The Auburn Declaration:

[The Auburn Declaration, so called from the place of its adoption, belongs to the history of American Presbyterianism, and although it never aspired to the dignity of an authoritative Confession of Faith, it may claim a place here for its intrinsic value and importance before and after the disruption. It originated during the conflict which preceded the division of the Presbyterian Church into Old and New School, A.D.1837, and was prepared by the Rev. Baxter Dickinson, D.D. (d.1876). It had been charged, on one side, that sixteen errors, involving considerable departures from true Calvinism and the Westminster standards, had become current in that Church. (They are printed in the Presbyterian Quarterly and Princeton Review for 1876, pp.7, 8.) In answer to this charge, the New School party were led to embody their belief on these points in a corresponding series of ‘True Doctrines,’ which were incorporated in their Protest, as presented to the General Assembly of 1837. These doctrinal statements were subsequently considered and adopted by an important representative convention at Auburn, New York, Aug., 1837, as expressing their matured views, and those of the churches and ministry represented by them, on the several topics involved. The Declaration thus adopted became, not indeed a creed, but an authoritative explanation of the interpretation given to the Westminster Symbols by the leading minds in the New School Church, as organized in 1838. It was in 1868 indorsed by the General Assembly (O. S.) as containing ‘all the fundamentals of the Calvinistic Creed,’ and this indorsement was one among the most effectual steps in bringing about the reunion of the two Churches in 1870. The document is rather a disavowal of imputed error than an exposition of revealed truth, and must be understood from the anthropological and soteriological controversies of that period of division now happily gone by.

Both the Errors and the True Doctrines may be found in the Minutes of the Assembly for 1837; also, in the New Digest, pp.227-230. See also Art. on The Auburn Declaration by Prof. E. D. Morris, D.D., of Lane Seminary, in the Presbyterian Quarterly and Princeton Review, Jan.1876, pp.5-40.

The original document is deposited in the library of Lane Theol. Sem., Cincinnati, O. The text here given is an accurate copy from it, and was kindly furnished for this work by the Rev. E. D. Morris, D.D. The headings in brackets have been supplied by the editor.]

[Permission of Sin.]

1. God permitted the introduction of sin, not because he was unable to prevent it consistently with the moral freedom of his creatures, but for wise and benevolent reasons which he has not revealed.

[Election.]

2. Election to eternal life is not founded on a foresight of faith and obedience, but is a sovereign act of God’s mercy, whereby, according to the counsel of his own will, he has chosen some to salvation: ‘yet so as thereby neither is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established;’ nor does this gracious purpose ever take effect independently of faith and a holy life.

[Fall of Adam.]

3. By a divine constitution Adam was so the head and representative of the race that, as a consequence of his transgression, all mankind became morally corrupt, and liable to death, temporal and eternal.

[Hereditary Sin.]

4. Adam was created in the image of God, ‘endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness.’ Infants come into the world not only destitute of these, but with a nature inclined to evil, and only evil.

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C. Hodge (by way of A.A. Hodge):

Dr. Hodge says himself in his “Retrospect of the History of the Princeton Review,” 1871,

In all the controversies culminating in the division of the church in 1837-8, the conductors of this Review were in entire sympathy with the Old School party. They sided with them as to the right and under existing circumstances the duty, of the church to conduct the work of education and foreign and domestic missions by ecclesiastical boards instead of voluntary independent societies. They agreed with that party on all doctrinal questions in dispute; and as to the obligation to enforce conformity to our Confession of Faith on the part of ministers and teachers of theology under our jurisdiction. They were so unfortunate, however, as to differ from many, and apparently from a majority of their Old School brethren, as to the wisdom of the measures adopted for securing a common object. In our number for January, 1837, it is said: ‘Our position we feel to be difficult and delicate. On the one hand, we respect and love the great mass of our Old School brethren; we believe them to constitute the bone and sinew of the Presbyterian church; we agree with them in doctrine; we sympathize with them in their disapprobation and distrust of the spirit and conduct of the leaders of the opposite party; and we harmonize with them in all the great leading principles of ecclesiastical policy, though we differ from a portion of them, how large or how small that portion may be we cannot tell, as to the wisdom and propriety of some particular measures. They have the right to cherish and express their opinions, and to endeavor to enforce them on others by argument and persuasion, and so have we. They, we verily believe, have no selfish end in view. We are knowingly operating, under stress of conscience, against all our own interests, so far as they are not involved in the interests of the Church of God.’

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Hooper:

Extracts From a Brief and Clear Confession of the Christian Faith, Contained in an Hundred Articles According to the Order of the Apostles Creed,¹ Written by that Learned and Godly Martyr John Hooper.

X. I believe, that this corruption of nature, otherwise called original sin, is the fountain and root of all other sins for which all the miseries and adversities that we endure in this present life, as well in body as soul, do come unto us ; yea, and in the end double death, that is to say, both of body and soul. These are the fruits and rewards of sin. But although the same are due and common to all men generally, nevertheless, the Lord through his mercy hath reserved to himself a certain number (which are only known to himself,) which he hath drawn from this corrupt heap, and hath sanctified and cleansed the same in the blood of his Son Jesus Christ, and by means thereof hath made them vessels of election and honor, apt unto all good works.

