f the Confession I deem it necessary to refer to
in this review of it are the chapters relating to the sacraments and the
right use of them. It was asserted some years ago by a leader of modern
thought in Scotland that Knox did not go beyond the Zwinglian doctrine
regarding the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper; and that his Order for the
administration of it was a bold protest against the "mystical jargon"
which Luther employed, and from which Calvin was not free. When he made
this assertion he seems to have forgot that the address in Knox's Order
for the administration of the Lord's Supper was little else than a
translation of that in Calvin's Liturgy, and teaches exactly the same
mystical doctrine. This doctrine is no less explicitly taught in the
Confession; and Staehelin, whose competence to judge in the matter cannot
be questioned, maintains that the Zwinglian doctrine is as explicitly
rejected as the Romano-Lutheran; and that the language as well as the
doctrine closely resembles Calvin's. The text of the common editions of
the Confession speaks of two _chief_ sacraments only as being appointed
under the New Testament as well as under the Old. From this expression,
some, who are more familiar with Anglican than with Calvinistic
formularies, have concluded that Knox, like several of the earlier
English reformers, attributed a _quasi_-sacramental character to some of
the other rites regarded as sacraments by the Romanists. But in the
copy of the Confession reprinted in Dr Laing's edition of Knox's History
the word _chief_ is omitted in the second instance, and the clause runs
_two sacraments only_.[132] Perhaps it will be accepted as some
confirmation of the correctness of this reading that it is identical
with that found in Alasco's 'Epitome Doctrinae Ecclesiarum Frisiae
Orientalis,' from which treatise the opening sentence of chapter xxi. of
the Scottish Confession may possibly have been taken,[133] though the
verbal coincidence with the early edition of Calvin's Institutes is in
some respects more marked.

[Sidenote: Type of Scottish Theology.]

Such are the main contents and general bearing of this ancient Scottish
Confession. Notwithstanding the confident assertions to the contrary
made of late both within and without the Presbyterian churches, I
venture to think that no one who, with a good conscience and honest
intent, could sign that Confession, and answer in the affirmative the
questions regarding election p