Article I. - Of Faith in the Holy Trinity

 

There  is but one living and true God, everlasting,  without  body or parts,  of infinite  power, wisdom, and goodness; the maker and preserver of all things, visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead  there are three persons,  of one substance,  power, and eternity - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

 

 

Article II. - Of the Word, or Son of God, who was made very Man

 

The Son, who is the Word of the Father, the very and external God, of one substance with the Father, took man’s nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one person, never to be divided; whereof is one Christ, very God and very Man, who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for the actual sins of man.

 

 

Article III. - Of the Resurrection of Christ

 

Christ did truly rise again from the dead, and took again His body, with all things appertaining to the perfection of man’s nature, wherewith He ascended into heaven, and there sitteth until He returns to judge all men at the last day.

 

 

Article IV. - Of the Holy Ghost

 

The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty, and glory with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God.

 

 

Article V. - Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation

 

The Holy Scriptures contain all things necessary to salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article  of faith,  or be thought  requisite  or necessary  to salvation.  In the name  of the Holy Scriptures  we do understand  those canonical  books  of the Old and New Testament  of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church. The names of the canonical books are:

 

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,  Joshua, Judges, Ruth, The First Book of Samuel, The Second Book of Samuel, The First Book of Kings, The Second Book of Kings, The First Book of Chronicles,  The Second Book of Chronicles,  The Book of Ezra, The Book of Nehemiah, The Book of Esther, The Book of Job, The Psalms, The Proverbs, Ecclesiastes or the Preacher, Cantica or Song of Solomon, Four Prophets the Greater, Twelve Prophets the Less.

 

All the books  of the New  Testament,  as they are commonly  received,  we do receive  and account canonical.

 

 

Article VI. - Of the Old Testament

 

The  Old  Testament  is not contrary  to the  New;  for both  in the  Old  and  New  Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and man, being both God and Man. Wherefore they are not to be heard who feign that the old fathers did

 

look  only  for  transitory  promises.  Although  the  law  given  from  God  by  Moses  as  touching ceremonies and rites doth not bind Christians, nor ought the civil precepts thereof of necessity be received  in any commonwealth;  yet notwithstanding,  no Christian  whatsoever  is free from  the obedience of the commandments which are called moral.

 

 

Article VII. - Of Original or Birth Sin

 

Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly talk), but it is the corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness,  and of his own nature inclined to evil, and that continually.

 

 

Article VIII. - Of Free Will

 

The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural  strength  and works,  to faith, and calling  upon God; wherefore  we have no power to do good works, pleasant  and acceptable  to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.

 

 

Article IX. - Of the Justification of Man

 

We are accounted  righteous  before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort.

 

 

Article X. - Of Good Works

 

Although  good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification,  cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God’s judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and spring out of a true and lively faith, insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree is discerned by its fruit.

 

 

Article XI. - Of Works of Supererogation

 

Voluntary works - besides, over and above God’s commandments  - which are called works of supererogation,  cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety. For by them men do declare that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do, but that they do more for his sake than of bounden duty is required; whereas Christ saith plainly: When ye have done all that is commanded of you, say, We are unprofitable servants.

 

 

Article XII. - Of Sin after Justification

 

Not every  sin willingly  committed  after  justification  is the sin against  the Holy  Spirit,  and unpardonable. Wherefore, the grant of repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after justification: after we have received the Holy Spirit, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and, by the grace  of God,  rise again  and amend  our lives.  And therefore  they are to be condemned  who  say  they  can  no  more  sin  as  long  as  they  live  here;  or  deny  the  place  of forgiveness to such as truly repent.

 

 

Article XIII. - Of the Church

 

The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments  duly administered  according to Christ’s ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.

 

 

Article XIV. - Of Purgatory

 

The Romish doctrine concerning  purgatory,  pardon, worshipping,  and adoration,  as well of images as of relics, and also invocation of saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warrant of Scripture, but repugnant to the Word of God.

 

 

Article  XV.  -  Of  Speaking  in  the  Congregation   in  such  a  Tongue  as  the  People

Understand

 

It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the primitive Church, to have public prayer in the Church, or to administer the Sacraments, in a tongue not understood by the people.

 

 

Article XVI. - Of the Sacraments

 

Sacraments ordained of Christ are not only badges or tokens of Christian men’s profession, but rather they are certain signs of grace, and God’s good will toward us, by which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm, our faith in him.

 

There are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.

