Dear Sirs,
In order to truly be led by God the Holy Spirit in your upcoming deliberations, I beg you to consider the following declarations, and to adopt the same, in order to bring about One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
Respectfully and prayerfully,
John Owen Butler
From the Confession of the French Reformed Protestant Church --
V We believe that the word contained in the books of Scripture has come from God, receiving its authority from God alone and not from humans. As such, this word is the rule of all truth, containing everything necessary for the service of God and for our salvation. Thus, neither humans nor angels are permitted to add to it, subtract from it, or change it in any way. It follows that no authority may be set above Holy Scripture: not antiquity, or tradition, or majority opinion, or human wisdom; not judgments, or pronouncements, or edicts, or decrees, or councils; not visions or signs. On the contrary, everything must be examined, measured, and reformed according to Scripture. It is because they conform to the Word of God that we confess the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.
XIII We believe that everything required for our salvation has been offered and communicated to us in Jesus Christ. He is given to us for our salvation, becoming for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption [1 Cor. 1:30], so that if we refuse Christ, we renounce the mercy of the Father in whom we have our only refuge.
XVIII We believe that the foundation of our justification is the remission of our sins. (In this, says David, we find our only happiness.) This is why we reject all other means of seeking justification before God. Rather than presuming our own virtue or merit, we rely solely on the obedience of Jesus Christ, which is ascribed to us for the covering over of our sins as well as for granting us favor before God. Furthermore, we know that if we were to refuse this foundation, even partially, we would find no peace, but would always be anxious and troubled. We will never have peace with God unless we resolve to be loved in Jesus Christ, for of ourselves we deserve only to be hated.
XIX We believe that by our justification in Christ we have both the freedom and the privilege to call upon God, trusting that God will show himself to be our Father. Since we have no access to the Father except through this Mediator, our prayers in the name of Jesus Christ will be heard as we receive life from the one who is our sovereign.
XX We believe that we are justified by faith alone, for it is written that Christ suffered in order to gain our salvation, so that whoever believes in him will not perish. All the promises of life, given to us in Jesus Christ, are accommodated to our need. We experience their fulfillment when we accept them, and, since we are assured by the mouth of God, we certainly are not deceived. Therefore, our justification through faith depends wholly upon the free promises through which God declares and affirms that he loves us.
XXIV We believe that Jesus Christ has been given to us as our only advocate, and that he commands us to pray to the Father in his name. Because we must not pray differently from God's teaching through the word, everything that people have imagined about the intercession of the saints is nothing more than abuse and deception from Satan, designed to lead persons from the form of true worship. We also reject all the various means by which people presume to be redeemed before God, disparaging the sacrificial suffering and death of Jesus Christ. Finally, we consider purgatory to be an illusion found in the same marketplace as monastic vows, pilgrimages, prohibition of marriage and eating of meat, ceremonial days, private confession, indulgences, and everything else that people imagine will merit grace and salvation. We reject these things not only because of their false understanding of merit, but also because these are human inventions that burden consciences.
XXV Since we enjoy Jesus Christ only through the gospel, we believe that the order of the church, established by Christ's authority, should be sacred and inviolable. Therefore, the church cannot exist without pastors, who are charged with teaching. When they are properly called and faithfully exercise their office, we should honor them and listen to them respectfully. Even though God does not need the aid of such subordinate means, it pleases God to sustain us in this way. Thus we detest all fanatics who wish to wipe out, as much as they can, the ministry, the preaching of the word of God, and the sacraments.
XXVI We believe that no one should withdraw from the church, satisfied to be solitary. The whole community must preserve and sustain the unity of the church, submitting to common instruction and to the yoke of Christ. This should happen wherever Christ has established a true church order, even if the civil authority and its laws are hostile. All who do not participate in the church, or who separate themselves from it, deny the order established by God.
XXVII At the same time we believe that it is appropriate to discern, carefully and prudently, what is the true church, for this designation has been abused too often. Following the word of God then, we say that the faithful community covenants to follow the word of God and the pure religion which derives from it, benefiting from this throughout its life. The faithful community advances constantly, growing and being confirmed in reverent awe of God. As the community strives to remain faithful, all within it are constantly in need of the remission of sins. Although we do not deny that some hypocrites and reprobates are found among the faithful, their malice cannot remove the title "Church."
XXVIII In this conviction we declare that where the word of God is not received and its authority is not acknowledged, and where there is no use of the sacraments, we can conclude that there is no church, properly speaking. Thus we condemn the assemblies of the papacy where the pure truth of God is banished, where the sacraments are corrupted, bastardized, falsified, or annihilated altogether, and where idolatries and superstitions hold sway. We hold that all who engage in these acts by taking communion there separate and cut themselves off from the body of Jesus Christ. Yet because some small trace of the church continues in the papacy, and because the substance of baptism remains there (for the efficacy of baptism does not depend on the one who administers the sacrament), we confess that those who have been baptized have no need of a second baptism. However, because of corruptions, people cannot present children in those assemblies without polluting themselves.
XXIX As for the true church, we believe that it ought to be governed in accordance with the order established by our Lord Jesus Christ, having pastors, elders, and deacons. In this way, pure doctrine can be maintained, vices can be corrected and suppressed, the poor and afflicted can be helped in their need, assemblies can be gathered in the name of God, and both great and small can be edified.
XXX We believe that all true pastors, wherever they may be, have equal power and authority in the exercise of their office under one head, the only sovereign and universal bishop, Jesus Christ. For the same reason, no church should presume to claim authority or sovereignty over another.
XXXI We believe that no persons should presume to govern the church on their own authority, for church officers should be chosen by election whenever possible and as God permits. We add one exception: from time to time, even in our own time, the state of the church has been so broken that God has raised leaders in an extraordinary fashion in order to rebuild a ruined and desolate church. Nevertheless, we believe that this rule should bind us: all pastors, elders, and deacons should be called to their offices.
XXXII We believe that it is good and useful for all who are elected church officers to determine together the form of governance for the whole body, although they must not depart from anything ordained by our Lord Jesus Christ. This does not rule out distinctive local regulations required by particular circumstances.
XXXIII However, we rule out all human innovations and all laws that bind consciences under the pretext of service to God. We welcome only what nourishes concord, holding everyone in obedience, from the greatest to the least. Thus we must heed what our Lord has declared concerning excommunication and its consequences, approving it and affirming its necessity.
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