The Basis of Union of the Presbyterian Church of Australia (adopted in 1901) sets out the confessional position of the Church. The Supreme Standard is “the Word of God contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments”. The Subordinate Standard is the Westminster Confession of Faith, “read in the light” of a Declaratory Statement.
The Declaratory Statement is drawn from four source documents. Less than 10% of its wording was developed during the drafting process from 1895 to 1900. (The Statement contains 650 words, less than 60 are original to the PCA version). Most of it is drawn from the 1879 United Presbyterian Church Declaratory Act, either directly or via the 1882 Presbyterian Church of Victoria Declaratory Act. It also uses material from PCV Act, including statements produced by the Presbytery of Melbourne following complaints about the teaching of Rev. Charles Strong. Finally, it used material from the 1892 Free Church of Scotland Declaratory Act.
Here is an analysis of the use of those sources in the final document.
Loading…
Reload document 
Open in new tab I do not assume that the sources determine the intent and meaning of the Statement or its parts. Indeed, the multiple sources and their use is one of the real puzzles for understanding the Statement. You need this kind of source analysis before you can begin to work on the puzzle!