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[M304]

Article  VIII.

I believe in the Holy Ghost.

      In this Article we repeat again the first word of the Creed, I believe; whereas a conjunction might have been sufficient, but that so many particulars concerning the Son do intervene.  For as we are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; so we do make confession of our faith, saying, I believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost;* and the ancients, whose Creed was something shorter, made no repetition of the act of faith, but only an addition of the object, And in the Holy Ghost.*  And as we repeat the act of faith in this Article, so some did also in the second, I believe in Jesus Christ.*  Wherefore being this word, I believe, is taken here only by way of resumption or repetition, and consequently must be of the same sense and importance of which it was in the beginning of the Creed, it may well receive the same explication here which it received there; to that therefore the reader is referred.

      For although the ancient Fathers did frequently make use of this language to prove the Divinity of the Spirit, and did thence argue that he is really and truly God, because we believe in the Holy Ghost;* yet being that language is not expressly read in the Scriptures in relation to the Spirit, as it is in reference to the Son; being to believe in the Holy Ghost is only the expression of the Church contained in the Creed; being in the same Creed many of the ancients, without any reprehension, have used the same phrase in the following Articles expressly, and where the preposition is not expressed, it may very well be thought it was understood; therefore I think fit to acquiesce in my former exposition, and lay no greater force in the preposition.

      It will therefore be sufficient for the explication of this Article, if we can declare what is the full and proper object of our faith contained in it, what we are obliged to believe [M308] concerning the Holy Ghost.  And as to this we shall discharge our undertaking, and satisfy whatsoever is required in this exposition, if we can set forth these two particulars, the nature and the office of that blessed Spirit.  For the name of GHOST or GAST in the ancient Saxon language signifieth a spirit, and in that appellation of the Spirit of God, his nature principally is expressed.  The addition of holiness, though it denote the intrinsecal sanctity essentially belonging to that Spirit, yet notwithstanding it containeth also a derivative notion, as signifying an emanation of that holiness, and communication of the effects thereof; and in this communication his office doth consist.  Whatsoever therefore doth concern the Spirit of God, as such, and the intrinsecal sanctity which belongeth to that Spirit, may be expressed in the explication of his nature; whatsoever belongeth to the derivation of that sanctity may be described in his office; and consequently more cannot be necessary than to declare what is the nature, what the office, of the Spirit of God.

      For the better indagation of the nature of the Holy Ghost, I shall proceed by certain steps and degrees; which as they will render the discourse more clear, so will they also make the reasons more strong, and the arguments more evident.  And first, as to the existence of the Spirit of God, it will be unnecessary to endeavour the proof of it; for although the Sadducees seemed to deny it, who said that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit [Acts 23:8]; though it hath been ordinarily concluded from thence that they rejected the Holy Ghost,* yet it cannot be proved from those words that they denied the existence of the Spirit of God, any more than that they denied the existence of God, who is a spirit; nor did the notion which the Jews had of the Spirit of God any way incline the Sadducees, who denied the existence of the angels and the souls of men, to reject it.  The resurrection, angel, and spirit, which the Sadducees refused to acknowledge, were but two particulars; for it is expressly added, that the Pharisees confessed both; of which two the resurrection was one, angels and spirits were the other;* wherefore that which the Sadducees disbelieved was the existence of such created spiritual natures, as the angels and the souls of men are conceived to have.  And as for those Disciples at Ephesus, who had not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost [Acts 19:2]; if they were Gentiles, it is no wonder, because they never had that notion in their religion; if they were Jews, as they seem to be, because they were baptized with the baptism of John, it signifieth not that they never heard of the Spirit of God, but only that they had not heard of the giving of it, which the Apostle mentioned: as we read elsewhere, that the Holy Ghost was not yet [John 7:39]; not denying the existence, but the plentiful effusion of it.  For, whatsoever the nature of the Spirit of God may be thought to be, no man can conceive the Apostle should deny his existence before Christ’s glorification, whose operation was so manifest at his conception.  Howsoever, the Apostle asked those ignorant Disciples, Unto what then were ye baptized? intimating, that if they were baptized according to the rule of Christ, they could not be ignorant that there is an Holy Ghost; because the Apostles were commanded to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. [Matt. 28:19]  It is therefore presumed that every one who professeth the name of Christ, from the first baptismal institution, acknowledgeth that there is an Holy Ghost: and the only question consists in this, What that Holy Ghost is, in whose name we are baptized, and in whom, according to our baptism, we profess in the Creed to believe?

      In order to the determination of which question, our first assertion is, That the Holy Ghost, described to us in the word of God, and joined with the Father and the Son in the form of [M309] baptism, is a Person.  We are all baptized in the name of three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and the public confession of our faith hath relation to those three.  We all confess that two of these, the Father and the Son, are Persons; that which we now assert is only this, that the Holy Ghost, who is of the three the third, is also a Person as the other two.  That blessed Spirit is not only an energy or operation, not a quality or power, but a spiritual and intellectual subsistence.*  If we conceive it is an operation only, then must it only be actuated and not act; and when it is not actuated, it must not be at all.*  If we say that it is a quality, and not a substance; we say that it is that which we cannot prove to have any being.  It seemeth to me strangely unreasonable, that men should be so earnest in endeavouring to prove that the Holy Ghost which sanctifieth them is no substance, when they cannot be assured that there is any thing operative in the world beside substantial beings: and consequently, if they be not sanctified by that, they can be susceptible of no holiness.  By what reason in nature can they be assured, by what revelation in Scripture can they be confident, that there is a reality deserving the name of quality distinguished from all substance, and yet working real and admirable effects?  If there were no other argument but this, that we are assured by the Christian faith, that there is an Holy Ghost existing ; and we cannot be assured, either by reason or faith, that there is a quality really and essentially distinguished from all substance, it would be sufficient to deter us from that boldness, to assert the Holy Ghost, in whose name we are baptized, to be nothing else but a quality.

      But we are not left to guess at the nature of the Spirit of God; the word of God which came from that Spirit hath sufficiently delivered him as a Person.  It is indeed to be observed, that in the Scriptures there are some things spoken of the Holy Ghost which are proper and peculiar to a Person, as the adversaries confess: others, which are not properly and primarily to be attributed to a person, as we cannot deny: and it might seem to be equally doubtful, in relation to the Scripture expressions, whether the Holy Ghost were a Person or no; and that they which deny his Personality may pretend as much Scripture as they which assert it.  But in this seeming indifferency we must also observe a large diversity; inasmuch as the Holy Ghost, or Spirit of God, is not always taken in the same propriety of signification; nor do we say that the Holy Ghost, which signifieth a Person, always signifieth so much.  It is therefore easily conceived how some things may be attributed to the Spirit in the Scriptures which are not proper to a Person, and yet the Spirit be a Person, because sometimes the Spirit is taken for that which is not a Person, as we acknowledge.  Whereas, if ever any thing be attributed to the Holy Ghost as to a Person, which cannot be otherwise understood of the Spirit of God than as of a Person, then may we infallibly conclude that the Holy Ghost is a Person.  This therefore we shall endeavour fully and clearly to demonstrate: first, that the Scriptures declare unto us the Holy Ghost as a Person, by such attributes and expressions as cannot be understood to be spoken of the Spirit of God any other way than as of a person : secondly, that whatsoever [M310] attributes or expressions are used in the Scriptures of the Holy Ghost, and are objected as repugnant to the nature of a Person, either are not so repugnant as is objected; or if they be, they belong unto the Spirit, as it signifies not a Person.

      First then, the Holy Ghost, or good Spirit of God, is clearly and formally opposed to those evil spirits, which are and must be acknowledged persons, of a spiritual and intellectual subsistence.  As, The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. [1 Sam. 16:14]  Now, what those evil spirits from the Lord were, is apparent from the sad example of Ahab, concerning whom we read, There came out a spirit and stood before the Lord, and said, I will entice him: and the Lord said unto him, Wherewith?  And he said, I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets: and the Lord said, Thou shalt entice him, and thou shalt also prevail; go out, and do even so. [2 Chron. 18:20, 21]  From whence it is evident, that the evil spirits from God were certain persons, even bad angels, to which the one good Spirit as a Person is opposed, departing from him to whom the other cometh.

      Again, the New Testament doth describe the Holy Ghost by such personal dispositions, and with such operations, as are as evident marks and signs of a Person as any which are attributed to the Father or the Son, which are unquestionable Persons; and whatsoever terms are spoken of the Spirit by way of quality, are spoken as well of those which are acknowledged Persons.  We are exhorted by the Apostle not to grieve the Spirit of God [Eph. 4:30]; and grief is certainly a personal affection, of which a quality is not capable.  We are assured that the same Spirit maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered [Rom. 8:26]; and we can understand what are interceding persons, but have no apprehension of interceding or groaning qualities.  The operations of the Spirit are manifest, and as manifestly personal: for he searcheth all things, yea even the deep things of God [1 Cor. 2:10, 12]; and so he knoweth all things, even the things of God; which can be no description of the power of God: he worketh all the spiritual gifts, dividing to every man severally as he will [1 Cor. 12:11]; in which the operation, discretion, distribution, and all these voluntary, are sufficient demonstrations of a Person.  He revealeth the will of God, and speaketh to the sons of men, in the nature and after the manner of a Person; for the Spirit said unto Peter, Behold, three men seek thee.  Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them [Acts 10:19, 20]: and the Holy Ghost said unto the prophets and teachers at Antioch, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. [Acts 13:2]  We cannot better understand the nature of the Holy Ghost than by the description given by Christ which sent him: and he said thus to his Disciples, The Comforter, (or, the Advocate,) which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things; he shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness.  If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.  And when he is come, he will reprove the world, and he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he shall spew you things to come.  He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. [John 14:26; 15:26, 27;16:7, 8, 13, 14]  All which words are nothing else but so many descriptions of a Person, a Person hearing, a Person receiving, a Person testifying, a Person speaking, a Person reproving, a Person instructing.

      The adversaries to this truth,* acknowledging all these personal [M311] expressions, answer, that it is ordinary in the Scriptures to find the like expressions, which are proper unto persons, given unto those things which are no persons: as when the Apostle saith, Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. [1 Cor. 13:4–7]  All which personal actions are attributed to charity, which is no person, as in other cases it is usual,* but belonging to that person which is charitable; because that person which is so qualified doth perform those actions according to, and by virtue of, that charity which is in him.  In the same manner, say they personal actions are attributed to the Holy Ghost, which is no Person, but only the virtue, power, and efficacy of God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because that God the Father is a Person, and doth perform those personal actions, attributed to the Holy Ghost, by that virtue, power, and efficacy in himself, which is the Holy Ghost.  As when we read, The Spirit said unto Peter, Behold, three men seek thee.  Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them [Acts 10:19, 20]: we must understand that God the Father was the Person which spake those words, and which sent those men; but because he did so by that virtue which is the Holy Ghost, therefore the Holy Ghost is said to speak those words and send those men.  In the same manner when we read, the Holy Ghost said unto those at Antioch, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them, [Acts 13:2] we must conceive it was God the Father who spake those words, who had called Barnabas and Saul, and to whom they were to be separated: but because God did all this by that power within him which is his Spirit, therefore those words and actions are attributed to the Holy Ghost.  This is the sum of their answer; and more than this I conceive cannot be said in answer to that argument which we urge from those personal expressions attributed to the Spirit of God, and, as we believe, as to a Person.

      But this answer is most apparently insufficient, as giving no satisfaction to the argument.  For if all the personal actions, attributed in the Scriptures to the Spirit, might proceed from the Person of God the Father, according to the power which is in him, then might this answer seem satisfactory: but if these actions be personal, as they are acknowledged, and cannot be denied; if the same cannot be attributed to the Person of God the Father, whose Spirit it is; if he cannot be said to do that by the power within him, which is said to be done by the Holy Ghost; then is that defense not to be defended, then must the Holy Ghost be acknowledged a Person.  But I shall clearly prove, that there are several personal attributes given in the sacred Scriptures expressly to the Holy Ghost, which cannot be ascribed to God the Father; which God the Father, by that [M312] power which is in him, cannot be said to do; and consequently cannot be any ground why those attributes should be given to the Spirit if it be not a Person.

      To make intercession is a personal action, and this action is attributed to the Spirit of God, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. [Rom. 8:27]  But to make intercession is not an act which can be attributed to God the Father, neither can he be said to intercede for us according to that power which is in him; and therefore this can be no prosopopoeia; the Holy Ghost cannot be said to exercise the personal action of intercession for that reason, because it is the Spirit of that Person which intercedeth for us.  To come unto men, as being sent unto them, is a personal action; and so the Comforter, or Advocate, who is the Holy Ghost, did come, being sent; When the Comforter is come, whom I will send you from the Father, saith Christ [John 15:26]: and again, If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but If I depart, I will send him to you. [John 16:7]  But to come unto men, as being sent, cannot be ascribed to God the Father, who sendeth, but is never sent; especially in this particular, in which the Father is said expressly to send, and that in the name of the Son (whom the Father will send in my name, [John 14:26] saith our Saviour).  When therefore the Holy Ghost cometh to the sons of men, as sent by the Father in the name of the Son, and sent by the Son himself, this personal action cannot be attributed to the Father as working by the power within him, and consequently cannot ground a prosopopoeia, by which the virtue or power of God the Father shall be said to do it.  To speak and hear are personal actions, and both together attributed to the Spirit, in such a manner as they cannot be ascribed to God the Father.  When he, saith Christ, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that he shall speak. [John16:13]  Now to speak, and not of himself, cannot be attributed to God the Father, who doth all things of himself: to speak what he heareth, and that of the Son; to deliver what he receiveth from another, and to glorify him from whom he receiveth by receiving from him, as Christ speaketh of the Holy Ghost, He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shew it to you, [John 16:14] is by no means applicable to the Father; and consequently it cannot be true that the Holy Ghost is therefore said to do these personal actions, because that Person whose Spirit the Holy Ghost is, doth those actions, by and according to his own power, which is the Holy Ghost.  It remaineth therefore that the answer given by the adversaries of this truth is apparently insufficient, and consequently that our argument, drawn from the personal actions attributed in the Scriptures to the Spirit, is sound and valid.

      I thought this discourse had fully destroyed the Socinian prosopopoeia; and indeed, as they ordinarily propound their answer, it is abundantly refuted.  But I find the subtlety of Socinus prepared another explication of the prosopopoeia,* to supply the room where he foresaw the former would not serve.  Which double figure he groundeth upon this distinction: The Spirit, that is, the power of God, saith lie, may be considered either as a propriety and power in God, or as the things on which it worketh are affected with it.  If it be considered in the first notion, then if any personal attribute be given to the Spirit, the Spirit is there taken for God, and by the Spirit God is signified: if it be considered in the second notion, then if any personal attribute be given to the Spirit, the Spirit is taken for that man in which it worketh; and that man, affected with it, is called the Spirit of God.

[M313]            So that now we must not only shew that such things which are attributed to the Holy Ghost cannot be spoken of the Father, but we must also prove that they cannot be attributed unto man, in whom the Spirit worketh from the Father: and this also will be very easily and evidently proved.  The Holy Ghost is said to come unto the Apostles as sent by the Father and the Son, and to come as so sent is a personal action, which we have already sheaved cannot be the action of the Father, who sent the Spirit; and it is as certain that it cannot be the action of an Apostle who was affected with the Spirit which was sent, except we can say that the Father and the Son did send St. Peter an advocate to St. Peter; and St. Peter, being sent by the Father and the Son, did come unto St. Peter.  Again, our Saviour, speaking of the Holy Ghost, saith, He shall receive of mine [John 16:14]: therefore the Holy Ghost in that place is not taken for the Father; and shew it unto you, therefore he is not taken for an Apostle: in that he receiveth, the first Socinian prosopopoeia is improper; in that he sheweth to the Apostles, the second is absurd.  The Holy Ghost then is described as a Person distinct from the Person of the Father, whose power he is, and distinct from the Person of the Apostle in whom he worketh, and consequently neither of the Socinian figures can evacuate or enervate the doctrine of his proper and peculiar Personality.

      Secondly, For those attributes or expressions used of the Holy Ghost in the sacred Scriptures, and pretended to be repugnant to the nature of a Person, either they are not so repugnant, or, if they be, they belong unto the Spirit, as it signifieth not the Person, but the gifts or effects, of the Spirit.  They tell us that the Spirit is given, and that sometimes in measure, sometimes without measure; that the Spirit is poured out, and that men do drink of it, and are filled with it; that it is doubled and distributed, and something is taken from it; and that sometimes it is extinguished: and from hence they gather, that the Holy Ghost is not a Person, because these expressions are inconsistent with personality.*  But a satisfactory answer is easily returned to this objection. It is true, that God is said to have given the Holy Ghost to them that obey him, [Acts 5:32] but it is as true that a Person may be given; so we read in the Prophet Isaiah, Unto us a Son is given [Isa. 9:6]; and we are assured that God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, [John 3:16] and certainly the Son of God is a Person.  And if all the rest of the expressions be such as they pretend, that is, not proper to a Person; yet do they no way prejudice the truth of our assertion, because we acknowledge the effects and operations of the Spirit to have in the Scriptures the name of the Spirit, who is the cause of those operations.  And being to that Spirit, as the cause, we have already shewn those attributes to be given which can agree to nothing but a Person, we therefore conclude against the Socinians and the Jews,* that the Holy Ghost is not a quality, but a Person; which is our first assertion.

[M314]            Our second assertion is, That the Holy Ghost, in whose name we are baptized, and in whom we profess to believe, is not a created, but a divine and uncreated Person.  And for the proof of this assertion, we shall first make use of that argument which our adversaries have put into our hands.  The Spirit of God which is in God, is not a created Person: but the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of God which is in God, and therefore not a created Person.  This argument is raised from those words of the Apostle, For who knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. [1 Cor. 2:11]  That this Spirit of God is the Holy Ghost, I find denied by none: that the same Spirit is in God, appeareth by the Apostle’s discourse, and is granted by the Socinians:* that it is so the Spirit of God, and so by nature in God that it cannot be a creature, is granted by the same.  It followeth therefore undeniably that the Holy Ghost is no created Person; inasmuch as that cannot be a created Person which hath not a created nature; and that can neither have nor be a created nature, which by nature is in God.  Wherefore although it be replied by others, that it is not said in the text that the Spirit is in God, yet our adversaries’ reason overweighs their negative observation; and it availeth little to say that it is not expressed, which must be acknowledged to be understood.  The Holy Ghost then is a Person (as I have proved), and is not of a nature distinguished from that which is in God (as is confessed, and only denied to be in God, because it is not said so when it is implied), therefore he is no created Person.

      Secondly, The Holy Ghost is such a one as against whom a sin may be committed, and when it is so, cannot be remitted.  But if he were no Person, we could not commit that sin against him; and if he were a created Person, the sin committed against him could not be irremissible.  Therefore he is a Person, and that untreated.  The argument is grounded upon the words of our Saviour, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.  And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh a word against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. [Matt. 12:31, 32]  By which words it appeareth there is a sin or blasphemy against the Holy Ghost distinct from all other sins and blasphemies committed against God the Father, or the Son of God; that this sin hath an aggravation added unto it, beyond other sins and blasphemies: but if the Holy Spirit were no Person, the sin could not be distinct from those sins which are committed against him whose Spirit he is; and if he were a Person created, the sin could receive no such aggravation beyond other sins and blasphemies.*

      To this they answer, That the sin against the Holy Ghost [M315] is not therefore unpardonable, because he is God, which is not to our purpose; but they do not, cannot spew that it can be unpardonable, if he were not God.  It is not therefore simply, and for no other reason, unpardonable, because that Person is God, against whom it is committed; for if so, then any sin committed against any person which is God, would be unpardonable; which is false.  But that sin, which is particularly called the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, is a sin against God, and in such a manner aggravated, as makes it irremissible; of which aggravation it were incapable, if the Spirit were not God.

      Thirdly, Every created Person was made by the Son of God as God, and is now put under the feet of the Son of God as Man.  But the Spirit of God was not made by the Son of God, nor is he now put under the feet of the Son of man.  Therefore the Spirit of God can be no created Person.  All things were made by the Word, and without him was not any thing made that was made [John 1:3]; therefore every created Person was made by the Word.  God hath put all things under the feet [1 Cor. 15:27] of Christ; and when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him: and being none is excepted beside God, every created person must be under the feet of the Son of man.  But the Spirit of God in the beginning was not made, yea rather in the beginning made the world,* as Job speaks of God, By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens [Job 26:13]: nor is he under the feet of Christ, now set down at the right hand of God, who with supreme authority, together with the Father, sent the Prophets; as Isaiah testifieth, saying, Now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me [Isa. 48:16]; and with the same authority, since the exaltation of our Saviour, sent forth such as were separated to himself, as appeareth in the case of Barnabas and Saul, and with the same authority giveth all spiritual gifts, dividing to every man, severally as he will;* [1 Cor. 12:11] so that in this kingdom of Christ all things are done by the power of the Spirit of God. [Rom. 15:19]

      Fourthly, He, by whose operation Christ was conceived in the womb of the Virgin, was no created Person: for by virtue of that conception he was called the Son of God; whereas if a creature had been the cause of his conception, he had been in that respect the son of a creature; nay, according to the adversaries’ principles, he had taken upon him the nature of angels.  But the Holy Ghost it was by whose operation Christ was conceived in the womb of the Virgin.  For it was an angel that said to Mary, [M316] (not that an angel, but that) the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. [Luke 1:35]  Therefore the Spirit of God is no created Person; which is our second assertion against the ancient, but newly revived heresy of the Arians and Macedonians.*

      Our third assertion is that which necessarily followeth from the former two, that the Spirit of God, in whose name we are baptized, and in whom we profess to believe, is properly and truly God.  For if he be a Person, as we have proved in the declaration of our first assertion; if he be a Person not created, as we have demonstrated in the corroboration of the second assertion; then must he of necessity be acknowledged to be God, because there is no untreated essence beside the essence of the one eternal God.  And there is this great felicity in the laying of this third assertion, that it is not proved only by the two precedent assertions, but also by the adversaries of them both.  He which denies the first, that is the Socinian, affirms that the Spirit of God is in God, and is the eternal and omnipotent power of God; he which denies the second, that is the Macedonian, asserts that he is a Person of an intellectual nature subsisting; but whatsoever is a Person subsisting of eternal and omnipotent power, must be acknowledged to be God.  Whether therefore we look upon the truth of our assertions, or whether we consider the happiness of their negations, the conclusion is, that the Holy Ghost is God.

      But were there nothing, which is already said, demonstrated, there is enough written in the word of God to assure us of the Deity of the Holy Ghost, to make us undoubtingly believe that the Spirit of God is God.  It is written by Moses, that when he went in before the Lord to speak with him, he look the veil off, until he came out. [Ex. 34:34]  And that Lord with whom Moses spake was the one Jehovah, the God of heaven and earth.  But we are assured that the Spirit was and is that Lord to which Moses [M317] spake; for the Apostle hath taught us so much by his own interpretation, saying, Even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.  Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit. [2 Cor. 3:15–17]  The Spirit is here so plainly said to be the Lord, that is, Jehovah, the one eternal God, that the adversaries of this truth must either deny that the Lord is here to be taken for God, or that the Spirit is to be taken for the Spirit of God: either of which denials must seem very strange to any person which considereth the force and plainness of the Apostle’s discourse.

      But indeed they are so ready to deny any thing, that they will by no means acknowledge either the one or the other: but the Lord must be something which is not God, and the Spirit must be something which is not the Spirit of God: and then they conclude the argument is of no force, and may as well conclude the Apostle’s interpretation hath no sense.  The Lord, they say, is Christ, and not God; for Christ, they say, is not God: the Spirit, they say, is the mystery of the Law, or the hidden sense of it, and that every one knows is not the Spirit of God.  But we are assured that the Apostle did mean by the Spirit, the Spirit of God, not the sense of the Law; for he addeth immediately, Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty; and the sense of the Law is never called the Spirit of the Lord.  Nay, were it not that the coherence of the discourse did satisfy us ; yet the objection ought not at all to move us: for the name of Spirit in those places mentioned by them to signify the sense of the Law hath no affinity with this, according to their own way of argumentation: for it is never so taken with the emphasis of an article, and put in the place either of an entire subject or a predicate in a proposition,* except by way of opposition; and one of those it must of necessity be in those words of the Apostle, now the Lord is that Spirit, and that without the least intimation of any opposition.

      Again, we are assured that by the Lord the Apostle did understand the eternal God; for he speaketh of the same Lord which he mentioned in the verse before, and that is the Lord God spoken of in the book of Exodus; of which except the Apostle speaks, his argument hath neither inference nor coherence.  In vain therefore is this pretended for an answer, that the Apostle by the Lord doth always, unless he cite some place out of the old covenant, understand Christ; for in this particular he citeth a certain place out of the book of Exodus,* and useth the name of the Lord in the same notion in which there it is used, framing an argument and urging it from thence; and if he did not, that rule is not so universal and infallible, but that the Lord in the language of the same Apostle may not signify the second, but the first or third Person of the Trinity.*  [M318] If then the Lord be the eternal God, as the Apostle without any question understood him in Moses; if the Spirit be the Spirit of the Lord, as the Apostle expounds himself in the words immediately following; then the Spirit of the Lord is the eternal God, and so termed in the Scriptures.

