Source: Presbyterian Church of Newark
records, #6116, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University
Library.
In 1825, the founding members of the
First Presbyterian Church of Newark, New York, adopted a confession of faith
and covenant. The confession lists and summarizes many of the central
theological claims of the 1647 Westminster Confession of faith. The covenant
was presumably made by all men who served the congregation as pastors or elders
but may have been required of all church members as well. A clerk copied the
confession and covenant into the congregation’s minute book as one of the
church community’s founding documents.
Confession of
Faith
Adopted by the Presbyterian Church of
Newark
I.
You Believe, That
there is one God, who is infinitely perfect, and is the Creator, Preserver, and
Governor of all things: That this one God exists mysteriously in three Persons,
the father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, who are the same in substance, and
equal in all prefections.
II.
That the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the Word of God, and are the only
rule of faith and practice.
III.
That our first
Parents were made perfectly holy; but, by disobedience, fell from the state in
which they were created; in consequence of which. All their posterity are, by
nature, entirely sinful.
IV.
That God, in his
infinite and sovereign mercy, has provided a Saviour, even Jesus Christ, his
dearly beloved Son, who having become incarnate, by his obedience honored the
law, and by his death made a complete atonement for the sin of the world: So
that, all who believe in Him obtain the forgiveness of their sins, and a sure
title to eternal life.
V.
That salvation is
freely offered to al: but that all mankind are naturally so depraved, and such
perfect enemies to God and the Saviour, that no one will repent of sin and
believe in Christ, until God, according to his eternal purpose give him a new
heart by the sovereign and efficacious influence of his Holy Spirit.
VI.
That all true
believers persevere in faith and holiness, being kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation.
VII.
That the law of
God, which requires perfect holiness of heart and life, is the rule which
Christians are bound to observe
VIII.
That Baptism and
the Lord’s supper are Christian ordinances; the latter of which is to be
administered to professing believers; and the former to them, and to their
households.
IX.
That, at the end
of the world, there will be a Resurrection of the bodies, of all mankind, and a
day of Judgment; when Christ, the Judge, will sentence the wicked to endless
punishment, and receive the righteous to life everlasting.
COVENANT
You do now, in the presence of the
dread Majesty of heaven and earth, the Searcher of all hearts, and before his
people solemnly profess to give up yourselves to God, the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost.
You choose Him for your God, your
Father, your Saviour and your Sanctifier.
You renounce all the ways of sin as
what you truly abhor; and choose the service of God as your greatest privilege.
You promise, in humble dependence on
Divine Grace, to liver soberly, righteously and piously, denying all
ungodliness and every worldly lust.
You promise and covenant that so long
as God, in his holy Providence, should permit you to remain among us, you will
treat the members of this church with Christian watchfulness and brotherly
affecting; that yow il attend upon its Institutions and Ordinances & Submit
to its Discipline; Seek its Prosperity, & Peace and that in all your
conduct, you will adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour. (“A Presbyterian
Congregation’s Confession of Faith and Covenant,” in New York’s Burned-Over
District: A Documentary History, ed. Spencer W. McBride and Jennifer Hull
Dorsey [Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2023], 195-97)
