A. It is commonly called The Apostles Creed: Not that the Apoftles Themfelves compofed it; (at least not in the very Form in which we now have it ;) but because it seems to come the neareft, of any, to the Apostles Times; and does with the greatest Simplicity of Expreffion, comprehend a fhort Summary of the Apostles Doctrines.

16. 2. What mean you by the Word Creed? A. It is the fame in Latin, as Belief in Englih: And it is fo called in both, from the first Words of it, I BELIEVE, which in Senfe, though not in Expreffion, run through every Article of it.

Of the Sum

mary of our Faith, the ApostlesCreed

SECT..

VI.

Catechift. Rehearse the Articles of your

Belief.

A. Believe in God the Father Almighty, &c.

2. 2. You faid that thofe Words I BELIEVE, were not only the First Words of your Creed, but the moft Material; as running in effect, through every Branch of it. Tell me therefore, what do you mean when you fay, I believe?

A. To believe, in general, is to affent to the Truth of any thing, upon the fole Authority of the Perfon who delivers it: Who, if he be a Man only, the Affent which I give to what He fays, produces in me a Humane Faith; if, as here, he be God, then the Affent which I give to what is deliver'd by Him, is properly a Divine Faith.

3. 2. What is the Difference, with refpect to Us, between thefe Two?

A. It is very Great: For because a Man, tho' never fo Wife and Careful himself, may yet not be

honest,

honeft, and fo Impofe upon Me: Or fhould he be never fo upright, may yet, after all his Care be Miftaken himfelf, and thereby lead me into Error; therefore in affenting to what fuch a One proposes, I can at the moft give but fuch a Belief to it, as is fuitable to a mere Humane Teftimony. I may Believe what he fays to be True, but yet fo as not to exclude a Poffibility of its being Otherwife. Whereas God being neither capable of being Deceived himself, nor of Impofing upon any Other; when I give my Affent to what he has Revealed, I do it not only with a certain Affurance that what I believe is true, but with an abfolute Security, that it cannot poffibly be falfe.

4. 2. But why do you fay 1 Believe, and not WE BELIEVE; as when you pray, you fay, OUR Father, &c.

A. Because though One Man may Pray, yet One Man cannot Believe, for another. And however in Charity I may fuppofe every Chriftian to believe what is here deliver'd; yet fince 'tis certain there are many Infidels and Hypocrites, fcatter'd up and down among the Faithful, and I cannot certainly distinguish who are indeed Believers, and who not; neither can I, with an Affurance of Faith, fay, We Believe, becaufe I cannot certainly tell, whether another Man does truly believe thofe Articles, or No. Befides, that this Creed being intended to be the Form, upon the Confeffion whereof, Perfons fhould be admitted to Baptism; and in that Cafe, every one was to make a diftinct Profeffion of his Faith, in order thereunto, it was fitting the Creed itself fhould be penn'd after fuch a manner, as was moft proper for the main End for which it was Compofed.

5. 2 Are all the things contain'd in this Creed to be proved by Divine Revelation? C 2

A. They

A. They are all plainly deliver'd to us in the Holy Scriptures; which being confeffed by all Chriftians to be the Word of God, what is deliver'd by them, must be looked upon as deliver'd to Us by God Himself.

6. 2. What are the general Parts of which this Creed does confift?

A. They are these Four: Firft, It fhews us what is most needful to be Believ'd, and Profeffed by Us, concerning God the Father: Secondly, Concerning our Lord Jefus Chrift; Thirdly, Concerning the Holy Ghost And Fourthly, Concerning the Church of Chrift; its Duties and Privileges here, and the Bleffings and Glory which God has prepared for it hereafter.

7. 2. Do you think it neceffary not only to Believe all these things, but also, upon Occasion, to Profefs the Belief of them?

A. I do think it neceffary, whenever our Duty to God; or the Edification of our Neighbour; or the Honour of our Religion, fhall Require it of Any of Us. Mat. x. 32. Whosoever fhall Confefs me before Men, him will I Confefs also before my Father which is in Heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before Men, him will I alfo deny before my Father which is in Heaven. Rom. x. 9. If thou shalt confefs with thy Mouth the Lord Jefus, and fhalt believe in thy Heart, that God hath Raifed him from the Dead, thou shalt be faved. For with the Heart Man believeth unto Righteousness; and with the Mouth Confeffion is made unto Salvation. See Peter iii. 15.