      Again, the same Scriptures do clearly manifest the same Spirit to be God, and term him plainly and expressly so.  For when Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? he repeateth the same question in reference to the same offence, Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart?  Thou host not lied unto men, but unto God. [Acts 5:3–4]  To lie unto the Holy Ghost, is to lie unto God: to lie unto the Holy Ghost, is not to lie unto men, because the Holy Ghost is not man: and consequently not to lie unto any angel, because the Holy Ghost is not an angel; not to lie unto any creature, because the Holy Ghost is no creature; but to lie unto God, because the Holy Ghost is God.

      To this plain and evident argument there are so many answers, that the very multitude discovers the weakness of them all ; for if any one of them. were sufficient to bear down the force of our reason, the rest would be superfluous.  First, They answer that it cannot be collected from hence that the Spirit is God, because the Holy Ghost in the original is put in one case, and God in another;* and the Apostle speaking in one manner of the Spirit, and in another of God, cannot shew that the Spirit is God.  To which it is easily answered, that the case or manner of the Apostle’s speech can make no difference, if the sense and substance be the same, as here it is; for to deceive the Holy Ghost, is nothing else but to lie unto him, or by a lie to endeavour to deceive him.  The act objected to Ananias was but one, which act of his the Apostles looked upon as injurious, not to themselves, but to the Holy Ghost; and therefore St. Peter shewed the sin to be not against men, but against God: as certainly then as the Apostles were men, so certainly was the Holy Ghost, in the esteem of St. Peter, God.

      As for that sense which they put upon the words, different from that of lying to God, as if Ananias were accused for counterfeiting the Holy Ghost, it is most certain that the words can in this place bear no such sense; for the sin of Ananias is again expressed in the case of his wife Sapphira, to whom St. Peter said, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? [Acts 5:9]  But to tempt the Spirit, and to counterfeit the Spirit, are two several things; and it is evident that in this place the tempting of the Spirit was nothing else but lying to him: for St. Peter said to Sapphira, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? and she said, Yea, for so much: in which answer she lied.  Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? viz. in saying that ye sold the land for so much.  Here is no colour then for that new pretence, that Ananias did bear the Apostles in hand that what was done he did by the motion of the Holy Spirit, and so did pretend, counterfeit, and belie the Holy Ghost.  This is not to expound St. Peter, but to belie Ananias, and make him guilty of that sin, which he was never yet accused of.  It is most certain that he lied, it is also certain that he to whom he lied [M319] was the Holy Ghost, and therefore it might be well translated, that he lied to the Holy Ghost.*

      Next, Because they may very well be conscious that this verbal or phraseological answer may not seem sufficient, they ;tell us, though both the phrases were synonymous, yet they did no way prove that the Spirit is God: and the reason which they render to justify this negation, is, because there are several places of the Scripture, in which the Messengers of God, who are acknowledged not to be God, are mentioned in the same relation unto God, as here the Spirit is.  To which the answer is most plain and clear, that there is no creature ever mentioned in the same manner as the Holy Ghost is here.  As when they allege those words of the Apostle, He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given us his Holy Spirit, [1 Thess. 4:8] I cannot see what similitude can be made unto the Scripture now in question: for if the Spirit be not understood in the first words, he therefore that despiseth, it hath no relation to the present question; and if it be, it were so far from being a confutation, that it would be another confirmation.  As for the other, He that heareth you heareth me; he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me [Matt. 10:40, Luke 10:16]; it is so far from justifying their interpretation, that it hath nothing in it like that which founds our reason, that is, no opposition.  For there are three particulars in that Scripture which we produce for our assertion; first, that they lied to the Holy Ghost; secondly, that in doing so, they lied not unto men; and thirdly, that by the same act they lied unto God.  In which the opposition is our foundation.  For if the Spirit of God were not God, as we are sure it is not man, it might as well have been said, You lied not unto the Holy Ghost, but unto God.  And indeed if the Apostle would have aggravated the sin of Ananias with the full propriety and iniquity, in their sense, he must have said, Thou hast not lied unto men, nor unto the Spirit of God, but unto God.  But being he first told him plainly his sin, lying to the Holy Ghost; and then let him know the sinfulness of it, thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God: it is evident that the Holy Ghost to whom he lied is God.

      Thirdly, That Person, whose inhabitation maketh a temple, is God; for if the notion of a temple be nothing else but to be the house of God, if to be the house of any creature is not to be a temple, as it is not, then no inhabitation of any created Person can make a temple.  But the inhabitation of the Holy Ghost maketh a temple, as we are informed by the Apostle, What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you? [1 Cor. 6:19]  Therefore the Holy Ghost is God.

      To this is replied differently, according to the diversity of our adversaries; as it is not probable that the deniers of so great a truth should agree.  The first tells us, that if we would enforce by this reason that the Holy Ghost is God, we must prove that he is a Person, and that he doth possess our bodies by a Divine [M320] right.*  But we have already proved that he is a Person, and certainly there can be no other right but that which belongs to God, by which the Holy Ghost inhabiteth and possesseth us. Nor have they any pretence to evince the contrary, but that which more confirmeth our assertion; for they urge only those words of the Apostle, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? [1 Cor. 3:16]  We do certainly know that we are the temple of God; and we also know that the Spirit of God therefore dwelleth in us; and we therefore know that we are the temple of God, because we know that the Spirit of God dwelleth in us; and we know no other reason why we are the temple of God, when the Spirit of God dwelleth in us, but only because we know the Spirit of God is God; for if the Spirit were any other Person not Divine, or any thing but a Person though Divine, we could not by any means be assured that he did properly inhabit in us; or if he did, that by his inhabitation he could make a temple of us.  The second hath very little to say, but only this, that being the Holy Ghost who possesseth us is a Person, we must shew that our bodies are his by the highest interest, and primarily dedicated to his honour; which he therefore conceives we cannot shew, because he thinks our body is not at all his by interest, or dedicated to his honour.  But it were very strange, if we should be baptized in the name of the Holy Ghost, and that the Holy Ghost should have no interest in us, but that he should be ours by interest, and not we his; that the Spirit of God should call for men to be separated to himself, and that they which are so separated should be no way dedicated to his honour.  If the Holy Ghost had no interest in us, because he is given unto us, then Christ can have no interest in us, for he is also given unto us.  Indeed, if the Apostle had said, as our adversary doth, that we ought with our body to glorify, not the Spirit, but God [1 Cor. 6:20]; I should have concluded that the Spirit is not God: but being that blessed Spirit which dwelleth in us, and spake by the Apostles, never taught us not to glorify him, I shall rather take leave to suspect that of blasphemy, than the assertion of his Deity to be false Divinity.  And whereas it is said, that the Apostle hath hinted in what respect our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, to wit, by inhabitation; this is so far from breeding in me the least thought of diminution, that by this only notion I am fully confirmed in the belief of my assertion.  For I know no other way by which God peculiarly inhabiteth in us, but by the inhabitation of the Spirit: I understand no other way by which we can be the temple of God, but by the inhabitation of God, as it is written, Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people [2 Cor. 6:16]: and therefore I conclude that the Holy Ghost, who by his inhabitation maketh our bodies temples, is that God which dwelleth in us.

      Fourthly, He, to whom the Divine attributes do belong as certainly as they belong unto God the Father, is truly and properly God; because those are Divine attributes which are proprieties of the Divine nature, and consequently none can be endued with them to whom the nature of God belongeth not.  But the Divine attributes, such as are omniscience, omnipotency, omnipresence, and the like, do belong as certainly unto the Holy Ghost as they do unto God the Father; therefore we are as much assured that the Holy Ghost is God.  The Scriptures to prove these attributes are so well known, that I shall not need to mention them; and they are so many, that to manage them against the exceptions of the adversaries, would take up too much room in this discourse; especially considering they question some of them in the Father as well as in the Spirit, and so I should be forced to a double proof.

[M321]            Fifthly, He, to whom are attributed those works which are proper unto God, by and for which God doth require of us to acknowledge and worship him as God, is properly and truly God: because the operations of all things flow from that essence by which they are; and therefore if the operations be truly Divine, that is, such as can be produced by no other but God, then must the essence of that Person which produceth them be truly such.  But such works as are proper unto God, by and for which God hath required us to acknowledge him and worship him as God, are attributed often in the Scriptures to the Spirit of God, as the acts of creation and conservation of all things, the miracles wrought upon and by our blessed Saviour, the works of grace and power wrought in the hearts of true believers, and the like.  Therefore without any further disputation, which cannot be both long and proper for an exposition, I conclude my third assertion, that the Holy Ghost, or Spirit of God, is a Person truly and properly Divine, the true and living God.

      Now being we do firmly believe, that the true and living God can be but one, that the infinity of the Divine essence is incapable of multiplicity; being we have already shewn, that the Father is originally that one God, which is denied by none; and have also proved, that the only Son is the same God, receiving by an eternal generation the same Divine nature from the Father; it will also be necessary, for the understanding of the nature of the Spirit of God, to shew how that blessed Spirit is God: to which purpose, that I may proceed methodically, my fourth assertion is, that the Spirit of God, which is the true and living God, is neither God the Father, nor the Son of God.

      First, Though the Father be undoubtedly God, though the Holy Ghost be also God, and (because there cannot be two Gods) the same God; yet the Holy Ghost is not the Father: for the Scriptures do as certainly distinguish them in their Persons, as they do unite them in their nature.  He which proceedeth from the Father is not the Father, because it is impossible any Person should proceed from himself; but the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father [John 15:26] therefore he is not the Father.  He which is sent by the Father, and from the Father, is not the Father, by whom and from whom he is sent; for no Person can be sent by himself, and, by another from himself.  But the Holy Ghost is sent by God the Father, and by the Son from the Father: therefore he is not the Father.

      Secondly, Though we have formerly proved, that the Son of God is properly and truly God; though we now have also proved, that the Spirit of God is God, and in reference to both we understand the same God; yet the Holy Ghost is not the Son: for he which receiveth of that which is the Son’s, and by receiving of it glorifieth the Son, cannot be the Son, because no Person can be said to receive from himself that which is his own, and to glorify himself by so receiving. But the Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost, [John 14:26] received of that which is the Son’s, and by receiving of it glorified the Son; for so our Saviour expressly said, He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine. [John 16:14]  Therefore the Holy Ghost is not the Son.  Again, he, whose coming depended upon the Son’s departing, and his sending after his departure, cannot be the Son, who therefore departed that he might send him.  But the coming of the Holy Ghost depended upon the Son’s departing, and his sending after his departure: as he told the Apostles before he departed, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you [John 16:7]: therefore the Holy Ghost is not the Son.

      Thirdly, Though the Father be God, and the Son be God, and the Holy Ghost be also the same God; yet we are assured that the Holy Ghost is neither the Father nor the Son; because [M322] the Scriptures frequently represent him as distinguished both from the Father and the Son.  As, when the Spirit of God descended like a dove, and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, [Matt. 3:16, 17] he was manifestly distinguished from the Person of the Son, upon whom he lighted, and from the Person of the Father, who spake from heaven of his Son.  The Apostle teacheth us, that through the Son we have access by one Spirit unto the Father, [Eph. 2:18] and consequently assureth us, that the Spirit, by whom, is not the Father, to whom, nor the Son, through whom, we have that access.  So God sent forth his Son, that we might receive the adoption of sons: and because we are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. [Gal. 4:4, 5, 6]  Where the Son is distinguished from the Father as first sent by him, and the Spirit of the Son is distinguished both from the Father and the Son, as sent by the Father after he had sent the Son.  And this our Saviour hath taught us several times in a word, as, The Comforter whom the Father will send in my name; the Comforter whom I will send unto you from the Father [John 14:26, 15:26]; and when that Comforter is come, Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. [Matt. 28:19]  I conclude therefore against the old Sabellian heresy,* that the Holy Ghost, although he be truly and properly God, is neither God the Father, nor God the Son; which is my fourth assertion.

      Our fifth assertion is, That the Holy Ghost is the third Person in the blessed Trinity.  For being he is a Person, by our first assertion; a Person not created, by the second; but a Divine Person properly and truly God, by the third; being though he is thus truly God, he is neither the Father, nor the Son, by the fourth assertion, it followeth that he is one of the three ; and of the three he is the third.  For as there is a number in the Trinity, by which the Persons are neither more nor less than three; so there is also an order, by which, of these Persons, the Father is the first, the Son the second, and the Holy Ghost the third.  Nor is this order arbitrary or external, but internal and necessary, by virtue of a subordination of the second unto the first, and of the third unto the first and second.  The Godhead was communicated from the Father to the Son, not from the Son unto the Father; though therefore this were done from all eternity, and so there can be no priority of time, yet there must be acknowledged a priority of order, by which the Father, not the Son, is first, and the Son, not the Father, second.  Again, the same Godhead was communicated by the Father and the Son unto the Holy Ghost, not by the Holy Ghost to the Father or the Son; though therefore this was also done from all eternity, and therefore can admit of no priority in reference to time; yet that of order must be here observed; so that the Spirit receiving the Godhead from the Father who is the first Person, cannot be the first; receiving the same from the Son, who is the second, cannot be the second; but being from the first and second must be of the three the third.  And thus both the [M323] number and the order of the Persons are signified together by the Apostle, saying, There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one. [1 John 5:7]  And though they are not expressly said to be three, yet the same number is sufficiently declared, and the same order is expressly mentioned, in the baptismal institution made in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. [Matt. 28:19]  As therefore we have formerly proved the Son to be truly the second Person, and at the same time the Father to be the first, so doth this which we have but briefly spoken, prove that the Holy Ghost is the third;* which is our fifth assertion.

      Our sixth and last assertion (sufficient to manifest the nature of the Holy Ghost, as he is the Spirit of God) teacheth that Spirit to be a Person proceeding from the Father and the Son.  From whence at last we have a clear description of the blessed Spirit, that he is the most high and eternal God, of the same nature, attributes, and operations with the Father and the Son, as receiving the same essence from the Father and the Son, by proceeding from them both.  Now this procession of the Spirit, in reference to the Father, is delivered expressly, in relation to the Son, is contained virtually in the Scriptures.  First, it is expressly said, that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father, as our Saviour testifieth, When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. [John 15:26]  And this is also evident from what hath been already asserted: for being the Father and the Spirit are the same God, and being so the same in the unity of the nature of God, are yet distinct in their Personality, one of them must have the same nature from the other; and because the Father hath been already shewn to have it from none, it followeth that the Spirit hath it from him.

      Secondly, Though it be not expressly spoken in the Scripture, that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Son, yet the substance of the same truth is virtually contained there: because those very expressions which are spoken of the Holy Spirit in relation to the Father, for that reason because he proceedeth from the Father, are also spoken of the same Spirit in relation to the Son; and therefore there must be the same reason presupposed in reference to the Son, which is expressed in reference to the Father. Because the Spirit proceedeth from the Father, therefore it is called the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of the Father.  It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. [Matt. 10:20]  For by the language of the Apostle the Spirit of God is the Spirit which is of God, saying, The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.  And we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God. [1 Cor. 2:11, 12]  Now the same Spirit is also called the Spirit of the Son, for because we are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts [Gal. 4:6]; the Spirit of Christ, Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his [Rom. 8:9]; even the Spirit of Christ which was in the Prophets [1 Pet. 1:11]; the Spirit of Jesus Christ, as the Apostle speaks, I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. [Phil. 1:19]  If then the Holy Spirit be called the Spirit of God and the Father, because he proceeded from the Father, it followeth that, being called also the Spirit of the Son, he proceedeth also from the Son.

      Again, Because the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father, he is therefore sent by the Father, as from him who hath by the original communication a right of mission; as, the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send [John 14:26]: but the same Spirit which is sent by the Father is also sent by the Son, as he saith, when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you. [John 15:26]  Therefore the Son hath the same right of mission with the Father, and consequently must be acknowledged to have communicated the same essence.  The Father is never sent by [M324] the Son, because he received not the Godhead from him; but the Father sendeth the Son, because he communicated the Godhead to him: in the same manner neither the Father nor the Son is ever sent by the Holy Spirit; because neither of them received the Divine nature from the Spirit: but both the Father and the Son sendeth the Holy Ghost, because the Divine nature, common to both the Father and the Son, was communicated by them both to the Holy Ghost.  As therefore the Scriptures declare expressly, that the Spirit proceedeth from the Father; so do they also virtually teach, that he proceedeth from the Son.

      From whence it came to pass in the primitive times, that the Latin fathers* taught expressly the procession of the Spirit from the Father and the Son, because by good consequence they did collect so much from those passages of the Scripture which we have used to prove that truth.  And the Greek Fathers, though they stuck more closely to the phrase and language of the Scripture, saying, that the Spirit proceedeth from the Father, and not saying, that he proceedeth from the Son;* yet they acknowledged under another Scripture expression the same thing which the Latins understand by procession, viz. That the Spirit is of or from the Son, as he is of and from the Father; and therefore usually when they said, he proceedeth from the Father, they also added, he received of the Son.*  The interpretation of which words, according to the Latins, inferred a procession;* and that which the Greeks did understand thereby, was the same which the Latins meant by the procession from the Son, that is, the receiving of his essence from him.  That as the Son is God of God by being of the Father, so the Holy Ghost is God of God by being of the Father and the Son,* as receiving that infinite and eternal essence from them both.

      This being thus the general doctrine of the Eastern and the [M325] Western Church, differing only in the manner of expression, and that without any opposition, Theodoret* gave the first occasion of a difference, making use of the Greeks’ expression against the doctrine both of Greeks and Latins; denying that the Holy Ghost receiveth his essence from the Son, because the Scripture saith, he proceedeth from the Father, and is the Spirit which is of God.  But St. Cyril, against whom he wrote, taking small notice of this objection; and the writings of Theodoret, in which this was contained, being condemned; there was no sensible difference in the Church, for many years, concerning this particular.  Afterwards divers of the Greeks expressly denied the procession from the Son, and several disputations did arise in the Western Church, till at last the Latins put it into the Constantinopolitan Creed;* and being admonished by the Greeks of that, as of an unlawful addition, and refusing to erase it out of the Creed again, it became an occasion of the vast schism between the Eastern and the Western Churches.

[M326]            Now although the addition of words to the formal Creed without the consent, and against the protestation of the Oriental Church, be not justifiable; yet that which was added is nevertheless a certain truth, and may be so used in that Creed by them who believe the same to be a truth; so long as they pretend it not to be a definition of that Council, but an addition or explication inserted, and condemn not those who, out of a greater respect to such synodical determinations, will admit of no such insertions, nor speak any other language than the Scriptures and their Fathers spake.

      Howsoever we have sufficiently in our assertions declared the nature of the Holy Ghost, distinguishing him from all qualities, energies, or operations, in that he is truly and properly a Person; differencing him from all creatures and finite things, as he is not a created Person; shewing him to be of an infinite and eternal essence, as he is truly and properly God; distinguishing him from the Father and the Son, as being not the Father, though the same God with the Father; not the Son, though the same God with him; demonstrating his order in the blessed Trinity, as being not the first or second, but the third Person, and therefore the third, because as the Son receiveth his essence communicated to him by the Father, and is therefore second to the Father, so the Holy Ghost receiveth the same essence communicated to him by the Father and the Son, and so proceedeth from them both, and is truly and properly the Spirit of the Father, and as truly and properly the Spirit of the Son.

      Thus far have we declared the nature of the Holy Ghost, what he is in himself, as the Spirit of God; it remaineth that we declare what is the office of the same, what he is unto us, as the Holy Spirit: for although the Spirit of God be of infinite, essential, and original holiness, as God, and so may be called Holy in himself; though other spirits which were created be either actually now unholy, or of defectible sanctity at the first, and so having the name of Spirit common unto them, he may be termed Holy, that he may be distinguished from them; yet I conceive he is rather called the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of Holiness, [Rom. 1:4] because, of the three Persons in the blessed Trinity, it is his particular office to sanctify or make us holy.

      Now when I speak of the office of the Holy Ghost, I do not understand any ministerial office or function, such as that of the created angels is, who are all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them, who shall be heirs of salvation [Heb. 1:14]: for I have [M327] already proved this Spirit to be a Person properly Divine, and consequently above all ministration.  But I intend thereby whatsoever is attributed unto him peculiarly in the salvation of man, as the work wrought by him, for which he is sent by the Father and the Son.  For all the Persons in the Godhead are represented unto us as concurring unto our salvation: God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, [John 3:16] and through that Son we have an access by one Spirit unto the Father. [Eph. 2:18]  As therefore what our Saviour did and suffered for us belonged to that office of a Redeemer which he took upon him; so whatsoever the Holy Ghost worketh in order to the same salvation, we look upon as belonging to his office.  And because without holiness it is impossible to please God, because we are all impure and unholy, and the purity and holiness which is required in us to appear in the presence of God, whose eyes are pure, must be wrought in us by the Spirit of God, who is called Holy because he is the cause of this holiness in us, therefore we acknowledge the office of the Spirit of God to consist in the sanctifying of the servants of God, and the declaration of this office, added to the description of his nature, to be a sufficient explication of the object of faith contained in this Article, I believe in the Holy Ghost.

      Now this sanctification being opposed to our impurity and corruption, and answering fully to the latitude of it, whatsoever is wanting in our nature of that holiness and perfection, must be supplied by the Spirit of God.  Wherefore being by nature we are totally void of all saving truth, and under an impossibility of knowing the will of God; being as no man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him; even so none knoweth the things of God, but the Spirit of God [1 Cor. 2:11]; this Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God, [1 Cor. 2:10] and revealeth them unto the sons of men; so that thereby the darkness of their understanding is expelled, and they are enlightened with the knowledge of their God.  This work of the Spirit is double, either external and general, or internal and particular.  The external and general work of the Spirit, as to the whole Church of God, is the revelation of the will of God, by which so much in all ages hath been propounded as was sufficient to instruct men unto eternal life.  For there have been holy Prophets ever since the world began, [Luke 1:70] and prophecy came not at any time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. [2 Pet. 1:21]  When it pleased God in the last days to speak unto us by his Son, [Heb. 1:2] even that Son sent his Spirit into the Apostles, the Spirit of truth, that he might guide them into all truth, teaching them all things, and bringing all things to their remembrance, whatsoever Christ had said unto them. [John 16:13, 14:26]  By this means it came to pass that all Scripture was given by inspiration of God, [2 Tim. 3:16] that is, by the motion and operation of the Spirit of God; and so whatsoever is necessary for us to know and believe, was delivered by revelation.  Again, the same Spirit which revealeth the object of faith generally to the universal Church of God, which object is propounded externally by the Church to every particular believer, doth also illuminate the understandings of such as believe, that they may receive the truth: for faith is the gift of God, not only in the object, but also in the act; Christ is not only given unto us, in whom we believe, but it is also given us in the behalf of Christ to believe on him [Phil. 1:29]; and this gift is a gift of the Holy Ghost, working within us an assent unto that which by the word is propounded to us: by this the Lord opened the heart of Lydia, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul [Acts 16:14]; by this the word preached profiteth, being mixed with faith in them that hear it. [Heb. 4:2]  Thus by grace are we saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. [Eph. 2:8]  As the increase [M328] and perfection, so the original, or initiation of faith is from the Spirit of God,* not only by an external proposal in the word, but by an internal illumination in the soul; by which we are inclined to the obedience of faith, in assenting to those truths, which unto a natural and carnal man are foolishness.  And thus we affirm not only the revelation of the will of God, but also the illumination of the soul of man, to be part of the office of the Spirit of God, against the old and new Pelagians.*

      The second part of the office of the Holy Ghost in the sanctification of man, is the regeneration and renovation of him.  For our natural corruption consisting in an aversation of our wills, and a depravation of our affections, an inclination of them to the will of God is wrought within us by the Spirit of God.  For according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. [Titus 3:5]  So that except a man be born again of water and of the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. [John 3:5]  We are all at first defiled by the corruption of our nature, and the pollution of our sins, but we are washed, but we are sanctified, but we are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. [1 Cor. 6:11]  The second part then of the office of the Holy Ghost is the renewing of man in all the parts and faculties of his soul.

