The Form of Government, the Discipline, and the Directory for Worship, of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Excerpt from The Form of Government, the Discipline, and the Directory for Worship, of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America

I. That God alone is Lord of the con science; and hath left it free from the doc trine and commandments of men, which are in any thing contrary to his word, or beside it in matters of faith or worship Therefore they consider the rights of private judgment, in all matters that respect religion, as universal and unalienable: they do not even wish to see any religious constitution aided by the civil power, further than may be necessary for pro. Tection and security, and, at the same time, be equal and common to all others.

II. That, in perfect consistency with the above principle of common right, every Chris tian church, or union or association of partien lar churches, is entitled to declare the terms of admission into its communion, and the quali fications of its ministers and members, as well as the whole system of its internal government which Christ hath appointed: that, in the ex croise of this right, they may, notwithstanding, err, in making the terms of communion either too lax or too narrow, yet, even in this case, they do not infringe upon the liberty, or the rights of others, but only make an improper use of their own.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.