 

Those  five  commonly  called  Sacraments,  that  is  to  say,  confirmation,  penance,  orders, matrimony, and extreme unction, are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel; being such as having partly grown out of the corrupt following  of the apostles  and partly are states of life allowed  in the  Scripture,  but  yet  have  not  the  like  nature  of Baptism  and  the  Lord’s  Supper, because they have not any visible sign or ceremony ordained of God.

 

The Sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or be carried about; but that we should duly use them. And in such only as worthily receive the same they have a wholesome effect or operation; but they that receive them unworthily, purchase to themselves condemnation, as St. Paul saith, I Cor. 11:29.

 

 

Article XVII. - Of Baptism

 

Baptism  is  not  only  a sign  of  profession  and  mark  of  difference  whereby  Christians  are distinguished  from others that are not baptised; but it is also a sign of regeneration  or the new birth. The baptism of young children is to be retained in the church.

 

 

Article XVIII. - Of the Lord’s Supper

 

The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves  one  to  another,  but  rather  is  a  Sacrament  of  our  redemption  by  Christ’s  death; insomuch that, to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith receive the same, the bread which we break is a partaking of the body of Christ; and likewise the cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ.

 

Transubstantiation,  or the change of the substance  of bread and wine in the Supper of our Lord,  cannot  be  proved  by  Holy  Writ,  but  is  repugnant   to  the  plain  words  of  Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions.

 

The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after a heavenly and spiritual manner. And the means whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is faith.

 

The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was not by Christ’s ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshipped.

 

 

Article XIX. - Of Both Kinds

 

The cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the lay people; for both the parts of the Lord’s Supper, by Christ’s ordinance and commandment, ought to be administered to all Christians alike.

 

 

Article XX. - Of the One Oblation of Christ, finished upon the Cross

 

The offering of Christ, once made, is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual; and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifice of masses, in which it is commonly said that the priest doth offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have remission of pain or guilt, is a blasphemous fable and dangerous deceit.

 

 

Article XXI. - Of the Marriage of Ministers

 

The ministers of Christ are not commanded  by God’s law either to vow the estate of single life, or to abstain from marriage; therefore it is lawful for them, as for all other Christians, to marry at their own discretion, as they shall judge the same to serve best to godliness.

 

 

Article XXII. - Of the Rites and Ceremonies of Churches

 

It is not necessary  that rites and ceremonies  should in all places be the same, or exactly alike;  for they  have  been  always  different,  and may  be changed  according  to the diversity  of countries,   times,  and  men’s  manners,   so  that  nothing   be  ordained   against   God’s  Word. Whosoever,  through  his private  judgement,  willingly  and purposely  doth openly  break the rites and ceremonies  of the church to which he belongeth,  which are not repugnant  to the Word of God, and are ordained  and approved  by common  authority,  ought  to be rebuked  openly  (that others may fear to do the like), as one that offendeth against the common order of the church, and wounded the consciences of weak brethren.

 

Every particular church may ordain, change, or abolish rites and ceremonies, so that all things may be done to edification.

 

 

Article XXIII. - Of the Duty of Christians to the Civil Authority

 

It is the duty of all Christians, and especially of all Christian ministers, to observe and obey the laws and commands of the governing or supreme authority of the country of which they are citizens  or subjects  or in which  they reside,  and to use all laudable  means  to encourage  and enjoin obedience to the powers that be.

 

 

Article XXIV. - Of Christian Men’s Goods

 

The  riches  and  goods  of  Christians  are  not  common,  as  touching  the  right,  title,  and possession  of the same, as some do falsely boast. Notwithstanding,  every man ought, of such things as he possesseth, liberally to give alms to the poor, according to his ability.

 

 

Article XXV. - Of a Christian Man’s Oath

 

As we confess that vain and rash swearing  is forbidden  Christian  men by our Lord Jesus Christ and James his apostle, so we judge that the Christian religion doth not prohibit, but that a man may swear  when  the magistrate  requireth,  in a cause  of faith and charity,  so it be done according to the prophet’s teaching, in justice, judgement, and truth.

 

 

Of Sanctification -1

 

Sanctification is that renewal of our fallen nature by the Holy Ghost, received through faith in Jesus  Christ,  whose  blood  of  atonement  cleanseth  from  all  sins;  whereby  we  are  not  only delivered from the guilt of sin, but are washed from its pollution, saved from its power, and are enabled, through grace, to love God with all our hearts and to walk in his holy commandments blameless.

 

Note 1: The unnumbered article is placed here as a Methodist emphasis.