      The third part of this office is to lead, direct, and govern us in our actions and conversations, that we may actually do and perform those things which are acceptable and well-pleasing in the sight of God.  If we live in the Spirit, quickened by his renovation, we must also walk in the Spirit, [Gal. 5:25] following his direction, led by his manuduction.  And if we walk in the Spirit, we shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh [Gal. 5:16]; for we are not only directed but animated and acted in those operations by the Spirit of God, who giveth both to will and to do; and as many as are thus led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. [Rom. 8:14]  Moreover, that this direction may prove more effectual, we are also guided in our prayers, and acted in our devotions by the same Spirit, according to the promise, I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications. [Zech. 12:10]  Whereas then this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us [1 John 5:14]; and whereas we know not what we should pray for as we ought, the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered, and he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. [Rom. 8:26, 27]  From which intercession especially I conceive he hath the name of the Paraclete given him by Christ, who said, I will pray unto the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete. [John 14:16]  For if any man sin, we have a Paraclete with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, [1 John 2:1] saith St. John: who also maketh intercession for us, [Rom. 8:34] saith St. Paul; and we have [M329] another Paraclete, saith our Saviour; which also maketh intercession for us, saith St. Paul. [Rom. 8:34]  A Paraclete then in the notion of the Scriptures is an Intercessor.*

      Fourthly, The office of the same Spirit is to join us unto Christ, and make us members of that one body of which our Saviour is the Head.  For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body.*  And as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. [1 Cor. 12:12, 13]  Hereby we know that God abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. [1 John 3:24]  As we become spiritual men by the Spirit which is in us, as that union with the Body and unto the Head is a spiritual conjunction, so it proceedeth from the Spirit; and he that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit. [1 Cor. 6:17]

[M330]            Fifthly, It is the office of the Holy Ghost to assure us of the adoption of sons, to create in us a sense of the paternal love of God toward us, to give us an earnest of our everlasting inheritance.  The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. [Rom. 5:5, 8:14]  And because we are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. [Gal. 4:6]  For we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but we have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.  The Spirit itself bearing witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. [Rom. 8:15, 16]  As therefore we are born again by the Spirit, and receive from him our regeneration, so we are also assured by the same Spirit of our adoption; and because being sons we are also heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, [Rom. 8:17] by the same Spirit we have the pledge, or rather the earnest, of our inheritance.  For he which stablisheth us in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and hath given the earnest of his Spirit in our hearts [2 Cor. 1:21, 22]; so that we are sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. [Eph. 1:13, 14]  The Spirit of God as given unto us in this life, though it have not the proper nature of a pledge; as in the gifts received here being no way equivalent to the promised reward, nor given in the stead of any thing already due; yet is to be looked upon as an earnest,* being part of that reward which is promised, and, upon the condition of performance of the Covenant which God hath made with us, certainly to be received.

      Sixthly, For the effecting of all these and the like particulars, it is the office of the same Spirit to sanctify and set apart persons for the duty of the ministry, ordaining them to intercede between God and his people, to send up prayers to God for them, to bless them in the name of God, to teach the doctrine of the Gospel, to administer the sacraments instituted by Christ, to perform all things necessary for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. [Eph. 4:12]  The same Spirit which illuminated the Apostles, and endued [M331] them with power from above to perform personally their apostolical functions, fitted them also for the ordination of others, and the committing of a standing power to a successive ministry unto the end of the world; who are thereby obliged to take heed unto their selves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made them overseers, to feed the Church of God. [Acts 20:28]

      By these and the like means doth the Spirit of God sanctify the sons of men, and by virtue of this sanctification, proceeding immediately from his office, he is properly called the Holy Spirit.  And thus have I sufficiently described the object of our faith contained in this Article, what is the Holy Ghost in whom we believe, both in relation to his nature,* as he is the Spirit of God, and in reference to his office, as he is the Holy Spirit.

      The necessity of the belief of this Article appeareth, first, from the nature and condition of the Creed, whereof it is an essential part, as without which it could not be looked upon as a Creed.  For being the Creed is a profession of that faith into which we are baptized; being the first rule of faith was derived from the sacred form of baptism; being we are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, [Matt. 28:19] we are obliged to profess faith in them three; that as they are distinguished in the institution, so they may be distinguished in our profession.  And therefore the briefest comprehensions of faith have always included the Holy Ghost, and some concluded with it.*

      Secondly, It is necessary to believe in the Holy Ghost, not only for the acknowledgment of the eminency of his person, but [M332] also for a desire of the excellency of his graces, and the abundance of his gifts.  What the Apostle wished to the Corinthians, ought to be the earnest petition of every Christian, that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with us all. [2 Cor. 13:14]  For if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his [Rom. 8:9]; if he have not that which maketh the union, he cannot be united to him; if he acknowledgeth him not to be his Lord, he cannot be his servant; and no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. [1 Cor. 12:3]  That which is born of the spirit is spirit [John 3:6]; such is their felicity which have it: That which is born of the flesh is flesh; such is their infelicity which want it.  What then is to be desired in comparison of the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ [Phil. 1:19]; especially considering the encouragement we receive from Christ, who said, If ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? [Luke 11:13]

      Thirdly, It is necessary to profess faith in the Holy Ghost, that the will of God may be effectual in us, even our sanctification. [1 Thess. 4:3]  For if God hath, from the beginning chosen us to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit [2 Thess. 2:13]; if we be elected according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience [1 Pet. 1:2]; if the office of the Spirit doth consist in this, and he be therefore called holy, because he is to sanctify us, how should we follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man, shall see the Lord! [Heb. 12:14] how should we endeavour to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God! [2 Cor. 7:1]  The temple of God is holy, which temple we are, if the Spirit of God dwelleth in us [1 Cor. 3:16, 17]; for the inhabitation of God is a consecration, and that place must be a temple where his honour dwelleth.  Now if we know that our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in us which we have of God [1 Cor. 6:19, 20]; if we know that we are not our own, for that we are bought with a price; we must also know that we ought therefore to glorify God in our body, and in our spirit, which are God’s: thus it is necessary to believe in the Spirit of sanctification, that our hearts may be established unblamable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. [1 Thess. 3:13]

      Fourthly, It is necessary to believe in the Holy Ghost, that in all our weaknesses we may be strengthened, in all our infirmities we may be supported, in all our discouragements we may be comforted, in the midst of miseries we may be filled with peace and inward joy.  For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. [Rom. 14:17]  We read of the Disciples at first, that they were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost [Acts 13:52]; and those which afterwards became followers of them and of the Lord, received the word in much affliction, but with joy of the Holy Ghost. [1 Thess. 1:6]  These are the rivers of living water flowing out of his belly that believeth [John 7:38]; this is the oil of gladness [Ps. 45:7] wherewith the Son of God was anointed above his fellows, [Heb. 1:9] but yet with the same oil his fellows are anointed also: for we have an unction from the Holy One, and the anointing which we receive of him abideth in us. [1 John 2:20, 27]

      Lastly, The belief of the Holy Ghost is necessary for the continuation of a successive ministry, and a Christian submission to the acts of their function, unto the end of the world.  For as God the Father sent the Son, and the Spirit of the Lord was upon him, because he had anointed him to preach the Gospel [Luke 4:18]; so the Son sent the Apostles, saying, As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you; and when he had said this, he breathed on them, and with unto them, Receive the Holy Ghost [John 20:21, 22]: and as the Son sent the Apostles, so did they send others by virtue of the same Spirit, as St. Paul sent Timothy and Titus, and gave them power to send others, saying to Timothy, Lay hands suddenly on no man, [1 Tim. 5:22] [M333] and to Titus, For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee. [Titus 1:5]  Thus by virtue of an apostolical ordination there is for ever to be continued a ministerial succession.  Those which are thus separated by ordination to the work of the Lord, are to feed the flock of God which is among them, taking the oversight thereof [1 Pet. 5:2]; and those which are committed to their care, are to remember and obey them that have the Heb. xiii. rule over them, and submit themselves, for that they watch for their souls as they that must give account. [Heb. 13:7, 17]

      Having thus at large asserted the verity contained in this Article, and declared the necessity of believing it, we may easily give a brief exposition, by which every Christian may know what he ought to profess, and how he is to be understood, when he saith, I believe in the Holy Ghost.  For thereby he is conceived to declare thus much; I freely and resolvedly assent unto this as unto a certain and infallible truth, that beside all other whatsoever, to whom the name of Spirit is or may be given, there is one particular and peculiar Spirit, who is truly and properly a Person, of a true, real, and personal subsistence, not a created, but uncreated Person, and so the true and one eternal God; that though he be that God, yet he is not the Father nor the Son, but the Spirit of the Father and the Son, the third Person in the blessed Trinity, proceeding from the Father and the Son: I believe this infinite and eternal Spirit to be not only of perfect and indefectible holiness in himself, but also to be the immediate cause of all holiness in us, revealing the pure and undefiled will of God, inspiring the blessed Apostles, and enabling them to lay the foundation, and by a perpetual succession to continue the edification, of the Church, illuminating the understandings of particular persons, rectifying their wills and affections, renovating their natures, uniting their persons unto Christ, assuring them of the adoption of sons, leading them in their actions, directing them in their devotions, by all ways and means purifying and sanctifying their souls and bodies, to a full and eternal acceptation in the sight of God.  This is the eternal Spirit of God; in this manner is that Spirit holy; and thus I believe in the Holy Ghost.

[M334]

Article  IX.

The Holy Catholick Church, the Communion of Saints.

      In this ninth Article we meet with some variety of position, and with much addition; for whereas it is here the ninth, in some Creeds we find it the last;* and whereas it consisteth of two distinct parts, the latter is wholly added, and the former partly augmented; the most ancient professing no more than to believe the Holy Church* and the Greeks having added, by way of explication or determination, the word Catholick, it was at last received into the Latin Creed.

      To begin then with the first part of the Article, I shall endeavour so to expound it, as to shew what is the meaning of the Church, which Christ hath propounded to us; how that Church is holy, as the Apostle hath assured us; how that holy Church is catholick, as the Fathers have taught us.  For when I say, [M335] I believe in the Holy Catholick Church, I mean that there is a Church which is holy, and which is catholick;* and I understand that Church alone which is both catholick and holy: and being this holiness and catholicism are but affections of this Church which I believe, I must first declare what is the true nature and notion of the Church; how I am assured of the existence of that Church; and then how it is the subject of those two affections.

      For the understanding of the true notion of the Church, first we must observe that the nominal definition or derivation of the word is not sufficient to describe the nature of it.  If we look upon the old English word now in use, Church or Kirk,* it is derived from the Greek, and first signified the house of the Lord, that is, of Christ, and from thence was taken to signify the people of God, meeting in the house of God. The Greek word, used by the Apostles to express the Church, signifieth a calling forth,* if we look upon the origination; a congregation of men, or a company assembled, if we consider the use of it.  But neither of these doth fully express the nature of the Church, what it is in itself, and as it is propounded to our belief.

      Our second observation is, that the Church hath been taken for the whole complex of men and angels worshipping the same God; and again, the angels being not considered, it hath been taken as comprehending all the sons of men believing in God. ever since the foundation of the world.*  But being Christ took not upon him the nature of angels, and consequently did not properly purchase them with his blood, or call them by his [M336] word; being they are not in the Scriptures mentioned as parts or members of the Church, nor can be imagined to be built upon the Prophets or Apostles; being we are at this time to speak of the proper notion of the Church, therefore I shall not look upon it as comprehending any more than the sons of men.  Again, being though Christ was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, and whosoever from the beginning pleased God were saved by his blood; yet because there was a vast difference between the several dispensations of the Law and Gospel, because our Saviour spake expressly of building himself a Church when the Jewish Synagogue was about to fail, because Catholicism, which is here attributed unto the Church, must be understood in opposition to the legal singularity of the Jewish nation, because the ancient Fathers were generally wont to distinguish between the Synagogue and the Church,* therefore I think it necessary to restrain this notion to Christianity.

      Thirdly, Therefore I observe that the only way to attain unto the knowledge of the true notion of the Church, is to search into the New Testament, and from the places there which mention it, to conclude what is the nature of it.  To which purpose it will be necessary to take notice that our Saviour first speaking of it, mentioneth it as that which then was not, but afterwards was to be;* as when he spake unto the great Apostle, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church [Matt. 16:18]; but when he ascended into heaven, and the Holy Ghost came down, when Peter had converted three thousand souls [Acts 2:41] which were added to the hundred and twenty [Acts 1:15] Disciples, then was there a Church, (and that built upon Peter, according to our Saviour’s promise*) for after that we read, The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved. [Acts 2:47]  A Church then our Saviour promised should be built, and by a promise made before his death; after his ascension, and upon the preaching of St. Peter, we find a Church built or constituted, and that of a nature capable of a daily increase.  We cannot then take a better occasion to search into the true notion of the Church of Christ, than by looking into the origination and increase thereof; without which it is impossible to have a right conception of it.*

      Now what we are infallibly assured of the first actual existence of a Church of Christ is only this: there were twelve Apostles with the Disciples before the descent of the Holy Ghost, and the number of the names together were about an hundred and twenty. [Acts 1:15]  When the Holy Ghost came after a powerful and miraculous manner upon the blessed Apostles, and St. Peter preached unto the Jews, that they should repent and be baptized in the name of [M337] Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. [Acts 2:38, 41, 42]  These being thus added to the rest, continued stedfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers; and all these persons so continuing are called the Church.*  What this Church was is easily determined, for it was a certain number of men, of which some were Apostles, some the former Disciples, others were persons which repented, and believed, and were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and continued hearing the word preached, receiving the sacraments administered, joining in the public prayers presented unto God.  This was then the Church, which was daily increased by the addition of other persons received into it upon the same conditions, making up the multitude of them that believed, who were of one heart and one soul, believers added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women. [Acts 4:32, 5:14]

      But though the Church was thus begun, and represented unto us as one in the beginning, though that Church which we profess to believe in the Creed be also propounded unto us as one; and so the notion of the first Church in the Acts of the Apostles might seem sufficient to express the nature of that Church which we believe; yet because that Church was one by way of origination,* and was afterwards divided into many, the actual members of that one becoming the members of several Churches; and that Church which we believe, is otherwise one by way of complexion, receiving the members of all Churches into it; it will be necessary to consider, how at the first those several Churches were constituted, that we may understand how in this one Church they are all united.  To which purpose it will be farther fit to examine the several acceptions of this word, as it is diversely used by the Holy Ghost in the New Testament; that, if it be possible, nothing may escape our search, but that all things may be weighed, before we collect and conclude the full notion of the Church from thence.

      First then, That word which signifies the Church in the original Greek, is sometimes used in the vulgar sense according as the native Greeks did use the same to express their conventions, without any relation to the worship of God or Christ, and therefore is translated by the word Assembly, [Acts 19:32, 39, 41] of as great a latitude.  Secondly, It is sometimes used in the same notion in which the Greek translators of the Old Testament made use of it, for the Assembly of the people of God under the Law, [Acts. 7:38] and therefore might be most fitly translated the Congregation, [Heb. 2:12] as it is in the Old Testament.  Thirdly, It hath been conceived that even in the Scriptures it is sometimes taken for the place in which the members of the Church did meet to perform their solemn and public services ‘unto God [Acts 11:26, 1 Cor. 11:18, 22]; and some passages there are which seem to speak no less, but yet are not so certainly to be understood of the place, but that they may as well be spoken of the people congregated in a certain place.*  Beside these few different acceptions, the Church in the language of the New Testament doth always signify a company of persons professing the Christian faith, but not always in the same latitude.  Sometimes it admitteth of distinction and plurality; sometimes it reduceth all into conjunction and unity.  Sometimes the Churches of God are diversified as many; sometimes, as many as they are, they are all comprehended in one.

[M338]            For first in general there are often mentioned the Churches by way of plurality, the Churches of God, the Churches of the Gentiles, the Churches of the saints.*  In particular we find a few believers gathered together in the house of one single person, called a Church, as the Church in the house of Priscilla and Aquila,* the Church in the house of Nymphas, the Church in the house of Philemon; which Churches were nothing else but the believing and baptized persons of each family, with such as they admitted and received into their house to join in the worship of the same God. [Margin citations for this and the next paragraph: Acts 16:5, 1 Cor. 14:34, 2 Cor. 8:19, 23, 24; 2 Cor. 11:8, 28; 2 Cor. 12:13, Rev. 22:16, 1 Thess. 2:14, 1 Cor. 11:16, Rom. 16:4, 1 Cor. 14:33, Rom. 16:5, 1 Cor. 16:19, Col. 4:15; Philem. 2, Gal. 1:22, Acts 9:31, 1 Cor. 16:1, 19; Rev. 1:11, 1 Thess. 2:14; 2 Cor. 8:1, Gal. 1:2, 1 Cor. 14:34, 1 Cor. 1:2, Acts 8:1, 11:22, 13:1, 15:3, 18:22, 20:17; 2 Thess. 1:1, Col. 4:16, Rev. 2:8, 12, 18; Rev. 3:1, 7, 14]

      Again, When the Scripture speaketh of any country where the Gospel had been preached, it nameth always by way of plurality the Churches of that country, as the Churches of Judaea, of Samaria, and Galilee, the Churches of Syria and of Cilicia, the Churches of Galatia, the Churches of Asia, the Churches of Macedonia.  But notwithstanding there were several such Churches or congregations of believers in great and populous cities, yet the Scriptures always speak of such congregations in the notion of one Church: as when St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, Let your women keep silence in the Churches; yet the dedication of his Epistle is, Unto the Church of God which is at Corinth.  So we read not of the Churches, but the Church at Jerusalem, the Church at Antioch, the Church at Caesarea, the Church at Ephesus, the Church of the Thessalonians, the Church of Laodicea, the Church of Smyrna, the Church of Pergamus, the Church of Thyatira, the Church of Sardis, the Church of Philadelphia.*  From whence it appeareth that a collection of several congregations, every one of which is in some sense a Church, and may be called so, is properly one Church by virtue of the subordination of them all in one government under one ruler.  For thus in those great and populous cities where Christians were very numerous, not only all the several Churches within the cities, but those also in the adjacent parts, were united under the care and inspection of one bishop, and therefore was accounted one Church; the number of the Churches following the number of the angels, that is, the rulers of them, as is evident in the Revelation.

      Now as several Churches are reduced to the denomination of one Church, in relation to the single governor of those many Churches, so all the Churches of all cities and all nations in the world may be reduced to the same single denomination in relation to one supreme Governor of them all, and that one Governor is Christ the Bishop of our souls.  Wherefore the Apostle speaking of that in which all Churches do agree, comprehendeth them all under the same appellation of one Church; and therefore often by the name of Church are understood [M339] all Christians whatsoever belonging to any of the Churches dispersed through the distant and divided parts of the world.*  For the single persons professing faith in Christ are members of the particular Churches in which they live, and all those particular Churches are members of the general and universal Church, which is one by unity of aggregation; and this is the Church in the Creed which we believe, and which is in other Creeds expressly termed one,* I believe in one Holy Catholick Church.  [Margin citations for this paragraph: Matt. 16:18, 1 Cor. 12:28, 15:9; Gal. 1:13, Eph. 1:22, 3:10, 21; Eph. 5:23, 25, 27, 29, 32; Phil. 3:6, Col. 1:18, 24; Heb. 12:23]

      It will therefore be farther necessary for the understanding of the nature of the Church which is thus one, to consider in what that unity doth consist.  And being it is an aggregation not only of many persons, but also of many congregations, the unity thereof must consist in some agreement of them all, and adhesion to something which is one.  If then we reflect upon the first Church again, which we found constituted in the Acts, and to which all other since have been in a manner added and conjoined, we may collect from their union and agreement how all other Churches are united and agree.  Now they were described to be believing and baptized persons, converted to the faith by St. Peter, continuing stedfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.  These then were all built upon the same Rock, all professed the same faith, all received the same sacraments, all performed the same devotions, and thereby were all reputed members of the same Church. [Acts 2:41, 42, 44, 47]  To this Church were added daily such as should be saved, who became members of the same Church by being built upon the same Foundation, by adhering to the same doctrine, by receiving the same sacraments, by performing the same devotions.

      From whence it appeareth that the first unity of the Church considered in itself, (beside that of the head, which is one Christ, and the life communicated from that head, which is one Spirit) relieth upon the original of it, which is one; even as an house built upon one foundation, though consisting of many rooms, and every room of many stones, is not yet many, but one house.  Now there is but one foundation upon which the Church is built, and that is Christ: for other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. [1 Cor. 3:11]  And though the Apostles and the Prophets be also termed the foundation, yet even then the unity is preserved, because as they are stones in the foundation, so are they united by one cornerstone; whereby it comes to pass that such persons as are of the Church, being fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord. [Eph. 2:19–21]  This stone was laid in Zion for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation [Isa. 28:16]: there was the first Church built, and whosoever have been, or ever shall be converted to the true Christian faith, are and shall be added to that Church, and laid upon the same foundation, which is the unity of origination.*  Our Saviour gave the same power to all the Apostles, which was to found the Church; but he gave that power to Peter, to shew the unity of the same Church.

[M340]            Secondly, The Church is therefore one, though the members be many, because they all agree in one faith.  There is one Lord, and one faith, [Eph. 4:5] and that faith once delivered to the saints, [Jude 3] which whosoever shall receive, embrace, and profess, must necessarily be accounted one in reference to that profession.  For if a company of believers become a Church by believing, they must also become one Church by believing one truth.  If they be one in respect of the foundation, which is ultimately one; if we look upon Christ, which is mediately one; if we look upon the Apostles united in one cornerstone; if those which believe be therefore said to be built upon the foundation of the Apostles, because they believe the doctrine which the Apostles preached, and the Apostles be therefore said to be of the same foundation, and united to the cornerstone, because they all taught the same doctrine which they received from Christ; then they which believe the same doctrine delivered by Christ to all the Apostles, delivered by all the Apostles to believers, being all professors of the same faith, must be members of the same Church.  And this is the unity of faith.*

      Thirdly, Many persons and Churches, howsoever distinguished by time or place, are considered as one Church, because they acknowledge and receive the same sacraments, the signs and badges of the people of God.  When the Apostles were sent to found and build the Church, they received this commission, Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. [Matt. 28:19]  Now as there is but one Lord, and one faith, so also there is but one baptism; [Eph. 4:5] and consequently they which are admitted to it, in receiving it are one. Again, At the institution of the Lord’s Supper, Christ commanded, saying, Eat ye all of this, drink ye all of this; and all, by communicating of one, become as to that communication one.  For we being many are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread. [1 Cor. 10:17]  As therefore the Israelites were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, [1 Cor. 10:2–4] and thereby appeared to be the one people of God; so all believing persons, and all Churches congregated in the name of Christ, [M341] washed in the same laver of regeneration, eating of the same bread, and drinking of the same cup, are united in the same cognizance, and so known to be the same Church.  And this is the unity of the sacraments.

      Fourthly, Whosoever belongeth to any Church is some way called; and all which are so, are called in one hope of their calling [Eph. 4:4]: the same reward of eternal life is promised unto every person, and we all through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. [Gal. 5:5]  They therefore which depend upon the same God, and worship him all for the same end, the hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began, [Titus 1:2] having all the same expectation, may well be reputed the same Church.  And this is the unity of hope.

      Fifthly, They which are all of one mind, whatsoever the number of their persons be, they are in reference to that mind but one; as all the members, howsoever different, yet being animated by one soul, become one body.  Charity is of a fastening and uniting nature; nor can we call those many, who endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  By this, said our Saviour, shall all men know that ye are my Disciples, if ye have love one to another. [Eph. 4:3, John 13:35]  And this is the unity of charity.*

      Lastly, All the Churches of God are united into one by the unity of discipline and government, by virtue whereof the same Christ ruleth in them all.  For they have all the same pastoral guides appointed, authorized, sanctified, and set apart by the appointment of God, by the direction of the Spirit, to direct and lead the people of God in the same way of eternal salvation : as therefore there is no Church where there is no order, no ministry;* so where the same order and ministry is, there is the same Church.  And this is the unity of regiment and discipline.*

      By these means and for these reasons, millions of persons and multitudes of congregations are united into one body, and become one Church.*  And thus under the name of Church expressed in this Article, I understand a body, or collection of human persons professing faith in Christ, gathered together in several places of the world for the worship of the same God, and united into the same corporation by the means aforesaid.  And this I conceive sufficient to declare the true notion of the Church as such, which is here the object of our faith; it remaineth therefore that we next consider the existence of the Church, which is acknowledged in the act of faith applied to this object.  For when I profess and say, I believe a Church, it is not only an acknowledgment of a Church which hath been, or of a Church which shall be, but also of that which is.  When I say, I believe in Christ dead, I acknowledge that death which once was, and now is not: for Christ once died, but now is not dead.  When I say, I believe the resurrection of the body, I acknowledge that which never yet was, and is not now, but shall hereafter be.  Thus the act of faith is applicated to the object according to the nature of it; to what is already past, as past; to what is to come, as still to come; to that which is present, as it is still present.  Now that which was then past, when the Creed was made, must necessarily be always past, and so believed for ever; that which shall never come to pass until the end of the world, when this public profession of faith [M342] shall cease, that must for ever be believed as still to come.  But that which was when the Creed began, and was to continue till that Creed shall end, is proposed to our belief in every age as being: and thus ever since the first Church was constituted, the Church itself, as being, was the object of the faith of the Church believing.

      The existence therefore of the Church of Christ, (as that Church before is understood by us) is the continuation of it in an actual being, from the first collection in the Apostles’ times unto the consummation of all things.  And therefore to make good this explication of the Article, it will be necessary to prove that the Church, which our Saviour founded and the Apostles gathered, was to receive a constant and perpetual accession, and by a successive augmentation be uninterruptedly continued in an actual existence of believing persons and congregations in all ages unto the end of the world.

      Now this indeed is a proper object of faith, because it is grounded only upon the promise of God; there can be no other assurance of the perpetuity of this Church, but what we have from him that built it.  The Church is not of such a nature as would necessarily, once begun, preserve itself for ever.  Many thousand persons have fallen totally and finally from the faith professed, and so apostatized from the Church.  Many particular Churches have been wholly lost, many candlesticks have been removed; neither is there any particular Church which hath any power to continue itself more or longer than others; and consequently, if all particulars be detectible, the universal Church must also be subject of itself unto the same defectibility.

