assembled in his house; and, secondly, all such congregations, collectively considered: which last and most extensive sense is more particularly in view, when we call it the Catholic or universal Church.

This Church, in its infancy, consisted (as we learn from the first chapter of the Acts) of only an hundred and twenty persons, including the twelve Apostles. To these, through the preaching of St. Peter on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost first descended upon the Apostles,

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were added about three thousand souls, who continued daily in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers:" and, that these persons then constituted the Church, is evident from the concluding words of the first chapter of the Acts: " and the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved."

Hence, we believe that the Church, as now existing, consists of all persons and all congregations, wheresoever they are to be found, who, though,

1 Acts ii. 41. 47.

from local distance, they have no immediate or personal intercourse with each other, are united in the belief of one God, the Father of all; one Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; one Holy Ghost, abiding with them for ever; one hope of a resurrection to everlasting life; joining substantially in the use of the same sacraments, and the same worship and we believe that the Communion of Saints is no other than a sincere and steady adherence to this uniformity of faith and practice; for, thereby living in a state of communion with God, with their Redeemer, with the Holy Spirit, and with each other, they are built up into that spiritual edifice, properly denominated the holy Catholic Church; which has the gracious promise of its Founder and Head, that "the gates of hell shall never prevail against it."1

The next Article of belief is the forgiveness of sins and this point is very properly added here, because, in the former part of this Creed, it was not explained, for what purpose Christ suffered.

1 Matt, xvi. 18.

In the Nicene Creed, introduced in the administration of the Lord's Supper, it is declared, that "for us men, and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate." And this, perhaps, may be considered as the more eligible method of stating this Article.

That the sins of all true believers in Christthat is—such sins, as are truly acknowledged and repented are actually remitted, or forgiven, through faith in the sacrifice of his body upon the cross; is a doctrine essential to the comfort of every Christian, and the main pillar of the Gospel. This, indeed, is what we express by the word Redemption;—the distinguishing badge of a disciple of Christ, who believes himself redeemed or ransomed from the penalty otherwise due to every soul that comes into the world; "forasmuch as all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God:" but now, through his powerful aid and intercession, all, who repent and believe

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1 Rom. iii. 23.

in Him, may have everlasting life. To this benefit we believe ourselves to be formally admitted by the Sacrament of Baptism whence, in the Nicene Creed, this Article is thus expressed: "I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins."

Having already declared our belief in the resurrection of Christ himself from the dead, we now profess to be assured of our own resurrection in the body: thereby understanding, that God, at the last day, by a miraculous act of his power, will effect in every one of us such a resurrection of the flesh, that each individual "may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."

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That there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust," appears from numberless texts of Holy Scripture; and St. Paul, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, 3 has employed much beautiful illustration, as well as sound argument, to shew the intrinsic credibility of a doctrine, of which, it is plain, he had himself the

12 Cor. v. 10. 2 Acts xxiv. 15.

3 Ch. xv.

fullest conviction: insisting especially on the futility of all objections founded upon the difficulty of assigning, from this our changeable and everchanging frame, any particular body, with which each man shall rise; and referring us ultimately to the unbounded power of God, who, as the Creator and Sovereign of the universe, must be abundantly able to furnish every one with a body suited to that state, which, for the future, he is destined to occupy.

No doctrine can be more directly adapted to have a salutary influence upon men's lives, than that which announces a resurrection from the dead but how powerfully is this influence corroborated, when joined with the assurance, which here immediately follows it, of the life everlasting! If the judgment, then to be passed upon all mankind,—the rewards and punishments to be irrevocably assigned to them, could not but be contemplated with the deepest interest, were it only in respect to that righteous and infallible Judge, by whom the sentence will be pronounced; what feelings must they naturally raise, in those, who further know and reflect, that they will be of