the profound, the merciful, and at the same time the
righteous discrimination between men equally involved in ruin; or that decree
of election and reprobation, revealed in the Word of God, which, though men of
perverse, impure, and unstable minds wrest it to their own destruction, yet to
holy and pious souls affords unspeakable consolation.
Article 7
Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby, before
the foundation of the world, He has out of mere grace, according to the
sovereign good pleasure of His own will, chosen from the whole human race,
which had fallen through their own fault from their primitive state of
rectitude into sin and destruction, a certain number of persons to redemption
in Christ, whom He from eternity appointed the Mediator and Head of the elect
and the foundation of salvation. This elect number, though by nature neither
better nor more deserving than others, but with them involved in one common
misery, God has decreed to give to Christ to be saved by Him, and effectually
to call and draw them to His communion by His Word and Spirit; to bestow upon
them true faith, justification, and sanctification; and having powerfully
preserved them in the fellowship of His Son, finally to glorify them for the
demonstration of His mercy, and for the praise of the riches of His glorious
grace; as it is written: Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love:
having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his
grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved (Eph. 1:4-6). And
elsewhere: Whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called,
them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified (Rom.
8:30).
Article 8
There are not various decrees of election, but one and the
same decree respecting all those who shall be saved, both under the Old and the
New Testament; since the Scripture declares the good pleasure, purpose, and
counsel of the divine will to be one, according to which He has chosen us from
eternity, both to grace and to glory, to salvation and to the way of salvation,
which He has ordained that we should walk therein (Eph. 1:4, 5; 2:10).
Article 9
This election was not founded upon foreseen faith and the
obedience of faith, holiness, or any other good quality or disposition in man,
as the prerequisite, cause, or condition on which it depended; but men are
chosen to faith and to the obedience of faith, holiness, etc. Therefore
election is the fountain of every saving good, from which proceed faith,
holiness, and the other gifts of salvation, and finally eternal life itself, as
its fruits and effects, according to the testimony of the apostle: He hath
chosen us (not because we were, but) that we should be holy, and without
blemish before him in love (Eph. 1:4).
Article 10
The good pleasure of God is the sole cause of this gracious
election; which does not consist herein that out of all possible qualities and
actions of men God has chosen some as a condition of salvation, but that He was
pleased out of the common mass of sinners to adopt some certain persons as a
peculiar people to Himself, as it is written: For the children being
not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, etc., it was
said unto her (namely, to Rebekah), The elder shall serve the younger.
Even as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated (Rom. 9:11-13). And
as many as were ordained to eternal life believed (Acts 13:48).
Article 11
And as God Himself is most wise, unchangeable, omniscient,
and omnipotent, so the election made by Him can neither be interrupted nor
changed, recalled, or annulled; neither can the elect be cast away, nor their
number diminished.
Article 12
The elect in due time, though in various degrees and in
different measures, attain the assurance of this their eternal and unchangeable
election, not by inquisitively prying into the secret and deep things of God,
but by observing in themselves with a spiritual joy and holy pleasure the
infallible fruits of election pointed out in the Word of God—such as, a true
faith in Christ, filial fear, a godly sorrow for sin, a hungering and thirsting
after righteousness, etc.
Article 13
The sense and certainty of this election afford to the
children of God additional matter for daily humiliation before Him, for adoring
the depth of His mercies, for cleansing themselves, and rendering grateful
returns of ardent love to Him who first manifested so great love towards them.
The consideration of this doctrine of election is so far from encouraging
remissness in the observance of the divine commands or from sinking men in
carnal security, that these, in the just judgment of God, are the usual effects
of rash presumption or of idle and wanton trifling with the grace of election,
in those who refuse to walk in the ways of the elect.
Article 14
As the doctrine of divine election by the most wise counsel
of God was declared by the prophets, by Christ Himself, and by the apostles,
and is clearly revealed in the Scriptures both of the Old and the New
Testament, so it is still to be published in due time and place in the Church
of God, for which it was peculiarly designed, provided it be done with
reverence, in the spirit of discretion and piety, for the glory of God's most
holy Name, and for enlivening and comforting His people, without vainly
attempting to investigate the secret ways of the Most High (Acts 20:27; Rom.
11:33, 34; 12:3; Heb. 6:17, 18).
Article 15
What peculiarly tends to illustrate and recommend to us the
eternal and unmerited grace of election is the express testimony of sacred
Scripture that not all, but some only, are elected, while others are passed by
in the eternal decree; whom God, out of His sovereign, most just,
irreprehensible, and unchangeable good pleasure, has decreed to leave in the
common misery into which they have wilfully plunged themselves, and not to
bestow upon them saving faith and the grace of conversion; but, permitting them
in His just judgment to follow their own ways, at last, for the declaration of
His justice, to condemn and punish them forever, not only on account of their
unbelief, but also for all their other sins. And this is the decree of
reprobation, which by no means makes God the Author of sin (the very thought of
which is blasphemy), but declares Him to be an awful, irreprehensible, and
righteous Judge and Avenger thereof.
Article 16
Those in whom a living faith in Christ, an assured confidence
of soul, peace of conscience, an earnest endeavour after filial obedience, a
glorying in God through Christ, is not as yet strongly felt, and who
nevertheless make use of the means which God has appointed for working these
graces in us, ought not to be alarmed at the mention of reprobation, nor to
rank themselves among the reprobate, but diligently to persevere in the use of
means, and with ardent desires devoutly and humbly to wait for a season of
richer grace. Much less cause to be terrified by the doctrine of reprobation
have they who, though they seriously desire to be turned to God, to please Him
only, and to be delivered from the body of death, cannot yet reach that measure
of holiness and faith to which they aspire; since a merciful God has promised
that He will not quench the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed. But this
doctrine is justly terrible to those who, regardless of God and of the Saviour
Jesus Christ, have wholly given themselves up to the cares of the world and the
pleasures of the flesh, so long as they are not seriously converted to God.
Article 17
Since we are to judge of the will of God from His Word, which
testifies that the children of believers are holy, not by nature, but in virtue
of the covenant of grace, in which they together with the parents are
comprehended, godly parents ought not to doubt the election and salvation of
their children whom it pleases God to call out of this life in their infancy
(Gen. 17:7; Acts 2:39; 1 Cor. 7:14).