      But though the providence of God doth suffer many particular Churches to cease, yet the promise of the same God will never permit that all of them at once shall perish.  When Christ spake first particularly to St. Peter, he sealed his speech with a powerful promise of perpetuity, saying, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. [Matt. 16:18]  When he spake generally to all the rest of the Apostles to the same purpose, Go teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; he added a promise to the same effect, and, lo, am with you alway, even to the end of the world. [Matt. 28:19, 20]  The first of these promises assureth us of the continuance of the Church, because it is built upon a rock; for our Saviour had expressed this before, Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock : and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell not : for it was founded upon a rock. [Matt 7:24, 25]  The Church of Christ is the house of Christ; for he hath builded the house, and is as a Son over his own house, whose house are we [Heb. 3:3, 6]; and as a wise man, he hath built his house upon a rock, and what is so built shall not fall.  The latter of these promises giveth not only an assurance of the continuance of the Church, but also the cause of that continuance, which is the presence of Christ.*  Where two or three are gathered together in the name of Christ, there he is in the midst of them, [Matt. 18:20] and thereby they become a Church; for they are as a builded house, and the Son within that house.  Wherefore being Christ [M343] doth promise his presence unto the Church, even to the end of the world, he doth thereby assure us of the existence of the Church, until that time, of which his presence is the cause.  Indeed this is the city of the Lord of hosts, the city of our God, God will establish it for ever;* [Ps. 48:8] as the great Prophet of the Church hath said.

      Upon the certainty of this truth, the existence of the Church hath been propounded as an object of our faith in every age of Christianity; and so it shall be still unto the end of the world.  For those which are believers are the Church ; and therefore if they do believe, they must believe there is a Church.  And thus having shewed in what the nature of a Church consisteth, and proved that a Church of that nature is of perpetual and indefectible existence by virtue of the promises of Christ, I have done all which can be necessary for the explication of this part of the Article, I believe the Church.

      After the consideration of that which is the subject in this Article, followeth the explication of the affections thereof; which are two, sanctity and universality; the one attributed unto it by the Apostles, the other by the Fathers of the Church: by the first the Church is denominated Holy, by the second Catholick.  Now the Church which we have described may be called holy in several respects, and for several reasons: first, in reference to the vocation by which all the members thereof are called and separated from the rest of the world to God; which separation in the language of the Scriptures is a sanctification: and so the calling being holy, (for God hath called us with an holy calling, [2 Tim. 1:9]) the body which is separated and congregated thereby, may well be termed holy.  Secondly, in relation to the offices appointed and the powers exercised in the Church, which by their institution and operation are holy, that Church for which they were appointed, and in which they are exercised, may be called holy.  Thirdly, because whosoever is called to profess faith in Christ, is thereby engaged to holiness of life, according to the words of the Apostle, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity [2 Tim. 2:19]: for those namers of the name, or named by the name, of Christ, are such as called on his name; and that was the description of the Church; as when Saul did persecute the Church, it is said he had authority from the chief priests to bind all that called upon the name of Christ; [Acts 9:14, 20. 21.  Vide 1 Cor. 1:2] and when he preached Christ in the synagogues, all that heard him said, Is not this he who destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem?  Being then all within the Church are by their profession obliged to such holiness of life, in respect of this obligation, the whole Church may be termed holy.*   Fourthly, in regard the end of constituting a Church in God was for the purchasing an holy and a precious people; and the great design thereof was for the begetting and increasing holiness, that as God is originally holy in himself, so he might communicate his sanctity to the sons of men, whom he intended to bring unto the fruition of himself, unto which, without a previous sanctification, they can never approach, because without holiness no man shall ever see God. [Heb. 12:14]

      For these four reasons, the whole Church of God, as it containeth in it all the persons which were called to the profession of the faith of Christ, or were baptized in his name, may well be termed and believed holy.  But the Apostle hath also delivered another kind of holiness which cannot belong unto the Church taken in so great a latitude.  For, saith he, Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water, by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. [Eph. 5:25–27]  Now though [M344] it may be conceived that Christ did love the whole Church, as it did any way contain all such as ever called upon his name, and did give himself for all of them; yet we cannot imagine that the whole body of all men could ever be so holy, as to be without spot, wrinkle, blemish, or any such thing.  It will be therefore necessary, within the great complex body of the universal Church, to find that Church to which this absolute holiness doth belong: and to this purpose it will be fit to consider both the difference of the persons contained in the Church, as it hath been hitherto described, while they continue in this life, and their different conditions after death; whereby we shall at last discover in what persons this holiness is inherent really, in what condition it is inherent perfectly, and consequently in what other sense it may be truly and properly affirmed that the Church is holy.

      Where first we must observe that the Church, as it embraceth all the professors of the true faith of Christ, containeth in it not only such as do truly believe and are obedient to the word, but those also which are hypocrites, and profane.  Many profess the faith, which have no true belief; many have some kind of faith, which live with no correspondence to the Gospel preached.  Within therefore the notion of the Church are comprehended good and bad, being both externally called, and both professing the same faith.  For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a field in which wheat and tares grow together into the harvest; like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind [Matt. 13:24, 30, 47]; like unto a floor in which is laid up wheat and chaff [Matt. 3:12]; like unto a marriage feast, in which some have on the wedding garment, [Matt. 22:11] and some not.  This is that ark of Noah [Gen. 7:2] in which were preserved beasts clean and unclean.  This is that great house in which there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honour and some to dishonour.* [2 Tim. 2:20]  There are many called, of all which the Church consisteth, but there are few chosen [Matt. 22:14] of those which are called, and thereby within the Church. I conclude therefore, as the ancient Catholicks did against the Donatists,* that within the Church, in the public profession and external communion thereof, are contained persons truly good and sanctified, and hereafter saved; and together with them other persons void of all saving grace, and hereafter to be damned: and that Church containing these of both kinds may well be called holy, as St. Matthew called Jerusalem the holy city, even at that time when our Saviour did but begin to preach, when we know there was in that city a general corruption in manners and worship.

      Of these promiscuously contained in the Church, such as are void of all saving grace while they live, and communicate with the rest of the Church, and when they pass out of this life, die in their sins, and remain under the eternal wrath of God; as they were not in their persons holy while they lived, so are they no way of the Church after their death, neither as members of it, nor as contained in it.  Through their own demerit they fall [M345] short of the glory unto which they were called, and being by death separated from the external communion of the Church, and having no true internal communion with the members and the head thereof, are totally and finally cut off from the Church of Christ.  On the contrary, such as are efficaciously called, justified, and sanctified, while they live are truly holy, and when they die are perfectly holy; nor are they by their death separated from the Church, but remain united still by virtue of that internal union by which they were before conjoined both to the members and the head.  As therefore the Church is truly holy, not only by an holiness of institution, but also by a personal sanctity in reference to these saints while they live, so is it also perfectly holy, in relation to the same saints glorified in heaven.  And at the end of the world, when all the wicked shall be turned into hell, and consequently all cut off from the communion of the Church; when the members of the Church remaining being perfectly sanctified, shall be eternally glorified, then shall the whole Church be truly and perfectly holy.

      Then shall that be completely fulfilled, that Christ shall present unto himself a glorious Church, which shall be holy and without blemish. [Eph. 5:27]  Not that there are two Churches of Christ; one, in which good and bad are mingled together; another, in which there are good alone: one, in which the saints are imperfectly holy; another, in which they are perfectly such: but one and the same Church, in relation to different times, admitteth or not admitteth the permixtion of the wicked, or the imperfection of the godly.*  To conclude, the Church of God is universally holy in respect of all, by institutions and administrations of sanctity; the same Church is really holy in this world, in relation to all godly persons contained in it, by a real infused sanctity; the same is farther yet at the same time perfectly holy in reference to the saints departed and admitted to the presence of God; and the same Church shall hereafter be most completely holy in the world to come, when all the members actually belonging to it shall be at once perfected in holiness and completed in happiness.  And thus I conceive the affection of sanctity sufficiently explicated.

      The next affection of the Church is that of universality, I believe the holy CATHOLICK Church.  Now the word Catholick, as it is not read in the Scriptures, so was it not anciently in the Creed, (as we have already shewn) but being inserted by the Church, must necessarily be interpreted by the sense which the most ancient Fathers had of it, and that sense must be confirmed, so far as it is consentient with the Scriptures.  To grant then that the word was not used by the Apostles,* we must also acknowledge that it was most anciently in use among the primitive Fathers, and that as to several intents.  For, first,. they called the Epistles of St. James, St. Peter, St. John, St. Jude, the Catholick Epistles,* because when the Epistles written by St. Paul were directed to particular Churches congregated in particular cities, these were either sent to the Churches dispersed through a great part of the world, or directed to the whole Church of God upon the face of the whole earth.  Again, we observe the Fathers to use the word Catholick for nothing [M346] else but general or universal, in the original or vulgar sense; as the Catholick resurrection is the resurrection of all men, the Catholick opinion the opinion of all men.*  Sometimes it was used as a word of state, signifying an Officer which collected the Emperor’s revenue in several provinces, united into one diocese; who, because there were particular officers belonging to the particular provinces, and all under him, was therefore called the Catholicus,* as general Procurator of them all, from whence that title was by some transferred upon the Christian Patriarchs.

      When this title is attributed to the Church, it hath not always the same notion or signification; for when by the Church is understood the house of God, or place in which the worship of God is performed, then by the Catholick Church is meant no more than the common Church, into which all such persons as belonged to that parish in which it was built were wont to congregate.  For where monasteries were in use, as there were separate habitations for men, and distinct for women, so were there also Churches for each distinct; and in the parishes, where there was no distinction of sexes, as to habitation, there was a common Church which received them both, and therefore called Catholick.*

      Again, When the Church is taken for the persons making [M347] profession of the Christian faith, the Catholick is often added in opposition to heretics and schismatics, expressing a particular Church continuing in the true faith with the rest of the Church of God, as the Catholick Church in Smyrna, the Catholick Church in Alexandria.*

      Now being these particular Churches could not be named Catholick as they were particular, in reference to this or that city in which they were congregated, it followeth that they were called Catholick by their coherence and conjunction with that Church which was properly and originally called so;* which is the Church taken in that acception which we have already delivered.  That Church which was built upon the Apostles as upon the foundation, congregated by their preaching and by their baptizing, receiving continued accession, and disseminated in several parts of the earth, containing within it numerous congregations, all which were truly called Churches, as members of the same Church; that Church, I say, was after some time called the Catholick Church, that is to say, the name Catholick was used by the Greeks to signify the whole.  For being every particular congregation professing the name of Christ, was from the beginning called a Church; being likewise all such congregations considered together were originally comprehended under the name of the Church; being these two notions of the word were different, it came to pass that for distinction sake at first they called the Church, taken in the large and comprehensive sense, by as large and comprehensive a name, the Catholick Church.*

      Although this seem the first intention of those which gave the [M348] name Catholick to the Church, to signify thereby nothing else but the whole or universal Church, yet those which followed did signify by the same that affection of the Church which floweth from the nature of it, and may be expressed by that word.  At first they called the whole Church Catholick, meaning no more than the universal Church; but having used that term some space of time, they considered how the nature of the Church was to be universal, and in what that universality did consist.

      As far then as the ancient Fathers have expressed themselves, and as far as their expressions are agreeable with the descriptions of the Church delivered in the Scriptures, so far, I conceive, we may safely conclude that the Church of Christ is truly Catholick, and that the truly Catholick Church is the true Church of Christ, which must necessarily be sufficient for the explication of this affection, which we acknowledge when we say, we believe the Catholick Church.

      The most obvious and most general notion of this Catholicism consisteth in the diffusiveness of the Church, grounded upon the commission given to the builders of it, Go teach all nations, [Matt. 28:19] whereby they and their successors were authorized and empowered to gather congregations of believers, and so to extend the borders of the Church unto the utmost parts of the earth.  The synagogue of the Jews especially consisted of one nation, and the public worship of God was confined to one country.  In Judah was God known, and Isis name was great in Israel; in Salem was his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Sion.  He shewed his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel; he halt not dealt so with any nation. [Ps. 76:1, 2; Ps. 147:19, 20]  The temple was the only place in which the sacrifices could be offered, in which the priests could perform their office of ministration; and so under the Law there was an enclosure divided from all the world besides.  But God said unto his Son, I will give the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth ,for thy possession. [Ps. 2:8]  And Christ commanded the Apostles, saying, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature: that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. [Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47]  Thus the Church of Christ, in its primary institution, was made to be of a diffusive nature, to spread and extend itself from the city of Jerusalem, where it first began, to all the parts and corners of the earth.  From whence we find them in the Revelation crying to the Lamb, Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. [Rev. 5:9]  This reason did the ancient Fathers render why the Church was called Catholick,* and the nature of the Church is so described in the Scriptures.

      Secondly, They called the Church of Christ the Catholick Church, because it teacheth all things which are necessary for a Christian to know, whether they be things in heaven or things in earth, whether they concern the condition of man in this life, or in the life to come.  As the Holy Ghost did lead the Apostles into all truth, [John 16:13] so did the Apostles leave all truth unto the Church, which teaching all the same, may well be called [M349] Catholick, from the universality of necessary and saving truths retained in it.*

      Thirdly, The Church hath been thought fit to be called Catholick in reference to the universal obedience which it prescribeth; both in respect of the persons, obliging men of all conditions;* and in relation to the precepts, requiring the performance of all the evangelical commands.*

      Fourthly, The Church hath been yet further called or reputed Catholick, by reason of all graces given in it,* whereby all diseases of the soul are healed, and spiritual virtues are disseminated, all the works and words and thoughts of men are regulated, till we become perfect men in Christ Jesus.

      In all these four acceptions did some of the ancient Fathers understand the Church of Christ to be Catholick, and every one of them doth certainly belong unto it.  Wherefore I conclude that this Catholicism, or second affection of the Church, consisteth generally in universality, as embracing all sorts of persons, as to be disseminated through all nations, as comprehending all ages, as containing all necessary and saving truths, as obliging all conditions of men to all kind of obedience, as curing all diseases, and planting all graces, in the souls of men.

      The necessity of believing the Holy Catholick Church appeareth first in this, that Christ hath appointed it as the only way unto eternal life.  We read at the first, that the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved [Acts 2:47]; and what was then daily done, hath been done since continually.  Christ never appointed two ways to heaven; nor did he build a Church to save some, and make another institution for other men’s salvation.  There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, [Acts 4:12] but the name of Jesus; and that name is no otherwise given under heaven than in the Church.  As none were saved from the deluge but such as were within the ark of Noah, framed for their reception by the command of God; as none of the firstborn of Egypt lived, but such as were within those habitations, whose doorposts were sprinkled with blood by the appointment of God for their preservation; as none of [M350] the inhabitants of Jericho could escape the fire or sword, but such as were within the house of Rahab, for whose protection a covenant was made: so none shall ever escape the eternal wrath of God, which belong not to the Church of God.  This is the congregation of those persons here on earth which shall hereafter meet in heaven.  These are the vessels of the tabernacle carried up and down, at last to be translated into, and fixed in, the temple.

      Secondly, It is necessary to believe the Church of Christ which is but one, that being in it we may take care never to cast ourselves, or be ejected, out of it.  There is a power within the Church to cast those out which do belong to it; for if any neglect to hear the Church, [Matt. 18:17] saith our Saviour, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.  By great and scandalous offences, by incorrigible misdemeanours, we may incur the censure of the church of God; and while we are shut out by them, we stand excluded out of heaven.  For our Saviour said to his Apostles, upon whom he built his Church, Whosesoerer sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained. [John 20:23]  Again, a man may not only passively and involuntarily be ejected, but also may by an act of his own cast out or eject himself, not only by plain and complete apostasy, but by a defection from the unity of truth falling into some damnable heresy; or by an active separation, deserting all which are in communion with the Catholick Church, and falling into an irrecoverable schism.

      Thirdly, It is necessary to believe the Church of Christ to be holy, lest we should presume to obtain any happiness by being of it, without that holiness which is required in it.  It is not enough that the end, institution, and administration of the Church are holy: but, that there may be some real and permanent advantage received by it, it is necessary that the persons abiding in the communion of it should be really and effectually sanctified.  Without which holiness, the privileges of the Church prove the greatest disadvantages; and the means of salvation neglected, tend to a punishment with aggravation.  It is not only vain but pernicious to attend at the marriage feast without a wedding garment ; and it is our Saviour’s description of folly to cry, Lord, Lord, open unto us, [Matt. 25:11] while we are without oil in our lamps.  We must acknowledge a necessity of holiness, when we confess that Church alone which is holy can make us happy.

      Fourthly, There is a necessity of believing the Catholick Church, because except a man be of that, he can be of none.*  For being the Church which is truly Catholick containeth within it all which are truly Churches, whosoever is not of the Catholick Church, cannot be of the true Church.  That Church alone which first began at Jerusalem on earth, will bring us to the Jerusalem in heaven; and that alone began there which always embraceth the faith once delivered to the saints. [Jude 3]  Whatsoever Church pretendeth to a new beginning, pretendeth at the same time to a new Churchdom, and whatsoever is so new is none.  So necessary it is to believe the holy Catholick Church.

      Having thus far explicated the first part of this Article, I conceive every person sufficiently furnished with means of instruction what they ought to intend when they profess to believe the holy Catholick Church.  For thereby every one is understood to declare thus much: I am fully persuaded, and make a free confession of this, as of a necessary and infallible truth, that Christ, by the preaching of the Apostles, did gather unto himself a Church, consisting of thousands of believing persons and numerous congregations, to which he daily added such as should be saved, and will successively and daily add unto the same unto the end of the world: so that by the virtue of his all-sufficient promise, I am assured that there was, hath been hitherto, [M351] and now is, and hereafter shall be, so long as the sun and moon endure, a Church of Christ one and the same.  This Church I believe in general holy in respect of the author, end, institution, and administration of it; particularly in the members here I acknowledge it really, and in the same hereafter perfectly, holy.  I look upon this Church not like that of the Jews, limited to one people, confined to one nation, but by the appointment and command of Christ, and by the efficacy of his assisting power, to be disseminated through all nations, to be extended to all places, to be propagated to all ages, to contain in it all truths necessary to be known, to exact absolute obedience from all men to the commands of Christ, and to furnish us with all graces necessary to make our persons acceptable, and our actions well-pleasing, in the sight of God.  And thus I believe the Holy Clotholick Church.

The Communion of Saints.

      This part of the Article beareth something a later date* than any of the rest, but yet is no way inferior to the other in relation to the certainty of the truth thereof.  And the late admission of it into the Creed will be thus far advantageous, that thereby we may be the better assured of the true intent of it, as it is placed in the Creed.  For it will be no way fit to give any other explication of these words as the sense of the Creed, than what was then understood by the Church of God, when they were first inserted.

      If we look upon the first institution of the Church, and the original condition of those persons which received the Gospel, how they were all together, and had all things common [Acts 2:44, 45]; how they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men as every man had need; how St. Paul urged an equality, that the abundance of some might supply the want of others, as it was written, He that had gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack [2 Cor. 8:14, 15]: we might well conceive that the communion (which word might be taken for communication) of the saints, may signify the great charity, bounty, and community among the people of God.*

      But being that community, precisely taken, was not of eternal obligation, nor actually long continued in the Church, being I conceive this Article doth not wholly look upon that which is already past; and especially, being I think neither that custom, nor that notion was then generally received in the Church, when this communion of saints was first inserted, I shall therefore endeavour to shew that communion which is attributed to the saints both according to the Fathers who have delivered it, and according to the Scriptures from whence they derived it.

      Now all communion being between such as are some way different and distinct, the communion of the saints may either be conceived between them and others, or between themselves; [M352] between them and others, as differing from them, either in their nature or their sanctity; between themselves, as distinct in person only, or condition also.  Wherefore if we can first understand who, or what kind of persons these are which are called saints, with whom beside themselves, and how among themselves, in this relation as they are the saints, they have communion; and lastly, in what the nature of that communion in each respect consisteth; I know not what can be thought wanting to the perfect explication of the communion of saints.

      That we may understand what communion the saints have with others, it will be necessary first to consider what it is to be a saint, in what the true nature of saintship doth consist, by what the saints are distinguished from others.  Again, that we may understand what communion the saints have with or among themselves, it will be farther necessary to consider who are those persons to which that title doth belong, what are the various conditions of them, that we may be able to comprehend all such as are true saints, and thence conclude the communion between them all.

      I take it first for granted, that though the Greek word, which we translate saints, be in itself as applicable to things, as persons;* yet in this Article it signifieth not holy things, but holy ones, that is, persons holy.  Secondly, I take it also for granted, that the singular Holy One, the Holy One of Israel, the Fountain of all sanctity, the Sanctifier of all saints, is not comprehended in the Article, though the communion of the holy ones with that singular, eminent, and transcendent Holy One* be contained in it.  Thirdly, I take it farther for granted that the word in this Article which we translate saints is not taken in the original of the Creed, as it is often taken in the translation of the Old Testament, for the sanctuary,* as if the communion were nothing else but a right of communicating or participating of the holy things of God.  Lastly, I take it also for granted, that although the blessed and holy angels are sometimes called in the Scriptures by the name of saints*, yet they are not those saints who are here said to have the communion, though the saints have communion with them.

      For this part of the Article hath a manifest relation to the former, in which we profess to believe the holy Church; which Church is therefore holy, because those persons are such, or ought to be, which are within it, the Church itself being nothing else but a collection of such persons.  To that confession is added this communion; but because though the Church be holy, yet every person contained in it is not truly so, therefore is added this part of the Article which concerneth those who are truly such.  There is therefore no doubt but the saints mentioned here are members of the Church of Christ, as we have described it, built upon the Apostles, laid upon the foundation [M353] of their doctrine, who do not only profess the Gospel, but also are sanctified thereby.

      The only question then remaining is, in what their sanctity or saintship doth consist, and (because, though they which are believers since our Saviour’s death be truly and more highly sanctified, yet such as lived before and under the Law, the Patriarchs, the Prophets, and the servants of God, were so called, and were truly named the saints of God) who were the persons which are capable of that denomination.

      Now being God himself hath given a rule unto his people, which is both in the nature of a precept and of a pattern: (Be ye holy, as I the Lord your God am holy: Be ye holy, there is the command; as the Lord your God is holy, there is the rule [Lev. 19:2, 21:8]) being it is impossible that we should have the same sanctity which is in God, it will be necessary to declare what is this holiness which maketh men to be accounted holy ones, and to be called saints.

      The true notion of saints is expressed by Moses, both as to the subject, and the affection or qualification of it ; for they are called by him men of holiness [Exod. 22:31]; such are the persons understood in this Article, which is the communion of men of holiness.  Now holiness in the first acception of it signifieth separation, and that with the relation of a double term, of one from which the separation is made, of the other to which that which is separated is applied.  Those things which were counted holy under the Law were separated from common use, and applied to the service of God; and their sanctity was nothing else but that separation from and to those terms, from an use and exercise profane and common, to an use and exercise peculiar and divine.  Thus all such persons as are called from the vulgar and common condition of the world unto any peculiar service or relation unto God, are thereby denominated holy, and in some sense receive the name of saints.  The penmen of the Old Testament do often speak of the people of Israel as of an holy nation, and God doth speak unto them as to a people holy unto himself; because he had chosen them out of all the nations of the world, and appropriated them to himself.  Although therefore most of that nation were rebellious to him which called them, and void of all true inherent and actual sanctity; yet because they were all in that manner separated, they were all, as to that separation, called holy.  In the like manner those of the New Testament writing to such as were called, and had received, and were baptized in, the faith, give unto them all the name of saints, as being in some manner such, by being called and baptized.  For being baptism is a washing away of sin, and the purification from sin is a proper sanctification; being every one who is so called and baptized is thereby separated from the rest of the world which are not so, and all such separation is some kind of sanctification; being, though the work of grace be not perfectly wrought, yet when the means are used, without something appearing to the contrary, we ought to presume of the good effect; therefore all such as have been received into the Church, may be in some sense called holy.

      But because there is more than an outward vocation, and a charitable presumption, necessary to make a man holy; therefore we must find some other qualification which must make him really and truly such, not only by an extrinsical denomination, but by a real and internal affection.  What this sanctity is, and who are capable of this title properly, we must learn out of the Gospel of Christ: by which alone, ever since the Church of Christ was founded, any man can become a saint.  Now by the tenure of the Gospel we shall find that those are truly and properly saints which are sanctified in Christ Jesus [1 Cor. 1:2]: first, in respect of their holy faith, by which they are regenerated; for whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God [1 John 5:1]: by [M354] which they are purged, God himself purifying their hearts by faith, [Acts 15:9] whereby they are washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, in whom also after that they believe, [1 Cor. 6:11] they are sealed with the holy Spirit of promise. [Eph. 1:13]  Secondly, in respect of their conversation: for as he which hath called them is holy, so are they holy in all manner of conversation: adding to their faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity, that they may neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. [1 Pet. 1:15, 2 Pet. 1:5–8]  Such persons then as are called by a holy calling, and not disobedient unto it; such as are endued with a holy faith, and purified thereby; such as are sanctified by the holy Spirit of God, and by virtue thereof do lead a holy life, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, [2 Cor. 7:1] such persons, I say, are really and truly saints; and being of the Church of Christ, (as all such now must of necessity be,) are the proper subject of this part of the Article, the communion of saints, as it is added to the former, the holy Catholick Church.

