this, or any other respect, farther than such confined abilities can safely carry him. Behold therefore, God is great, and we know him not:-We know indeed that he exists; but we know not the manner of his existence in any respect whatever. Consequently, when we believe, that he verily Is, according to what he has revealed himself to be in the Gospel, and also that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him, we believe all that is required of us, we believe enough for our present state and condition, because this alone is able to make us wise unto salvation. EXTRACT FROM ARCHBISHOP WAKE'S CATECHISM. SECT. IX. Q. Do you look upon Christ to have been made by God Partaker of the Divine Nature; and so, to have been from all Eternity, God, together with him? A. If I believe the Scriptures to give a true account of the Nature of Christ, so I must believe: for I find the same evidences in them of the Godhead of Christ, that I do of the Father. Q. What be those evidences? A. First, they give the Name of God to him; and that in such a manner as plainly shews it is to be understood, in its most proper import and signification. Jo. i. 1. xx. 28. Rom. ix. 5. 1 Tim. iii. 16. Phil. ii. 6. 1 Jo. v. 20. Secondly, they ascribe the most proper, and incommunicable attributes of God to him. Such as Omnipotence, Jo. v. 17, 18. Rev. i. 8. xi. 17.-Omniscience, Jo. xvi. 30. xxi. 17. Luk. vi. 8. comp. Jo. ii. 24, 25. Rev. ii. 23.-Immensity, Matt. xviii. 20. xxviii. 20. Jo. iii. 13.—Immutability, Heb. i. 11, 12. xiii. 8.—and even Eternity itself, Rev. i. 8, 17. xxii. 13. Prov. viii. 22. Mich. v. 2. Isa. ix. 6, 7. B B To him, thirdly, they ascribe such Works, as can The Creation of the belong to none that is not God. World, Jo. i. 3, 10. Col. i. 16. Preservation of it, Heb. i. 3.-Miracles, Jo. v. 21, 36. vi. 40.-The Mission of the Holy Ghost, Jo. xv. 26. xvi. 7, 14.-And, in short, all the Works of Grace and Regeneration, Jo. v. 21. x. 16. xiii. 18. Acts xvii. 31, xx. 28. Ephes. v. 1, 6, &c. Add to this, fourthly, that he is there shown to be honoured as God, Jo. v. 23. Heb. i. 6.-Prayer is made to him, Acts vii. 59. 1 Cor. i. 2.-Faith and Hope are directed to be put in him, Jo. xiv. 1. Psal. ii. 12.-Praises and Thanksgivings are given to him, Glory and Honour are rendered to him, Rev. v. 13. compare iv. 11. And no wonder; since, lastly, the Nature of God is therein also expressly ascribed to him, Heb. i. 3. Phil. ii. 6. Col. ii. 9. comp. Col. i. 15, 19. 4 Q. But if Christ, therefore, be called God, as well as the Father, how can he be called the Son of God? A. Because he received his Divine Nature from the Father who is the Beginning, and Root of the Divinity; and has communicated his own Essence to Christ Who, therefore, though he has the same Nature, and so, in that, is equal with the Father; yet is he in Order after him; as being God of God. : Q. How does it appear that Christ received his Divine Nature from the Father? 4. It can only be known by that Revelation which God has made of it in the Holy Scriptures; Where he is, for this reason, said to be the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person. Heb. i. 3.-The image of the invisible God, Col. i. 15. 2 Cor. iv. 4. To be from God, Jo. vii. 29.-To have life from the Father, Jo. v. 26, and the like. And upon this account it is that our Saviour himself says, that the Father is greater than he, Jo. xiv. 28.-That he can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do, Jo. v. 18, 19. Or if this be not yet plain enough, they tell us farther, in express terms, that he is the begotten, and the only begotten Son of the Father, Jo. i. 14, 18. iii. 16, 18. 1 Jo. iv. 9. v. 1. Q. But will not this make the Holy Ghost, as much God's Son, as Christ? And how then is Christ his only Son? A. In matters of this kind, which are so far above our capacities, and of which we know nothing, but what God has been pleased to reveal to us, we must speak, as God, in his word, has taught us to speak. Now the Scriptures no where call the Holy Ghost, the Son of God; nor God, the Father of the Holy Ghost: And therefore, though we know not what the precise difference is, yet because the proper act of a Father is to beget; we say that Christ received his Divine Nature from God, by generation; but of the Holy Ghost, we say, as the Scriptures do, that he proceedeth from the Father, Jo. xv. 26, and is the Spirit not of the Father only, but of the Son also, Gal. iv. 6. Rom. viii. 9. Phil. i. 19. 1 Pet. i. 11. SECT. XV. Q. WHAT does the third part of your creed contain? A. It contains all that is needful to be known, and professed by us, with relation to the Holy Ghost. Q. What do you account needful to be believed concerning him? A. Not only that there is a Holy Ghost, but that he is the third person in the ever-blessed Trinity; and partakes, as such, of the same divine nature with the Father and the Son. Q. How does this appear? A. By the plain testimony of the Holy Scriptures; by which alone we are capable of knowing any thing in these matters. Now those Sacred Writings evidently speak of him, not only as a person, but as a divine person; and that distinct both from the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Q. Wherein do the Holy Scriptures speak of this blessed Spirit as of a person? A. They give him the proper names of a person: God, Acts v. 3, 4.-Lord, 2 Cor. iii. 17.-The Spirit, 1 Sam. xvi. 14. Jo. xvi. 13.-The Comforter, Jo. xiv. 26. xvi. 7, &c. They ascribe to him the properties of a person; Understanding, 1 Cor. ii. 11.-Will, 1 Cor. xii. They represent him as doing personal acts: he is sent, he cometh, goeth, heareth, teacheth, Jo. xiv. 26. xv. 26, 27. Jo. xvi. 7, 13, &c.—Is tempted, resisted, grieved, Eph. iv. 30.-Speaketh, commandeth, intercedeth, Acts x. 19. xiii. 2. Rom. viii. 26. They join him with those who are confessedly persons, viz. God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. In the form |