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The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament
are divinely inspired, and they are of supreme authority in doctrine
and practice.
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There is only one God, omniscient, omnipotent and
omnipresent; infinitely wise, just holy and good; who is immutable
in all His natural and moral attributes, and who also is the
creator, the supporter, and the governor of all things and beings
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In the divine nature there are three co-ordinate
and equal persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Theses are not three gods but one God, and they are the same in
substance, in power and in glory.
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Jesus Christ is both God and man. He partook
fully of human nature, but without sin, and was at the same time
equal with God: "the express image of His person".
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The Holy Spirit is truly God, and is also a
distinct person, possessing and exercising all the perfections of
God and all and all the properties of a person.
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Man was created by God in His own image, viz. in
righteousness and true holiness. The first man, by
breaking the divine command, fell from his state of innocence and
purity, drew upon himself the curse of God, and involved all his
posterity in the consequences of his sin.
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All mankind is born to sin and shapen in iniquity
in consequence of Adam's fall - that is, a fatal inclination to
evil, utterly incurable by human means, is inherent in every
descendent of Adam.
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God, having designed to to redeem fallen men from
before the foundation of the world, made disclosures of His mercy
which were the grounds of faith and hope from the earliest ages.
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Jesus Christ is the only redeemer. He is
"the Lord our Righteousness" and "He became a curse
for us" - that is, by His obedience to the divine law while He
lived, and by His sufferings, including His death on the cross, He
vindicated and illustrated the divine justice. He
"magnified the law", "bought in everlasting
righteousness" and obtained "eternal redemption for them
that believe".
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Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and is now seated
at the right hand of the Father where, as a mediator, He rules over
all for the welfare of His Church and makes intercession for all who
came unto God by Him.
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The Holy Spirit is given in consequence of the
mediation of the Lord Jesus and He, the Holy Spirit, is the
exclusive author of salvation, that is it is His influence only,
through the Word of God that produces in the sinner true repentance
and saving faith, the new heart and perfect sanctification.
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Repentance unto life that change produced in the
mind of the sinner whereby through the Holy Spirit he turns from sin
to God - whereby with grief and hatred of his former conduct and
apprehension of the divine mercy through Jesus Christ he endeavours
to live to the honour and glory of God.
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Faith is a saving grace imparted to us by the Holy
Spirit, whereby we trust alone in the death and righteousness of the
Lord Jesus as our substitute and rely upon Him for salvation.
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Justification is an act of the free grace of God
wherein He pardons all our sins and regards us as righteous in His
sight for the sake of the life and sufferings of Christ, endured for
us.
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Justification is received through faith in Christ
alone, and not by any works of the law we may do.
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Regeneration is the inward work of the Holy Spirit
whereby we are renewed in the image of God - in righteousness and in
true holiness.
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Sanctification is also a work of the Holy Spirit
whereby the believer more and more dies unto sin and lives unto
righteousness.
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All who savingly believe in Jesus Christ and who
will ultimately be brought to the Kingdom of Glory were objects of
God's eternal, electing love, and were given by an act of divine
sovereignty to the Son of God, but this in no way interferes with
the system of means, nor with the grounds of human responsibility,
being wholly unrevealed as to it's objects and not a rule of human
duty.
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The Holy Scriptures teach the final perseverance of
all true believers to a state of final blessedness which they are
appointed to obtain through constant faith in Christ, and uniform
obedience to His commands.
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Baptism and the Lord's Supper are of perpetual
obligation in the Christian church; the former to be administered to
all to Christianity and their children by the application of water
in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; the latter
to be celebrated by believers only by partaking together of bread
and wine, in remembrance of the death of Jesus, as a token of faith
in Him, and as a sign of brotherly love.
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Jesus Christ will finally come to judge the whole
human race according to their works. He will raise the bodies
of the dead, and as supreme judge He will divide the righteous from
the wicked. The righteous He will receive into "Life
everlasting" - into the kingdom of glory prepared for them from
the foundation of the world. The wicked He will send away into
"everlasting punishment".
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Jesus Christ has ordained that His followers shall
live together in Christian fellowship and maintain the communion of
the saints; and for this purpose they are to observe jointly all
divine ordinances and ,maintain that church order and discipline
which is expressly enjoined by inspired institution, or sanctioned
by the undoubted example of the apostles and of the apostolic
churches.