Article 18
To those who murmur at the free grace of election and the
just severity of reprobation we answer with the apostle: Nay but, O man, who
art thou that repliest against God? (Rom. 9:20), and quote the language of
our Saviour: Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? (Matt.
20:15). And therefore, with holy adoration of these mysteries, we exclaim in
the words of the apostle: O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past
tracing out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his
counsellor? or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto
him again? For of him, and through him, and unto him are all things. To him
be the glory for ever. Amen. (Rom. 11:33-36).
Rejection
of Errors
The true doctrine concerning election and reprobation having
been explained, the Synod rejects the errors of those:
Paragraph 1
Who teach: That the will of God to save those who would
believe and would persevere in faith and in the obedience of faith is the whole
and entire decree of election unto salvation, and that nothing else concerning
this decree has been revealed in God's Word.
For these deceive the simple and plainly contradict the
Scriptures, which declare that God will not only save those who will believe,
but that He has also from eternity chosen certain particular persons to whom,
above others, He will grant, in time, both faith in Christ and perseverance; as
it is written: I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of
the world (John 17:6). And as many as were ordained to eternal life
believed (Acts 13:48). And: Even as he chose us in him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him
in love (Eph. 1:4).
Paragraph 2
Who teach: That there are various kinds of election of God
unto eternal life: the one general and indefinite, the other particular and
definite; and that the latter in turn is either incomplete, revocable,
non-decisive, and conditional, or complete, irrevocable, decisive, and
absolute. Likewise: That there is one election unto faith and another unto
salvation, so that election can be unto justifying faith, without being a
decisive election unto salvation.
For this is a fancy of men's minds, invented regardless of
the Scriptures, whereby the doctrine of election is corrupted, and this golden
chain of our salvation is broken: And whom he foreordained, them he also
called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them
he also glorified (Rom. 8:30).
Paragraph 3
Who teach: That the good pleasure and purpose of God, of
which Scripture makes mention in the doctrine of election, does not consist in
this, that God chose certain persons rather than others, but in this, that He
chose out of all possible conditions (among which are also the works of the
law), or out of the whole order of things, the act of faith which from its very
nature is undeserving, as well as its incomplete obedience, as a condition of
salvation, and that He would graciously consider this in itself as a complete
obedience and count it worthy of the reward of eternal life.
For by this injurious error the pleasure of God and the
merits of Christ are made of none effect, and men are drawn away by useless
questions from the truth of gracious justification and from the simplicity of
Scripture, and this declaration of the apostle is charged as untrue: Who
saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before times eternal (2 Timothy 1:9).
Paragraph 4
Who teach: That in the election unto faith this condition is
beforehand demanded that man should use the light of nature aright, be pious,
humble, meek, and fit for eternal life, as if on these things election were in
any way dependent.
For this savours of the teaching of Pelagius, and is opposed
to the doctrine of the apostle when he writes: Among whom we also all once
lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the
mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest; but God, being
rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead
through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have ye
been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the
heavenly places, in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come he might show
the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus; for
by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory (Eph. 2:3-9).
Paragraph 5
Who teach: That the incomplete and non-decisive election of
particular persons to salvation occurred because of a foreseen faith,
conversion, holiness, godliness, which either began or continued for some time;
but that the complete and decisive election occurred because of foreseen
perseverance unto the end in faith, conversion, holiness, and godliness; and
that this is the gracious and evangelical worthiness, for the sake of which he
who is chosen is more worthy than he who is not chosen; and that therefore
faith, the obedience of faith, holiness, godliness, and perseverance are not
fruits of the unchangeable election unto glory, but are conditions which, being
required beforehand, were foreseen as being met by those who will be fully
elected, and are causes without which the unchangeable election to glory does
not occur.
This is repugnant to the entire Scripture, which constantly
inculcates this and similar declarations: Election is not of works, but of
him that calleth (Rom. 9:11). And as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed (Acts 13:48). He chose us in him before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy (Eph. 1:4). Ye did not choose me, but
I chose you (John 15:16). But if it is by grace, it is no more of works (Rom.
11:6). Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent
his Son (1 John 4:10).
Paragraph 6
Who teach: That not every election unto salvation is unchangeable,
but that some of the elect, any decree of God notwithstanding, can yet perish
and do indeed perish.
By this gross error they make God to be changeable, and
destroy the comfort which the godly obtain out of the firmness of their
election, and contradict the Holy Scripture, which teaches that the elect
can not be led astray (Matt. 24:24), that Christ does not lose those
whom the Father gave him (John 6:39), and that God also glorified those
whom he foreordained, called, and justified (Rom. 8:30).
Paragraph 7
Who teach: That there is in this life no fruit and no
consciousness of the unchangeable election to glory, nor any certainty, except
that which depends on a changeable and uncertain condition.
For not only is it absurd to speak of an uncertain certainty,
but also contrary to the experience of the saints, who by virtue of the
consciousness of their election rejoice with the apostle and praise this favour
of God (Eph. 1); who according to Christ's admonition rejoice with His
disciples that their names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20); who also
place the consciousness of their election over against the fiery darts of the
devil, asking: Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
(Rom. 8:33).
Paragraph 8
Who teach: That God, simply by virtue of His righteous will,
did not decide either to leave anyone in the fall of Adam and in the common
state of sin and condemnation, or to pass anyone by in the communication of
grace which is necessary for faith and conversion.
For this is firmly decreed: He hath mercy on whom he will,
and whom he will he hardeneth (Rom. 9:18). And also this: Unto you it is
given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not
given (Matt. 13:11). Likewise: I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding,
and didst reveal them unto babes; yea, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in
thy sight (Matt. 11:25, 26).
Paragraph 9
Who teach: That the reason why God sends the gospel to one
people rather than to another is not merely and solely the good pleasure of
God, but rather the fact that one people is better and worthier than another to
which the gospel is not communicated.