SECT. VII.

of God the Father, and what we are

to believe concerning

1.2. WHAT is the first Article of your Him.

A.

Creed?

believe in God the Father Almighty

Maker of Heaven and Earth.

2. 2. What is God?

A. He is an a Eternal, b Infinite, e Incom- Ifa. xli. 4. prehenfible & Spirit; e Immortal, Invifible, Al-xliv. 6. mighty; moft Perfect himself, and the Giver of all that Perfection, which is found in any Others.

3. 2. How do you profefs to believe God?

in

Be

Pfal. xc. 2. bi Kin. viii.

27.

Pfal. cxxxix,

Jer. xxxii.

7, 8, 9. • Job xi. 7. d Joh. iv. 24. A. I do firmly Believe that there is fuch a 2 Cor. iii. 17. ing as God, Heb.xi. 6. and that there is but f One 1 Tim. vi. fuch Being; fo that besides him there neither is, 15, 16. nor can be, any Other. 1 Cor. viii. 4, 6. We 27. know that there is none Other God but one:To Mat. xix. 26. us there is but One God the Father. Ifa. xlv. 5, 6. Jer. xxiii. I am the Lord, and there is none else; there is Deut. vi. 4. no God befides Me: I am the Lord, and there is Mark xii. None else.

the Title of FATHER?

23, 24.

29.

42 Upon what Account do you give to God John xvii. 3. Eph. iv. 6, A. Upon feveral Accounts, but chiefly on thefe Two: Firft, with Refpect to our Lord Jefus Chrift, whom, in the next Article, I profels to be his Son: And, fecondly, as he may alfo be accounted our Father, 2 Cor. i. 3. Blefed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift. See John x. 29, &c. Our Father which art in. Heaven.

5. 2. How do you believe God to be our Father?

A By Right of Creation; fo he is the Father of all Mankind: 1 Cor. viii. 6. To Us, there is

C 3

but

1 John iii. 1.

*

but one God the Father, of Whom are all things. Rom.viii. 15. By Right of Adoption; fo he is the Father of Jam. i. 18. Us Chriftians in particular. Eph. i. 3, 5. Blef fed be the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift Who hath predeftinated Us unto the Adoption of Children, by Jefus Chrift to Himfelf. Comp. Eph. iv. 6.

Pfal. xciii.

6. 2. What do you mean by the Attribute of ALMIGHTY?

A. I mean Two things: (1) That God xcvii. xcix. has a Right of abfolute Power and Dominion, over all the World. Dan. iv. 34. His Dominion is an Everlasting Dominion, and His Gen. xviii. Kingdom is from Generation to Generation. And (2dly) That He has an Infinite Power of Action; fo that He can do all Things, and with Him nothing is Impoffible. Mat. xix. 26.

14.

Pfal. cxxxv.

6.

7. 2, Can God then do All things?

A. He can do all things that are not either fimply Impoffible to be done, as implying a

Hab. i. 13. Contradiction: Or elfe contrary to his Good

Tit. i. 2.

Gen. i. 1. Pfal. cxlvi.

nefs, and Perfection to Do; as to Sin, to be Ignorant, and the like.

8. 2. By what Act, efpecially, has God manifefted himself to be Almighty?

A. By making the Heaven, and the Earth. 9. 2. What do you understand by that Expreffion, the Heaven, and the Earth?

A. I comprehend under it All things that ever were made; Vifible and Invifible; as being Acts iv. 24. all Made, and Created, by God.

xiv. 15. Col. i. 16.

10. 2 How did God Make All these?

A. After two different Manners. Some He produced by an immediate Creation: Thus were the Angels form'd, and the Spirits of Men: And thus was that firft Matter produced, of which Mofes fpeaks, Gen. i. 1. That in the Beginning Ged created the Heaven, and the Earth. To the Other Parts of the Creation he gave Being,

by