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1. OF FAITH IN THE HOLY TRINITY
There is but one living and true God,
everlasting, without body or parts, of infinite power, wisdom and goodness;
the maker and preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. And in
unity of this God-head, there are three persons of one substance, power and
eternity; the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
2. OF THE WORD OR SON OF GOD, WHO WAS
MADE VERY MAN
The Son, who is the Word of the Father,
the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, took man's
nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin; so that two whole and perfect
natures, that is to say, the God-head and manhood, were joined together in
one person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God and very
man, who suffered, was crucified, dead and buried, to reconcile his Father
to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for
actual sins of men.
3. OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
Christ did truly rise from the dead, and
took again his body with all things appertaining to the perfection of man's
nature, wherewith he ascended into heaven, and sitteth until he returns to
judge all men at last day.
4. OF THE HOLY GHOST
The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the
Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty and glory with the Father
and the Son, very and eternal God.
5. THE SUFFICIENCY OF THE HOLY
SCRIPTURES FOR SALVATION
The Holy Scripture containeth all things
necessary to salvation; so that whatever is not read therein, nor may be
proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be
believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to
salvation. In the name of the Holy Scriptures, we do understand those
canonical books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never
any doubt in the Church.
The Names of the Canonical
Books:
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Genesis
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The First Book of Chronicles
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Exodus
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The Second Book of Chronicles
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Leviticus
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The Book of Ezra
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Numbers
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The Book of Nehemiah
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Deuteronomy
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The Book of Esther
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Joshua
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The Book of Job
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Judges
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The Book of Psalms
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Ruth
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The Proverbs
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The First Book of Samuel
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Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher
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The Second Book of Samuel
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Cantica, or Songs of Solomon
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The First Book of Kings
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Four Prophets, the Greater
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The Second Book of Kings
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Twelve Prophets, the Lesser
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All the books of the New Testamemt as they
are commonly received, we do receive and account canonical.
6. OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
The Old Testament is not contrary to the
New; for both in the Old and the New Testament, everlasting life is offered
to mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and man, being
both God and man. Wherefore, they are not to be heard, who feign that the
old fathers did look only for transitory promises. Although the law given
from God by Moses, as touching ceremonies and rites, doth not bind
Christians, nor ought the civil precepts thereof of necessity be received
in any commonwealth; yet notwithstanding, no Christian whatsoever is free
from the obedience of the Commandments, which are called moral.
7. OF ORIGINAL OR BIRTH SIN
Original sin standeth not in the
following of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly talk) but it is the
corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the
offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original
righteousness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and that
continually.
8. OF FREE WILL
The condition of man after the fall of
Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural
strength and works to faith, and calling upon God; wherefore, we have no
power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace
of God; by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working
with us, when we have that good will.
9. OF THE JUSTIFICATION OF MAN
We are accounted righteous before God
only for the merit of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, by faith, and not
by our own works or deservings; wherefore, that we are justified by faith
only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort.
10. OF GOOD WORKS
Although good works, which are the fruit
of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and
endure the severity of God's judgments: yet are they pleasing and
acceptable to God in Christ, and spring out of a true and lively faith,
insomuch that they by them a lively faith may be as evidently known, as a
tree is discerned by its fruit.
11. OF WORKS OF SUPEREROGATION
Voluntary works, besides, over and above
God's Commandments, which they call works of supererogation, cannot be
taught without arrogancy and impiety. For by them men do declare that they
do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do, but that they
do more for His sake than of bounden duty is required; whereas Christ said
plainly," When ye have done all that is commanded you, say, we are
unprofitable servants."
12. OF SIN AFTER JUSTIFICATION
Not every sin willingly committed after
justification is the sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable.
Wherefore, the grant of repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into
sin after justification. After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may
depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and by the grace of God, rise
again, and amend your lives. And therefore they are to be condemned who say
they can do no more sin as long as they live here; or deny the place of
forgiveness to such as truly repent.
13. OF THE CHURCH
The visible Church of Christ is a
congregation of faithful men, in which the pure Word of God is preached,
and the sacraments duly administered according to Christ's ordinance, in
all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.