For this Moses denies, addressing the people of Israel as
follows: Behold, unto Jehovah thy God belongeth heaven and the heaven of
heavens, the earth, with all that is therein. Only Jehovah had a delight in thy
fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all
peoples, as at this day (Deut. 10:14, 15). And Christ said: Woe unto
thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done
in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in
sackcloth and ashes (Matt. 11:21).
Second
Head of Doctrine
The
Death of Christ, and the Redemption of Men Thereby
Article 1
God is not only supremely merciful, but also supremely just.
And His justice requires (as He has revealed Himself in His Word) that our sins
committed against His infinite majesty should be punished, not only with
temporal but with eternal punishments, both in body and soul; which we cannot
escape, unless satisfaction be made to the justice of God.
Article 2
Since, therefore, we are unable to make that satisfaction in
our own persons, or to deliver ourselves from the wrath of God, He has been
pleased of His infinite mercy to give His only begotten Son for our Surety, who
was made sin, and became a curse for us and in our stead, that He might make
satisfaction to divine justice on our behalf.
Article 3
The death of the Son of God is the only and most perfect
sacrifice and satisfaction for sin, and is of infinite worth and value,
abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world.
Article 4
This death is of such infinite value and dignity because the
person who submitted to it was not only really man and perfectly holy, but also
the only begotten Son of God, of the same eternal and infinite essence with the
Father and the Holy Spirit, which qualifications were necessary to constitute
Him a Saviour for us; and, moreover, because it was attended with a sense of
the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin.
Article 5
Moreover, the promise of the gospel is that whosoever
believes in Christ crucified shall not perish, but have eternal life. This
promise, together with the command to repent and believe, ought to be declared
and published to all nations, and to all persons promiscuously and without
distinction, to whom God out of His good pleasure sends the gospel.
Article 6
And, whereas many who are called by the gospel do not repent
nor believe in Christ, but perish in unbelief, this is not owing to any defect
or insufficiency in the sacrifice offered by Christ upon the cross, but is
wholly to be imputed to themselves.
Article 7
But as many as truly believe, and are delivered and saved from
sin and destruction through the death of Christ, are indebted for this benefit
solely to the grace of God given them in Christ from everlasting, and not to
any merit of their own.
Article 8
For this was the sovereign counsel and most gracious will and
purpose of God the Father that the quickening and saving efficacy of the most
precious death of His Son should extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon
them alone the gift of justifying faith, thereby to bring them infallibly to
salvation; that is, it was the will of God that Christ by the blood of the
cross, whereby He confirmed the new covenant, should effectually redeem out of
every people, tribe, nation, and language, all those, and those only, who were
from eternity chosen to salvation and given to Him by the Father; that He
should confer upon them faith, which, together with all the other saving gifts
of the Holy Spirit, He purchased for them by His death; should purge them from
all sin, both original and actual, whether committed before or after believing;
and having faithfully preserved them even to the end, should at last bring
them, free from every spot and blemish, to the enjoyment of glory in His own
presence forever.
Article 9
This purpose, proceeding from everlasting love towards the elect,
has from the beginning of the world to this day been powerfully accomplished,
and will hence-forward still continue to be accomplished, notwithstanding all
the ineffectual opposition of the gates of hell; so that the elect in due time
may be gathered together into one, and that there never may be wanting a Church
composed of believers, the foundation of which is laid in the blood of Christ;
which may steadfastly love and faithfully serve Him as its Saviour (who, as a
bridegroom for his bride, laid down His life for them upon the cross); and
which may celebrate His praises here and through all eternity.
Rejection
of Errors
The true doctrine having been explained, the Synod rejects
the errors of those:
Paragraph 1
Who teach: That God the Father has ordained His Son to the
death of the cross without a certain and definite decree to save any, so that
the necessity, profitableness, and worth of what Christ merited by His death
might have existed, and might remain in all its parts complete, perfect, and
intact, even if the merited redemption had never in fact been applied to any
person.
For this doctrine tends to the despising of the wisdom of the
Father and of the merits of Jesus Christ, and is contrary to Scripture. For
thus says our Saviour: I lay down my life for the sheep, and I know them
(John 10:15, 27). And the prophet Isaiah says concerning the Saviour: When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he
shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand
(Isa. 53:10). Finally, this contradicts the article of faith according to which
we believe the catholic Christian Church.
Paragraph 2
Who teach: That it was not the purpose of the death of Christ
that He should confirm the new covenant of grace through His blood, but only
that He should acquire for the Father the mere right to establish with man such
a covenant as He might please, whether of grace or of works.
For this is repugnant to Scripture which teaches that Christ
hath become the surety and mediator of a better, that is, the new covenant, and
that a testament is of force where there hath been death (Heb. 7:22;
9:15, 17).
Paragraph 3
Who teach: That Christ by His satisfaction merited neither
salvation itself for anyone, nor faith, whereby this satisfaction of Christ
unto salvation is effectually appropriated; but that He merited for the Father
only the authority or the perfect will to deal again with man, and to prescribe
new conditions as He might desire, obedience to which, however, depended on the
free will of man, so that it therefore might have come to pass that either none
or all should fulfil these conditions.
For these adjudge too contemptuously of the death of Christ,
in no wise acknowledge the most important fruit or benefit thereby gained, and
bring again out of hell the Pelagian error.
Paragraph 4
Who teach: That the new covenant of grace, which God the
Father, through the mediation of the death of Christ, made with man, does not
herein consist that we by faith, in as much as it accepts the merits of Christ,
are justified before God and saved, but in the fact that God, having revoked
the demand of perfect obedience of faith, regards faith itself and the
obedience of faith, although imperfect, as the perfect obedience of the law,
and does esteem it worthy of the reward of eternal life through grace.
For these contradict the Scriptures: Being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God
set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood (Rom.
3:24, 25). And these proclaim, as did the wicked Socinus, a new and strange
justification of man before God, against the consensus of the whole Church.
Paragraph 5
Who teach: That all men have been accepted unto the state of
reconciliation and unto the grace of the covenant, so that no one is worthy of
condemnation on account of original sin, and that no one shall be condemned
because of it, but that all are free from the guilt of original sin.
For this opinion is repugnant to Scripture which teaches that
we are by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3).
