4. English Articles of Religion.—The ten articles of 1536
were drawn up by Convocation at the bidding of Henry VIII.
“to stablysh Christian Quietnes and Unitie.” They
exhibit a traditional character, a compromise betweenArticles of religion.
the old and the new learning. Thus the
doctrine of the Real Presence is asserted, but no mention is
made of Transubstantiation. Medieval ceremonies are described
as useful but without power to remit sins. Two years later, after
negotiations with the Lutheran princes, a conference on theological
matters was held at Lambeth with Lutheran envoys. Thirteen
articles were drawn up, which, though never published (they were
found among Cranmer’s papers at the beginning of the 19th
century), had some influence on the forty-two articles. Some
of them were taken from the confession of Augsburg, but the
sections on Baptism, the Eucharist and penance, show that the
English theologians desired to lay more emphasis on the character
of sacraments as channels of grace. The Statute of the Six Articles
(1539), “the whip with six strings,” was the outcome of the retrograde
policy which distinguished the latter years of Henry VIII.
With the accession of Edward VI. liturgical reforms were set on foot before an attempt was made to systematize doctrinal teaching. But as early as 1549 Cranmer had in hand “Articles of Religion” to which he required all preachers and lecturers to subscribe. In 1552 they were revised by other bishops and were laid before the council and the royal chaplains. They were then published as “Articles agreed on by the bishops and other learned men in the Synod of London.” But there is considerable doubt whether they really received the sanction of Convocation (Gibson, p. 15). They were not devised as a complete scheme of doctrine, but only as a guide in dealing with current errors of (i.) the Medievalists and (ii.) the Anabaptists. Under (i.) they condemned the doctrine of the school authors on congruous merit (Art. xii.), the doctrine of grace ex opere operato (xxvi.). Transubstantiation (xxix.). Under (ii.) they laid stress on the fundamental articles of the faith (Art. i.-iv.), affirmed the Three Creeds (vii.), since many Anabaptists held Arian and Socinian opinions which were rife in Switzerland, Italy and Poland, condemning also their views on original sin (viii.), community of goods (xxxvii.), and on other subjects in articles which do not mention them by name.
The revision undertaken in 1563 by Archbishop Parker, aided by Edm. Guest, bishop of Rochester, shows “an attempt to give greater completeness to the formulary,” and to make clearer the Catholic position of the Church of England. For the clause (Art. xxviii.) which denied the Real Presence was substituted one by Guest with the desire “not to deny the reality of the presence of the Body of Christ in the Supper, but only the grossness and sensibleness in the receiving thereof.” At the same time the substitution of “Romish doctrine” for “doctrine of School authors” (Art. xxii.) marks an effort to define the line of the Church of England sharply against current Roman teaching. The revision was passed by Convocation and again revised in 1571, when the queen had been excommunicated by papal bull, and an act was passed ordering all clergy to subscribe to them. They have remained unchanged ever since, though the terms of subscription have been modified.
An attempt was made to add nine articles of a strong Calvinistic tone, which were drawn up by Dr Whitaker, regius professor of divinity at Cambridge, and submitted to Archbishop Whitgift. They were rejected both by Queen Elizabeth, and, after the Hampton Court Conference petitioned about them, by King James I.
The first Scottish confession dates from 1560. It is a memorial of the intellectual power and enthusiasm of John Knox. It exhibits the leading features of the Reformed theology, but “disclaims Divine authority for any fixed form of church government or worship.” It also asks that “if anyone shall note in this our confession any articles or sentence repugnant of God’s Holy Word, that it would please him of his gentleness and for Christian charity’s sake, to admonish of the same in writing,” promising that if the teaching cannot be proved, to reform it. Between this and the Westminster Confession must be noted the first Baptist confession, published in Amsterdam in 1611. It shows the influence of Arminian theology against Calvinism, which was vigorously upheld in the Quin-particular formula, put forward by the synod of Dort in 1619 to uphold the five points of Calvinism, after heated discussion, in which English delegates took part, of the problems of divine omniscience and human free-will.
5. The Westminster Confession (1648), with its two catechisms,
is perhaps the ablest of the reformed confessions from the standpoint
of Calvinism. Its keynote is sovereignty.
“The Decrees of God are His eternal Purpose according
West-
minster
Confes-
sion.
to the Counsel of His Will, whereby for His Own Glory
He hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.”
Man’s part is to accept them with submission. As the Anglican
divines soon ceased to attend the assembly, and the Independents
were few in number, it was the work of Presbyterians only, the
Scottish members carrying their proposal to make it an independent
document and not a mere revision of the Thirty-nine Articles.
After discussions lasting for two years it was debated in parliament,
finished on the 22nd of March 1648, and was adopted by
the Scottish parliament in the following year. It is the only
confession which has been imposed by authority of parliament
on the whole of the United Kingdom. This lasted in England for
ten years. In Scotland its influence has continued to the present
day, contributing not a little to mould the high qualities of
religious insight and courage and perseverance which have honourably
distinguished Scottish Presbyterians all the world over.
This was the last great effort in constructive theology of the
Reformation period. When Cromwell before his death in 1658
allowed a conference to prepare a new confession of faith for the
whole commonwealth, the Westminster Confession was accepted
as a whole with an added statement on church order and discipline.
We must note, however, that the Baptist divines who
were excluded from the Westminster Assembly issued a declaration
of their principles under the title, “A Confession of Faith of
seven Congregations or Churches in London which are commonly
but unjustly called Anabaptists, for the Vindication of the Truth
and Information of the Ignorant.”
Two other declarations may be quoted to show how necessary such confessions are even to religious societies which refuse to be bound by them. In 1675 Robert Barclay published an “Apology for the Society of Friends,” in which he declared what they held concerning revelation, scripture, the fall, redemption, the inward light, freedom of conscience.
In 1833 the Congregational Union published a Declaration or Confession of Faith, Church Order and Discipline. It was prepared by Dr George Redford of Worcester, and was presented, not as a scholastic or critical confession of faith, but merely such a statement as any intelligent member of the body might offer as containing its leading principles. It deals with the Bible as the final appeal in controversy, the doctrines of God, man, sin, the Incarnation, the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, “both the Son of man and the Son of God,” the work of the Holy Spirit, justification by faith, the perpetual obligation of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, final judgment, the law of Christian fellowship. The same principles have been lucidly stated in the Evangelical Free Church catechism.
6. Confessions in the Eastern Orthodox Church.—The Eastern Church has no general doctrinal tests beyond the Nicene Creed, but from time to time synods have approved expositions of the faith such as the Athanasian CreedGreek church. (without the words “And the Son”), and the Orthodox Confession of the Catholic and Apostolic Eastern Church. This was the work of Petrus Mogilas, metropolitan of Kiev, and other theologians. It was written in 1640 in Russian, was translated into Greek, and approved by the council of Jassy and the patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. It was affirmed by the council of Jerusalem in 1672, which also affirmed the Confession of Dositheus, patriarch of Jerusalem. Both of these confessions were drawn up to confute the teaching of a remarkable man who had been patriarch of Constantinople, Cyril Lucar. He was a student of Western theology, a correspondent of Archbishop Laud, and had travelled in Germany and Switzerland. In 1629 he
