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FIRST HEAD: 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 closed and all
the world may become accountable to 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).
FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 2. But in this the love of God was manifested, that He sent His only begotten
Son into the world, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (1 John 4:9, John 3:16).
FIRST HEAD: 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 will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How
will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they
preach unless they are sent (Rom 10:14-15).
FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 4. The wrath of God abides upon those who believe not this gospel. But such as
receive it and embrace Jesus the Savior 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.
FIRST HEAD: 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: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift
of God (Eph 2:8). Likewise: For to you it has been
granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, etc. (Phil 1:29).
FIRST HEAD: 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 works 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.
FIRST HEAD: 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: Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through
Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention 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 predestined,
He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified
(Rom 8:30).
FIRST HEAD: 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 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).
FIRST HEAD: 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 chose us (not because we were, but) that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love
(Eph 1:4).
FIRST HEAD: 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 though the twins were not yet born and had not
done anything good or bad, etc., it was said to her (namely, to Rebekah), THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.
Just as it is written, JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED (Rom 9:11-13). And as many as had been appointed
to eternal life believed (Acts 13:48).
FIRST HEAD: 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.
FIRST HEAD: 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.
FIRST HEAD: 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.
FIRST HEAD: 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 11:33f; 12:3; Heb 6:17f).
FIRST HEAD: 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 willfully 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.
FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 16. Those in whom a living faith in Christ, and assured confidence of soul,
peace of conscience, an earnest endeavor 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 Savior 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.
FIRST HEAD: 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).
FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 18. To those who murmur at the free grace of election and the just severity of
reprobation we answer with the apostle: On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?
(Rom 9:20), and quote the language of our
Savior: Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? (Matt 20:15). And therefore, with holy adoration of
these mysteries, we exclaim in the words of the apostle: Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF
THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN?
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things To Him be the glory forever. Amen. (Rom 11:33-36).
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