Paragraph 6
Who use the difference between meriting and appropriating, to
the end that they may instil into the minds of the imprudent and inexperienced
this teaching that God, as far as He is concerned, has been minded to apply to
all equally the benefits gained by the death of Christ; but that, while some
obtain the pardon of sin and eternal life, and others do not, this difference
depends on their own free will, which joins itself to the grace that is offered
without exception, and that it is not dependent on the special gift of mercy,
which powerfully works in them, that they rather than others should appropriate
unto themselves this grace.
For these, while they feign that they present this
distinction in a sound sense, seek to instil into the people the destructive
poison of the Pelagian errors.
Paragraph 7
Who teach: That Christ neither could die, nor needed to die,
and also did not die, for those whom God loved in the highest degree and
elected to eternal life, since these do not need the death of Christ.
For they contradict the apostle, who declares: Christ
loved me, and gave himself up for me (Gal. 2:20). Likewise: Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he
that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus that died (Rom. 8:33, 34), namely,
for them; and the Saviour who says: I lay down my life for the sheep
(John 10:15). And: This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as
I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends (John 15:12, 13).
Third
and Fourth Heads of Doctrine
The
Corruption of Man, His Conversion To God, and the Manner Thereof
Article 1
Man was originally formed after the image of God. His
understanding was adorned with a true and saving knowledge of his Creator, and
of spiritual things; his heart and will were upright, all his affections pure,
and the whole man was holy. But, revolting from God by the instigation of the
devil and by his own free will, he forfeited these excellent gifts; and in the
place thereof became involved in blindness of mind, horrible darkness, vanity,
and perverseness of judgment; became wicked, rebellious, and obdurate in heart
and will, and impure in his affections.
Article 2
Man after the fall begat children in his own likeness. A
corrupt stock produced a corrupt offspring. Hence all the posterity of Adam,
Christ only excepted, have derived corruption from their original parent, not
by imitation, as the Pelagians of old asserted, but by the propagation of a
vicious nature, in consequence of the just judgment of God.
Article 3
Therefore all men are conceived in sin, and are by nature
children of wrath, incapable of saving good, prone to evil, dead in sin, and in
bondage thereto; and without the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit, they
are neither able nor willing to return to God, to reform the depravity of their
nature, or to dispose themselves to reformation.
Article 4
There remain, however, in man since the fall, the glimmerings
of natural light, whereby he retains some knowledge of God, of natural things, and
of the difference between good and evil, and shows some regard for virtue and
for good outward behaviour. But so far is this light of nature from being
sufficient to bring him to a saving knowledge of God and to true conversion
that he is incapable of using it aright even in things natural and civil. Nay
further, this light, such as it is, man in various ways renders wholly
polluted, and hinders in unrighteousness, by doing which he becomes inexcusable
before God.
Article 5
In the same light are we to consider the law of the
decalogue, delivered by God to His peculiar people, the Jews, by the hands of
Moses. For though it reveals the greatness of sin, and more and more convinces
man thereof, yet, as it neither points out a remedy nor imparts strength to
extricate him from this misery, but, being weak through the flesh, leaves the
transgressor under the curse, man cannot by this law obtain saving grace.
Article 6
What, therefore, neither the light of nature nor the law
could do, that God performs by the operation of the Holy Spirit through the
word or ministry of reconciliation; which is the glad tidings concerning the
Messiah, by means whereof it has pleased God to save such as believe, as well
under the Old as under the New Testament.
Article 7
This mystery of His will God revealed to but a small number
under the Old Testament; under the New Testament (the distinction between
various peoples having been removed) He reveals it to many. The cause of this
dispensation is not to be ascribed to the superior worth of one nation above
another, nor to their better use of the light of nature, but results wholly
from the sovereign good pleasure and unmerited love of God. Hence they to whom
so great and so gracious a blessing is communicated, above their desert, or
rather notwithstanding their demerits, are bound to acknowledge it with humble
and grateful hearts, and with the apostle to adore, but in no wise curiously to
pry into, the severity and justice of God's judgments displayed in others to
whom this grace is not given.
Article 8
As many as are called by the gospel are unfeignedly called.
For God has most earnestly and truly declared in His Word what is acceptable to
Him, namely, that those who are called should come unto Him. He also seriously promises
rest of soul and eternal life to all who come to Him and believe.
Article 9
It is not the fault of the gospel, nor of Christ offered
therein, nor of God, who calls men by the gospel and confers upon them various
gifts, that those who are called by the ministry of the Word refuse to come and
be converted. The fault lies in themselves; some of whom when called,
regardless of their danger, reject the Word of life; others, though they
receive it, suffer it not to make a lasting impression on their heart;
therefore, their joy, arising only from a temporary faith, soon vanishes, and
they fall away; while others choke the seed of the Word by perplexing cares and
the pleasures of this world, and produce no fruit. This our Saviour teaches in
the parable of the sower (Matt. 13).
Article 10
But that others who are called by the gospel obey the call
and are converted is not to be ascribed to the proper exercise of free will,
whereby one distinguishes himself above others equally furnished with grace
sufficient for faith and conversion (as the proud heresy of Pelagius
maintains); but it must be wholly ascribed to God, who, as He has chosen His
own from eternity in Christ, so He calls them effectually in time, confers upon
them faith and repentance, rescues them from the power of darkness, and
translates them into the kingdom of His own Son; that they may show forth the
praises of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvellous light,
and may glory not in themselves but in the Lord, according to the testimony of
the apostles in various places.
Article 11
But when God accomplishes His good pleasure in the elect, or
works in them true conversion, He not only causes the gospel to be externally
preached to them, and powerfully illuminates their minds by His Holy Spirit,
that they may rightly understand and discern the things of the Spirit of God;
but by the efficacy of the same regenerating Spirit He pervades the inmost
recesses of man; He opens the closed and softens the hardened heart, and
circumcises that which was uncircumcised; infuses new qualities into the will,
which, though heretofore dead, He quickens; from being evil, disobedient, and
refractory, He renders it good, obedient, and pliable; actuates and strengthens
it, that like a good tree, it may bring forth the fruits of good actions.
