Son, nor the Son the Holy Ghost, nor the Holy Ghost either of the other. The peculiar distinctive, personal character of the Father is, that He is (autóteos) God in himself; first in order, the head and fountain of the Deity: "The Father is made of "none," or is of none, "neither made, nor created, "nor begotten." The Son is distinguished by this, that He is "of the Father alone" yet "not made" by Him in time," nor created" out of nothing, like a creature; for there never was a time when He was not; "but begotten." The manner of this eternal generation we know nothing of; but as the Nicene Creed expresses it, He was "begotten of his Father "before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, "VERY GOD OF VERY GOD, begotten, not "made, being of one Substance with the Father." The personal character of the Holy Ghost is, that He is" of the Father"-though not of the Father alone -but" of the Father and of the Son; yet neither "made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding" from them, as the Spirit of both the mode or manner of which procession is above our capacities, and, consequently, a point we have no concern with. These characters, then, being proper and peculiar to the Divine Person, to whom they, respectively, belong, sufficiently distinguish them from one another, and shew, that "there is one Father, not three "Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; and one Holy "Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts." But lest this distinction of Persons should lead us to suspect some difference, or inequality, of nature, the Creed incul cates once more, before it leaves the subject, their coequality, and their co-eternity; "In this Trinity,

"none

"none is afore or after the other" with regard to duration; "none is greater or less than another" with respect to essential dignity; " but the whole three "Persons are co-eternal together, and co-equal." This Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead is to be adored and worshipped by all Christians, and this doctrine concerning it, embraced and held fast by them, as they tender their everlasting Salvation. "So "that in all things as is aforesaid, the Unity in Tri"nity". -one God in three Persons-" and the Tri"nity in Unity"-the Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Divine Nature" is to be worshipped." And he that is desirous to preserve himself from every dangerous and destructive error, as to this point, " let him "thus think of the Trinity."

There is another doctrine which is of the foundation of Christianity, any change or alteration whereof affects and alters the very essence of our Religion; and that relates to the Incarnation of the Son of God, To this, therefore, the Creed next proceeds, and declares, that it is necessary to everlasting Salvation, "that we believe, rightly, the Incarnation of our Lord "Jesus Christ." St. John had declared long before, that whosoever "confesseth not that Jesus Christ is 64 come in the flesh, is a deceiver, and an Antichrist." If, therefore, the denial of this doctrine be, in the judgment of an Apostle, a certain mark of an Antichristian spirit, there can be no great rashness in declaring, that the belief of it, upon the known terms of the Gospel, is necessary to Salvation. Now, concerning this point, "the right faith is this, that we "believe, and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the "Son of God, is both God and man; God, of the "substance

04

"substance of the Father, begotten before the "worlds," we have before shewn ; " and man of the "substance of his mother born in the world;" at the time, and in the manner, related in the Gospels. "Perfect God and perfect man," in opposition to some who believed Him to be only a made or nominal God; while others denied the reality of His body, or else His rational human soul: as an antidote against whose pernicious tenets, follow the words " of a "reasonable soul, and human flesh subsisting;" that is, He had a human soul and body both, as other men have. He is, as God, equal to the Father, in nature and essential dignity; but, as man, He is, and must be, His inferior. "Who, although He be God ❝ and man," and has, therefore, two natures, yet

He is not two Persons," or two Christs, as some have, falsely, imagined, "but one Christ." One He is," not by conversion of the Godhead into, flesh," or by changing God into man, which is impossible;

but by taking of the manhood into God;" assuming our human nature, and uniting it with the Divine. And this, altogether, without "confusion of substance," that is, without any mixture of the Divine, and human, natures, so as to compose a third nature out of both; for the two natures remained distinct, though united in the same Person: who is, therefore," one altoge"ther, not by confusion of substance, but by Unity of "Persons." There is some resemblance or image of this, even in our own frame and constitution; in which, two different substances, the body and the soul, are united without confusion; and yet so closely, and intimately, united, as to make but one man.

This

illustration,

illustration, therefore, the Creed gives us by adding, "as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God " and man is one Christ."

The ATHANASIAN Creed is disliked, because it is said to be uncharitable, and to exclude every man from Salvation, who does not believe all the abstruse points which it contains. Now, the condemning clauses do not, in the judgment of many wise and learned men, extend to the two articles of the Trinity and the Incarnation, but are intended only to secure the general doctrine. And it should seem, that there is no want of charity in declaring that, according to the terms of the Gospel, it is necessary, that Christians believe that there are three Divine Persons who are one God, and that one of them was, truly, made man. If any Christian pretend that he knows not these things, I would ask him, "unto what then were you baptized?" And what, or whose Religion do you profess? Were you, solemnly, dedicated to the honor and service of three Divine Persons? And do you, constantly, worship them, offering up your prayers and devotions, directly, to them, sometimes jointly to all, and sometimes separately to each? And can you say after this, that you know not, or believe not, that faith in them is any necessary part of Religion? What is, or can be, necessary in Religion, if it be not necessary to believe, rightly, concerning the very object of your worship, and the God whom you adore? So again, with regard to the doctrine of Christ's Incarnation, will you say that you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and that you hope to be saved through faith in His Blood? And can you, with any consistency, say, at the same time, that the

doctrine

doctrine of his Incarnation is a point of little consequence, or that the belief of it is not necessary to Sal vation? Is not this to set truth and error, belief and unbelief, upon an equal foot? And to make Religion, and no religion the same thing? If therefore, these doctrines belong to the foundation of Christianity, if you can make no alteration in them, without altering. the very essence of this Religion, and changing it into some other thing, wherein is the Creed to be blamed, because it declares them to be thus essential to the faith; and necessary to Salvation? The Creed lays down a general proposition, that it is necessaay to believe the Christian, or Catholic Faith. It then gives a particular, and circumstantial, account of two great articles of this faith, relating to the Trinity and Incarnation. But if any man, for want of common good capacity, cannot understand this explication; the Creed condemns him not. It condemns no man's incapacity; it censures no man's ignorance, provided that ignorance be not wilful; and then it ought to be censured, because it is without excuse. For surely, these are points of too great consequence to be neglected. As St. Paul says in another case," what things so"ever the Law saith, it saith to them that are under "the Law;" so, in this case, what things soever the Creed saith, it saith to them whom it may concern; to them who may understand it, if they will; and whose ignorance, or unbelief is owing to their own neglect, or prejudices; that is, to their own fault. And if the Creed condemn such men as these, it may be supported in doing so, both by the reason of mankind, and the Gospel of Christ.

Men