14. OF PURGATORY
The Romish doctrine concerning
purgatory, pardon, worshipping, and adoration, as well as images, as of
relics, and also invocations of saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented,
and grounded upon no warrant of Scripture, but repugnant of the Word of
God.
15. OF SPEAKING IN THE CONGREGATION IN
SUCH A TONGUE AS THE PEOPLE UNDERSTAND
It is a thing plainly repugnant to the
Word of God, and the custom of the primitive Church, (to have public prayer
in the Church,) or to minister the Sacraments, in a tongue not understood
by the people.
16. OF THE SACRAMENTS
Sacraments ordained of Christ are not
only badges or tokens of Christian men's profession, but rather they are
certain signs of grace, and God's good will towards us, by the which he
doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen
and confirm our faith faith in Him.
There are two Sacraments ordained of
Christ our Lord, in the Gospel; that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of
the Lord.
Those five commonly called sacraments,
that is to say, Confirmation, Penance, Orders, Matrimony and Extreme
Unction, are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel; being such as
have partly grown out of the corrupt following of the Apostles; and partly
are states of life allowed in the Scriptures, but yet have not the like
nature of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, because they have not any visible
sign, or ceremony ordained of God.
The Sacraments were not ordained of
Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about; but that we should duly
use them. And in such only as worthily receive the same, they have a
wholesome effect or operation; but they that received them unworthily,
purchase to themselves condemnation, as St. Paul saith.
17. OF BAPTISM
Baptism is not only a sign of
profession, and mark of difference; but it is also a sign of regeneration,
or the new birth. The baptism of young children is to be retained in the
church.
18. OF THE LORD'S SUPPER
The Supper of the Lord is not only a
sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to
another, but rather is a Sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death;
insomuch, that to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith receive the
same, the bread which we break is a partaking of the body of Christ; and
likewise the cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ.
Transubstantiation, or the change of the
substance of bread and wine in the Supper of our Lord, cannot be proved by
Holy Writ; but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth
the nature of a sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions.
The body of Christ is given, taken and
eaten in the Supper, only after a heavenly and spiritual manner. And the
means whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper, is
faith.
The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is
not by Christ's ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, or
worshipped.
19. OF BOTH KINDS
The cup of the Lord is not to be denied
to the lay people: for both parents of the Lord's Supper, by Christ's
ordinance and commandment, ought to administered to all Christians alike.
20. OF THE ONE OBLATION OF CHRIST,
FINISHED UPON THE CROSS
The offering of Christ once made, is
that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction for all the sins of
the whole world, both original and actual; and there is none other
satisfaction for sin but that alone. Wherefore the sacraments of masses, in
which it is commonly said that that priest doth offer Christ for the quick
and the dead, to have remission of pain or guilt, is a blasphemous fable,
and dangerous deceit.
21. OF THE MARRIAGE OF MINISTERS
The ministers of Christ are not
commanded by God's law either to vow the estate of single life, or to abstain
from marriage; therefore, it is lawful for them, as for all other
Christians, to marry at their own discretion, as they shall judge the same
to serve best to godliness.
22. OF THE RITES AND CEREMONIES OF
CHURCHES
It is not necessary that rites and
ceremonies should in all places be the same, or exactly alike; for they
have been always different, and may be changed according to the diversity
of countries, times, and men's manners, so that nothing be ordained against
God's Word. Whosoever, through his private judgment, willingly and
purposely, doth openly break the rites and ceremonies of the church to
which he belongs, which are not repugnant of the Word of God, and are
ordained and approved by common authority, ought to be rebuked openly, that
others may fear to do the like, as one that offendeth against the common
order of the Church and woundeth the consciences of weak brethren.
Every particular Church may ordain,
change, or abolish rites and ceremonies so that all things may be done to
edification.
23. OF THE RULERS OF THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA
The President, the Congress, the General
Assemblies, the Governors, and the Councils of State, as the delegates of
the people, are the rulers of the United States of America, according to
the division of power made to them by the Constitution of the United
States, and by the constitution of their respective states and the Councils
of States delegates of the people, are the rulers of the United States of
America, and by the Constitutions of their respective States. And the said
states are a sovereign and independent nation, and ought not to be subject
to any foreign jurisdiction.