Article 12
And this is that regeneration so highly extolled in
Scripture, that renewal, new creation, resurrection from the dead, making alive,
which God works in us without our aid. But this is in no wise effected merely
by the external preaching of the gospel, by moral suasion, or such a mode of
operation that, after God has performed His part, it still remains in the power
of man to be regenerated or not, to be converted or to continue unconverted;
but it is evidently a supernatural work, most powerful, and at the same time
most delightful, astonishing, mysterious, and ineffable; not inferior in
efficacy to creation or the resurrection from the dead, as the Scripture
inspired by the Author of this work declares; so that all in whose heart God
works in this marvellous manner are certainly, infallibly, and effectually
regenerated, and do actually believe. Whereupon the will thus renewed is not
only actuated and influenced by God, but in consequence of this influence
becomes itself active. Wherefore also man himself is rightly said to believe
and repent by virtue of that grace received.
Article 13
The manner of this operation cannot be fully comprehended by
believers in this life. Nevertheless, they are satisfied to know and experience
that by this grace of God they are enabled to believe with the heart and to
love their Saviour.
Article 14
Faith is therefore to be considered as the gift of God, not
on account of its being offered by God to man, to be accepted or rejected at
his pleasure, but because it is in reality conferred upon him, breathed and
infused into him; nor even because God bestows the power or ability to believe,
and then expects that man should by the exercise of his own free will consent
to the terms of salvation and actually believe in Christ, but because He who
works in man both to will and to work, and indeed all things in all, produces
both the will to believe and the act of believing also.
Article 15
God is under no obligation to confer this grace upon any; for
how can He be indebted to one who had no previous gifts to bestow as a
foundation for such recompense? Nay, how can He be indebted to one who has
nothing of his own but sin and falsehood? He, therefore, who becomes the
subject of this grace owes eternal gratitude to God, and gives Him thanks
forever. Whoever is not made partaker thereof is either altogether regardless
of these spiritual gifts and satisfied with his own condition, or is in no
apprehension of danger, and vainly boasts the possession of that which he has
not. Further, with respect to those who outwardly profess their faith and amend
their lives, we are bound, after the example of the apostle, to judge and speak
of them in the most favourable manner; for the secret recesses of the heart are
unknown to us. And as to others who have not yet been called, it is our duty to
pray for them to God, who calls the things that are not as if they were. But we
are in no wise to conduct ourselves towards them with haughtiness, as if we had
made ourselves to differ.
Article 16
But as man by the fall did not cease to be a creature endowed
with understanding and will, nor did sin which pervaded the whole race of mankind
deprive him of the human nature, but brought upon him depravity and spiritual
death, so also this grace of regeneration does not treat men as senseless
stocks and blocks, nor take away their will and its properties, or do violence
thereto; but it spiritually quickens, heals, corrects, and at the same time
sweetly and powerfully bends it, that where carnal rebellion and resistance
formerly prevailed, a ready and sincere spiritual obedience begins to reign; in
which the true and spiritual restoration and freedom of our will consist.
Wherefore, unless the admirable Author of every good work so deal with us, man
can have no hope of being able to rise from his fall by his own free will, by
which, in a state of innocence, he plunged himself into ruin.
Article 17
As the almighty operation of God whereby He brings forth and
supports this our natural life does not exclude but require the use of means by
which God, of His infinite mercy and goodness, has chosen to exert His
influence, so also the aforementioned supernatural operation of God by which we
are regenerated in no wise excludes or subverts the use of the gospel, which
the most wise God has ordained to be the seed of regeneration and food of the
soul. Wherefore, as the apostles and the teachers who succeeded them piously
instructed the people concerning this grace of God, to His glory and to the
abasement of all pride, and in the meantime, however, neglected not to keep
them, by the holy admonitions of the gospel, under the influence of the Word,
the sacraments, and ecclesiastical discipline; so even now it should be far
from those who give or receive instruction in the Church to presume to tempt
God by separating what He of His good pleasure has most intimately joined
together. For grace is conferred by means of admonitions; and the more readily
we perform our duty, the more clearly this favour of God, working in us,
usually manifests itself, and the more directly His work is advanced; to whom
alone all the glory, both for the means and for their saving fruit and
efficacy, is forever due. Amen.
Rejection
of Errors
The true doctrine having been explained, the Synod rejects
the errors of those:
Paragraph 1
Who teach: That it cannot properly be said that original sin in
itself suffices to condemn the whole human race or to deserve temporal and
eternal punishment.
For these contradict the apostle, who declares: Therefore,
as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so
death passed unto all men, for that all sinned (Rom. 5:12). And: The
judgment came of one unto condemnation (Rom. 5:16). And: The wages
of sin is death (Rom. 6:23).
Paragraph 2
Who teach: That the spiritual gifts or the good qualities and
virtues, such as goodness, holiness, righteousness, could not belong to the
will of man when he was first created, and that these, therefore, cannot have
been separated therefrom in the fall.
For such is contrary to the description of the image of God
which the apostle gives in Eph. 4:24, where he declares that it consists in
righteousness and holiness, which undoubtedly belong to the will.
Paragraph 3
Who teach: That in spiritual death the spiritual gifts are
not separate from the will of man, since the will in itself has never been corrupted,
but only hindered through the darkness of the understanding and the
irregularity of the affections; and that, these hindrances having been removed,
the will can then bring into operation its native powers, that is, that the
will of itself is able to will and to choose, or not to will and not to choose,
all manner of good which may be presented to it.
This is an innovation and an error, and tends to elevate the
powers of the free will, contrary to the declaration of the prophet: The
heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt (Jer.
17:9); and of the apostle: Among whom (sons of disobedience) we also
all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of
the mind (Eph. 2:3).
Paragraph 4
Who teach: That the unregenerate man is not really nor
utterly dead in sin, nor destitute of all powers unto spiritual good, but that
he can yet hunger and thirst after righteousness and life, and offer the
sacrifice of a contrite and broken spirit, which is pleasing to God.
For these things are contrary to the express testimony of
Scripture: Ye were dead through your trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1, 5).
And: Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually (Gen. 6:5; 8:21). Moreover, to hunger and thirst after
deliverance from misery and after life, and to offer unto God the sacrifice of
a broken spirit, is peculiar to the regenerate and those that are called
blessed (Ps. 51:17; Matt. 5:6).
