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Entered according to act of Congress, on the twenty-seventh day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one; by William Williams, as proprietor, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Northern District of New York.

PREFACE.

"THE Harmony of Confessions of Faith of the Christian and Reformed Churches, was addressed by the reformed churches of France and Belgia, to all the churches of Christ." It was first published in Latin at Geneva in the year 1581, and was republished at London in the English language, in the year 1643. The design of republishing those parts of it which appertain to the doctrines of grace, is to let the American churches understand what are the doctrines of the reformation, as taught by the reformers themselves, and received and professed by the churches of Christ at that time. The Harmony is composed of the following confessions-The Augsburg, Sueveland, Basil, the former and latter Helvetic, the Saxony, Wertemberg, French, English, Belgic, Bohemia or Waldenses, and that of Scotland. We have omitted entirely making any extracts from that of Sueveland, Basil, the former Helvetic, the Saxony, and Wirtemberg; because these were drawn up by some individual cities to be presented at the Diet of Augsburg and the council of Trent; and were never generally received and adopted by any considerable body of churches; and because the latter Helvetic is only enlarged and improved from the former. To this Harmony we have added parts of the following confessions-That of the established Church of England, the Westminster, the Savoy, Moravian, the Mennonists, the London Baptists, and the Welch Calvanistic Methodists, which we give in their own language.

I. THE AUGSBURG.

"This confession was drawn up, at the suggestion of the protestant princes,by Melanchton,under the direction of Luther; and was presented to the Emperor Charles V. at the Diet of Augsburg, in the year 1530. In the same year it was translated into the Latin language, corrected in some articles, and published with a preface at Wirtemberg. This has been

generally received and adopted as the confession of faith of all the Lutheran churches in Europe and America. It has also been received and acknowledged by the Moravian churches." It consists of 21 articles.

II: THE SECOND HELVETIC.

"The first Helvetic confession was framed at the requisition of the rulers and senate of Basil, by the delegates of the Helvetian States, which had embraced the evangelical doctrine, in the year 1536, and was sent and presented to the assembly of Divines at Wirtemberg, by Bucer and Capito. In 1537, it was presented by Bucer at Smalcald, and approved by that whole assembly of protestant princes, as appears from Luther's letter to the Helvetians. It was drawn up by Mycomius, Grynæus, Bullinger, Capito, and Bucer. But when the first confession was too short, it was written over and enlarged in 1566, by the pastors of Zurich, and was approved and subscribed unto not only by the Tigurines, (i. e. the Canton of Zurich,) but by their confederates of Bern, and Schaffhausen ; and Sangallia, Rhetia, Myllhausia, and Bienna, of the Grison league; and by the churches of Geneva, of Savoy, of Polonie, of Hungary, and of Scotland. This was only two years after Calvin's death, but after a residence at Geneva of twentyeight years. If we consider his influence over the churches, not only of Geneva, but over the whole adjacent country, there can be no doubt had he lived, it would have received his entire sanction and approbation." It consists of 30 articles.

III. THE FRENCH.

"This confession was drawn up and adopted by a Synod helb in Paris in 1559, and presented to Francis II. King of France, in behalf of all his protestant subjects." It contains 40 articles,

IV. THE ENGLISH:

"The English confession was inserted in the general apology, written in the year 1562, in behalf of the English church." It contains 21 articles.

V. THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

"These were agreed upon by the arch-bishops, bishops and clergy, of England and Ireland, in the convocation holden at London in the year 1562, for the avoiding of diversities of opinions, and for the establishing of consent, touching true religion. These 39 articles were also established by a convocation of the bishops, clergy, and laity, as the articles of faith of the Protestant Episcopal church in the U. States, in the year 1801." The Methodist Episcopal Society have adopted 24 of the 39 articles, by substituting the word justification for baptism in the sixteenth article, and omitting about one half of the eleventh article, on Original Sin. They omit the whole of articles 5, 3, 8, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 26, 29, 33, 35, 36, and 37, for which last they substituted an entire different article." Their confession now contains 25 articles.

VI. THE BELGIC.

"This confession was first published in the French language in the year 1563, in the name of all the churches of Belgia; and was confirmed and adopted by the Synod of their churches in 1579, and translated and published in the Dutch language. The confession and catechism of the Belgic churches, and the canons of the Synod of Dort, have been adopted as the confession of faith of the reformed churches of the Netherlands. And these again have been received and adopted by a convention of ministers and elders of the Dutch churches in the provinces of New York and New Jersey, convened in the city of New York, 1771, as the confession of faith of the American 6 Reformed Protestant Dutch church."" This confession contains 37 articles.

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"This was drawn up in the year 1573, and was highly approved by Luther Melanchton, and the whole university of Wirtemberg."

VIII. THE WESTMINSTER.

"This confession was drawn up by an assembly of divines convened by an act of parliament, 1643. It was examined and approved by the General Assembly of the church of Scotland, and ratified by an act of parliament in the year 1645. It was also examined and acknowledged as the confession of faith of the New England churches, by the Synod of Cambridge, in Massachusetts, 1648." It has also been adopted as the confession of faith of the General Assembly, the Burgher, Anti Burgher, Covenanter, and Associate Reformed Presbyterian churches in the United States. This contains 33 chapters.

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IX. THE SAVOY.

"This confession is a declaration of the faith and order, owned and practised in the congregational churches in England, agreed upon and consented unto by the elders and messengers in their meeting at the Savoy, (London,) in the It was examined and approved by a Synod, at 1658. Boston, 1680, of the elders and messengers of the congretional churches, of Massachusetts. It was also owned and consented unto by the elders and messengers of the churches in the colony of Connecticut, assembled at Saybrook in the year 1708." It contains 32 chapters..

X. THE MENNONISTS.

This is the confession of the German Baptists, "transacted and concluded in the city of Dordrecht, 1632;" and is also the confession of the people sometimes called Tunkers, in the United States. This contains 18 articles.

XI. THE BAPTIST.

This is the confession of faith drawn up and published by the seven Baptist churches of London, in the year 1646. This contains 52 articles.

These confessions contain the professed articles of faith of

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