Faithful creeds, confessions, and quotes are doing the same work a preacher does; they are explaining, illustrating, and applying the authoritative Word of God. The difference in Scripture and the preacher, the creed, the confession, Charles Spurgeon, John Calvin, John MacArthur, Steven Stanley, and John Fry is that we can err, and the Scripture does not.

As with any major shift in church polity, there were unforeseen issues. The church rejoiced in the nature of the compromise, and the fact that the denomination did not fall to pieces. But there was still the issue of clarity in the Act and how it would be applied.

This issue of denominational identity was a contentious one for the Presbyterians who traced their roots back to Calvin’s Geneva, Knox’s Scotland, and the Puritan nonconformists in the Church of England.