      Now as these are the saints of the Church of Christ, from whence they were called the Churches of the saints [1 Cor. 14:33]; so there was never any Church of God but there were such persons in it as were saints: we read in the Psalms of the congregation and the assembly of the saints;* [Ps. 89:5, 7] and Moses assured the people of Israel that all the saints of God were in his hand [Deut. 33:3]: we read in the Prophets of the saints of the Most High [Dan. 7:25]; and at our Saviour’s death the bodies of such saints which slept arose. [Matt. 27:52]  Where again we may observe that they were saints while their bodies were in the grave; as Aaron in the time of David kept the name of the Saint of the Lord. [Ps. 106:16]  Such as are holy in their lives do not lose their sanctity, but improve it at their deaths; nor can they lose the honour of that appellation, while that which gives it doth acquire perfection.

      Hence grows that necessary distinction of the saints on earth, and the saints in heaven; the first belonging to the militant, the second to the triumphant Church.  Of the first the prophet David speaketh expressly, Thou art my Lord; my goodness extendeth not to thee, but to the saints that are in the earth [Ps. 16:2, 3]: of these do we read in the Acts of the Apostles, to these did St. Paul direct his Epistles.  Of the second doth the Apostles make that question, Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? [1 Cor. 6:2]  And all those which were spoken of as saints then in earth, if truly such, and departed so, are now, and shall for ever continue, saints in heaven.

      Having thus declared what is the sanctity required to make a saint, that is, a man of holiness; having also distinguished the saints before and under the Gospel, (which difference is only observable as to this exposition of the Creed) and again distinguishing the same saints while they live here with men on earth, and when after death they live with God in heaven; having also shewed that of all these, those saints are here particularly understood who in all ages lived in the Church of Christ; we may now properly descend to the next consideration, which is, who are those persons with whom those saints have this communion, and in what the communion which they have consists.

      First then, The saints of God living in the Church of Christ have communion with God the Father: for the Apostles did therefore write that they to whom they wrote might have communion with them, (that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us, [1 John 1:3] saith St. John) and did at the same time declare that their communion was with the Father.  Wherefore being all the saints of God under the [M355] Gospel receiving the doctrine of the Apostles have communion with them; being the communion of the Apostles was the communion with the Father: it followeth that all the saints of God under the Gospel have a communion with God the Father.  As we are the branches of the Vine, so the Father is the Husbandman; and thus the saints partake of his care and inspection.  As Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God [Jam. 2:23]; so all which are heirs of the faith of Abraham are made partakers of the same relation.  Nor are we only friends, but also sons; for behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. [1 John 3:1]  Thus must we acknowledge that the saints of God have communion with the Father, because by the great and precious promises given unto them, they become partakers of the divine nature. [1 Pet. 1:4]

      Secondly, The saints of God living in the Church of God have communion with the Son of God: for, as the Apostle said, our communion is with the Father and the Son [1 John 1:3]; and this connection is infallible, because he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son [2 John 9]; and our Saviour prayed for all such as should believe on him through the word of the Apostles, that they might be one, as the Father is one in him, and he in the Father, that they also may be one in both [John 17:20, 21, 23]: I in them, saith Christ, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.  This communion of the saints with the Son of God is, as most evident, so most remarkable.  He hath taken unto him our nature and infirmities; he hath taken upon him our sins, and the curse due unto them; while we all have received of his fullness, grace for grace [John 1:16]; and are all called to the fellowship of his sufferings, that we may be conformable to his death. [Phil. 3:10]  What is the fellowship of brethren and coheirs, of the bridegroom and the spouse; what is the communion of members with the head, of branches with the vine, that is the communion of saints with Christ.  For God hath called us unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. [1 Cor. 1:9]

      Thirdly, The saints of God in the Church of Christ have communion with the Holy Ghost: and the Apostle hath two ways assured us of the truth thereof, one rhetorically, by a seeming doubt, if there be any fellowship of the Spirit [Phil. 2:1]; the other devoutly, praying for it, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. [2 Cor. 13:14]  The saints are therefore such, because they partake of the Holy Ghost; for they are therefore holy because they are sanctified, and it is the Spirit alone which sanctifieth.  Beside, the communion with the Father and the Son is wrought by the communication of the Spirit; for hereby do we become the sons of God, in that we have received the Spirit of adoption, Whereby we cry, Abba, Father [Rom. 8:15]; and thereby do we become coheirs with Christ, in that because we are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father; so that we are no more servants, but sons; and if sons, then heirs of God through Christ. [Gal. 4:6, 7]  This is the communion which the saints enjoy with the three Persons of the blessed Trinity; this is the heavenly fellowship represented unto entertaining Abraham, when the Lord appeared unto him, and three men stood by him [Gen. 18:1, 2]: for our Saviour hath made us this most precious promise, If any man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. [John 14:23]  Here is the soul of man made the habitation of God the Father, and of God the Son; and the presence of the Spirit cannot be wanting where those two are inhabiting; for if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. [Rom. 8:9]  The Spirit therefore with the: Father and the Son inhabiteth in the saints; for know ye not, saith the Apostle, that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit. of God dwelleth, in you? [1 Cor. 3:16]

      Fourthly, The saints of God in the Church of Christ have [M356] communion with the holy angels.  They who did foretell the birth of John the forerunner of Christ, they who did annunciate unto the blessed Virgin the conception of the Saviour of the world, they who sung a glorious hymn at the nativity of the Son of God, they who carried the soul of Lazarus into Abraham’s bosom, they who appeared unto Christ from heaven in his agony to strengthen him, they who opened the prison doors and brought the Apostles forth, they who at the end of the world shall sever the wicked from among the just, and gather together the elect of God, certainly they have a constant and perpetual relation to the children of God.  Nay, are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shalt be heirs of salvation? [Heb. 1:14]  They have a particular sense of our condition, for Christ hath assured us that there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. [Luke 15:10]  And upon this relation the angels, who are all the angels, that is, the messengers, of God, are yet called the angels of men, according to the admonition of Christ, Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. [Matt. 18:10]

      Thus far have we considered the communion of saints with such as are distinguished from them by nature as they are men; the fellowship which they have in heaven with God, and his holy angels, while they are on earth.  Our next consideration will be, what is the communion which they have with those who are of the same nature, but not partakers of the same holiness with them.

      Fifthly, therefore, The saints of God, while they are of the Church of Christ on earth, have some kind of communion with those men which are not truly saints.  There were not hypocrites among the Jews alone, but in the Church of Christ many cry, Lord, Lord, whom he knoweth not.  The tares have the privilege of the field, as well as the wheat; and the bad fish of: the net, as well as the good.  The saints have communion with hypocrites in all things with which the distinction of a saint and hypocrite can consist.  They communicate in the same water, both externally baptized alike; they communicate in the same Creed, both make the same open profession of faith, both agree in the acknowledgment of the same principles of religion; they communicate in the same word, both hear the same doctrine preached; they communicate at the same table, both eat the same bread, and drink the wine, which Christ hath appointed to be received: but the hypocrite doth not communicate with the saint in the same saving grace, in the same true faith working by love, and in the same renovation of mind and spirit; for then he were not an hypocrite, but a saint: a saint doth not communicate with the hypocrite in the same sins, in the same lurking infidelity, in the same unfruitfulness under the means of grace, in the same false pretence and empty form of godliness; for then he were not a saint, but an hypocrite.  Thus thee saints may communicate with the wicked, so they communicate not with their wickedness, and may have fellowship with sinners, so they have no fellowship with that which makes them such, that is, their sins.  The Apostle’s command runneth thus, Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness;* [Eph. 5:11] and again, Be not partakers of other men’s sins [1 Tim. 5:22]: and a voice from heaven spake concerning Babylon, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins. [Rev. 18:4]  To communicate with sin is sin, but to communicate with a sinner in that which is not sin, can be no sin; because the one defileth, and the other cannot, and that which defileth not is no sin.

[M357]            Having thus considered those who differ from the saints of God; first, in respect of their humanity, as they are men; secondly, in reference to their sanctity, as they are men of holiness: we are now to consider such as differ either only in person, as the saints alive; or in present condition also, as the saints departed.

      Sixthly, therefore, The saints of God living in the Church of Christ have communion with all the saints living in the same Church.  If we walk in the light, we have fellowship one with another [1 John 1:7]; we all have benefit of the same ordinances, all partake of the same promises, we are all endued with the graces of the same Spirit, all united with the same mutual love and affection, keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace [Eph. 4:3]; all engrafted into the same stock, and so receiving life from the same root; all holding the same head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. [Col. 2:19]  For in the philosophy of the Apostle, the nerves are not only the instruments of motion and sensation, but of nutrition also; so that every member receiveth nourishment by their intervention from the head; and being the head of the body is Christ, and all the saints are members of that body, they all partake of the same nourishment, and so have all communion among themselves.

      Lastly, The saints of God living in the Church of Christ, are in communion with all the saints departed out of this life and admitted to the presence of God.*  Jerusalem sometimes is taken for the Church on earth, sometimes for that part of the Church which is in heaven, to shew that as both are represented by one, so both are but one city of God.  Wherefore thus doth the Apostle speak to such as are called to the Christian faith, Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant. [Heb. 12:22–24]  Indeed the communion of the saints in the Church of Christ with those which are departed is demonstrated by their communion with the saints alive.  For if I have communion with a saint of God, as such, while he liveth here, I must still have communion with him when he is departed hence; because the foundation of that communion cannot be removed by death.  The mystical union between Christ and his Church, the spiritual conjunction of the members to the Head, is the true foundation of that communion which one member hath with another, all the members living and increasing by the same influence which they receive from him.  But death, which is nothing else but the separation of the soul from the body, maketh no separation in the mystical union, no breach of the spiritual conjunction; and consequently there must continue the same communion, because there remaineth the same foundation.  Indeed, the saint departed, before his death, had some communion with the hypocrite, as hearing the word, professing the faith, receiving the sacraments together; which being in things only external, as they were common to them both, and all such external actions ceasing in the person dead, the hypocrite remaining loseth all communion with the saint departing, and the saints surviving cease to have farther fellowship with the hypocrite dying.  But being the true and unfeigned holiness of man, wrought by the powerful influence of the Spirit of God, not only remaineth, but also is improved after death; being the correspondence of the internal holiness was the true communion between their persons in their life, they cannot be said to be divided by death, which had no power over that sanctity by which they were first conjoined.

[M358]            This communion of the saints in heaven and earth, upon the mystical union of Christ their head, being fundamental and internal, what acts or external operations it produceth, is not so certain, That we communicate with them in hope of that happiness which they actually enjoy is evident; that we have the Spirit of God given us as an earnest, and so a part of their felicity, is certain.  But what they do in heaven in relation to us on earth particularly considered, or what we ought to perform in reference to them in heaven, beside a reverential respect and study of imitation, is not revealed unto us in the Scriptures, nor can be concluded by necessary deduction from any principles of Christianity.  They which first found this part of the Article in the Creed, and delivered their exposition unto us, have made no greater enlargement of this communion, as to the saints of heaven, than the society of hope, esteem, and imitation on our side, of desires and supplications on their side: and what is now taught by the Church of Rome, is, as unwarrantable, so a novitious interpretation.*

      The necessity of the belief of this communion of saints appeareth, first, in that it is proper to excite and encourage us to holiness of life.  If we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.  But if we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. [1 John 1:6, 7]  For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? [2 Cor. 6:14, 15]  When Christ sent St. Paul to the Gentiles, it was to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Christ. [Acts 26:18]  Except we be turned from darkness, except we be taken out of the power of Satan, which is the dominion of sin, we cannot receive the inheritance among them who are sanctified, we cannot be thought meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. [Col. 1:12]  Indeed there can be no communion where there is no similitude, no fellowship with God without some sanctity; because his nature is infinitely holy, and his actions are not subject to the least iniquity.

      Secondly, The belief of the communion of saints is necessary to stir us up to a proportionate gratitude unto God, and an humble and cheerful acknowledgment of so great a benefit.  We cannot but acknowledge that they are exceeding great and precious promises, [2 Pet. 1:4] by which we become partakers of the divine nature.  What am I? said David, and what is my life, that I should be son-in-law to the king? [1 Sam. 18:18]  What are we the sons of men, what are they which are called to be saints, that they should have fellowship with God the Father?  St. Philip the Apostle said unto our Saviour, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth [John 14:8]; whereas he hath not [M359] only shewn us, but come unto us with the Father, and dwelt within us by his Holy Spirit; he hath called us to the fellowship of the angels and archangels, of the cherubins and seraphins, to the glorious company of the Apostles, to the goodly fellowship of the Prophets, to the noble army of martyrs, to the Holy Church militant on earth, and triumphant in heaven.

      Thirdly, The belief of the communion of saints is necessary to inflame our hearts with an ardent affection towards those which live, and a reverent respect towards those which are departed and are now with God.  Nearness of relation requireth affection, and that man is unnatural who loveth not those persons which nature hath more immediately conjoined to him.  Now no conjunction natural can be compared with that which is spiritual, no temporal relation with that which is eternal.  If similitude of shape and feature will create a kindness, if congruity of manners and disposition will conjoin affections, what should be the mutual love of those who have the image of the same God renewed within them, of those who are endued with the gracious influences of the same Spirit?  And if all the saints of God living in communion of the Church deserve the best of our affections here on earth, certainly when they are dissolved and with Christ, when they have been blessed with a sight of God, and rewarded with a crown of glory, they may challenge some respect from us, who are here to wait upon the will of God, expecting when such a happy change shall come.

      Fourthly, This tendeth to the directing and enlarging our acts of charity.  We are obliged to be charitable unto all men, because the love of our brother is the foundation of our duty towards man, and in the language of the Scriptures whosoever is another is our brother; but we are particularly directed to them that are of the household of faith.  And as there is a general reason calling for our mercy and kindness unto all men, so there is a more special reason urging those, who are truly sanctified by the Spirit of God, to do good unto such as appear to be led by the same Spirit; for if they communicate with them in the everlasting mercies of God, it is fit they should partake of the bowels of man’s compassion; if they communicate with them in things spiritual and eternal, can it be much that they should partake with them of such things as are temporal and carnal?*

      To conclude, Every one may learn from hence what he is to understand by this part of the Article, in which he professeth to believe the communion of saints; for thereby he is conceived to express thus much: I am fully persuaded of this as of a necessary and infallible truth, that such persons as are truly sanctified in the Church of Christ, while they live among the crooked generations of men, and struggle with all the miseries of this world, have fellowship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, as dwelling with them, and taking up their habitations in them: that they partake of the care and kindness of the blessed angels, who take delight in the ministration for their benefit: that beside the external fellowship which they have in the word and sacraments with all the members of the Church, they have an intimate union and conjunction with all the saints on earth as the living members of Christ; nor is this union separated by the death of any; but as Christ in whom they live is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, so have they fellowship with all the saints which from the death of Abel have ever departed in the true faith and fear of God, and now enjoy the presence of the Father, and follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.  And thus I believe the communion of saints.

[M360]

Article  X.

The Forgiveness of Sins.

      This Article hath always been expressly contained and acknowledged in the Creed, as being a most necessary part of our Christian profession;* and for some ages it immediately followed the belief of the holy Church,* and was therefore added immediately after it, to spew that remission of sins was to be obtained in the Church of Christ.*  For being the Creed at first was made to be used as a confession of such as were to be baptized, declaring their faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in whose name baptism was administered; they propounded unto them the holy Church, into which by baptism they were to be admitted, and the forgiveness of sins, which by the same baptism was to be obtained; and therefore in some Creeds it was particularly expressed, I believe one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.*

      Looking thus upon this Article, with this relation, we find the sense of it must be this, that we believe forgiveness of sins is to be obtained in the Church of Christ.  For the explication whereof it will be necessary, first, to declare what is the nature of remission of sins, in what that action cloth consist; secondly, to show how so great a privilege is propounded in the Church, and how it may be procured by the members of the Church.  That we may understand the notion of forgiveness of sins, three considerations are required; first, What is the nature of sin; which is to be forgiven; secondly, What is the guilt or obligation of sin, which wanteth forgiveness; thirdly, What is the remission itself, or the loosing of that obligation.

      As the power of sin is revealed only in the Scriptures, so the nature of it is best understood from thence.  And though the writings of the Apostles give us few definitions, yet we may find even in them a proper definition of sin.  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law, [1 John 3:4] saith St. John, and then rendereth this reason of that universal assertion, for sin is the transgression of the law.  Which is an argument drawn from the definition of sin; for he saith not, Every sin is the transgression of the law, which had been necessary, if he had spoken by way of proposition only, to have proved the universality of his assertion, but produceth it indefinitely, sin is the transgression of the law, which is sufficient, speaking it by way of definition.*  And it is [M361] elsewhere most evident that every sin is something prohibited by some law, and deviating from the same.  For the Apostle affirming, that the law worketh wrath, [Rom. 4:15] that is, a punishment from God, giveth this as a reason or proof of his affirmation, for where no law is, there is no transgression.  The law of God is the rule of the actions of men, and any aberration from that rule is sin:* the law of God is pure, and whatsoever is contrary to that law is impure.  Whatsoever therefore is done by man, or is in man, having any contrariety or opposition to the law of God, is sin.  Every action, every word, every thought against the law is a sin of commission, as it is terminated to an object dissonant from, and contrary to the prohibition of the law, or a negative precept.  Every omission of a duty required of us is a sin, as being contrary to the commanding part of the law, or an affirmative precept.  Every evil habit contracted in the soul of man by actions committed against the law of God, is a sin constituting a man truly a sinner, even then when he actually sinneth not.  Any corruption and inclination in the soul, to do that which God forbiddeth, and to omit that which God commandeth, howsoever such corruption and evil inclination came into that soul, whether by an act of his own will, or by an act of the will of another, is a sin, as being something dissonant and repugnant to the law of God.  And this I conceive sufficient to declare the nature of sin.

      The second particular to be considered is the obligation of sin, which must be presupposed to the solution or remission of it.  Now every sin doth cause a guilt, and every sinner, by being so, becomes a guilty person; which guilt consisteth in a debt or obligation to suffer a punishment proportionable to the iniquity of the sin.  It is the nature of laws in general to be attended with these two, punishments and rewards; the one propounded for the observation of them, the other threatened upon the deviation from them.  And although there were no threats or penal denunciations accompanying the laws of God, yet the transgression of them would nevertheless make the person transgressing worthy of, and liable unto, whatsoever punishment can in justice be inflicted for that sin committed.  Sins of commission pass away in the acting or performing of them; so that he which acteth against a negative precept, after the act is passed, cannot properly be said to sin. Sins of omission, when the time is passed in which the affirmative precept did oblige unto performance, pass away; so that he which did then omit his duty when it was required, and in omitting sinned, after that time cannot be truly said to sin.  But though the sin itself do pass away together with the time in which it was committed, yet the guilt thereof doth never pass which by committing was contracted.  He which but once committeth adultery, at that one time sinneth, and at no time after can be said to commit that sin; but the guilt of that sin remaineth on him still, and he may be for ever said to be guilty of adultery, because he is for ever subject to the wrath of God, and obliged to suffer the punishment due unto adultery.*

      This debt or obligation to punishment is not only necessarily [M362] resulting from the nature of sin, as it is a breach of the law, nor only generally delivered in the Scriptures revealing the wrath of God unto all unrighteousness, but is yet more particularly represented in the word, which teacheth us, if we do ill, how sin lieth at the door. [Gen. 4:7]  Our blessed Saviour thus taught his Disciples, Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be liable* (obnoxious, or bound over) to the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be liable (obnoxious, or bound over) to the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be liable (obnoxious, or bound over) to hell fire. [Matt. 5:22]  So saith our Saviour again, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewithsoever they shall blasphemer: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost kith never forgiveness, but is liable (obnoxious, or bound over) to eternal damnation. [Mark 3:28, 29]  Whence appeareth clearly the guilt of sin and obligation to eternal punishment, if there be no remission or forgiveness of it; and the taking off that liableness, obnoxiousness, or obligation unto death, if there be any such remission or forgiveness: all which is evident by the opposition, much to be observed, in our Saviour’s expression, He hath never forgiveness, but is liable to eternal death.

      God, who hath the sovereign power and absolute dominion over all men, hath made a law to be a perpetual and universal rule of human actions; which law whosoever doth violate, or transgress, and thereby sin, (for by sin we understand nothing else but the transgression of the law) is thereby obliged in all equity to suffer the punishment due to that obliquity.  And after the act of sin is committed and passed over, this guilt resulting from that act remaineth; that is, the person who committed it continueth still a debtor to the vindictive justice of God, and is obliged to endure the punishment due unto it: which was the second particular to be considered.

      The third consideration now followeth, What is the forgiveness of sin, or in what remission doth consist: which at first appeareth to be an act of God toward a sinner, because the sin was committed against the law of God; and therefore the punishment must be due from him, because the injury was done unto him.  But what is the true notion or nature of this act, or how God doth forgive a sinner, is not so easy to determine: nor can it [M363] be concluded out of the words themselves which do express it, the niceties of whose originations will never be able to yield a just interpretation.*

      For although the word signifying remission have one sense among many other which may seem proper for this particular concernment, yet because the same word hath been often used to signify the same action of God in forgiving sins, where it could have no such particular notion, but several times hath another signification tending to the same effect, and as proper to the remission of sins;* therefore I conceive the true nature of forgiveness of sins is rather to be understood by the consideration of all such ways and means which were used by God in the working and performing of it, than in this or any other word which is made use of in expressing it.

      Now that we may understand what was done toward the remission of sins, that from thence we may conclude what is done in it; it is first to be observed, that almost all things by the Law were purged with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. [Heb. 9:22]  And what was then legally done was but a type of that which was to be performed by Christ, and therefore the blood of Christ must necessarily be involved in the remission of sins; for he once in the end of the world hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.* [Heb. 9:26]  It must then be acknowledged and can be denied by none that Christ did suffer a painful and a shameful death, as we have formerly described it; that the death which he endured, he did then suffer for sin; for this man, saith the Apostle, offered one sacrifice for sins [Heb. 10:12]; that the [M364] sins for which he suffered were not his own, for Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust [1 Pet. 3:18]; he was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, [Heb. 7:26] and therefore had no sin to suffer for; that the sins for which he suffered were ours, for he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; He was delivered for our offences, he gave himself our sins, he died for our sins according to the Scriptures [Isa. 3:5, Rom. 4:25, Gal. 1:4, 1 Cor. 15:3]; that the dying for our sins was suffering death as a punishment taken upon himself, to free us from the punishment due unto, our sins; for God laid on him the iniquity of us all, and made him to be sin for Its who knew no sin: he hall borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes are we healed [Isa. 53:6, 2 Cor. 5:21, Isa. 53:4, 5]; that by the suffering of this punishment to free us from the punishment due unto our sins it cometh to pass that our sins are forgiven, for, This is my blood, saith our Saviour, of the new testament, (or covenant,) which is shed for many for the remission of sins. [Matt. 26:28]  In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. [Eph. 1:7]

      In which deduction or series of truths we may easily perceive that the forgiveness of sins which is promised unto us, which we upon that promise do believe, containeth in it a reconciliation of an offended God, and a satisfaction unto a just God; it containeth a reconciliation, as without which God cannot be conceived to remit; it comprehendeth a satisfaction, as without which God was resolved not to be reconciled.

      For the first of these, we may be assured of forgiveness of sins, because Christ by his death hath reconciled God unto us, who was offended by our sins; and that he hath done so, we are assured, because he which before was angry with us, upon the consideration of Christ’s death, becomes propitious unto us, and did ordain Christ’s death to be a propitiation for us.  For we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God kith set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. [Rom. 3:24, 25]  We have an advocate with the Father, and he is the propitiation for our sins. [1 John 2:1, 2; 4:10]  For God loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins.  It is evident therefore that Christ did render God propitious unto us by his blood, (that is, his sufferings unto death,) who before was offended with us for our sins.  And this propitiation amounted to a reconciliation, that is, a kindness after wrath.  We must conceive that God was angry with mankind before he determined to give our Saviour; we cannot imagine that God, who is essentially just, should not abominate iniquity.  The first affection we can conceive in him upon the lapse of man, is wrath and indignation.  God therefore was most certainly offended before he gave a Redeemer; and though it be most true, that he so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son [John 3:16]; yet there is no incongruity in this, that a Father should be offended with that Son which he loveth, and at that time offended with him when he loveth him.  Notwithstanding therefore that God loved men whom he created, yet he was offended with them when they sinned, and gave his Son to suffer for them, that through that Son’s obedience he might be reconciled to them.

