Of the Protestant churches, the most notable confessions of faith are the Lutheran; the continental Calvinistic or Reformed; the Anglican, or 39 articles of the church of England; and the Puritan, or Westminister confession of faith.
The Lutherans call their standard books of faith and discipline, Libri Symbolici &desk Evangelicce; and reckon among them, besides the three catholic creeds, the Augsburg confession (q.v.), the Apology for that confession by Melancthon, the articles of Smalkald drawn up by Luther, Luther's catechisms; and in some churches, the for mula of Concord, or the book of Torgau.
Of the continental Calvinistic or Reformed churches, there are numerous confessions, the principal of which are-1. The Helvetic confessions—that of Basel, 1530, and 13u1 linger, Erpositio Simplex, 1566; 2. The Tetrapolitan confession, 1531; 3. The Gallic con fession, 1559; 4. The Palatine or Heidelberg confession, 1575; 5. The Belgic confession, 1559.
The thirty-nine articles of the church of England have been already described. Sec ARTICLES. They were originally 42, and are supposed to have been chiefly composed by Cranmer. In 1571, they were revised and approved by convocation and parliament. The Westminster Uonfession of Faith was the product of the great Puritan agitation of the 17th century. As soon as the Long parliament assembled in 1640, it set itself to consider the question of the reformation of religion. It carried resolution after resolu tion directed against the existing government of the church of England; and at length, on the 23d of Nov., 1641, it passed the famous remonstrance, in which it proposed that, " in order the better to effect the reformation in the church, there should be a general synod of grave, pious, learned, and judicious divines, who should consider all things necessary for the peace and good government of the church." Out of this proposal sprang the Westminster assembly, although the parliamentary ordinance actually sum moning the assembly was not issued until a year and a half later—viz., June 12, 1643. According to this ordinance, the assembly was to consist of 121 clergymen, assisted by 10 lords and 20 commoners as lay assessors. Many of these appointed members, how ever, never took their seat in the assembly. The bishops were prevented from doing so by a counter ordinance of the king.
Among the most notable divines who did assemble were Burgess, Calamy, Gataker, and Reynolds, and Gillespie, Henderson, Baillie, and Samuel Rutherford, the commissioners from Scotland, of the Presbyterian party; Goodwin, Nye, and Burroughs, of the inde pendent party; and Lightfoot and Coleman, with Se!den, of the Erastians. The Pres
byterians greatly predominated, and the acts of the assembly bear throughout the stamp of Calvinistic Presbyterianism. It began its sittings in the autumn of 1643, and sat till the 22d Feb., 1649, having lasted upwards of five years and a half. During this period it had,met 1163 times. • The most important labors which it achieved were the directory of public worship and the confession of faith. This latter document was completed in the third year of its existence (1646), and laid before parliament in the same year. It was approved by the general assembly of the church of Scotland in 1647, and again in 1690, on the renewed establishment of Presbyterianism after the revolution.
The confession of faith, as it is the latest of the great Protestant creeds, so it is one of the most elaborate of them all. It extends to 33 chapters, beginning with Holy Scripture, and ending with The Last Judgment. Of its 33 chapters, 21 may be said to be distinctly doctrinal— the first 19 and the last 2. The others concern such sub jects as Christian, Liberty, Religious Worship, Oaths and Vous, the Civil .11agistrate, the Church, the Sacraments, Synods and Councils. The tone of the doctrinal chapters is that of the later and formal Calvinism which spread from Holland among the English Puritans. The ecclesiastical spirit is Puritan-Presbyterian. "God alone" is declared to be "Lord of the conscience;" yet the "publishing of opinions contrary to the light of nature, or to the known principles of Christianity," is at the same time declared to be matter of censure by the church, and of punishment by the civil magistrate. In composition, the confession is an able and comprehensive sum mary of theological truth, showing great logical skill in the deduction of particular doc trines from certain main principles. The third chapter, Of God's Eternal Dccree, may be said to he the key-note from which its most characteristic doctrines follow in imme diate sequence and harmony. It is well deserving the attention of all students of the ology, not only as a remarkable monument of Christian learning, but as the most repre sentative expression of a great spiritual movement which has deeply tinged the national thought of Britain, and modified the course of its history. It is issued, under authority, as a cheap duodecimo volume by printers in Edinburgh, for general use throughout Scotland. Incorporated in the volume is the text of the covenants, but these are not esteemed part of the confession. See COVENANTS.