Paragraph 5
Who teach: That the corrupt and natural man can so well use
the common grace (by which they understand the light of nature), or the gifts
still left him after the fall, that he can gradually gain by their good use a
greater, that is, the evangelical or saving grace, and salvation itself; and
that in this way God on His part shows Himself ready to reveal Christ unto all
men, since He applies to all sufficiently and efficiently the means necessary
to conversion.
For both the experience of all ages and the Scriptures
testify that this is untrue. He showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes
and his ordinances unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation; and as
for his ordinances, they have not known them (Ps. 147:19, 20). Who
in the generations gone by suffered all the nations to walk in their own way
(Acts 14:16). And: And they (Paul and his companions) having been
forbidden of the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia, when they were come
over against Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus
suffered them not (Acts 16:6, 7).
Paragraph 6
Who teach: That in the true conversion of man no new
qualities, powers, or gifts can be infused by God into the will, and that
therefore faith, through which we are first converted and because of which we
are called believers, is not a quality or gift infused by God but only an act
of man, and that it cannot be said to be a gift, except in respect of the power
to attain to this faith.
For thereby they contradict the Holy Scriptures, which
declare that God infuses new qualities of faith, of obedience, and of the
consciousness of His love into our hearts: I will put my law in their inward
parts, and in their heart I will write it (Jer. 31:33). And: I will pour
water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my
Spirit upon thy seed (Isa. 44:3). And: The love of God hath been shed
abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us (Rom.
5:5). This is also repugnant to the constant practice of the Church, which
prays by the mouth of the prophet thus: Turn thou me, and I shall be turned
(Jer. 31:18).
Paragraph 7
Who teach: That the grace whereby we are converted to God is
only a gentle advising, or (as others explain it) that this is the noblest
manner of working in the conversion of man, and that this manner of working,
which consists in advising, is most in harmony with man's nature; and that
there is no reason why this advising grace alone should not be sufficient to
make the natural man spiritual; indeed, that God does not produce the consent
of the will except through this manner of advising; and that the power of the
divine working, whereby it surpasses the working of Satan, consists in this
that God promises eternal, while Satan promises only temporal goods.
But this is altogether Pelagian and contrary to the whole
Scripture, which, besides this, teaches yet another and far more powerful and
divine manner of the Holy Spirit's working in the conversion of man, as in
Ezekiel: A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put
within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will
give you a heart of flesh (Ezek. 36:26).
Paragraph 8
Who teach: That God in the regeneration of man does not use such
powers of His omnipotence as potently and infallibly bend man's will to faith
and conversion; but that all the works of grace having been accomplished, which
God employs to convert man, man may yet so resist God and the Holy Spirit, when
God intends man's regeneration and wills to regenerate him, and indeed that man
often does so resist that he prevents entirely his regeneration, and that it
therefore remains in man's power to be regenerated or not.
For this is nothing less than the denial of all the efficiency
of God's grace in our conversion, and the subjecting of the working of Almighty
God to the will of man, which is contrary to the apostles, who teach that we
believe according to the working of the strength of his might (Eph. 1:19);
and that God fulfils every desire of goodness and every work of faith
with power (2 Thess. 1:11); and that his divine power hath granted unto
us all things that pertain unto life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3).
Paragraph 9
Who teach: That grace and free will are partial causes which
together work the beginning of conversion, and that grace, in order of working,
does not precede the working of the will; that is, that God does not
efficiently help the will of man unto conversion until the will of man moves
and determines to do this.
For the ancient Church has long ago condemned this doctrine
of the Pelagians according to the words of the apostle: So then it is not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that hath mercy (Rom.
9:16). Likewise: For who maketh thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? (1 Cor. 4:7). And: For it is God who worketh in you
both to will and to work, for his good pleasure (Phil. 2:13).
Fifth
Head of Doctrine
The
Perseverance of the Saints
Article 1
Those whom God, according to His purpose, calls to the
communion of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and regenerates by the Holy
Spirit, He also delivers from the dominion and slavery of sin, though in this
life He does not deliver them altogether from the body of sin and from the
infirmities of the flesh.
Article 2
Hence spring forth the daily sins of infirmity, and blemishes
cleave even to the best works of the saints. These are to them a perpetual
reason to humiliate themselves before God and to flee for refuge to Christ
crucified; to mortify the flesh more and more by the spirit of prayer and by
holy exercises of piety; and to press forward to the goal of perfection, until
at length, delivered from this body of death, they shall reign with the Lamb of
God in heaven.
Article 3
By reason of these remains of indwelling sin, and also
because of the temptations of the world and of Satan, those who are converted
could not persevere in that grace if left to their own strength. But God is
faithful, who, having conferred grace, mercifully confirms and powerfully
preserves them therein, even to the end.
Article 4
Although the weakness of the flesh cannot prevail against the
power of God, who confirms and preserves true believers in a state of grace,
yet converts are not always so influenced and actuated by the Spirit of God as
not in some particular instances sinfully to deviate from the guidance of
divine grace, so as to be seduced by and to comply with the lusts of the flesh;
they must, therefore, be constant in watching and prayer, that they may not be
led into temptation. When these are neglected, they are not only liable to be
drawn into great and heinous sins by the flesh, the world, and Satan, but
sometimes by the righteous permission of God actually are drawn into these
evils. This, the lamentable fall of David, Peter, and other saints described in
Holy Scripture, demonstrates.
Article 5
By such enormous sins, however, they very highly offend God,
incur a deadly guilt, grieve the Holy Spirit, interrupt the exercise of faith,
very grievously wound their consciences, and sometimes for a while lose the
sense of God's favour, until, when they change their course by serious
repentance, the light of God's fatherly countenance again shines upon them.
Article 6
But God, who is rich in mercy, according to His unchangeable
purpose of election, does not wholly withdraw the Holy Spirit from His own
people even in their grievous falls; nor suffers them to proceed so far as to
lose the grace of adoption and forfeit the state of justification, or to commit
the sin unto death or against the Holy Spirit; nor does He permit them to be
totally deserted, and to plunge themselves into everlasting destruction.
