THE
WESTMINSTER
CONFESSION OF FAITH
CHAP. XXI. - Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath Day.
1. The light of nature sheweth that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty
over all, is good, and doth good unto all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised,
called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with
all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by
Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according
to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible
representation, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture.
2. Religious worship is to be given to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and to Him
alone; not to angels, saints, or any other creature: and, since the fall, not without a
Mediator; nor in the mediation of any other but of Christ alone.
3. Prayer, with thanksgiving, being one special part of religious worship, is by God
required of all men: and, that it may be accepted, it is to be made in the name of the
Son, by the help of His Spirit, according to His will, with understanding, reverence,
humility, fervency, faith, love, and perseverance; and, if vocal, in a known tongue.
4. Prayer is to be made for things lawful; and for all sorts of men living, or that
shall live hereafter: but not for the dead, nor for those of whom it may be known that
they have sinned the sin unto death.
5. The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear, the sound preaching and conscionable
hearing of the Word, in obedience unto God, with understanding, faith and reverence,
singing of psalms with grace in the heart; as also, the due administration and worthy
receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ, are all parts of the ordinary religious
worship of God: beside religious oaths, vows, solemn fastings, and thanksgivings upon
special occasions, which are, in their several times and seasons, to be used in an holy
and religious manner.
6. Neither prayer, nor any other part of religious worship, is now, under the Gospel,
either tied unto, or made more acceptable by any place in which it is performed, or
towards which it is directed: but God is to be worshipped everywhere, in spirit and truth;
as, in private families daily, and in secret, each one by himself; so, more solemnly in
the public assemblies, which are not carelessly or willfully to be neglected, or forsaken,
when God, by His Word or providence, calleth thereunto.
7. As it is the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart
for the worship of God; so, in His Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment
binding all men in all ages, He hath particularly appointed one day in seven, for a
Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the world to the
resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the resurrection of
Christ, was changed into the first day of the week, which, in Scripture, is called the
Lord's Day, and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath.
8. This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of
their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs before-hand, do not only observe an
holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly
employments and recreations, but also are taken up, the whole time, in the public and
private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.
CHAP. XXII. - Of Lawful Oaths and Vows.
1. A lawful oath is part of religious worship, wherein, upon just occasion, the person
swearing solemnly calleth God to witness what he asserteth, or promiseth, and to judge him
according to the truth or falsehood of what he sweareth.
2. The name of God only is that by which men ought to swear, and therein it is to be
used with all holy fear and reverence. Therefore, to swear vainly, or rashly, by that
glorious and dreadful Name; or, to swear at all by any other thing, is sinful, and to be
abhorred. Yet, as in matters of weight and moment, an oath is warranted by the Word of
God, under the new testament as well as under the old; so a lawful oath, being imposed by
lawful authority, in such matters, ought to be taken.
3. Whosoever taketh an oath ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act,
and therein to avouch nothing but what he is fully persuaded is the truth: neither may any
man bind himself by oath to any thing but what is good and just, and what he believeth so
to be, and what he is able and resolved to perform.
4. An oath is to be taken in the plain
and common sense of the words, without equivocation, or mental reservation. It cannot
oblige to sin; but in any thing not sinful, being taken, it binds to performance, although
to a man's own hurt. Nor is it to be violated, although made to heretics, or infidels.
5. A vow is of the like nature with a promissory oath, and ought to be made with the
like religious care, and to be performed with the like faithfulness.
6. It is not to be made to any creature, but to God alone: and, that it may be
accepted, it is to be made voluntarily, out of faith, and conscience of duty, in way of
thankfulness for mercy received, or for the obtaining of what we want, whereby we more
strictly bind ourselves to necessary duties: or, to other things, so far and so long as
they may fitly conduce thereunto.
7. No man may vow to do any thing forbidden in the Word of God, or what would hinder
any duty therein commanded, or which is not in his own power, and for the performance
whereof he hath no promise of ability from God. In which respects, popish monastical vows
of perpetual single life, professed poverty, and regular obedience, are so far from being
degrees of higher perfection, that they are superstitious and sinful snares, in which no
Christian may entangle himself.
CHAP. XXIII. - Of the Civil Magistrate.
1. God, the supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to
be under Him, over the people, for His own glory, and the public good: and, to this end,
hath armed them with the power of the sword, for the defense and encouragement of them
that are good, and for the punishment of evil doers.
