unless you make yourself worthy of their intercession now, and of their glory hereafter? What, to believe in the resurrection and the life of the world to come, unless you provide while time is, against that day; and this, by the practice of all virtues, by flying from sin, and keeping your conscience undefiled ? Praise God in the wonderful work of your conversion, and the conversion of all nations: adore his power, his wisdom, his goodness, his providence therein: Wonderful is God in all his ways; wonderful in his saints; wonderful in all his works. SECT. I. The first article of the Creed. Q. WHAT is the first article of the creed? A. I be lieve in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. INSTRUC. The first thing we are to believe, and ground of all the rest is, that there is a God, who made us, and all things. That there is a God, nature itself does teach us; the very Pagans confessed it; and the scripture tells us that none but fools can deny it. That there is one supreme Being, is a truth instilled into all mankind: The light, O God, of thy countenance is stamped upon us, Psalm iv. 7. All creatures give testimony of God, that he made them, and that they made not themselves; they had all a beginning, a first principal, a first cause, and this is God. To convince us there is a God, St. Paul refers us to his works: The invisible things of God, are seen and known by the visible things that are made, Rom. i. 20. The fool, indeed, said in his heart, there is no God; fain would he believe so, but the remorse that follows sin, and the sweets of virtue, prove that there is a punisher of vice, and a rewarder of virtue; and that is God. This Moses 2. We believe there is but one God. and the prophets taught against the idolaters, who worshipped many Gods; and even the heathen philosophers, when they wrote in earnest, confessed that there is but one supreme God. may be clearly proved from reason; since it is impossible that a being wholly perfect, as God is, an infinite good, in whom is all the good that is possible, should have a companion, another god equal to himself; for sovereign perfection imports a superiority above all others: a sovereign king has none equal to him in his kingdom, but all are inferior to him so God, thẻ supreme Lord of all, is above all, and has no equal. That there is one only God, 3. We believe that in God there are three persons; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; who have but one and the same nature and essence: There are three that give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, 1 John v. 7. The persons are three, and the nature or essence but one; so there is no contradiction in this mystery; because they are not three in the same sense they are one; for they are three in persons, and one in essence, in divinity, in wisdom, in goodness, in will, in power, and in work. There is an image of the Trinity in the soul of man, which being one, has yet three powers, will, memory, and understanding; though all comparison here is defective, because there can be no exact likeness or proportion between any thing created, and the blessed Trinity. To believe in God, imports three things: 1. That there is a God. 2. That all he has revealed is true, and to be believed with divine faith. 3. That we are to place all our hope in him, and to love and seek him, as our chief and only essential good. EXHOR.The fool said in his heart, there is no God; hence they are become corrupt and abominable, Ps. xiii. 1. The belief of a God leads to virtue, religion, and all good: the want of it (as in Atheists) is the origin of all wickedness and sin; as in a kingdom, if people are made to understand that there is no king, no judge, no justice, they will set no bounds to their crimes. But you, O christian, who believe there is a God, the su preme Lord over you and all things, bow down and adore him, and make him Lord over your heart, by loving, fearing, and obeying him. Make him Lord over your life and actions, by doing all for his glory. Sub mit to all things he has revealed and delivered to you, whether by his prophets, or his apostles, or his church. Under all the events of life, still hope in him: love him as your first beginning, and last end: renounce all false gods, all those idols which your passions adore ; the idol of pride, covetousness, lust. Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve, Deut. vi. 13. Give all honour and glory to the most blessed Trinity, one in essence, and three in persons: give glory to God the Father, for your creation; to God the Son, for your redemption; to God the Holy Ghost, for your sanctification; three persons really distinct, but one and the same God. He is your first beginning, make him also your last end, by glorifying him now and for all eternity: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of Sabaoth. Q. WHAT SECT. II. Of the divine attributes. HAT are the perfections or attributes of tions also are infinite. INSTRUC.-God is an infinite being, who has infinite perfections, from whom all things have their being and perfections. 