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our original position, and consider how near were these individuals to the apostolic age, and with how many facilities they were supplied for ascertaining the sentiments of the Apostles, of which we are destitute, the unanimous assent of the earliest ecclesiastical antiquity to any Christian doctrine becomes an irrefragable argument of its truth.

NOTE (U), p. 491.

Extracts from Modern Confessions of Faith, &c.

1. THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION.-"The churches believe and teach, that there is one divine essence ;-yet are there three co-eternal persons of the same essence and power, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And they employ the term Person, as ecclesiastical writers have employed it in this respect; that is, as signifying not an office or quality in each, but that which properly subsisteth.-They also teach that the WORD, who is the Son of God, assumed human nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin."

2. THE CONFESSION OF SAXONY.-"Though the divine essence be one, yet is there an eternal Father; a co-eternal Son, the Image of the Father; and a co-eternal Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son."

3. THE CONFESSION OF WIRTEMBURG.-"We believe and confess, that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was begotten from eternity of the Father; that he is the true and eternal God, consubstantial with the Father, and that, in the fulness of time, he was made man."

4. THE CONFESSION OF FREDERICK, COUNT PALATINE, ELECTOR, &C.-"I believe and confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of Almighty God, begotten from eternity of the Father, equal with the Father, and, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the only God."

5. THE HELVETIC CONFESSION.- "We believe and teach, that the one God, without separation or confusion, is distinguished in the persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; so that the Father from eternity hath begotten the Son; the Son is begotten by an ineffable generation, the Holy Spirit proceeding from both. Yet are there not three Gods, but three consubstantial co-eternal persons, distinct in respect to hypostasis, and in respect to order, the one preceding the other, yet without any inequality.”

6. THE GALLICAN CONFESSION.-"The Holy Scripture teacheth us, that in this singular and simple divine essence, there subsist three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;

the Father being, in order, the first cause and origin of all things, the Son begotten from eternity of the Father, the Holy Spirit from eternity proceeding from the Father and the Son; which three persons are not confused, but distinct; not separated, but co-essential, co-eternal, and co-equal.'

7. THE BELGIC CONFESSION.-"We believe that Jesus Christ, in respect to his divine nature, is the Only Begotten Son of God, begotten from eternity, not made or created, but of the same substance with the Father, co-eternal with him, the true Image of his substance, and the radiance of his glory, being in all things equal unto him.-We believe him to have been the Son of God, not only from the time he took our nature, but from eternity."

8. THE CZENGERINE CONFESSION.- "We believe that Christ, according to the flesh, was the son of David, being in all things, sin excepted, like unto his brethren. This same Christ, in respect to the Logos, we believe and confess to be the Son of God, Only Begotten of the Father, God and Jehovah, equal to the Father, and from the beginning, begotten, as the radiance of his glory, and the exact Image of his substance.”

9. THE SECOND ARTICLE OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH.-"The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin," &c.

10. THE CONFESSION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.—" In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son." So also in the Assembly's larger Catechism :"Q. What are the personal properties of the three persons in the Godhead?

:

"A. It is proper to the Father to beget the Son, and to the Son to be begotten of the Father, and to the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father and the Son from all eternity.”

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