Chrift is called GOD,impower'd and imploy'd to deftroy the Enemies of his Father's Kingdom; and tho' refigning his Commiffion, when the Work fhall be accomplish'd, yet ftill the Only Son, and the Heir of all things in his Father's House'; never to relinquifh his Dominion over those whom He has purchafed with his own Blood; never to be depriv'd of that Reward which was affign'd to his Sufferings. For if the Prize which we expect in the Race of our imperfe&t Obedience, be a Crown that fadeth not away; if the weight of Glory which we ex pect from Him be Eternal; then cannot his perfect and abfolute Obedience be crown'd with a fading Power, or He ceafe to rule over us, who has always reigned in We fhall for ever reign with Him, and He will make us Priefts and Kings, but fo, that He fhall for ever remain High-Prieft, and King of Kings. Thus us. fhall the Promife fo exprefly made to David, Thy Houle •2 Sam vii. 16, and thy Kingdom fhall be establish'd for ever, be fufilled 'Tis farther obfer. in Him, to whom the Lord fhall give the Throne of his vable, that on ac- Father David, and who fhall reign over the House of Jacob count of this Pro- for ever, and of whofe Kingdom there shall be no end t. Nor mife to David, is this clearer in Gabriel's Explication of the Promise, than in Daniel's Vision of the Performance: Who Jaw, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the Clouds of Lukei. 32, 33. Heaven; and came to the antient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him: and there was given Him Dominion, and Glory, and a Kingdom, that all People and Languages fhould Jerve Him: His Dominion is an everlasting Dominion, which shall not pass away, and his Kingdom which shall not Dan. vii. 13.14. be destroyed. * xxxiv. 23. 24. *Heb.ii. 14. (g) We were firft Servants of the Enemy of GOD; for him we obey'd, and his Servants we are whom we + Rom. vi. 16. obey t: When Christ thro' Death deftroy'd him that had the Power of Death, that is, the Devil, and delivered us ". He Spoiled Principalities and Powers, and made a fhew of them, openy triumphing over them t. But, contrary to the cuftom of Triumphant Conquerors, He did not fell, but buy us; becaufe, while He faved us He died for us, and that Death was the Price by which He purchased us. + Colof. ii. 15. (b) He hath not only bought us, but He provideth for us Whatever we have we receive from Him, as the Mafter of the Family: We hold of Him all Temporal and Eternal Bleflings, which we enjoy in this, or hope hope for in a better Life. He is the Prince of Life *, and * Acts iii. 15. by Him we live; He is the Lord of Glory t, and we are +1 Cor. ii. 8. called by his Gospel to the obtaining of the Glory of our Lord*. • 2 Theff. ii. 14. (i) Men were not only fold by others, in antient times, but often by themselves: And whofoever of us truly believe in Chrift, have given up our Names unto Him. In our Baptifmal Vow we bind our felves to his Service; that henceforth we will not ferve Sin; but yield our felves unto GOD, as thoje that are alive from the dead, and our Members, as Inftruments of Righteoufnels, unto GOD: That, as we have yielded our Members Servants to Uncleanness and to Iniquity; even so we should yield our Mem bers Servants to Righteousness, and to Holiness t. The Neceffity of believing and profeffing our Faith, 13. 19. in this part of the Article, appears : 1. In the discovery of our Condition. For by this we know that we are not our own, either in our Perfons, or our Actions. Know ye not (faith St. Paul) that + Rom. vi. 6. ye are not your own? for ye are bought with a Price *. *1 Cor. 6.19,20 Chrift took on Him the Form of a Servant; and to give us a perfect Example of that Condition, He tells us, I came not to do mine own Will, but the Will of Him that Jent met. We cannot therefore do our own Wills, but His † Joh. viii. 38. whose we are; and muft conclude with the Apostle; That Rom. xiv. 7, 8 2. In that it enforceth, and invites us to Obedience: enforceth us, as He is the Lord; invites us as Christ is the Lord. The Terrors of his Power are not more prevailing, than the Engagements of his Kindness. When GOD gave the Old Law with Fire and Thunder, the affrighted Ifraelites defir'd to receive it by the hands of Mofes, and made the most ready and chearful Promife of exact Obedience: Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our GOD fhall Say; and speak thou unto us, and we will hear it, and do it t. How fhould we be invited to + Deut. 5. 