Belgic Confession · Article XXVIII
That every one is bound to join himself to the true Church
We believe, since this holy congregation is an assembly of those who are saved, and out of it there is no salvation, that no person of whatsoever state or condition he may be, ought to withdraw himself, to live in a separate state from it; but that all men are in duty bound to join and unite themselves with it; maintaining the unity of the church; submitting themselves to the doctrine and discipline thereof; bowing their necks under the yoke of Jesus Christ; and as mutual members of the same body, serving to the edification of the brethren, according to the talents God has given them.—And that this may be the more effectually observed, it is the duty of all believers, according to the word of God, to separate themselves from all those, who do not belong to the church, and to join themselves to this congregation wheresoever God hath established it, even though the magistrates and edicts of princes were against it; yea, though they should suffer death or any other corporal punishment. Therefore all those, who separate themselves from the same, or do not join themselves to it, act contrary to the ordinance of God.
Edition & Source Public domain
- Source
- The Belgic Confession
- Translation
- English translation printed in the Constitution of the Reformed Dutch Church in North America (1793)
- Published
- 1561; revised 1618–1619
- Original URL
- en.wikisource.org/wiki/Belgic_Confession
- Copyright
- Public domain.
- License
- Public domain
- Attribution
- Public domain: published before 1931. Text taken from the proofread Wikisource transcription of that printing. Compared with a second English text on apuritansmind.com (a lightly modernized version of the same lineage): the two agree in substance and differ in wording, for example 'saith' against 'says'. Not yet proofread against a printed edition.
Please visit the original source for the full work.
Cite as The Belgic Confession. 1561; revised 1618–1619. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Belgic_Confession