24. OF CHRISTIAN MEN'S GOODS
The riches and goods of Christians are
not common as touching the right, title and possession of the same, as some
do falsely boast. Notwithstanding, every man ought, of such things as he
possesseth, liberally, to give alms to the poor, according to his ability.
25. OF A CHRISTIAN MAN'S OATH
As we confess that vain and rash
swearing is forbidden Christian men by our Lord, Jesus Christ and James,
His apostle: so we judge that the Christian religion doth not prohibit, but
that a man may swear when the magistrate requireth, in a cause of faith and
charity, so it be done according tot he prophet's teaching, in justice,
judgment, and truth.
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African Methodist
Episcopal Church. The AMEC grew
out of the Free African Society (FAS) which Richard Allen, Absalom
Jones, and others established in Philadelphia in 1787. When officials at St. George’s MEC
pulled blacks off their knees while praying, FAS members discovered just
how far American Methodists would go to enforce racial discrimination
against  African
Americans. Hence, these members of
St. George’s made plans to transform their mutual aid society into an
African congregation. Although most
wanted to affiliate with the Protestant Episcopal Church, Allen led a small
group who resolved to remain Methodists.
 In 1794 Bethel AME was
dedicated with Allen as pastor. To
establish Bethel’s independence from interfering white Methodists, Allen, a
former Delaware slave, successfully sued in the Pennsylvania courts in 1807
and 1815 for the right of his congregation to exist as an independent
institution. Because black
Methodists in other middle Atlantic communities encountered racism and
desired religious autonomy, Allen called them to meet in Philadelphia to
form a new Wesleyan denomination, the AME.
The geographical spread of the AMEC prior to the
Civil War was mainly restricted to the Northeast and Midwest. Major congregations were established in
Philadelphia , New York , Boston , Pittsburgh , Baltimore, Washington , DC,
Cincinnati , Chicago , Detroit , and other large  cities. Numerous northern communities also
gained a substantial AME presence.
Remarkably, the slave states of Maryland , Kentucky , Missouri ,
Louisiana , and, for a few years, South Carolina , became additional
locations for AME congregations.
The denomination reached the Pacific Coast in the early 1850’s with
churches in  Stockton ,
Sacramento , San Francisco , and other places in California. Moreover, Bishop Morris Brown established
the Canada Annual Conference.
The most significant era of denominational
development occurred during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Oftentimes, with the permission of Union
army officials AME clergy moved into the states of the collapsing Confederacy
to pull newly freed slaves into their denomination. “I Seek My Brethren,” the title of an
often repeated sermon that Theophilus G. Steward preached in South
Carolina, became a clarion call to evangelize fellow blacks in Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Texas, and many other parts of the south. Hence, in 1880 AME membership reached
400,000 because of its rapid spread below the Mason-Dixon line . When Bishop Henry M. Turner
pushed African Methodism across the Atlantic into Liberia and Sierra Leone
in 1891 and into South Africa in 1896, the AME now laid claim to adherents
on two continents.
While the AME is doctrinally Methodist, clergy,
scholars, and lay persons have written important works which demonstrate
the distinctive theology and praxis which have defined this Wesleyan
body. Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett, in
an address to the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions, reminded the
audience of the presence of blacks in the formation of Christianity. Bishop Benjamin T. Tanner wrote in 1895
in The Color of Solomon – What? that biblical scholars wrongly
portrayed the son of David as a white man.
In the post civil rights era theologians James H. Cone, Cecil
W. Cone, and Jacqueline Grant who came out of the AME tradition critiqued
Euro-centric Christianity and African American churches for their
shortcomings in fully impacting the plight of those oppressed by racism,
sexism, and economic disadvantage.
In the 1990s, the AME included over 2,000,000
members, 8000 ministers, and 7000 congregations in more than 30 nations in
North and South America , Africa , and Europe . Twenty bishops and 12 general officers comprised the
leadership of the denomination.
Dennis C.
Dickerson
Executive Director of
Research & Scholarship
For More Information
Click Here
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