2. It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of a magistrate, when
called thereunto: in the managing whereof, as they ought especially to maintain piety,
justice, and peace, according to the wholesome laws of each commonwealth; so, for that
end, they may lawfully, now under the new testament, wage war, upon just and necessary
occasion.
3. Civil magistrates may not assume to themselves the administration of the Word
and sacraments; or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven; or, in the least,
interfere in the matter so faith. Yet, as nursing fathers, it is the duty of civil
magistrates to protect the Church of our common Lord, without giving the preference to any
denomination of Christians above the rest, in such a manner that all ecclesiastical
persons whatever shall enjoy the full, free, and unquestioned liberty of discharging every
part of their sacred functions, without violence or danger. And, as Jesus Christ hath
appointed a regular government and discipline in his Church, no law of any commonwealth
should interfere with, let, or hinder, the due exercise thereof, among the voluntary
members of any denomination of Christians, according to their own profession and belief.
It is the duty of civil magistrates to protect the person and good name of all their
people, in such an effectual manner as that no person be suffered, either upon pretence of
religion or of infidelity, to offer any indignity, violence, abuse, or injury to any other
person whatsoever: and to take order, that all religious and ecclesiastical assemblies be
held without molestation or disturbance.
4. It is the duty of people to pray for magistrates, to honour their persons, to pay
them tribute or other dues, to obey their lawful commands, and to be subject to their
authority, for conscience' sake. Infidelity, or difference in religion, doth not make void
the magistrates' just and legal authority, nor free the people from their due obedience to
them: from which ecclesiastical persons are not exempted, much less hath the Pope any
power and jurisdiction over them in their dominions, or over any of their people; and,
least of all, to deprive them of their dominions, or lives, if he shall judge them to be
heretics, or upon any other pretence whatsoever.
CHAP. XXIV. - Of Marriage and Divorce
1. Marriage is to be between one man and one woman: neither is it lawful for any man to
have more than one wife, nor for any woman to have more than one husband, at the same
time.
2. Marriage was ordained for the mutual help of husband and wife, for the increase of
mankind with a legitimate issue, and of the Church with an holy seed; and for preventing
of uncleanness.
3. It is lawful for all sorts of people to marry, who are able with judgment to give
their consent. Yet it is the duty of Christians to marry only in the Lord. And therefore
such as profess the true reformed religion should not marry with infidels, papists, or
other idolaters: neither should such as are godly be unequally yoked, by marrying with
such as are notoriously wicked in their life, or maintain damnable heresies.
4. Marriage ought not to be within the degrees of consanguinity or affinity forbidden
by the Word. Nor can such incestuous marriage ever be made by any law of man or consent of
parties, so as those persons may live together as man and wife.
5. Adultery or fornication committed after a contract, being detected before marriage,
giveth just occasion to the innocent party to dissolve that contract. In the case of
adultery after marriage, it is lawful for the innocent party to sue out a divorce. and,
after the divorce, to marry another, as if the offending party were dead.
6. Although the corruption of man be such as is apt to study arguments unduly to put
asunder those whom God hath joined together in marriage: yet, nothing but adultery, or
such willful desertion as can no way be remedied by the Church, or civil magistrate, is
cause sufficient of dissolving the bond of marriage: wherein, a public and orderly course
of proceeding is to be observed; and the persons concerned in it not left to their own
wills and discretion in their own case.
CHAP. XXV. - Of the Church.
1. The catholic or universal Church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number
of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the Head
thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.
2. The visible Church, which is also catholic or universal under the Gospel (not
confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the
world that profess the true religion; and of their children: and is the kingdom of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary
possibility of salvation.
3. Unto this catholic visible Church Christ hath given the
ministry, oracles, and ordinances of God, for the gathering and perfecting of the saints,
in this life, to the end of the world: and doth, by His own presence and Spirit, according
to His promise, make them effectual thereunto.
4. This catholic Church hath been sometimes more, sometimes less visible. And
particular Churches, which are members thereof, are more or less pure, according as the
doctrine of the Gospel is taught and embraced, ordinances administered, and public worship
performed more or less purely in them.
5. The purest Churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error; and some
have so degenerated as to become no Churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan.
Nevertheless, there shall be always a Church on earth to worship God according to His
will.
6. There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor can the Pope of
Rome, in any sense, be head thereof.
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PCA COF Contents | COF I - V | COF VI - X | COF XI - XV
COF XVI - XX | COF XXI -
XXV | COF XXVI - XXX | COF XXXI - XXXIII |