      This reconciliation is clearly delivered in the Scriptures as wrought by Christ; For all are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ [2 Cor. 5:18]; and that by virtue of his death, for when we were enemies we were reconciled unto God by the death of his Son, making peace through the blood of his cross, and by him reconciling all things unto himself. [Rom. 5:10, Col. 1:20]  In vain it is objected that the Scripture saith our Saviour reconciled men to God, but nowhere teacheth that he reconciled God to man; for in the language of the Scripture to reconcile a man to God, is in our [M365] vulgar language to reconcile God to man, that is to cause him who before was angry and offended with him to be gracious and propitious to him.  As the princes of the Philistines spake of David, Wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master? should it not be with the heads of these men?* [1 Sam. 29:4]  Wherewith shall he reconcile Saul who is so highly offended with him, wherewith shall he render him gracious and favourable, but by betraying these men unto him?  As our Saviour adviseth, If thou bring thy gift before the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, [Matt. 5:23, 24] that is, reconcile thy brother to thyself, whom thou hast injured, render him by thy submission favourable unto thee, who hath something against thee, and is offended with thee.  As the Apostle adviseth the wife that departeth from her husband, to remain unmarried, or to be reconciled to her husband, [1 Cor. 7:11] that is, to appease and get the favour of her husband.  In the like manner we are said to be reconciled unto God, when God is reconciled, appeased, and become gracious and favourable unto us; and Christ is said to reconcile us unto God, when he hath moved, and obtained of God to be reconciled unto us, when he hath appeased him and restored us unto his favour.  Thus when we were enemies we were reconciled to God, [Rom. 5:10] that is, notwithstanding he was offended with us for our sins, we were restored under his favour by the death of his Son.

      Whence appeareth the weakness of the Socinian exception, that in the Scriptures we are said to be reconciled unto God; but God is never said to be reconciled unto us.*  For by that very expression, it is understood, that he which is reconciled in the language of the Scriptures, is restored unto the favour of him who was formerly offended with that person which is now said to be reconciled.  As when David was to be reconciled unto Saul, it was not that David should lay down his enmity against Saul, but that Saul should become propitious and favourable unto David: and therefore where the language is that David should be reconciled unto Saul, the sense is, that Saul, who was exasperated and angry, should be appeased, and so reconciled unto David.

      Nor is it any wonder God should be thus reconciled to sinners by the death of Christ, who while we were yet sinners died for us, [Rom. 5:8] because the punishment which Christ, who was our surety, endured was a full satisfaction to the will and justice of God.  The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.* [Matt. 20:28]  Now a ransom is a price given to redeem such as are any way in captivity; any thing laid down by way of compensation, to take off a bond or obligation, whereby he which before was bound becometh free.  All sinners were obliged to undergo such punishments as are [M366] Proportionate to their sins, and were by that obligation captivated and in bonds, and Christ did give his life a ransom for them, and that a proper ransom, if that his life were of any price, and given as such.  For a ransom is properly nothing else but something of price* given by way of redemption, to buy or purchase that which is detained, or given for the releasing of that which is enthralled.  But it is most evident that the life of Christ was laid down as a price; neither is it more certain that he died, than that he bought us: Ye are bought with a price, saith the Apostle, and it is the Lord who bought us, [1 Cor. 6:20, 7:23; 2 Pet. 2:1] and the price which he paid was his blood; for we are not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.* [1 Pet. 1:18, 19]  Now as it was the blood of Christ, so was it a price given by way of compensation: and as that blood was precious, so was it. a full and perfect satisfaction.  For as the gravity of the offence and iniquity of the sin is augmented and increaseth, according to the dignity of the person offended and injured by it; so the value, price, and dignity of that which is given by way of compensation, is raised according to the dignity of the person making the satisfaction.  God is of infinite majesty, against whom we have sinned; and Christ is of the same divinity, who gave his life a ransom for sinners: for God hath purchased his Church with his own blood.  Although therefore God be said to remit our sins by which we were captivated, yet he is never said to remit the price* without which we had never been redeemed: neither can he be said to have remitted it, because he did require it and receive it.

      If then we consider together, on our side the nature and obligation of sin, in Christ the satisfaction made, and reconciliation wrought, we shall easily perceive how God forgiveth sins, and in what remission of them consisteth.  Man being in all conditions under some law of God, who hath sovereign power and dominion over him, and therefore owing absolute obedience to that law, whensoever any way he transgresseth that law, or deviateth from that rule, he becomes thereby a sinner, and contracteth a guilt, which is an obligation to endure a punishment proportionable to his offence; and God, who is the Lawgiver and Sovereign, becoming now the party wronged and offended, hath a most just right to punish man as an offender.  But Christ taking upon him the nature of man, and offering himself a sacrifice for sin, giveth that unto God for and instead of the eternal death of man, which is more valuable and acceptable to God than that death could be, and so maketh a sufficient compensation and full satisfaction for the sins of man: which God accepting, becometh reconciled unto us, and for the punishment which Christ endured, taketh off our obligation to eternal punishment.

      Thus man who violated, by sinning, the law of God, and by that violation offended God, and was thereby obliged to undergo the punishment due unto the sin, and to be inflicted by the [M367] wrath of God, is, by the price of the most precious blood of Christ, given and accepted in full compensation and satisfaction for the punishment which was due, restored unto the favour of God, who being thus satisfied, and upon such satisfaction reconciled, is faithful and just to take off all obligation unto punishment from the sinner; and in this act of God consisteth the forgiveness of sins; which is sufficient for the first part of the explication of this Article, as being designed for nothing else but to declare what is the true notion of remission of sins, in what that action doth consist.

      The second part of the explication, taking notice not only of the substance, but also of the order of the Article, observing the immediate connection of it with the Holy Church, and the relation, which in the opinion of the ancients it hath unto it, will endeavour to instruct us how this great privilege of forgiveness of sins is propounded in the Church, how it may be procured and obtained by the members of the Church.

      At the same time when our Saviour sent the Apostles to gather a Church unto him, he foretold that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem [Luke 24:47]; and when the Church was first constituted, they thus exhorted those whom they desired to come into it, Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out; and, Be it known unto you, that through this man is preached unto you forgiveness of sins. [Acts 3:19, 13:38]  From whence it appeareth that the Jews and Gentiles were invited to the Church of Christ, that they might therein receive remission of sins, that the doctrine of remission of all sins propounded and preached to all men, was proper and peculiar to the Gospel, which teacheth us that by Christ all that believe are justified from alt things, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses. [Acts 13:39]  Therefore John the Baptist, who went before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, gave knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins. [Luke 1:76, 77]

      This, as it was preached by the Apostles at the first gathering of the Church of Christ, I call proper and peculiar to the Gospel, because the same doctrine was not so propounded by the Law.  For if we consider the Law itself strictly and under the bare notion of a law, it promised life only upon perfect, absolute, and uninterrupted obedience; the voice thereof was only this, Do this and live.  Some of the greater sins nominated and specified in the Law, had annexed unto them the sentence of death, and that sentence irreversible; nor was there any other way or means left in the law of Moses, by which that punishment might be taken off.  As for other less and more ordinary sins, there were sacrifices appointed for them; and when those sacrifices were offered and accepted, God was appeased, and the offences were released.  Whatsoever else we read of sins forgiven under the Law, was of some special divine indulgence, more than was promised by Moses, though not more than was promulgated unto the people, in the name and of the nature of God, so far as something of the Gospel was mingled with the Law.

      Now as to the atonement made by the sacrifices, it clearly had relation to the death of the Messias; and whatsoever virtue was in them did operate through his death alone.  As he was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, [Rev. 13:8] so all atonements which were ever made, were only effectual by his blood.  But though no sin was ever forgiven, but by virtue of that satisfaction; though God was never reconciled unto any sinner but by intuition of that propitiation; yet the general doctrine of remission of sins was never clearly revealed, and publicly preached to all nations, till the coming of the Saviour of the world,* whose name was therefore called Jesus, because he was to save his people from their sins. [Matt. 1:21]

      Being therefore we are assured that the preaching remission of sins belongeth not only certainly, but in some sense peculiarly, [M368] to the Church of Christ, it will be next considerable how this remission is conferred upon any person in the Church.

      For a full satisfaction in this particular two things are very observable; one relating to the initiation, the other concerning the continuation, of a Christian.  For the first of these, it is the most general and irrefragable assertion of all, to whom we have reason to give credit, that all sins whatsoever any person is guilty of, are remitted in the baptism of the same person.  For the second, it is as certain that all sins committed by any person after baptism are remissible; and the person committing those sins shall receive forgiveness upon true repentance, at any time, according to the Gospel.

      First, It is certain, that forgiveness of sins was promised to all who were baptized in the name of Christ; and it cannot be doubted but all persons who did perform all things necessary to the receiving the ordinance of baptism, did also receive the benefit of that ordinance, which is remission of sins.  John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. [Mark 1:4]  And St. Peter made this the exhortation of his first sermon, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. [Acts 2:38]  In vain doth doubting and fluctuating Socinus endeavour to evacuate the evidence of this Scripture:* attributing the remission either to repentance without consideration of baptism; or else to the public profession of faith made in baptism; or if any thing must be attributed to baptism itself, it must be nothing but a declaration of such remission.  For how will these shifts agree with that which Ananias said unto Saul, without any mention either of repentance or confession, Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins? [Acts 22:16] and that which St. Paul, who was so baptized, hath taught us concerning the Church, that Christ doth sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water? [Eph. 5:26]  It is therefore sufficiently certain that baptism, as it was instituted by Christ after the preadministration of St. John, wheresoever it was received with all qualifications necessary in the person accepting, and conferred with all things necessary to be performed by the person administering, was most infallibly efficacious, as to this particular, that is, to the remission of all sins committed before the administration of this sacrament.

      As those which are received into the Church by the sacrament of baptism receive the remission of their sins of which they were guilty before they were baptized; so after they are thus made members of the Church, they receive remission of their future sins by their repentance.*  Christ who hath left us a pattern of prayer, hath thereby taught us for ever to implore and beg the forgiveness of our sins; that as we through the frailty of our nature are always subject unto sin, so we should always exercise the acts of repentance, and for ever seek the favour [M369] of God.  This then is the comfort of the Gospel, that as it discovereth sin within us, so it propoundeth a remedy unto us.  While we are in this life encompassed with flesh, while the allurements of the world, while the stratagems of Satan, while the infirmities and corruptions of our nature betray us to the transgression of the law of God, we are always subject to offend (from whence whosoever saith that he hath no sin is a liar, [1 John 1:8] contradicting himself; and contracting iniquity by pretending innocency); and so long as we can offend, so long we may apply ourselves unto God by repentance, and be renewed by his grace, and pardoned by his mercy.

      And therefore the Church of God, in which remission of sin is preached, doth not only promise it at first by the laver of regeneration, but afterwards also upon the virtue of repentance; and to deny the Church this power of absolution is the heresy of Novatian.*

      The necessity of the belief of this Article appeareth, first, because there can be no Christian consolation without this persuasion.  For we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God, nay, God himself hath concluded all under sin; we must also acknowledge that every sinner is a guilty person, and that guilt consisteth in an obligation to endure eternal punishment from the wrath of God, provoked by our sins; from whence nothing else can arise but a fearful expectation of everlasting misery.  So long as guilt remaineth on the soul of man, so long is he in the condition of the devils, delivered into chains [2 Pet. 2:4] and reserved unto judgment.  For we all fell as well as they, but with this difference; remission of sins is promised unto us, but to them it is not.

      Secondly, It is necessary to believe the forgiveness of sins, that thereby we may sufficiently esteem God’s goodness and our happiness.  When man was fallen into sin, there was no possibility left him to work out his recovery; that soul which had sinned must of necessity die, the wrath of God abiding upon him for ever.  There can be nothing imaginable in that man which should move God not to shew a demonstration of his justice upon him; there can be nothing without him which could pretend to rescue him from the sentence of an offended and almighty God.  Glorious therefore must the goodness of our God appear, who dispenseth with his law, who taketh off the guilt, who looseth the obligation, who imputeth not the sin.  This is God’s goodness, this is man’s happiness.  For blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered; blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth no iniquity. [Ps. 32:1, 2]  The year of release, the year of jubilee, was a time of public joy; and there is no voice like that, Thy sins are forgiven thee.  By this a man is rescued from infernal pains, secured from the everlasting flames; by this he is made capable of heaven, by this he is assured of eternal happiness.

      Thirdly, It is necessary to believe the forgiveness of sins, that by the sense thereof we may be inflamed with the love of God: for that love doth naturally follow from such a sense, appeareth by the parable in the Gospel, There was a certain creditor which had two debtors; the one owed him five hundred pence, the other [M370] fifty.  And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. [Luke 7:41, 42]  Upon which case our Saviour made this question, Which of them will love him most?  He supposeth both the debtors will love him, because the creditor forgave them both; and he collecteth the degrees of love will answer proportionably to the quantity of the debt forgiven.  We are the debtors, and our debts are sins, and the creditor is God: the remission of our sins is the frank forgiving of our debts, and for that we are obliged to return our love.

      Fourthly, The true notion of forgiveness of sins is necessary to teach us what we owe to Christ, to whom, and how far we are indebted for this forgiveness.  Through this man is preached unto us the forgiveness of sins, [Acts 13:38] and without a surety we had no release.  He rendered God propitious unto our persons, because he gave himself as a satisfaction for our sins.  While thus he took off our obligation to punishment, he laid upon us a new obligation of obedience.  We are not our own who are bought with a price [1 Cor. 6:19, 20]: we must glorify God in our bodies, and in our spirits, which are God’s.  We must be no longer the servants of men; we are the servants of Christ, who are bought with a price. [1 Cor. 7:22, 23]

      Fifthly, It is necessary to believe remission of sins as wrought by the blood of Christ, by which the covenant was ratified and confirmed, which mindeth us of a condition required.  It is the nature of a covenant to expect performances on both parts; and therefore if we look for forgiveness promised, we must perform repentance commanded.  These two were always preached together, and those which God hath joined ought no man to put asunder.  Christ did truly appear a Prince and a Saviour, [Acts 5:31] and it was to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins: he joined these two in the Apostles’ commission, saying, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name throughout all nations. [Luke 24:47]

      From hence every one may learn what he is explicitly to believe and confess in this Article of forgiveness of sins; for thereby he is conceived to intend thus much: I do freely and fully acknowledge and with unspeakable comfort embrace this as a most necessary and infallible truth, that whereas every sin is a transgression of the law of God, and upon every transgression there remaineth a guilt upon the person of the transgressor, and that guilt is an obligation to endure eternal punishment, so that all men being concluded under sin, they were all obliged to suffer the miseries of eternal death; it pleased God to give his Son, and his Son to give himself, to be a surety for this debt, and to release us from these bonds; and because without shedding of blood there is no remission, he gave his life a sacrifice for sin, he laid it down as a ransom, even his precious blood as a price by way of compensation and satisfaction to the will and justice of God; by which propitiation, God, who was by our sins offended, became reconciled, and being so, took off our obligation to eternal punishment, which is the guilt of our sins, and appointed in the Church of Christ the sacrament of baptism for the first remission, and repentance for the constant forgiveness of all following trespasses.  And thus I believe the forgiveness of sins.

[M371]

Article  XI.

The Resurrection of the Body.

      This Article was anciently delivered and acknowledged by all Churches, only with this difference, that whereas in other places it was expressed in general terms, the resurrection of the flesh, they of the Church of Aquileia, by the addition of a pronoun, propounded it to every single believer in a more particular way of expression, the resurrection of this flesh.*  And though we have translated it in our English Creed, the resurrection of the body; yet neither the Greek nor Latin ever delivered this Article in those terms, but in these, the resurrection of the flesh; because there may be ambiguity in the one, in relation to the celestial and spiritual bodies, but there can be no collusion in the other.*  Only it will be necessary, for shewing our agreement with the ancient Creeds, to declare that as by flesh they understood the body of man, and not any other flesh; so we, when we translate it body, understand no other body but such a body of flesh, of the same nature which it had before it was by death separated from the soul.  And this we may very well and properly do, because our Church hath already taken care therein, and given us a fit occasion so to declare ourselves.  For though in the Creed itself, used at Morning and Evening Prayer, the Article be thus delivered, the resurrection of the body, yet in the form of public baptism, where it is propounded by way of question to the godfathers, in the name of the child to be baptized, it runneth thus, Dost thou believe — the resurrection of the flesh?  We see by daily experience that all men are mortal; that the body, left by the soul, the salt and life thereof, putrifieth and consumeth, and, according to the sentence of old, returneth unto dust: but these bodies, as frail and mortal as they are, consisting of this corruptible flesh, are the subject of this Article, in which we profess to believe the resurrection of the body.

      When we treated concerning the resurrection of Christ, we delivered the proper notion and nature of the resurrection in general, that from thence we might conclude that our Saviour did truly rise from the dead.  Being now to explain the resurrection to come, we shall not need to repeat what we then delivered, or make any addition as to that particular; but, referring the reader to that which is there explained, it will be necessary for us only to consider what is the resurrection to come, who are they which shall be raised, how we are assured they shall rise, and in what manner all shall be performed.  And this resurrection hath some peculiar difficulties different from those which might seem to obstruct the belief of Christ’s resurrection.  For the body of the Son of God did never see [M372] corruption; all the parts thereof continued in the same condition in which they were after his most precious soul had left them; they were only deposited in a sepulchre, otherwise the grave had no power over them.  But other mortal bodies, after the soul hath deserted them, are left to all the sad effects of their mortality: we may say to corruption, Thou art my father; to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister; our corps go down to the bars of the pit, and rest together in the dust. [Job 17:14, 16]  Our death is not a simple dissolution, not a bare separation of soul and body, as Christ’s was, but our whole tabernacle is fully dissolved, and every part thereof crumbled into dust and ashes, scattered, mingled, and confounded with the dust of the earth.  There is a description of a kind of resurrection in the prophet Ezekiel, in which there is supposed a valley full of bones, and there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above, and their breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet. [Ez. 37:1, 7, 8, 10]  But in the resurrection to come we cannot suppose the bones in the valley, for they are dissolved into dust as well as the other parts.

      We must therefore undertake to shew that the bodies of men, howsoever corrupted, wheresoever in their parts dispersed, how long soever dead, shall hereafter be recollected in themselves and united to their own souls.  And for the more facile and familiar proceeding in this so highly concerning truth, I shall make use of this method; first, to prove that such a resurrection is not in itself impossible: secondly, to shew that it is upon general considerations highly probable: thirdly, to demonstrate that it is upon Christian principles infallibly certain.  It is not in itself impossible, therefore no man can absolutely deny it; it is upon natural and moral grounds highly probable, therefore all men may rationally expect it; it is upon evangelical principles infallibly certain, therefore all Christians must firmly believe it.

      First, I confess philosophers* of old did look upon the resurrection of the body as impossible, and though some of them thought the souls of the dead did live again, yet they never conceived that they were united to the same bodies, and that their flesh should rise out of the dust that it might be conjoined to the spirit of a man.  We read of certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoicks, who encountered St. Paul; and when they heard of the resurrection, they mocked him, some saying, that he seemed to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection. [Acts 17:18, 32]  But as the ancient philosophers thought a creation impossible, because they looked only upon the constant works of nature, among which they never find any thing produced out of nothing, and yet we have already proved a creation not only possible, but performed; so did they think a resurrection of corrupted, dissolved, and dissipated bodies to be as impossible, because they could never observe any action or operation in nature, which did or could produce any such effect; and yet we being not tied to the consideration of nature only, but estimating things possible and impossible by the power of God, will easily demonstrate that there is no impossibility that the dead should rise.

      For, if the resurrection of the dead be impossible, it must be [M373] so in one of these respects; either in reference to the Agent, or in relation to the patient; either because it is a work of so much difficulty, that there neither is nor can be any agent of wisdom, power, and activity sufficient to effect it; or else because the soul of man is so far separated by death from the body, and the parts of the body so much dissolved from themselves, and altered from their former nature, that they are absolutely incapable by any power to be united as they were. Either both or one of these two must be the reason of the impossibility, if the resurrection be impossible; for if the body be capable of being raised, and there be any agent of sufficient ability to raise it, the resurrection of it must be possible.

      Now if the resurrection were impossible in respect of the agent which should effect it, the impossibility must arise either from an insufficiency of knowledge or of power;* for if either the agent know not what is to be done, or if he know it, but hath no power to do it, either he will not attempt it, or if he do, must fail in the attempt; but that, of which he hath perfect knowledge, and full power to effect, cannot be impossible in relation to the agent endued with such knowledge, armed with such power.

      Now when we say the resurrection is possible, we say not it is so to men or angels, or any creature of a limited knowledge or finite power, but we attribute it to God, with whom nothing is impossible [Luke 1:37]; his understanding is infinite, he knoweth all the men which ever lived since the foundation, or shall live unto the dissolution of the world, he knoweth whereof all things are made, from what dust we came, into what dust we shall return.  Our substance was not hid from thee, O Lord, when we were made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth; thine eyes did see our substance, yet being imperfect, and in thy book were all our members written, which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them. [Ps. 139:15, 16]  Thus every particle of our bodies, every dust and atom which belongeth to us, is known to him that made us.  The generation of our flesh is clearly seen by the Father of Spirits, [Heb. 1:9] the augmentation of the same is known to him in whom we live, move, and have our being [Acts 17:28]; the dissolution of our tabernacles is perceived by that God by whom the very hairs of our head are all numbered, and without whom one sparrow shall not fall to the ground. [Matt. 10:29, 30]  He which numbereth the sands of the sea, knoweth all the scattered bones, seeth into all the graves and tombs, searcheth all the repositories and dormitories in the earth, knoweth what dust belongeth to each body, what body to each soul.  Again, as his all-seeing eye observeth every particle of dissolved and corrupted man, so doth he also see and know all ways and means by which these scattered parts should be united, by which this ruined fabric should be recomposed; he knoweth how every bone should be brought to its old neighbour bone, how every sinew may he re-embroidered on it; he understand eth what are the proper parts to be conjoined, what is the proper gluten by which they may become united: The resurrection therefore cannot be impossible in relation to the Agent upon any deficiency of knowledge how to effect it.

      And as the wisdom is infinite, so the power of this Agent is illimited; for God is as much omnipotent as omniscient.  There can be no opposition made against him, because all power is his; [M374] nor can he receive a check against whom there is no resistance: all creatures must not only suffer, but do what he will have them; they are not only passively, but actively obediential.  There is no atom of the dust or ashes but must be where it pleaseth God, and be applied and make up what and how it seemeth good to him.  The resurrection therefore cannot be impossible in relation unto God upon any disability to effect it, and consequently there is no impossibility in reference to the Agent, or him who is to raise us.

      Secondly, The resurrection is not impossible in relation to the patient, because where we look upon the power of God, nothing can be impossible but that which involveth a contradiction, as we before have proved; and there can be no contradiction in this, that he which was, and now is not, should hereafter be what before he was.  It is so far from a repugnancy, that it rather containeth a rational and apparent possibility, that man who was once dust, becoming dust, should become man again.  Whatsoever we lose in death is not lost to God: as no creature could be made out of nothing but by him, so can it not be reduced into nothing but by the same: though therefore the parts of the body of man be dissolved, yet they perish not; they lose not their own entity when they part with their relation to humanity; they are laid up in the secret places, and lodged in the chambers of nature,* and it is no more a contradiction that they should become the parts of the same body of man to which they did belong, than that after his death they should become the parts of any other body, as we see they do.  Howsoever they are scattered, or wheresoever lodged, they are within the knowledge and power of God,* and can have no repugnancy by their separation to be reunited when and how he pleaseth.  The first dust of which man was made, was as far from being flesh, as any ashes now or dust can be; it was only an omnipotent power which could mould that into an human body, and breathe into the nostrils of it the breath of life.  The same power therefore, which must always be, can still make of the dust returning from the bodies of men unto the earth, human bones and flesh, as well as of the dust which first came from the earth: for if it be not easier, it is most certainly as easy to make that to be again which once hath been, as to make that to be which before was not.*  When there was no man, God made him of the earth; and therefore, when he returns to earth, the same God can make him man again.  The resurrection therefore cannot be impossible, which is our first conclusion.

      Secondly, The resurrection is not only in itself possible, so [M375] that no man with any reason can absolutely deny it; but it is also upon many general considerations highly probable, so that all men may very rationally expect it.  If we consider the principles of humanity, the parts of which we all consist, we cannot conceive this present life to be proportionable to our composition.  The souls of men as they are immaterial, so they are immortal; and being once created by the Father of spirits, they receive a subsistence for eternity; the body is framed by the same God to be a companion for his spirit, and a man born into the world consisteth of these two.  Now the life of the most aged person is but short, and many far ignobler creatures of a longer duration.  Some of the fowls of the air, several of the fishes of the sea, many of the beasts of the field, divers of the plants of the earth, are of a more durable constitution, and outlive the sons of men.  And can we think that such material and mortal, that such inunderstanding souls should by God and nature be furnished with bodies of so long permansion, and that our spirits should be joined unto flesh so subject to corruption, so suddenly dissolvable, were it not that they lived but once, and so enjoyed that life for a longer season, and then went soul and body to the same destruction, never to be restored to the same subsistence? but when the soul of man, which is immortal, is forced from its body in a shorter time, nor can by any means continue with it half the years which many other creatures live, it is because this is not the only life belonging to the sons of men, and so the soul may at a shorter warning leave the body which it shall resume again.