XIV. I believe and confess Jesus Christ to be the fullness, the end, and accomplishment of the law, to the justification of all that believe, through whom and by whom only, all the promises of the Father are accomplished, yea even to the uttermost. Who also alone hath perfectly satisfied the law in that which no other amongst men could perform; as the law doth command things impossible, which nevertheless man must accomplish, not by working, but through believing. For so is the law accomplished through faith, and not through works ; and by this means shall man find the righteousness of faith to be available before the Lord, and not the righteousness of works, which leads nothing unto perfection.

XX. I believe, that the same Jesus Christ is verily Christ; that is to say, the Messiah anointed by the Holy Ghost, because he was the very King, the Prophet, and great Sacrificer, that should sacrifice for all that believe: which also is promised in the law, and is the same of whom all the prophets have spoken. This anointing of Christ is not corporeal, of a material and visible oil, as was that of the kings, priests, and prophets in times past: but it is spiritual, of an invisible oil, which is the grace and gifts of the Holy Ghost, wherewith he is replenished above all others. So that this anointing is descended even unto us, who have felt and proved the sweetness thereof: and by it also we bear the name of Christians, that is to say, ‘anointed.’

XXI. I believe, that this sacrificing of Jesus Christ was not levitical or carnal, to immolate, offer up, and to sacrifice beasts, kine, and other sensible things, as Aaron and his successors did; but spiritual, to offer and sacrifice himself, that is to say, his body and blood, for the remission of the sins of the whole world. Even as likewise his kingdom is not of this world, carnal, but spiritual ; which consists in the guiding and governing of his own by his Holy Spirit, over whom he reigns by his word, and that for the destruction of all his adversaries, which are sin, death, hell, Satan, and all infidels, wicked, and reprobate.

XXV, I believe, that all this (the sufferings of Christ) was done, not for himself, who never committed sin, in whose mouth was never found deceit nor lie; but for the love of us poor and miserable sinners, whose place he occupied upon the cross, as a pledge, or as one that represented the person of all the sinners that ever were, now are, or shall be, unto the world’s end. And because they through their sins have deserved to feel and taste of the extreme pains of death, to be forsaken of God and of all creatures, and to feel the wrath and severe judgment of God upon them; Christ, who was their pledge, satisfying for them upon the cross, hath felt and endured all the same, and that altogether to make us free, to deliver us from all these pains, from the wrath and judgment of God, from condemnation and eternal death.

XXVI. I believe and consider this death and passion, even as I do all other mysteries of Jesus Christ, not only as touching the history, as a pattern and example to follow, as was that of the holy men and women who are dead for the Lord’s cause: but also principally as touching the cause, fruits, and uses thereof; thereby to know the greatness of my sins, the grace and mercy of the Father, and the charity of the Son, by whom we are reconciled unto God, delivered from the tyranny of the devil, and restored to the liberty of the Spirit. This is the glass without spot, to teach us to know our filthiness, the laver or clear fountain to wash and cleanse us, the infinite treasure to satisfy all our creditors: of whom and by whom only, the divine justice is fully satisfied for all the sins of all that have been, be now, or shall be, unto the end of the world. And therefore I do believe and confess, that Christ’s condemnation is mine absolution; that his crucifying is my deliverance; his descending into hell is mine ascending into heaven; his death is my life; his blood is my cleansing, by whom only I am washed, purified, and cleansed from all my sins. So that I neither receive, neither believe any other purgatory, either in this world or in the other, whereby I may be cleansed, but only the blood of Jesus Christ, by which all are purged and made clean for ever.

XXVII. I believe, that Jesus Christ, by the sacrifice of his body, which he offered upon the tree of the cross, hath defaced and destroyed sin, death and the devil, with all his kingdom; and hath wholly performed the work of our salvation, and hath abolished and made an end of all other sacrifices. So that from thenceforth there is no other propitiatory sacrifice, either for the living or the dead, to be looked for or sought for, than the same. For by this one only oblation hath he consecrated for ever all those that are sanctified.

John Hooper, Writings of Dr. John Hooper (London: Religious Tract Society, [1800s]), 417-420. [Some spelling modernized; footnote value modernized and footnote original; and underlining mine.]

[Notes: 1) The reader should keep in mind this is an extract from a later edition of Hooper’s Confession of Faith, and these sections on Christ’s person and work are published exactly as found in the Writings, as published by the Religious Tract Society. 2) No publishing date is specified in this work, nor does Worldcat supply one, other than, “1800s”.]

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¹Having already inserted a confession of faith by bishop Hooper at length, only extracts from this second confession, which was a posthumous publication, are given in this collection.

Confessio Catholica:

In What Regard Are the Grace of God and the Merit of Christ Universal Promises?

The promises are universal, with respect to God (who is infinite in all His power) and whenever the grace of God is compared to sin. For this is universal–where sin abounds the grace of God exceeds it. Further, with respect to the prayers and merit of Christ, [it is universal] for all sins. Third, inasmuch as God absolves Himself from being the cause of sin and damnation, yet men are inexcusable because He propounded the Law and performs His justice to all.

“The Hungarian Confessio Catholica (1562),” in Reformed Confessions of the 16th and 17th Centuries in English Translation, ed., James T. Dennison, (Grand Rapids Michigan: Reformation Heritage Books, 2010), 2:487. [Square bracketed insert original and underlining mine.]

[Note: I readily grant that this is not bullet-proof and I would not ground a positive argument upon it, however, I post it because it is of interest.]

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