2. God is eternal: for as he is self-existent, that is, has no cause of his existence, but exists because it is his nature and essence to exist always; as he has no beginning, so he can have no end; and this his eternity extends to all parts of time, with whom the past and the future is at present; for in him nothing is past, nothing future, but is present. 3. God is incomprehensible: he is so great, that none but himself can fully comprehend what he is. The blessed, indeed, see him as he is; they have the clear sight and enjoyment of him too; yet their understanding is limited, and he is infinite, still above their comprehension; whatever they contemplate of his greatness, there will still be more to be seen and known without end; and in this they rejoice exceedingly, that God is still greater than all they conceive. 4. God is immense: it is impossible to imagine any place, or point, but where he is, with his whole essence, presence and power. He is in all places with his essence, to give being to all things that are; to give life to all that live, and motion to all that move: In him we live, move, and are. Acts xvii. 28. He is every where by his presence, to contemplate all that is done by the good and the bad. He is present every where by his power, in as much as all things are subject to it, and all beings are the effect of it. Thus God, by his immensity, fills heaven and earth, and all places; Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I fly from thy face? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there, and if. I descend into hell, thou art present. Psalm cxxxviii. 7. 5. God is unchangeable: all things created, are by nature changeable; he alone is eternally the same; ever wise, ever good, ever just, ever holy. It is impossible he should ever change to any thing inferior to himself, for then he would not be God: or to any thing equal to himself, because there is none equal to him: or to any thing above himself, because he is above all: Thou art always the same, and thy years shall not fail. Ps. ci. 28. 6. God is omnipotent: he is all power: this he manifested in the creation of heaven and earth; yet he can create still more in number, and greater in perfection, without end, than he has already made; and this by his own power alone without the help of any second cause: We have seen but few of his works. Eccl. xliii. 36. that is, but little in comparison of what he can do: as he made all things by his power, by the same he can make what changes and alterations he pleases in the works which he has made, for the Almighty himself is above all his works, Eccl. xliii. 30. By this power he made the sun to stop his course, in the time of Joshua; and to move back, in the reign of Ezekias: he does what he pleases in the heavens, the earth, and the seas, as he did by Moses; and in all creatures, as by our Saviour; hence we ought to have no doubt of what he has reveal ed, of his miracles and prodigies. But though God is omnipotent, and can do all things, we may safely say, he cannot do evil or sin; for this implies imperfection; and God is infinite in all perfections. 7. God is omniscient: he knows all things, he knows himself, by a full comprehension of his infinite being, and all that the whole extent of omnipotent power can do: and as he made all things that are, by his own pow er, he has the perfect idea of every nature, and of every individual he has made, and comprehends them more perfectly, than the artist knows the texture of the works which he produces by his own invention. The knowledge of men and angels is limited; the knowledge of God is unbounded. He is the fountain of all knowledge; all we know, is from God, and through God: from his wisdom, originally, came all good and excellent inventions and sciences that ever have been: God is the Lord of all sciences, 1 Kings ii. 3. What he knows, he cannot forget; he knows all that is past, the good and evil done by every one, and remembers the evil, to punish it, and the good, to reward it. He knows all that is doing by every one at present, from one end of the world to the other; all the intrigues that are in the hearts of all, and what will be the event of them: he foresees every thing to come, what every one will chuse, good or evil, and what will be the end of all, and this his knowledge extends, not only through time but eternity: Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off, Psalm cxxxviii. 2. 8. God is good and beneficent: goodness is a will to communicate the good we have to others, and this he has done to every creature he has made: but the good ⚫ he has given to man is of the most excellent kind; for as he loves man, in order to his true good and eternal happiness, to this end he has bestowed upon us most eminent gifts, both in the order of nature, and in the order of grace. Thus his goodness, in respect to man, is charity or friendship: God is charity, 1 John iv. 8. For as one friend wishes another life and being, and all the good he can give him; so God gives us life and be ing, and in the end will give us himself, and with him |