Doctrine of the Church of Sweden as to the Holy Ministry and the Constitution of the Church 1909

{{cquote|(1) The seventh article of the [[Augsburg Confession|Confessio Augustana]], after having indicated as The Two attributes constitutive of a Christian Church 'evangelium recte docetur et recte administrantur sacramenta,' expressly adds: 'Nec necesse est ubique esse similes traditiones humanas, seu ritus aut ceremonias ab hominibus institutas' (Cp. [[Thirty-Nine Articles|Articles of Religion]] XXXIV.: It is not necessary that traditions and ceremonies be in all places one or utterly like, etc.). It is necessarily required that there should be an organization. The ''quod'' is necessary, but not the ''quomodo''.

(2) Differences in the liturgical arrangements, in the constitution of the Church, episcopal or presbyterian, etc., and in the organization of the holy ministry, need not RUiN 'veram unitatem ecclesiae';

(3) No particular organization of the Church and of its ministry is instituted ''jure divino'', not even the order and discipline and state of things recorded in the New Testament, because the Holy Scriptures, the ''norma normans'' of the faith of the Church, are no law, but vindicate for the New Covenant the great principle of Christian freedom, unweariedly asserted by St. Paul against every form of legal religion, and applied with fresh strength and clearness by Luther, but instituted by our Saviour Himself, as for instance when, in taking farewell of His disciples, He did not regulate their future work by ''a priori'' rules and institutions, but directed them to the guidance of the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost.

(4) The object of any organization and of the whole ministry being included in the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments–according to the fifth article of the Augustana, God has instituted 'ministerium docendi evangelii et porrigendi sacramenta'–our Church cannot recognize any essential difference, ''de jure divino'', of aim and authority between the two or three orders into which the ministry of grace may have been divided, ''jure humano'', for the benefit and convenience of the Church.

(5) The value of every organization of the 'ministerium ecclesiasticum,' and of the Church in general, is only to be judged by its fitness and ability to become a pure vessel for the supernatural contents, and a perfect channel for the way of Divine Revelation unto mankind.

(6) That doctrine in no wise makes our Church indifferent to the organization and the forms of ministry which the cravings and experiences of the Christian community have produced under the guidance of the Spirit in the course of history. We do not only regard the peculiar forms and traditions of our Church with the reverence due to a venerable legacy from the past, but we realize in them a blessing from the God of history accorded to us.<ref>[http://archive.org/details/churchofenglandc00chur ''The Church of England and the Church of Sweden''] (1911), pp. 17-19.</ref>}}

==Notes==
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[[Category:Church of Sweden]]
[[Category:1909 in Sweden]]
[[Category:1909 in religion]]