Article 7
For in the first place, in these falls He preserves in them
the incorruptible seed of regeneration from perishing or being totally lost;
and again, by His Word and Spirit He certainly and effectually renews them to
repentance, to a sincere and godly sorrow for their sins, that they may seek
and obtain remission in the blood of the mediator, may again experience the
favour of a reconciled God, through faith adore His mercies, and henceforward
more diligently work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.
Article 8
Thus it is not in consequence of their own merits or
strength, but of God's free mercy, that they neither totally fall from faith
and grace nor continue and perish finally in their backslidings; which, with
respect to themselves is not only possible, but would undoubtedly happen; but
with respect to God, it is utterly impossible, since His counsel cannot be
changed nor His promise fail; neither can the call according to His purpose be
revoked, nor the merit, intercession, and preservation of Christ be rendered
ineffectual, nor the sealing of the Holy Spirit be frustrated or obliterated.
Article 9
Of this preservation of the elect to salvation and of their
perseverance in the faith, true believers themselves may and do obtain
assurance according to the measure of their faith, whereby they surely believe
that they are and ever will continue true and living members of the Church, and
that they have the forgiveness of sins and life eternal.
Article 10
This assurance, however, is not produced by any peculiar
revelation contrary to or independent of the Word of God, but springs from
faith in God's promises, which He has most abundantly revealed in His Word for
our comfort; from the testimony of the Holy Spirit, witnessing with our spirit
that we are children and heirs of God (Rom. 8:16); and lastly, from a serious
and holy desire to preserve a good conscience and to perform good works. And if
the elect of God were deprived of this solid comfort that they shall finally
obtain the victory, and of this infallible pledge of eternal glory, they would
be of all men the most miserable.
Article 11
The Scripture moreover testifies that believers in this life
have to struggle with various carnal doubts, and that under grievous
temptations they do not always feel this full assurance of faith and certainty
of persevering. But God, who is the Father of all consolation, does not suffer
them to be tempted above that they are able, but will with the temptation make
also the way of escape, that they may be able to endure it
(1 Cor. 10:13), and by the Holy Spirit again inspires them with the
comfortable assurance of persevering.
Article 12
This certainty of perseverance, however, is so far from
exciting in believers a spirit of pride, or of rendering them carnally secure,
that on the contrary it is the real source of humility, filial reverence, true
piety, patience in every tribulation, fervency in prayers, constancy in
suffering and in confessing the truth, and of solid rejoicing in God; so that
the consideration of this benefit should serve as an incentive to the serious
and constant practice of gratitude and good works, as appears from the
testimonies of Scripture and the examples of the saints.
Article 13
Neither does renewed confidence of persevering produce
licentiousness or a disregard of piety in those who are recovered from
backsliding; but it renders them much more careful and solicitous to continue
in the ways of the Lord, which He has ordained, that they who walk therein may
keep the assurance of persevering; lest, on account of their abuse of His
fatherly kindness, God should turn away His gracious countenance from them (to
behold which is to the godly dearer than life, and the withdrawal of which is
more bitter than death) and they in consequence thereof should fall into more
grievous torments of conscience.
Article 14
And as it has pleased God, by the preaching of the gospel, to
begin this work of grace in us, so He preserves, continues, and perfects it by the
hearing and reading of His Word, by meditation thereon, and by the
exhortations, threatenings, and promises thereof, and by the use of the
sacraments.
Article 15
The carnal mind is unable to comprehend this doctrine of the
perseverance of the saints and the certainty thereof, which God has most
abundantly revealed in His Word, for the glory of His Name and the consolation
of pious souls, and which He impresses upon the hearts of the believers. Satan
abhors it, the world ridicules it, the ignorant and hypocritical abuse it, and
the heretics oppose it. But the bride of Christ has always most tenderly loved
and constantly defended it as an inestimable treasure; and God, against whom
neither counsel nor strength can prevail, will dispose her so to continue to
the end. Now to this one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be honour and glory
forever. Amen.
Rejection
of Errors
The true doctrine having been explained, the Synod rejects
the errors of those:
Paragraph 1
Who teach: That the perseverance of the true believers is not
a fruit of election, or a gift of God gained by the death of Christ, but a
condition of the new covenant, which (as they declare) man before his decisive
election and justification must fulfil through his free will.
For the Holy Scripture testifies that this follows out of
election, and is given the elect in virtue of the death, the resurrection, and
intercession of Christ: But the election obtained it, and the rest were
hardened (Rom. 11:7). Likewise: He that spared not his own Son, but
delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all
things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that
justifieth; who is he that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea
rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
(Rom. 8:32-35).
Paragraph 2
Who teach: That God does indeed provide the believer with
sufficient powers to persevere, and is ever ready to preserve these in him if
he will do his duty; but that, though all things which are necessary to
persevere in faith and which God will use to preserve faith are made use of,
even then it ever depends on the pleasure of the will whether it will persevere
or not.
For this idea contains an outspoken Pelagianism, and while it
would make men free, it makes them robbers of God's honour, contrary to the
prevailing agreement of the evangelical doctrine, which takes from man all
cause of boasting, and ascribes all the praise for this favour to the grace of
God alone; and contrary to the apostle, who declares that it is God, who
shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye be unreprovable in the day
of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:8).
Paragraph 3
Who teach: That the true believers and regenerate not only
can fall from justifying faith and likewise from grace and salvation wholly and
to the end, but indeed often do fall from this and are lost forever.
For this conception makes powerless the grace, justification,
regeneration, and continued preservation by Christ, contrary to the expressed
words of the apostle Paul: That, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from
the wrath of God through him (Rom. 5:8, 9). And contrary to the
apostle John: Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin, because his seed
abideth in him; and he can not sin, because he is begotten of God (1 John
3:9). And also contrary to the words of Jesus Christ: I give unto them
eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of
my hand. My Father, who hath given them to me, is greater than all; and
no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand (John 10:28, 29).
Paragraph 4
Who teach: That true believers and regenerate can sin the sin
unto death or against the Holy Spirit.
Since the same apostle John, after having spoken in the fifth
chapter of his first epistle, vs. 16 and 17, of those who sin unto death and having
forbidden to pray for them, immediately adds to this in vs. 18: We know that
whosoever is begotten of God sinneth not (meaning a sin of that character),
but he that was begotten of God keepeth himself, and the evil one toucheth
him not (1 John 5:18).