27. the fame Promife and a better performance, who, by infinitely greater Favour, have receiv'd the whole Will of GOD from the Son of Man, as our Inftru&tor, and Lawgiver, and are accountable to Him as our an F Judge! Col. iv. I. Judge! He who first took our Nature upon Him, to become our Brother, that with fo near a Relation He might be made our Lord! If the Patriarchs did fo chearfully live in the Land of Goshen, fubject to the Power and Command of Egypt, because that Power was in the hand of Jofeph their exalted Brother; Shall not we, with all Readiness of Mind, fubmit our felves to the Divine Dominion, now given to Him who gave Himself for us? Shall all the Angels worship Him, and the Archangels bow down before Him, and shall not we be proud to join with them? 3. In the regulation of Earthly Power and Authori ty, in respect both to thofe that rule, and those that obey. Hence the most abfolute Monarchs learn, That not only their People, but themselves are the Subjects of a greater Prince. Upon this St. Paul grounds his Admonition to Mafters; Give unto your Servants that which is juft and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in Heaven; And his Charge to Servants; Obey in all things your Mafters according to the Flesh, and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto Men; know. ing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the Inberitance; for je ferve the Lord Chrift t. GOD permitted the Ifraelites to make hired Servants of their Brethren, but not Slaves, and He gives this Reafon for the Interdiction, For they are my Servants, which I brought Lev. xxv. 42. forth out of the Land of Egypt * What Tenderness then fhould we ufe towards those who are the Servants of our Common Lord, who has redeem'd them and us from a harder Bondage, and purchas'd with a higher Price? + Col. iii. 22, 23, 24. † Rom. x. 12. 2 Tim. ii. 12. . 4. In our Comfort and Encouragement under all Dangers and Conditions. Since the Jame Lord over all, is rich unto all that call upon Him t. The Lord whom we ferve is able to deliver us: Or, if we fuffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him*. AR. ARTICLE III Which was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary. Which was conceived by the Holy Gholf, I Affent unto this, as a moft neceffary and infallible Truth, that the Onlybegotten Son of GOD (a), begotten by the Father before all Worlds, very GOD of very GOD, was Conceived and Born, and fo made Man, taking to Himfelf the Human Nature (b), confifting of a Soul (c) and Body (d), and conjoining it with the Divine, in the Unity of his Person (e). I am fully affur'd, that the Word was in this manner made Flesh, that He was really and truly conceiv'd in the Womb of his Mother; yet not after the manner of Men, but by the fingular, extraordinary, Influence of the Holy Ghost (f), whereby a Virgin was beyond the Law of Nature, enabled to conceive, and that which was conceiv'd in Her was originally and completely fanctified (g). Gen. iii. 15. + Gen. xxii. 18. • Gal. iii. 16. Pfil cxxxii. 11. Ron. i. 3. + Mat. i. I. I Tim. ii. S. + Cor. xv. 21. Luke ii. 52. (a) It is necessary to obferve, That altho' the Human was conjoined to the Divine Nature, which Nature is common to the Father with the Son, yet was that Union made only in the Perfon of the Son; against the ancient Herefy of the Patripafians, (affirming the Father to have been born, and to have died,) begun in Praxeas and Hermogenes, and continued by Neetus, Sabellius, and Prifcillianus, who diffus'd it thro' their feveral Opinions. (b) Hence He is fo frequently ftyled the Son of Man. And in this Nature He was always promifed. First to Eve, as her Seed*, and confequently her Son. Then to Abraham: In thy Seed fhall all the Nations of the Earth be bleffed : And that Seed, the Apostle affures us, is Chrift *. Next, to David, as his Son, to fit upon his Thronet: And fo He is made of the Seed of David, ac cording to the Flesh*. The Son of David, the Son of Abraham t. The Mediator between GOD and Man, is the Man Chrift Fefus. It behoved Him to be made like unto his Brethren: That, as by Man came Death, by Man might come likewife the Refurrection from the Dead t. * (c) Jefus increafed in Wisdom and Stature one in refpect of his Body, the other of his Soul. Wisdom belongeth not to the Flefh, nor can the Knowledge of GOD, which is Infinite, increafe. He then whofe Knowledge did improve and advance, together with his Years, must have a Subject proper for it; which was no other than a Human Soul. This was the Seat of his Finite Understanding and directed Will. This was the Subject of thofe Affections and Paffions which appear'd in Him: Nor did He speak any other than a proper Language, when, He fail, My Soul is exceeding for † Mat. xxvi. 38. rowful, even unto Death t. This was it which, on the Crofs, He recommended to the Father; teaching us in whofe hands the Souls of the Departed are. For, when Jefus had cried with a loud Voice, He faid, Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit. And having faid thus, he gave *Luke xxiii. 46. up the Ghost *. This Truth the Church has conftantly afferted, against thofe antient Hereticks of feveral Denominations, but chiefly the Arians and Apollinarians, who held, That Chrift affumed only a Human Body, but that the Word, (or, his Divinity,) was to it in the place of a Soul. (d) When |