      Again, if we look upon ourselves as men, we are free agents, and therefore capable of doing good or evil, and consequently ordinable unto reward or punishment.  The angels who are above us, and did sin, received their punishment without a death, because being only spirits they were subject to no other dissolution than annihilation, which cannot consist with longer suffering punishment; those who continued in their station were rewarded and confirmed for all eternity: and thus all the angels are incapable of a resurrection.  The creatures which are below us, and for want of freedom cannot sin, or act any thing morally either good or evil, they cannot deserve after this life either to be punished or rewarded; and therefore when they die, they continue in the state of death for ever.  Thus those who are above us shall not rise from the dead, because they are punished or rewarded without dying; and where no death is, there can be no resurrection from the dead.  Those which are below us are neither capable of reward or punishment for any thing acted in this life, and therefore though they die, yet shall they never rise, because there is no reason for their resurrection.  But man by the nobleness of his better part being free to do what is good or evil while lie liveth, and by the frailty of his body being subject to death, and yet after that, being capable in another world to receive a reward for what he hath done well, and a punishment for what he hath done ill in the flesh, it is necessary that he should rise from the dead to enjoy the one, or suffer the other.  For there is not only no just retribution rendered in this life to man, but, considering the ordinary condition of things, it cannot be.  For it is possible, and often cometh to pass, that one man may commit such sins as all the punishments in this life can no way equalize them.*  It is just, that he who sheddeth man’s blood, by man his blood should be shed; but what death can sufficiently retaliate the many murders committed by one notorious pirate, who may cast many thousands overboard; or the rapines and assassinations of one rebel or tyrant, who may destroy whole nations?  It is fit that he which blasphemeth God should die; but what equivalent punishment can he receive in this life, who shall constantly blaspheme the name of God, destroy his priests and temples, abolish his worship, and extirpate his servants?  What is then more proper, [M376] considering the providence of a most just God, than to believe that man shall suffer in another life such torments as will be proportionable to his demerits?  Nor can we with reason think that the soul alone shall undergo those sufferings, because the laws which were given to us are not made in respect of that alone, but have most frequent reflection on the body, without which in this life the soul can neither do nor suffer any thing.*  It is therefore highly probable, from the general consideration of human actions and divine retributions, that there shall be a resurrection of the flesh, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. [2 Cor. 5:10]

      Furthermore, beside the principles of which we consist, and the actions which flow from us, the consideration of the things without us, and the natural course of variations in the creature, will render the resurrection yet more highly probable.  Every space of twenty-four hours teacheth thus much, in which there is always a revolution amounting to a resurrection.  The day dies into a night, and is buried in silence and in darkness; in the next morning it appeareth again and reviveth, opening the grave of darkness, rising from the dead of night: this is a diurnal resurrection.*  As the day dies into night, so doth the summer into winter; the sap is said to descend into the root, and there it lies buried in the ground; the earth is covered with snow, or crusted with frost, and becomes a general sepulchre: when the spring appeareth, all begin to rise; the plants and flowers peep out of their graves, revive, and grow, and flourish: this is the annual resurrection.  The corn by which we live, and for want of which we perish with famine, is notwithstanding east upon the earth and buried in the ground, with a design that it may corrupt, and being corrupted may revive and multiply; our bodies are fed with this constant experiment, and we continue this present life by a succession of resurrections.  Thus all things are repaired by corrupting, are preserved by perishing, and revive by dying; and can we think that man, the lord of all these things, which thus die and revive for him, should be detained in death as never to live again?*  Is it imaginable that God should thus restore all things to man, and not restore man to himself?  If there were no other consideration, but of the principles of human nature, of [M377] the liberty and remunerability of human actions, and of the natural revolutions and resurrections of other creatures, it were abundantly sufficient to render the resurrection of our bodies highly probable.

      We must not rest in this school of nature, nor settle our persuasions upon likelihoods; but as we passed from an apparent possibility unto a high presumption and probability, so must we pass from thence unto a full assurance of an infallible certainty.  And of this indeed we cannot be assured but by the revelation of the will of God; upon his power we must conclude that we may, from his will that we shall, rise from the dead.  Now the power of God is known unto all men, and therefore all men may infer from thence a possibility; but the will of God is not revealed unto all men, and therefore all have not an infallible certainty of the resurrection.  For the grounding of which assurance, I shall shew that God hath revealed the determination of his will to raise the dead, and that he hath not only delivered that intention in his word, but hath also several ways confirmed the same.

      Many of the places produced out of the Old Testament to this purpose will scarce amount to a revelation of this truth.  The Jews insist upon such weak inferences out of the Law, as shew that the resurrection was not clearly delivered by Moses;* and in the book of Job, where it is most evidently expressed, they acknowledge it not, because they will not understand the true notion of a Redeemer properly belonging to Christ.  The words of Job are very express, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. [Job 19:25, 26]  Against the evidence of this truth there are two interpretations; one very new of some late opinionists, who understand this of a sudden restitution to his former temporal condition; the other more ancient of the Jews, who make him speak of the happiness of another life, without any reference to a resurrection.  But that Job spake not concerning any sudden restitution, or any alteration of his temporal condition, is apparent out of the remarkable preface ushering in this expression, O that my words were now written! O that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead, in the rock for ever! [Job 19:23, 24]  He desires that his words may continue as long as his expectation, that they may remain in the rock, together with his hope, so long as the rock shall endure, even to the day of his resurrection.  The same appeareth from the objection of his friends, who urged against him that he was a sinner, and concluded from thence that he should never rise again; for his sins he pleadeth a Redeemer, and for his resurrection he sheweth expectation and assurance through the same Redeemer.*  It is further confirmed by the expressions themselves, which are no way proper for his temporal restitution: the first words, I also know, denote a certainty and a community, whereas the blessings of this life are under no such certainty, nor did Job pretend to it, and the particular condition of Job admitted no community, there being none partaker with him of the same calamity; I know certainly and infallibly, whatsoever shall become of my body at this time, which I know not, but this I know, that I shall rise; this is the hope of all which believe in God, and therefore this I also know.  The title which he gives to him on whom he depends, the Redeemer, sheweth that he [M378] understands it of Christ; the time expressed denotes the futurition at the latter day; the description of that Redeemer, standing on the earth, representeth the Judge of the quick and the dead; and seeing God with his eyes, declares his belief in the incarnation.  The Jewish exposition of future happiness to be conferred by God, fails only in this, that they will not see in this place the promised Messias; from whence this future happy condition, which they allow, would clearly involve a resurrection.  Howsoever they acknowledged the words of Daniel to declare as much, and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting confusion.* [Dan. 12:2]

      If these and other places of the Old Testament shew that God had then revealed his will to raise the dead, we are sure those of the New fully declare the same.  Christ, who called himself the resurrection and the life, [John 11:25] refuted the Sadducees, and confirmed the doctrine of the Pharisees as to that opinion.  He produced a place out of the law of Moses, and made it an argument to prove as much, As touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?  God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. [Matt. 22:31, 32]  With the force of which argument the multitude was astonished and the Sadducees silenced.  For under the name of God was understood a great benefactor, a God of promise, and to be their God was to bless them and to reward them; as in them to be his servants and his people was to believe in him, and to obey him.  Now Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had not received the promises which they expected, and therefore God after their death desiring still to be called their God, he thereby acknowledgeth that he had a blessing and a reward for them still, and consequently that he will raise them to another life, in which they may receive it.  So that the argument of our Saviour is the same which the Jews have drawn from another place of Moses, I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah, was I not known unto them.  Nevertheless I have established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage wherein they were strangers.* [Exod. 6:3, 4]  It is not said, to give their sons, but, to give them the land of Canaan; and therefore, because while they lived here they enjoyed it not, they must live again, that they may receive the promise.

      And as our blessed Saviour did refute the Sadducees out of the law of Moses, so did St. Paul join himself unto the Pharisees in this particular; for being called before the council, and perceiving that the one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, one denying, the other asserting the resurrection, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; of the hope and resurrection of the dead [M379] I am called in question [Acts 23:6]; and answering before Felix that they had found no evil doing in him, while he stood before the council he mentioned this particularly, except it be for this one voice, that I cried standing among them, Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in question by you this day. [Acts 24:20, 21]

      It is evident therefore that the resurrection of the dead was revealed under the Law, that the Pharisees who sat in Moses’s chair did collect it from thence, and believe it before our Saviour came into the world; that the Sadducees who denied it erred, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God [Matt 22:29]; that our blessed Saviour clearly delivered the same truth, proved it out of the law of Moses, refuted the Sadducees, confirmed the Pharisees, taught it the Apostles, who followed him, confirming it to the Jews, preaching it to the Gentiles.  Thus the will of God concerning the raising of the dead was made known unto the sons of men; and because God can do whatsoever he will, and will certainly effect whatsoever he hath foretold, therefore we are assured of a resurrection by virtue of a clear revelation.

      Beside, God hath not only foretold, or barely promised, but hath also given such testimonies as are most proper to confirm our faith in this particular prediction and promise.  For God heard the voice of Elijah for the dead child of the widow of Kings Sarepta, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. [1 Kings 17:22]  Him did Elisha succeed, not only in the same spirit, but also in the like power, for he raised the child of the Shunamite from death [2 Kings 4]: nor did that power die together with him; for when they were burying a dead man, they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha, and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood upon his feet. [2 Kings 13:21]  These three examples were so many confirmations, under the Law, of a resurrection to life after death; and we have three to equal them under the Gospel.  When the daughter of Jairus was dead, Christ said unto her, Talitha cumi, Damsel, arise; and her spirit came again, and straightway the damsel arose. [Mark 5:41, 42]  When he came nigh to the gate of the city called Nainz, there was a dead man carried out; and he came nigh and touched the bier, and said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise; and he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. [Luke 8:55, 7:12, 14, 15]  Thus Christ raised the dead in the chamber and in the street, from the bed and from the bier, and not content with these smaller demonstrations, proceedeth also to the grave.  When Lazarus had been dead four days, and so buried that his sister said of him, By this time he stinketh; Jesus cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth; and he that was dead came forth. [John 11:39, 43, 44]  These three evangelical resuscitations are so many preambulary proofs of the last and general resurrection; but the three former and these also come far short of the resurrection of him who raised these.

      Christ did of himself actually rise, others who had slept in their graves did come from thence, and thus he gave an actual testimony of the resurrection.  For if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, saith St. Paul to the Corinthians, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? [1 Cor. 15:12]  If it be most infallibly certain that one man did rise from the dead, as we have before proved that Christ did, then it must be as certainly false to assert that there is no resurrection.  And therefore when the Gentiles did themselves confess that some particular persons did return to life after death,* they could not rationally deny the resurrection wholly. Now the resurrection of Christ cloth not only prove by way of example, as the [M380] rest who rose, but hath a force in it to command belief of a future general resurrection.  For God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given an assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. [Acts 17:31]  All men then are assured that they shall rise, because Christ is risen.  And since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. [1 Cor. 15:20–22]

      This consequence of a future resurrection of the dead from that of Christ already past, either hath a general or a particular consideration.  In a general reference it concerneth all; in a more peculiar way it belongeth to the elect alone.  First, it belongeth generally unto all men in respect of that dominion of which Christ at his resurrection did obtain the full possession and execution.  For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. [Rom. 14:9]  Now not the Lord of the dead, as dead, but as by his power he can as God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, [Matt. 22:32] so Christ is not the Lord of the dead, as dead, but as by his power he can revive them, and rule them when and in what they live.  By virtue of this dominion entered upon at his resurrection he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet, and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, [1 Cor. 15:25, 26] and there is no destruction of death but by a general resurrection.  By virtue of this did he declare himself after this manner to St. John, I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. [Rev. 1:18]  Thus are we assured of a general resurrection, in that Christ is risen to become the Lord of the dead, and to destroy death.

      Secondly, Christ rising from the dead assureth us of a general resurrection in respect of the judgment which is to follow.  For as it is appointed for all men once to die, so after death cometh judgment [Heb. 9:27]; and as Christ was raised that he might be Judge, so shall the dead be raised that they may be judged.  As therefore God gave an assurance to all men, that he would judge the world by that man, in that he raised him from the dead, [Acts 17:31] so by the same act did he also give an assurance of the resurrection of the world to judgment.

      Now as the general resurrection is evidenced by the rising of Christ, so in a more especial and peculiar manner the resurrection of the chosen saints and servants of God is demonstrated thereby.  For he is risen not only as their Lord and Judge, but as their Head, to which they are united as members of his body (for He is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead [Col. 1:18]); as the firstfruits, by which all the lump is sanctified and accepted, for now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. [1 Cor. 15:20]  The saints of God are endued with the Spirit of Christ, and thereby their bodies become the temples of the Holy Ghost; now as the promise of the Spirit was upon the resurrection of Christ, so the gift and possession of the Spirit is an assurance of the resurrection of a Christian.  For if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us, he that raised Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us. [Rom. 8:11]

      Thus God hath determined, and revealed that determination, to raise the dead, and confirmed that revelation by the actual raising of several persons as examples, and of Christ as the highest assurance which could be given unto man, that the doctrine of the resurrection might be established beyond all possibility of contradiction.  Wherefore I conclude that the resurrection of the body is, in itself considered, possible, upon general considerations highly probable, upon Christian principles infallibly certain.

      But as it is necessary to a resurrection that the flesh should rise, neither will the life of the soul alone continuing amount to the reviviscence of the whole man, so it is also necessary that [M381] the same flesh should be raised again; for if either the same body should be joined to another soul, or the same soul united to another body, it would not be the resurrection of the same man.  Now the soul is so eminent a part of man, and by our Saviour’s testimony not subject to mortality, that it never entered into the thoughts of any man to conceive that men should rise again with other souls.  If the spirits of men departed live, as certainly they do and when the resurrection should be performed, the bodies should be informed with other souls; neither they who lived before then should revive, and those who live after the resurrection should have never been before.  Wherefore being at the latter day we expect not a new creation but a restitution, not a propagation but a renovation, not a production of new souls, but a reunion of such as before were separated, there is no question but the same souls should live the second life which have lived the first.  Nor is this only true of our souls, but must be also made good of our bodies, those houses of clay, those habitations of flesh: as our bodies while we live are really distinguished from all other creatures, as the body of every particular man is different from the bodies of all other men, as no other substance whatsoever is vitally united to the soul of that man whose body it is while he liveth, so no substance of any other creature, no body of any other man, shall be vitally reunited unto the soul at the resurrection.

      That the same body, not any other, shall be raised to life, which died; that the same flesh which was separated from the soul at the day of death shall be united to the soul at the last day; that the same tabernacle which was dissolved shall be reared up again, that the same temple which was destroyed shall be rebuilt, is most apparent out of the same word, most evident upon the same grounds upon which we believe there shall be any resurrection.  Though after my skin worms destroy this body, saith Job, yet in my flesh (in flesh, shewing the reality, in my flesh, shewing the propriety and identity) shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, or a stranger, eye.* [Job 19:26, 27]  He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies [Rom. 8:11]; after the resurrection our glorified bodies shall become spiritual and incorruptible, but in the resurrection of our mortal bodies, those bodies, by reason of whose mortality we died, shall be revived.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.* [1 Cor. 15:53]  But this corruptible and this mortal is the same body which dieth, because mortal; and is corrupted, because corruptible; the soul then, at the resurrection of that man which is made immortal, must put on that body which putteth on incorruption and immortality.

      The identity of the body raised from death is so necessary, that the very name of the resurrection doth include or suppose it; so that when I say there shall be a resurrection of the dead, I must intend thus much, that the bodies of men which lived and are dead shall revive and rise again.  For at the death of [M382] man nothing falleth but his body,* the spirit goeth upward, [Eccles. 3:21] and no other body falleth but his own; and therefore the body, and no other but that body, must rise again to make a resurrection.  If we look upon it under the notion of reviviscency, which is more ordinary in the Hebrew language,* it proves as much; for nothing properly dieth but the body, the soul cannot be killed, and nothing can revive but that which dieth.  Or to speak more punctually, the man falleth not in respect of his spirit but of his flesh, and therefore he cannot be said to rise again but in respect of his flesh which fell; man dieth not in reference to his soul, which is immortal, but his body; and therefore he cannot be said to revive, but in reference to his body before deprived of life; and because no other flesh fell at his death, no other body died but his own, therefore he cannot rise again but in his own flesh, he cannot revive again but in his own body.

      Again, the description of the place from whence the resurrection shall begin is a sufficient assurance that the same bodies which were dead shall revive and rise again.  They which sleep in the dust of the earth, they which are in the graves,* shall hear the voice and rise: The sea shall give up the dead which are in it, and death and the grave deliver up the dead which are in them. [Dan. 12:2, John 5:28, Rev. 20:13]  But if the same bodies did not rise, they which are in the dust should not reviver if God should give us any other bodies than our own, neither the sea nor the grave should give up their dead.  That shall rise again which the grave gives up; the grave hath nothing else to give up but that body which was laid into it; therefore the same body which is buried, at the last day shall be revived.

      The immediate consequent of the resurrection proveth the identity of the dying and rising body, We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. [2 Cor. 5:10]  That which shall be then received is either a reward or punishment, a reward for the good, a punishment for the evil, done in the body: that which shall receive the reward, and be liable to the punishment, is not only the soul but the body; it stands not therefore with the nature of a just [M383] retribution, that he which sinned in one body should be punished in another,* he which pleased God in his own flesh should see God with other eyes.  As for the wicked, God shall destroy both, their soul and body in hell [Matt. 10:28, 1 Cor. 6:20]: but they which glorify God in their body and their spirit, which are God’s, shall be glorified by God in their body and their spirit; for they are both bought with the same price, even the blood of Christ.  The bodies of the saints are the members of Christ, [1 Cor. 6:15, 19] and no members of his shall remain in death: they are the temples of the Holy Ghost, and therefore if they be destroyed, they shall be raised again.  For if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us, as he doth, and by so dwelling maketh our bodies temples, he which raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us. [Rom. 8:11]

      Furthermore, the identity of the dying and the rising body will appear by those bodies which shall never rise, because they shall never die.  This may be considered not only in the translations of Enoch and Elias,* but also in those whom Christ shall find alive at his coming, whom he shall not kill but change; the dead in Christ shall rise first, then they which are alive, and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall ever be with the Lord. [1 Thess. 4:16, 17]  If those which are alive shall be caught up as they are alive with the same bodies, only changed into glorified and spiritual bodies, that is, with the same bodies spiritualized and glorified; certainly those which were dead shall rise out of their graves to life in the same bodies in which they lived, that they may both appear alike before the Judge of the quick and the dead. [Acts 10:42]  Otherwise the saints which shall be with God and with the Lamb for evermore would be chequered with a strange disparity, one part of them appearing and continuing with the same bodies in which they lived, another part with others.

      Lastly, those examples which God hath been pleased to give us to confirm our faith in the resurrection, do at the same time persuade us that the same body which died shall rise again.  For whether we look upon the three examples of the Old Testament, or those of the New, they all rose in the same body before it was dissolved: if we look upon those which rose upon our Saviour’s death; it is written that the graves were opened, and many bodies of saints which slept arose and came out of their graves, [Matt. 27:52, 53] certainly the same bodies which were laid in.  If then they were to us examples of the resurrection to come* as certainly they were, then must they resemble in their substance after they lived again the substance in which all the rest shall rise.  And being Christ himself did raise his own body, according to his prediction, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up, [John 2:19] and declared it to be his own body saying, Behold, my hands and my feet, that it is I myself, [Luke 24:39] being he shall change [M384] our vile bodies that they may be fashioned like unto his glorious body [Phil. 3:21]; it followeth that we shall rise in the same bodies as our Saviour did,* that every particular person at the resurrection may speak the words which Christ then spake, Behold it is I myself.

      We can therefore no otherwise expound this Article, teaching the resurrection of the body, than by asserting that the bodies which have lived and died shall live again after death, and that the same flesh which is corrupted shall be restored; whatsoever alteration shall be made shall not be of their nature, but of their condition; not of their substance, but of their qualities.*  Which explication is most agreeable to the language of the Scriptures, to the principles of religion, to the constant profession of the Church, against the Origenists of old, and the Socinians of late.

      Having hitherto proved the certainty of this Article, that there shall be a resurrection, and declared the verity and propriety of it, that it shall be the resurrection of the same body which was dead; we may now proceed farther to inquire into the latitude of the same, to whom the resurrection doth belong.  And here we find a great difference between the revelation of this truth under the Law, and under the Gospel; Christ proved out of the Law that there should be a resurrection, but by such an argument as reacheth no farther than unto the people of God, because it is grounded upon those words, I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. [Exod. 3:6]  Job speaketh most expressly of the resurrection, but mentioneth no other than his Redeemer and himself.  The place of Daniel, which was always accounted the most evident and uncontradictal testimony, though it deliver two different sorts of persons rising, yet it seems to be with some limitation, Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. [Dan. 12:2]  From whence the Jews most generally have believed that some men should live again, and some should not; because it is written, Many shall awake, but it is not written, All shall awake.  Nay, some of them have gone so far by way of restriction, that they have maintained a resurrection of the just alone, according to that ancient saying accepted amongst them, that the sending of the rain is of the just and unjust, but the resurrection of the dead is of the just alone.*  Against which two restrictions, by the light delivered in the Gospel, we shall deliver the latitude of this Article in these two propositions: first, the resurrection of the dead belongeth not unto the just alone, but to the unjust also: secondly, the resurrection of the dead belongeth not only to some of the just, but to all the just; not to some of the unjust only, but to all the unjust, even unto all the dead.

      For the first, it is most evident, not only out of the New, but also out of the Old Testament: the words of Daniel prove it sufficiently; for of those many which shall awake, some shall rise to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.  But it is most certain that the just shall never rise to shame and everlasting contempt; therefore it is most evident that some shall [M385] awake and rise beside the just.  The Jews themselves did understand and believe thus much, as appeareth by St. Paul’s apology to Felix; But this I confess unto thee, that I have hope towards God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. [Acts 24:14, 15]  The just shall rise to receive their reward, the unjust to receive their punishment; the first unto a resurrection, called in reference unto them, the resurrection of life;* the second unto a resurrection, named in relation unto them, the resurrection of damnation.  For as there is a resurrection of the just, so there must also be a resurrection of the unjust; that as Christ said unto the charitable person, Thou shalt be blessed, for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just [Luke 14:14]: so it may be said to the wicked and uncharitable, Thou shalt be accursed, for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the unjust.  For there shall be a resurrection that there may be a judgment, and at the judgment there shall appear sheep on the right hand of the Son of man, and goats on the left; therefore they both shall rise, those, that they may receive that blessing, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world [Matt. 25:34]; these, that they may receive that sentence, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. [Matt. 25:41]  At that resurrection then which we believe, there shall rise both just and unjust.

      Secondly, As no kind of men, so no person shall be excluded; whosoever dieth is numbered with the just or unjust.  Adam, the first of men, shall rise, and all which come from him.  For as in Adam all died, so in Christ shall all be made alive. [1 Cor. 15:22]  Christ is the Lord of the dead, and so hath a right by that dominion to raise them all to life: it is called the resurrection of the dead indefinitely, and comprehendeth them universally.  By man came death, by man came the resurrection of the dead, [1 Cor. 15:21] and so the resurrection adequately answereth unto death. Christ shall destroy death, but if any one should be left still dead, death were not destroyed.  The words of our Saviour are express and full, The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. [John 5:28, 29]  In the description of the judgment which followeth upon the resurrection, when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of his glory, [Matt. 25:31, 32] it is said that before him shall be gathered all nations.  We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, [Rom. 14:10] and if so, the dead must all arise, for they are all fallen.  We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hat% done, whether it be good or evil [2 Cor. 5:10]; and before we all appear, the dead must rise that they may appear.  This is the latitude of the resurrection; the resurrection of the dead is the resurrection of all the dead, or of all mankind.*

      Now this resurrection, as an object of’ our faith, is yet to come; and we are obliged to believe the futurition of it.  There were heretics in the Apostles’ days, who acknowledged a resurrection, but yet destroyed this Article, by denying the relation [M386] of it to the time to come, as Hymenecus and Philetus, who erred concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is past already, and so overthrow the faith of some.* [2 Tim. 2:17, 18]  To believe it already past, is to deny it; because it cannot be believed past, but by such an interpretation as must destroy it.  As they which interpret this resurrection of the likeness of Christ’s resurrection, that as he died and rose again, so we should die unto sin and live again unto righteousness, attributing all to the renovation of the mind, must deny the resurrection of the body.