Paragraph 5
Who teach; That without a special revelation we can have no
certainty of future perseverance in this life.
For by this doctrine the sure comfort of the true believers is
taken away in this life, and the doubts of the papist are again introduced into
the Church, while the Holy Scriptures constantly deduce this assurance, not
from a special and extraordinary revelation, but from the marks proper to the
children of God and from the very constant promises of God. So especially the
apostle Paul: No creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:39). And John declares: And he
that keepeth his commandments abideth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know
that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he gave us (1 John 3:24).
Paragraph 6
Who teach: That the doctrine of the certainty of perseverance
and of salvation from its own character and nature is a cause of indolence and
is injurious to godliness, good morals, prayers, and other holy exercises, but
that on the contrary it is praiseworthy to doubt.
For these show that they do not know the power of divine
grace and the working of the indwelling Holy Spirit. And they contradict the
apostle John, who teaches the opposite with express words in his first epistle:
Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we
shall be. We know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we
shall see him even as he is. And every one that hath this hope set on
him purifieth himself, even as he is pure (1 John 3:2, 3).
Furthermore, these are contradicted by the example of the
saints, both of the Old and the New Testament, who though they were assured of
their perseverance and salvation, were nevertheless constant in prayers and
other exercises of godliness.
Paragraph 7
Who teach: That the
faith of those who believe for a time does not differ from justifying and
saving faith except only in duration.
For Christ Himself, in Matthew 13:20, Luke 8:13, and in other
places, evidently notes, besides this duration, a threefold difference between
those who believe only for a time and true believers, when He declares that the
former receive the seed in stony ground, but the latter in the good ground or
heart; that the former are without root, but the latter have a firm root; that
the former are without fruit, but that the latter bring forth their fruit in
various measure, with constancy and steadfastness.
Paragraph 8
Who teach: That it is not absurd that one having lost his
first regeneration is again and even often born anew.
For these deny by this doctrine the incorruptibleness of the
seed of God, whereby we are born again; contrary to the testimony of the
apostle Peter: Having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible (1 Pet. 1:23).
Paragraph 9
Who teach: That Christ has in no place prayed that believers
should infallibly continue in faith.
For they contradict Christ Himself, who says: I made
supplication for thee (Simon), that thy faith fail not (Luke 22:32),
and the evangelist John, who declares that Christ has not prayed for the
apostles only, but also for those who through their word would believe: Holy
Father, keep them in thy name, and: I pray not that thou shouldest take
them from the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil one
(John 17:11, 15, 20).
Conclusion
And this is the perspicuous, simple, and ingenuous declaration
of the orthodox doctrine respecting the five articles which have been
controverted in the Belgic Churches; and the rejection of the errors, with
which they have for some time been troubled. This doctrine the Synod judges to
be drawn from the Word of God, and to be agreeable to the confession of the
Reformed Churches. Whence it clearly appears that some, whom such conduct by no
means became, have violated all truth, equity, and charity, in wishing to
persuade the public:
"That the doctrine of the Reformed Churches concerning
predestination, and the points annexed to it, by its own genius and necessary
tendency, leads off the minds of men from all piety and religion; that it is an
opiate administered by the flesh and the devil; and the stronghold of Satan,
where he lies in wait for all, and from which he wounds multitudes, and
mortally strikes through many with the darts both of despair and security; that
it makes God the author of sin, unjust, tyrannical, hypocritical; that it is
nothing more than an interpolated Stoicism, Manicheism, Libertinism, Turcism;
that it renders men carnally secure, since they are persuaded by it that
nothing can hinder the salvation of the elect, let them live as they please;
and, therefore, that they may safely perpetrate every species of the most
atrocious crimes; and that, if the reprobate should even perform truly all the
works of the saints, their obedience would not in the least contribute to their
salvation; that the same doctrine teaches that God, by a mere arbitrary act of
his will, without the least respect or view to any sin, has predestinated the
greatest part of the world to eternal damnation, and has created them for this
very purpose; that in the same manner in which the election is the fountain and
cause of faith and good works, reprobation is the cause of unbelief and
impiety; that many children of the faithful are torn, guiltless, from their
mothers' breasts, and tyrannically plunged into hell: so that neither baptism
nor the prayers of the Church at their baptism can at all profit them" and
many other things of the same kind which the Reformed Churches not only do not
acknowledge, but even detest with their whole soul.
Wherefore, this Synod of Dort, in the name of the Lord,
conjures as many as piously call upon the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ to
judge of the faith of the Reformed Churches, not from the calumnies which on
every side are heaped upon it, nor from the private expressions of a few among
ancient and modern teachers, often dishonestly quoted, or corrupted and wrested
to a meaning quite foreign to their intention; but from the public confessions
of the Churches themselves, and from this declaration of the orthodox doctrine,
confirmed by the unanimous consent of all and each of the members of the whole
Synod. Moreover, the Synod warns calumniators themselves to consider the
terrible judgment of God which awaits them, for bearing false witness against
the confessions of so many Churches; for distressing the consciences of the
weak; and for labouring to render suspected the society of the truly faithful.
Finally, this Synod exhorts all their brethren in the gospel
of Christ to conduct themselves piously and religiously in handling this
doctrine, both in the universities and churches; to direct it, as well in
discourse as in writing, to the glory of the Divine name, to holiness of life,
and to the consolation of afflicted souls; to regulate, by the Scripture,
according to the analogy of faith, not only their sentiments, but also their
language, and to abstain from all those phrases which exceed the limits
necessary to be observed in ascertaining the genuine sense of the Holy
Scriptures, and may furnish insolent sophists with a just pretext for violently
assailing, or even vilifying, the doctrine of the Reformed Churches.
May Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who, seated at the Father's
right hand, gives gifts to men, sanctify us in the truth; bring to the truth
those who err; shut the mouths of the calumniators of sound doctrine, and endue
the faithful ministers of his Word with the spirit of wisdom and discretion,
that all their discourses may tend to the glory of God, and the edification of
those who hear them. Amen.