of, that reliance and resting of the soul upon Him, which results from that right belief concerning Him, and trusting the testimony of His word, as it reveals Him.

We have discoursed of the attributes of God elsewhere, as also of the Trinity, which is here expressed in these words: I believe in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. That sublime mystery is to be cautiously treated of, and rather humbly to be admired, than curiously dived into. The day will come, (truly, a day, for here we are beset with the gloomy nightly shades of ignorance,) wherein we shall see Him as He is. 1 John iii. 2. In the mean time, let us devoutly worship Him, as He has revealed Himself to us; for this is the true way to that heavenly country where we shall see Him face to face. And it is our interest here, to believe the Trinity of persons in the Unity of the Godhead, and to trust in Them as such; for this is the spring of all our hope, that the Middle of the THREE became our Mediator, and the Holy Spirit our guide and teacher, and the Father reconciles us to Himself by the Son, and renews us by the Spirit.

The Father.] First, the Father of His only begotten Son, Christ, and, through him, our Father by the grace of adoption. And so Christ does clearly insinuate the order of our filiation : I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God. He says not, to our Father, but, to my Father and your Father; first, mine, and then, yours through me.

Almighty.] This also belongs to the attributes of God; so we shall be but short on it here. Almighty, able in Himself to do all things, and the source of all power in others, all the power in the creature being derived from Him; so that it cannot altogether equal His, nor resist Him, no, nor at all be without Him. Whosoever they be who boast in their own strength in any kind, and swell highest in conceit of it, they are yet but as a brittle glass in the hand of God: He can not only break it to pieces by the strength of His hand, but if He do but withdraw His hand from supporting it, it will fall and break of itself,

Maker of heaven and earth.] The Son and the Spirit were, with the Father, authors of the Creation: but it is ascribed to the Father, particularly, in regard of the order and manner of Their working. Whether natural reason may evince the creation of the world, we will not dispute; we know that he who had very much of that, and who is the great master of it in the schools, could not see it by that light. Yet there is enough in reason to answer all the false cavils of profane men, and very much to justify the truth of this we believe. However, we must endeavour to believe it by Divine faith, according to that of the Apostle, Heb. xi. 3. By faith we believe that the worlds were framed by the word of God. And this is the first article we meet withal in the Scriptures, and our faith is put to it in a very high point in the very entrance, Gen. i. 1. In the beginning, God made the heaven and the earth-speaking like Himself; it is not proved by demonstrations, or any kind of arguments, but is asserted by the authority of God. And with that which begins the Books of the Law, John begins his gospel; that upon His word who, by His word, made the world, we may believe that He did so.

This is fitly added to the title of Almighty, as a work of almighty power, and therefore, a clear testimony of it; and both together well suit with our profession of believing in Him. For this is a main support of our faith, to be persuaded of His power on whom we trust. Our God is able to deliver us, said they, Dan. iii. 17. And Abraham, the Apostle says, offered up his son, accounting (or reasoning with himself, or laying his reckoning) that God was able to raise him from the dead, Heb, xi. 19.

We make more bold to speak out our own questioning of the love and good-will of God, because we think we have some reason in that from our own unworthiness; but if we would sound our own hearts, we should often find in our distrusts some secret doubtings of God's power, Psal. lxxviii. 19. Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? said they; though accustomed to miracles, yet still unbelieving. We think we are strongly

enough persuaded of this, but our hearts deceive us. Quæ scimus cùm necesse non ést, ea in necessitate nescimus, says Bernard: The things which we seem to know when it is not necessary for us to know them, we find, when necessary, that we know not. The heart is deceitful. Jer. xvii. 9.—where he is speaking of trusting. It is not for nothing, that God by His prophets so often inculcates this doctrine of His power, and this great instance of it, the Creation, when He promises great deliverances to His Church, and the destruction of their enemies. See Isa. xlv. 12, and li. 12. What can be too hard for Him, who found it not too hard to make a world of nothing? If thou look on the public, the enemies of the Church are strong: if on thyself, thou hast indeed strong corruptions within, and strong temptations without; yet, none of these are almighty, as thy God is. What is it thou wouldst have done, that He cannot do if He think fit? And if He think it not fit, if thou art one of His children, thou wilt think with Him; thou wilt reverence His wisdom, and rest satisfied with His will. This is believing indeed; the rolling all our desires and burdens over upon an almighty God. And where this is, it cannot choose but establish the heart in the midst of troubles, and give it a calm within in the midst of the greatest storms.

