Congregational churches in
Massachuseto, Cambridge zij not, 1648.

GATHERED OUT OF THE WORD OF GOD, AND AGREED UPON

LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour
dwelleth.
Psal. xxvi. 8.

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in
the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to enquire in his temple.
Psal. xxvii. 4.

BOSTON:

PRINTED AND SOLD BY BELCHER AND ARMSTRONG,

SUFFOLK BUILDINGS, STATE STREET.

1808.

BX7240
A3

1812

At a General Court held at Boston, May 19th, 1680.

THIS Court having taken into serious consideration the request that hath been presented by several of the reverend elders, in the name of the late Synod, do approve thereof, and accordingly order, THE CONFESSION OF FAITH, agreed upon at their second session, and THE PLATFORM OF DISCIPLINE, consented unto by the Synod at CAMBRIDGE, anno 1648, to be printed for the benefit of the churches in present and after times.

EDWARD RAWSON, Sec'y.

THE PREFACE.

THE setting forth of the public confession of

the faith of churches hath a double end, and both tending to public edification: First, the maintenance of the faith intire within itself: Secondly, the holding forth of unity and harmony both amongst and with other churches. Our churches here, as, by the grace of Christ, we believe and profess the same doctrine of the truth of the gospel, which generally is received in all the reformed churches of Christ in Europe, so especially we desire not to vary from the doctrine of faith and truth held forth by the churches of our native country. For though it be not one native country that can breed us all of one mind; nor ought we to have the glorious faith of our Lord Jesus with respect to persons, yet as Paul, who was himself a Jew, professed to hold forth the doctrine of justification by faith, and of the resurrection of the dead, according as he knew his godly countrymen did, who were Jews by nature, (Gal. ii. 15. Acts xxvi. 6. 7.) so we who are by nature Englishmen, do desire to hold forth the same doctrine of religion, especially in fundamentals, which we see and know to be held by the churches of England, according to the truth of the gospel.

The more we discern (that which we do, and have cause to do with incessant mourning and trembling) the unkind, and unbrotherly, and unchristian contention of our godly brethren and countrymen in matters of church government, the more earnestly do we desire to see them join together in one common faith, and ourselves with them For this end, having perused the public