The central record. (Lancaster, Ky.) 18??-current, 1913-06-27
A Brief Statement Of Belief
Drawn From The Standards OF The
Presbyterian Church In Thu
United States.

United States.
I. GOD.
God is spirit, infinite. eternal, and
Interchangeable; all powerful, holy. wise.
good, true, and just, hating all sin.
He is mercifdl and gracious, long suf
fering, and abundant in goodness and
truth, not willing that any should per
ish, but that all should come to repcn-
lance. This truth is summed up in the
Bible statement, God is love. - II"
exists in three persons, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, who are one God, III"
same in substance, equal in power and
glory.
II. THE BIBLE.
The Scripture of the Old and NrW
Testament are the Word Of God, writ
ten by men inspired by the Holy Spirit.
They are the revelation Of God's will
for man and of mans duty TO God, aud
are the only infallible and authorize
tive rule of faith and life.
III. GODS PURPOSE.
The eternal purpose Of God includes
all events; it is holy and wise, and does
not deprive man of freedom, nor make
God the author of sin.
". CREATION.
For the manifestation of his own
glory, God created the world and all
thing therein, whether visible or in
visible, and all very good. He made
man after His own image; male and
female created He them. with immortal
souls, endowed with knowledge. right
eOusness and holiness, having the law
of God in their hearts. and power to
fulfill it; and yet under possibility of
being left to the free
dom of their own will.
v. SIN AND THE FALL.
Sin is the violation of Gods law,
either by omission or commission. Our
first parents, being tempted by Satan,
disobeyed Gods command, and so by
their own choice fell from their origi-
nal state of innocence and communion
with God. and came under the power
of sin, the penalty of which is eternal
death. All men, by reason of their re-
latiOnship to Adam as their representa-
tive head and common ancestor, are
born with a sinful nature from which
all actual trans, gressions proceed; and
out of this condition no one is able to
deliver himself.
VI. SALVATION.
God who is rich in mercy, so loved
the world that He gave His only be-
gotten Son to be the Saviour of sin
ners. The salvation thus provided is
freely offered to all men, and is suf-
ficient for all, but becomes efficacious
only in those who believe in Jesus
Christ unto eternal life.
VII. ELECTION.
Before the foundation of the world.
God the Father chose unto Himself in
Christ people whom He gave to His
Son, that they should be holy and with
out blame before Him in love. Those
who come to years of discretion receive
this salvation only through faith in
Christ; being regenerated by the Holy
Spirit. Those who die in infancy, and
others who are incapable Of exercising
choice, are regenerated and saved by
Christ through the Spirit who works
when and where and how He pleases.
We thus declare that Gods electing
grace has peopled Heaven with a null
titude that no man can number, and
has never sent one soul to hell.
VIII. CHRIST THE REDEEMER.
The Lord Jesus Christ, being the
eternal Son of God, became truly man,
being conceived by the Holy Ghost and
born of the Virgin Mary, yet without
sin; so that He is both God and man,
and the only perfect mediator between
God and man. by whom alone We can
come unto the Father. By a life of
perfect obedience and by His sacrificial
death, He satisfied divine justice, made
a perfect atonement for sin, and recon-
Giles us to God. He rose from the dead
and assembled into Heaven, where He
makes continual intercession for us;
and he sits at the right hand of God,
clothed with honor and power, subdu-
ing His people unto himself, ruling and
them, and restraining and
conquering all His and their enemies.
He will come again to receive and re-
ward His people, and to judge the
world.
TX. THE HOLY SPIRIT.
The Holy Spirit, the third person of
the Godhead, applies the redemption
purchased by Christ. He persuades
and enables men to obey the call of the
Gospel, and dwells continually in every
believer as the Spirit of truth, of holi-
ness, of power and of comfort, and is
thereby the author of all Christian ex-
perience.
X. JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH.
Everyone who humbly relies upon
Christ alone for salvation and in re-
pentance confesses and forsakes his
sins. is pardoned and accepted as
righteous in Gods sight, solely of the
ground of the perfect obedience and
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Everyone