And try what other confidences you will, they shall prove vain and lying in the day of trouble. He that thinks to quiet his mind and find rest by worldly comfort, is, as Solomon compares his drunkard, like one that lies down in the midst of the sea, or, that sleepeth on the top of a mast: Prov. xxiii. 34, he can have but unsettled rest and repose, that lies there. But he that trusteth in the Lord, is as Mount Sion that cannot be removed. Psal. cxxv. 1. When we lean upon other props besides God, they prove broken reeds that not only fail, but pierce the hand that leans on them. Jer. xvii. 7.

There is yet another thing in this Article, which serves further to uphold our faith, That of necessity, He who made the world by His power, doth likewise rule it by His providence. It is so great a fabric as cannot be upheld and governed by any

less power than that which made it. He did not frame this world, as the carpenter his ship, to put it into other hands and look no more after it; but as He made it, so He is the continual pilot of it, sits still at the helm, and guides it; yea, He commands the winds and seas, and they obey Him. And this serves much for the comfort of the godly, but I cannot here insist on it.

And in Jesus Christ.]

The two great works of God, by which He is known to us, are, Creation and Redemption, which is a new or second creation. The Son of God, as God, was with the Father, as the worker of the former; but as God-man, He is the author of the latter. St. John begins his gospel with the first, and from that passes on to the second. In the beginning was The Word -by Him were all things made. But at ver. 14. the other is expressed: The Word was made flesh, and he dwelt among us, had a tent like ours, and made of the same materials. He adds, He was full of grace and truth; and for this end (as there fol- lows), that we might all receive of his fulness, grace for grace. And this is that great work of new creation. Therefore the prophet Isaiah, foretelling this great work from the Lord's own mouth, speaks of it in these terms, Chap. li. 16. That I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundation of the earth, and say unto Sion, Thou art my people. That making of a new people to Himself in Christ, is as the framing of heaven and earth. Now this restoration by Jesus Christ, supposes the ruin and misery of man by his fall, that sin and death under which he is born. This we all seem to know, and acknowledge, and well we may, for we daily feel the woeful fruits of that bitter root: but the truth is, the greatest part of us are not fully con-vinced, and therefore, do not consider of this gulf of wretchedness into which we are fallen. If we were, there would be more cries amongst us for help to be drawn out and delivered from it: this great Deliverer, this Saviour would be of more use, and of more esteem with us. But I cannot now insist on that point.

Only consider, that this makes the necessity of a Mediator. The disunion and distance which sin hath made betwixt God and man, cannot be made. up but by a Mediator, one to come betwixt; so that there is now no believing in God the Father, but by this believing in Jesus his Son; no appearing without horror, yea, without perdition, before so just a Judge highly offended, but by the intervention of so powerful a Reconciler, able to satisfy and appease Him. And He tells it us plainly and graciously, that we mistake not our way, No man cometh unto the Father but by me. John xiv. 6.

Few are our thoughts concerning God and returning to Him; but, if we have any, this is our unhappiness, that naturally we are subject to leave out Christ in them. We think there is something to be done; we talk of repentance, of prayer, and of amendment, though we have not these neither. But if we had these, there is yet one thing necessary above all these, which we forget; there is absolute need of a Mediator to make our peace, and restore us into favour with God, One who must for that end do and suffer for us what we can neither do nor suffer. Though we could shed rivers of tears, they cannot wash out the stain of any one sin; yea, there is some pollution in our very tears, so that they themselves have need to be washed in the blood of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ.] Our anointed Saviour, anointed to be our King, our great High-priest, and our Prophet, and in all these, our Saviour: our prophet to teach us the way of salvation, our priest to purchase it for us, and our king to lead and protect us in the way, and to bring us safe to the end of it. Thus is his name full of sweetness and comfort, mel in ore, in aure melos, in corde medicina, as Bernard speaks: Honey in the mouth, music to the ear, a cordial to the heart. It is a rich ointment, and, in the preaching of the Gospel, an ointment poured forth, (Cant. i. 3.) diffusing its fragrant smell, for which the virgins, the chaste, purified souls of believers, love him; such as have their senses exercised, as the Apostle speaks (Heb. v. 14.) their spiritual smelling not obstructed with the