      Now as we know the doctrine of the resurrection was first delivered to be believed as to come; so we are assured that it is not yet come since the doctrine of it was first delivered, and is to be believed as to come to the end of the world; because, as Martha called it, it is the resurrection at the last day.  Job, who knew that his Redeemer lived, did not expect that he should stand upon the earth till the latter day; Christ hath no otherwise declared his Father’s will, than that of all which he hath given him, he should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. [John 6:39]  The corn is sown and laid in the ground, and the harvest is the end of the world. [Matt. 13:39]  We must not expect to rise from the dead till the last trump.  The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God, before all that are in the graves shall hear his voice.  God shall judge the world, and therefore shall raise the world; but he will not raise them to that judgment till the end of the world. [1 Cor. 15:52, 1 Thess. 4:16, John 5:28, Acts 17:31]

      Thus having demonstrated that the will of God hath been revealed that there should be a resurrection; that the resurrection which was revealed is the resurrection of the body; that the bodies which are to be raised are the same which are already dead, or shall hereafter die; that this resurrection is not past, but that we which live shall hereafter attain unto it; I conceive I have declared all which is necessary by way of explication and confirmation of the truth of this Article.

      The value of this truth, the necessity of this doctrine, will appear; first, in the illustration of the glory of God, by the most lively demonstration of his wisdom, power, justice, and mercy.  God first created all things for himself, and the resurrection is as it were a new creation.  The wisdom and power of God are manifested in this acknowledgment, inasmuch as without infinite knowledge he could not have an exact and distinct comprehension of all the particles and individual dust of all the bodies of all men; and without an infinite power he could not conjoin, cement, conglutinate and incorporate them again into the same flesh.  The mercy and justice of God are declared by the same profession; the mercy, in promising life after that death which we had so justly deserved; the justice, in performing that promise unto all true believers, and in punishing the disobedient [M387] with everlasting flames.  When ye see this, saith the Prophet, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb; and the hand of the Lord shall be known towards his servants, and his indignation towards his enemies. [Isa. 66:14]

      Secondly, It is necessary to profess the belief of the resurrection of the body that we may thereby acknowledge the great and powerful work of our redemption, confessing that death could not be conquered but by death, and that we could never have obtained another life, had not the Saviour of the world abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. [2 Tim. 1:10]  If Christ were not the life, the dead could never live; if he were not the resurrection, they could never rise.  Were it not for him that liveth and was dead, and is alive for evermore, [Rev. 1:18] had not he the keys of hell and of death, we could never break through the bars of death, or pass the gates of hell.  But he hath undertaken to vanquish our enemies, and our last enemy to be destroyed is death: that the prophecy may be fulfilled, Death is swallowed up in victory, and we may cry out with the Apostle, Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. [1 Cor. 15:26, 54, 57; Hos. 13:14]

      Thirdly, The belief of this Article is necessary to strengthen us against the fear of our own death, and immoderate sorrow for the death of others.  The sentence of death, passed upon us for our sins, cannot but affright and amaze us, except we look upon the suspension, relaxation, or revocation of it in the resurrection; but when we are assured of a life after death, and such a life as no death shall follow it, we may lay down our fears arising from corrupted nature, upon the comforts proceeding from our faith.  The departure of our friends might overwhelm us with grief, if they were lost for ever; but the Apostle will not have us ignorant concerning those which are asleep, that we sorrow not even as others which have no hope. [1 Thess. 4:13]

      Fourthly, The belief of the resurrection hath a necessary reflection upon this life, by way of preparation for the next, as deterring from sin, as encouraging to holiness, as comforting in afflictions.  How can any man commit a deliberate sin, while he thinks that he must rise and stand before the judgment seat, and give an account, and suffer for ever the punishment due unto it?  What pleasure can entice him, what inclination can betray him for a momentary satisfaction to incur an eternal rejection?  How can we defile that body which shall never be raised to glory hereafter, except it here become the temple of the Holy Ghost?  St. Paul, who hath delivered the doctrine, hath taught us by his own example what work is expected to be wrought upon our souls by it.  I have hope, saith he, towards God, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.  And herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man. [Acts 24:15, 16]  This is the proper work of a true belief, and a full persuasion of a resurrection; and he which is really possessed with this hope, cannot choose but purify himself: always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as he knoweth that his labour is not in vain in the Lord. [1 Cor. 15:58]  This encourageth all drooping spirits, this sustaineth all fainting hearts, this sweeteneth all present miseries, this lighteneth all heavy burdens, this encourageth in all dangers, this supporteth in all calamities.

      Having thus discovered the truth of this Article, we may easily perceive what every man is obliged to believe, and understood to profess, when he confesseth a belief of the resurrection, of the body; for thereby he is conceived to declare thus much: I am fully persuaded of this as of a most necessary and infallible [M388] truth, that as it is appointed for all men once to die, so it is also determined that all men shall rise from death, that the souls separated from our bodies are in the hand of God and live, that the bodies dissolved into dust, or scattered into ashes, shall be recollected in themselves, and reunited to their souls, that the same flesh which lived before shall be revived, that the same numerical bodies which did fall shall rise, that this resuscitation shall be universal, no man excepted, no flesh left in the grave, that all the just shall be raised to a resurrection of life, and all the unjust to a resurrection of damnation; that this shall be performed at the last day when the trump shall sound; and thus I believe the resurrection of the body.

[M389]

Article  XII.

And the Life everlasting.

      This last Article, though not to be found in all,* yet was expressed in many ancient Creeds:* in some by way of addition, and the life everlasting; in others by way of conjunction with the former, the resurrection of the body unto everlasting life. Upon this connection with the former will follow the true interpretation of this concluding Article; for thereby we are persuaded to look upon it as containing the state of man after the resurrection in the world to come.

      As therefore St. Paul hath taught us to express our belief of a resurrection both of the just and the unjust, so after the resurrection we are to consider the condition of them both; of the one as risen to everlasting life, of the other as risen to everlasting punishment and contempt; and so those who first acknowledged this Article did interpret it.*  Although therefore ,life everlasting, as it is used in the Scriptures, belongeth to the just alone, and is never mentioned otherwise than as a reward promised and given to them who fear and serve the Lord; yet the same words may be used to express the duration of any persons which live never to die again, whatsoever their state and condition in itself shall be.  For as the resurrection of the dead is taken in the Scriptures for the happy and eternal condition which followeth after it, as when the Apostle saith, If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead* [Phil. 3:11]; which [M390] he must needs be most certain to attain unto, who believed the resurrection of the just and unjust, and therefore if he had spoken of the resurrection in general, as it belongeth unto all, he needed not that expression, If by any means, nor that which went before, the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings, for without them he should certainly rise from the dead; but he meant that resurrection which followeth upon the being made conformable unto his death, which is a resurrection in conformity to the resurrection of Christ.  As, I say, the resurrection of the dead is taken in the Scripture for everlasting happiness, and yet the same language is and may be used for the general resurrection of all men, even of such as shall be everlastingly unhappy; so the life everlasting,* though used for a reward given only unto the elect, may yet be taken as comprehending the condition of the reprobate also, understood barely for the duration of persons living.

      All those then who shall rise from the dead shall rise to life, and after the resurrection live by a true vital union of their souls unto their bodies: and because that union shall never cease, because the parts united shall never be dissolved, because it is appointed for men once to die, [Heb. 9:17] and after their reviviscency never to die again, it followeth that the life which they shall live must be an everlasting life.

      To begin then with the resurrection to condemnation; the truth included in this Article, in reference unto that, is to this effect, that those who die in their sins, and shall be raised to life, that they may appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and shall there receive the sentence of condemnation, shall be continued in that life for ever to undergo the punishment due unto their sins; in which two particulars are contained, the duration of their persons, and of their pains.  For two ways this eternity may be denied; one, by a destruction or annihilation of their persons, with which the torments must likewise cease; the other, by a suspension or relaxation of the punishment, and a preservation of the persons, never to suffer the same pains again.  Both of which are repugnant to the clear revelations of the justice of God against the disobedience of man.

      Our first assertion therefore is that the wicked after the day of judgment shall not be consumed or annihilated, but shall remain alive in soul and body to endure the torments to be inflicted upon them by the justice of God, for all the sins committed by them while they were in the body.  They who of late oppose the eternal subsistence and misery of the wicked, strangely maintain their opinion, not as a position to be proved by reason, as some of the heathens did,* but as a truth delivered in the Scriptures; as if the word itself taught nothing but an annihilation of the enemies of God, and no lasting torment: as if all the threats and menaces of the justice and wrath of God were nothing else but what the scoffing atheist expects, that is, after death never to be again; or if they be, as it were in a moment to lose that being for ever.  Because the Scripture [M391] speaks of them as of such as shall be destroyed, and perish, and die; therefore they will give that comfort to them here, that though their life in which they sin be short, yet the time in which they are to be tormented for their sins shall be shorter far.  They tell us where the Scripture mentioneth destruction in hell, it speaks of perdition, but no torment there.  In this sense will they understand those words of Christ, (so full of terror in the true, so full of comfort to the wicked in their exposition,) Fear not them, which, kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather, fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.* [Matt. 10:28]  If this place speak, as those men would have it, of perdition only, not of cruciation, then will it follow that God is not able to cruciate and torment a man in hell; for there can be no other reason why it must be spoken of perdition only, excluding cruciation, but because he is able to annihilate, not to cruciate.  No, certainly a man may be said to be destroyed, and perish, to be lost and dead, who is rejected, separated and disjoined from God the better and the nobler life of man; and that person so denominated may still subsist, and be what in his own nature he was before, and live the life which doth consist in the vital union of his soul and body, and so subsisting undergo the wrath of God for ever.  Nor shall any language, phrases, or expressions give any comfort to the wicked or strength to this opinion, if the same Scriptures, which say the wicked shall be destroyed, and perish, and die, say also that they shall be tormented with never-dying pains, as they plainly and frequently do.

      Depart from me, ye cursed, shall the Judge eternal say to all the reprobate, into everlasting fire;* [Matt. 25:41] and lest any should imagine that the fire shall be eternal, but the torments not, it followeth, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. [Matt. 25:46]  Now, if the fire be everlasting by which God punisheth the reprobates, if the punishment inflicted be also everlasting, then must the reprobates everlastingly subsist to endure that punishment, otherwise there would be a punishment inflicted and none endured, which is a contradiction.  Now the life eternal may as well be affirmed to have an end, as the everlasting punishment, because they are both delivered in the same expression.*

      Indeed the eternity of that fire prepared for the devil and his angels is a sufficient demonstration of the eternity of such as suffer in it, and the question only can be what that eternity doth signify.  For, because some things are called in the Scriptures eternal which have but a limited or determined duration, therefore some may imagine the fire of hell to be in that sense eternal, as lasting to the time appointed by God for the duration of it.  But as the fire is termed eternal, so that eternity is described as absolute, excluding all limits, prescinding from all determinations.  The end of the burning of fire is by extinguishing, [M392] and that which cannot be extinguished can never end: but such is the fire which shall torment the reprobate; for he, whose fan is in his hand, shall burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire [Matt. 3:12, Luke 3:17]; and hath taught us before that it is better to enter into life, halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast bark into everlasting fire, to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched [Matt. 18:8, Mark 9:43–46]; and hath farther yet explained himself by that unquestionable addition, and undeniable description of the place of torments, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.*  And that we may be yet further assured that this fire shall be never extinguished, we read that the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever, [Rev. 14:11, 20:10] and that those which are cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, shall be tormented day and night, for ever and ever;* which expression of day and night is the same with that which declareth the eternal happiness in the heavens, where they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy [Rev. 4:8, 7:15]: where they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple.  If then the fire, in which the reprobates are to be tormented, be everlasting, if so absolutely everlasting that it shall never be quenched, if so certainly never to be quenched that the smoke thereof shall ascend for ever and ever, if those which are cast into it shall be tormented for ever and ever, (all which the Scriptures expressly teach) then shall the wicked never be so consumed as to be annihilated, but shall subsist for ever, and be coeternal to the tormenting flames.  And so this language of the Scriptures proves not only an effect eternal, as annihilation may be conceived, but an eternal efficient never ceasing to produce the same effect, which cannot be annihilation, but cruciation only.  And therefore the fire which consumed Sodom and Gomorrah bears no proportion with the flames of hell: because all men know that fire is extinguished, nor doth the smoke thereof ascend for ever and ever.

      Neither doth this only prove the eternity of infernal pains, but clearly refute the only material argument brought against it, which is laid upon this ground, that the wicked after the resurrection shall be punished with death, and that a second death; and so they shall be no more, nor can in any sense be said to live or subsist.  For the enduring of this fire is that very death, and they are therefore said to die the second death, because they endure eternal torments.  He that overcometh shall not be hurt by the second death [Rev. 2:11]; it seems that they which shall die that death shall be hurt by it: whereas if it were annihilation, and so a conclusion of their torments, it would be no way hurtful or injurious, but highly beneficial to them.  But the living torments are the second death.  For Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, this is the second death.  Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire, [Rev. 20:14, 15] this is the second death.  The Jews before our Saviour’s time believed there was a second death; and though it were not expressed in the oracles themselves which were committed to them, yet in the received exposition of them it was often mentioned, and that as the punishment of the wicked in the life to [M393] come;* and what this punishment shall be was in these words revealed to St. John; But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. [Rev. 21:8]  Now if the part in the lake be the second death, if that part be a perpetual permansion in torment, as before is proved, then to say that the wicked shall die the second death is not a confutation of their eternal being in misery, but an assertion of it, because it is the same thing with everlasting torments, but delivered in other terms.

      And if the pretence of death will not prove an annihilation, or infer a conclusion of torment, much less will the bare phrases of perdition and destruction; for we may as well conclude that whosoever says he is undone intends thereby that he shall be no more.  Beside, the eternity of destruction in the language of the Scripture signifies a perpetual perpession, and duration in misery.  For when Christ shall come to take vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, they shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. [2 Thess. 1:8, 9]  Wherefore I conclude, that the wicked shall rise to everlasting punishment, continuing both in soul and body under the wrath of God and the torments proceeding from it, never to be quitted of them by annihilation; which is our first assertion, against the covert doctrine of the Socinian.*

      The second assertion teacheth us, that as the reprobates shall never fail to endure the torments due unto their sins, so the justice of God will never fail to inflict those torments for their sins.  They shall never live to pay the uttermost farthing, they shall never come to the days of refreshment who are cast into perpetual burnings.  One part of their misery is the horror of despair; and it were not perfect hell, if any hope could lodge in it.  The favour of God is not to be obtained where there is no means left to obtain it; but in the world to come there is no place for faith, nor virtue in repentance.  If there be now such a vast distance between the tormenting flames and Abraham’s bosom, that none could pass from one to other, what impossibility must there be when the final sentence is passed upon all!  As certainly as no person once received into the heavenly mansions shall ever be cast into outer darkness, so certainly none which is once cast into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels, shall ever enter their Master’s joy.  As the tree falleth, so it lieth: there is no change to be wrought in man within [M394] those flames, no purgation of his sin, no sanctification of his nature, no justification of his person, and therefore no salvation of him.  Without the mediation of Christ no man shall ever enter into heaven, and when he hath delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, [1 Cor. 15:24] then shall the office of the Mediator cease.

      So groundless was the opinion of Origen, who conceived that after some number of years the damned should be released from their torments, and made partakers of the joys of heaven, or at least try their fortunes in such regions of the world as he conceived should be reserved for their habitation.  For he may as well imagine that Christ shall be born and die again, (who being risen, dieth no more [Rom. 6:9]) as that any person being condemned to the flames for contemning of his death, should ever come to live again, and by believing in the death of Christ to be after saved.  For certainly their condition is unalterable, their condemnation is irreversible, their torments inevitable, their miseries eternal.  As they shall not be taken from their punishment by annihilation of themselves, which is our first; so the punishment shall not be taken off them by any compassion upon them, which is our second assertion.

      To conclude this branch of the Article, I conceive these certain and infallible doctrines in Christianity: That the wicked after this life shall be punished for their sins, so that in their punishment there shall be a demonstration of the justice of God revealed against all unrighteousness of men.  That to this end they shall be raised again to life, and shall be judged and condemned by Christ, and delivered up under the curse, to be tormented with the devil and his angels.  That the punishment which shall be inflicted on them shall be proportionate to their sins, as a recompense of their demerits, so that no man shall suffer more than he hath deserved.  That they shall be tormented with a pain of loss, the loss from God, from whose presence they are cast out, the pain from themselves, in a despair of enjoying him, and regret for losing him.  That they farther shall be tormented with the pain of sense inflicted on them by the wrath of God which abideth upon them, represented unto us by a lake of fire.  That their persons shall continue for ever in this remediless condition, under an everlasting pain of loss, because there is no hope of heaven, under an eternal pain of sense, because there is no means to appease the wrath of God which abideth on them.  Thus the Athanasian Creed, They that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.

      The next relation of this Article to the former is in reference to the resurrection of the just; and then the life everlasting is not to be taken in a vulgar and ordinary sense,* but raised to the constant language of the Scriptures, in which it signifieth all which God hath promised, which Christ hath purchased, and with which man shall be rewarded in the world to come.

      Now this life eternal may be looked upon under three considerations; as initial, as partial, and as perfectional.  I call that eternal life initial, which is obtained in this life, and is as it [M395] were an earnest of that which is to follow: of which our Saviour spake, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed front death unto life. [John 5:24]  I call that partial, which belongeth, though to the nobler, yet but a part of man, that is, the soul of the just separated from the body.  I dispute not whether the joys be partial as to the soul, I am sure they are but partial as to the man.  For that life consisteth in the happiness which is conferred on the soul departed in the fear, and admitted to the presence of God.  St. Paul had a desire to depart and to be with Christ [Phil. 1:23]; he was willing rather to travel and be absent from the body, and to be present and at home with the Lord. [2 Cor. 5:8]  And certainly where St. Paul desired to be when he departed, there he then was, and there now is, and that not alone, but with all them which ever departed in the same faith with him, and that is with Christ who sitteth at the right hand of God.  This happiness which the saints enjoy between the hour of their death and the last day is the partial life eternal.  Thirdly, I call that perfectional which shall be conferred upon the elect immediately after the blessing pronounced by Christ, Come, ye blessed children of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. [Matt. 25:34]

      This eternal life is to be considered in the possession, and in the duration; in the first, as it is life, in the second, as it is eternal.  Now this life is not only natural, that is, the union of the soul to the body, which is the life of the reprobate; but spiritual, which consisteth in the union of the soul to God,* as our Saviour speaks, He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son hath not life. [1 John 5:12]  And it is called after an especial manner life, because of the happiness which attendeth it:* and therefore to understand that life is to know, so far as it is revealed, in what that happiness doth consist.

      To begin with that which is most intelligible; the bodies of the saints after the resurrection shall be transformed into spiritual and incorruptible bodies.  The flesh is sown in corruption, raised in incorruption; sown in dishonour, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power; sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. [1 Cor. 15:42–44]  This perfective alteration shall be made by the Son of God, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. [Phil. 3:21]  Thus when we come into that other world, the world of spirits, even our bodies shall be spiritual.

      As for the better part of man, the soul, it shall be highly [M396] exalted to the utmost perfection in all the parts or faculties thereof.  The understanding shall be raised to the utmost capacity, and that capacity completely filled.  Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now we know but in part, but then shall we know even as also we are known. [1 Cor. 13:12]  And this John even now we know, that when God shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. [1 John 3:2]  Our first temptation was, that we should be like unto God in knowledge, and by that we fell; but being raised by Christ, we come to be truly like him, by knowing him as we are known, and by seeing him as he is.  Our wills shall be perfected with absolute and indefective holiness, with exact conformity to the will of God, and perfect liberty from all servitude of sin: they shall be troubled with no doubtful choice, but with their radical and fundamental freedom shall fully embrace the greatest good.*  Our affections shall be all set right by an unalterable regulation, and in that regularity shall receive absolute satisfaction: and all this shall be effected, that we may be thereby made capable, and then happy by a full fruition.

      To this internal perfection is added a proportionately happy condition, consisting in an absolute freedom from all pain, misery, labour, and want; an impossibility of sinning and offending God; an hereditary possession of all good, with an unspeakable complacency and joy flowing from it, and all this redounding from the vision and fruition of God: this is the life.

      And now the duration of this life is as necessary as the life itself, because to make all already mentioned amount unto a true felicity, there must be added an absolute security of the enjoyment, void of all fear of losing it, or being deprived of it.  And this is added to complete our happiness, by the adjection of eternity.  Now that this life shall be eternal, we are assured who have not yet obtained it, and they much more who do enjoy it.  He which hath purchased it for us, and promised it unto us, often calleth it eternal life; it is described as a continuing city, as everlasting habitations, as an house eternal in the heavens; it is expressed by eternal glory, eternal salvation, by an eternal inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away; by the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. [Heb. 13:14, Luke 16:9, 2 Cor. 5:1, 1 Pet. 5:10, Heb. 5:9, 9:15; 1 Pet. 1:4, 2 Pet. 1:11]  And lest we should be discouraged by any short or lame interpretation of eternity, it is further explained in such terms as are liable to no mistake.  For our Saviour hath said, If any man keep my saying, he shall never see death [John 8:51]: and, Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall not die. [John 11:26]  When God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, there shall be no more death [Rev. 21:4]; and where there is life and no death, there must be everlasting life: which is expressed by St. Paul by way of opposition, calling it life and immortality, [2 Tim. 1:10] and that together with the abolition of death, saying that our Saviour Jesus Christ hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.

      The belief of this Article is necessary, (as to the eternity of torment) to deter us from committing sin, and to quicken us to holiness of life, and a speedy repentance for sin committed.  For, the wages of sin is death [Rom. 6:23]; nothing can bring us to those everlasting flames but sin, no sin but that which is unrepented of; nothing can save that man from the never-dying worm, [M397] who dieth in his sins; and no other reason can bring him thither, but because he sinned and repented not.  They which imagine the pains inflicted for sin to be either small or short, have but a slender motive to innocence or repentance;* but such as firmly believe them sharp and endless, have by virtue of that faith within themselves a proper and natural spur and incitement to avoid them: for who can dwell in everlasting burnings? [Isa. 33:14]

      Secondly, The belief of eternal pains after death is necessary to breed in us a fear and awe of the great God, a jealous God, a consuming fire, a God that will not be mocked; and to teach us to tremble at his word, to consider the infinity of his justice, and the fierceness of his wrath, to meditate on the power of his menaces, the validity of his threats, to follow that direction, to embrace that reduplicated advice of our Saviour, I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which, after he hath killed, kith power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. [Luke 12:5]  And that exclusively of such fear as concerns the greatest pains of this life, which the martyrs undervalued out of a belief of eternal torments.*

      Thirdly, This belief is necessary to teach us to make a fit estimate of the price of Christ’s blood, to value sufficiently the work of our redemption, to acknowledge and admire the love of God to us in Christ.  For he which believeth not the eternity of torments to come, can never sufficiently value that ransom by which we were redeemed from them, or be proportionately thankful to his Redeemer, by whose intervention we have escaped them.  Whereas he who is sensible of the loss of heaven, and the everlasting privation of the presence of God, of the torments of fire, the company of the Devil and his angels, the vials of the wrath of an angry and never to be appeased God, and hopeth to escape all these by virtue of the death of his Redeemer, cannot but highly value the price of that blood, and be proportionately thankful for so plenteous a redemption. [Ps. 130:7]

      Again, As this Article followeth upon the resurrection of the just, and containeth in it an eternal duration of infinite felicity belonging to them, it is necessary to stir us up to an earnest desire of the kingdom of heaven, and that righteousness to which such a life is promised.  I will now turn aside and see this great sight, [Exod. 3:3] said Moses, when he saw the burning bush: It is good for us to be here, [Matt. 17:4] said St. Peter, when he saw our Saviour transfigured in the mount; how much more ought we to be inflamed with a desire of the joys of heaven, and that length of days which only satisfieth by its eternity,* to a careful and constant performance of those commands to which such a reward is so graciously promised!  For as all our happiness proceedeth from the vision of God, so we are certain that without holiness no man shall see him.

[M398]            Secondly, This belief is necessary to take off our inclinations and desires from the pleasures and profits of this life; to breed in us a contempt of the world, and to teach us to despise all things on this side heaven:* to set our affections on things above, not on things on the earth, considering we are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God. [Col. 3:2, 3]  For where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also. [Matt. 6:21]  Therefore we must forget those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. [Phil. 3:12, 14]

      Thirdly, An assent unto this truth is necessary to encourage us to take up the cross of Christ, and to support us under it, willingly and cheerfully to undergo the afflictions and tribulations of this life, reckoning with the Apostle that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us [Rom. 8:18]; and knowing that our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh, for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. [2 Cor. 4:17, 18]  And this knowledge is not to be obtained, this comfort is not to be expected, except we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

      And now having thus shewed the propriety, proved the verity, and declared the necessity of this Article, we may fully instruct every Christian how to express his belief in the last object of his faith, which he may most fitly thus pronounce: I do fully and freely assent unto this, as unto a most necessary and infallible truth, that the unjust after their resurrection and condemnation shall be tormented for their sins in hell, and shall so be continued in torments for ever, so as neither the justice of God shall ever cease to inflict them, nor the persons of the wicked cease to subsist and suffer them: and that the just after their resurrection and absolution shall as the blessed of the Father obtain the inheritance, and as the servants of God enter into their Master’s joy, freed from all possibility of death, sin, and sorrow, filled with all conceivable and inconceivable fullness of happiness, confirmed in an absolute security of an eternal enjoyment, and so they shall continue with God and with the Lamb for evermore.  And thus I believe the life everlasting.

THE END.