THE IRISH ARTICLES OF RELIGION. A.D. 1615.
[The Irish Articles—probably composed by the learned Archbishop James Ussher (then Professor of Divinity in Dublin), and adopted by the Archbishops, Bishops, and Convocation of the Irish Episcopal Church, and approved by the Viceroy in 1615, four years before the Synod of Dort—although practically superseded by the Thirty-nine Articles, are important as a testimony of the prevailing Calvinism of the leading divines in that Church, which had previously been expressed also in the nine Lambeth Articles. They are still more important as the connecting link between the Thirty-nine Articles and the Westminster Confession, and as the chief source of the latter. The agreement of the two formularies in the order of subjects, the headings of chapters, and in many single phrases, as well as in spirit and sentiment, is very striking. See the comparison in Dr. Alex. F. Mitchell’s Minutes of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, Edinb. 1874, Introd. pp. xivi. sqq. On the history and authority of the Irish Articles see Hardwick’s History of the Articles of Religion, 2d ed. pp. 181 sqq.
The text is taken from the original edition of 1615, as appended to Dr. Erlington’s Life of Archbishop Ussher (in Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Dublin, 1847, Vol. I. Appendix IV.), and reprinted in Hardwick’s History, Append. Sixth, pp. 361 sqq. He added a few references to the Lambeth Articles. The spelling here is modernized.]
Articles of Religion,
Agreed upon by the Archbishops and Bishops, and the rest of the Clergy of Ireland, in the Convocation holden at Dublin in the Year of our Lord God 1615, for the Avoiding of Diversities of Opinions, and the Establishing of Consent touching True Religion.
OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE AND THE THREE CREEDS.
1. The ground of our religion and the rule of faith and all saving truth is the Word of God, contained in the holy Scripture.
2. By the name of holy Scripture we understand all the canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, viz.:
Of the Old Testament.
The Five Books of Moses
Joshua.
Judges.
Ruth.
The First and Second of Samuel.
The First and Second of Kings.
The First and Second of Chronicles.
Ezra.
Nehemiah.
Esther.
Job.
Psalms.
Proverbs.
Ecclesiastes
The Song of Solomon
Isaiah
Jeremiah, his Prophecy and Lamentation.
Ezekiel.
Daniel.
The Twelve Lesser Prophets
Of the New Testament.
The Gospels according to
Matthew,
Mark,
Luke,
John
The Acts of the Apostles
