*Gen. ii. 4.

more eminent and transcendent manner (g), of One fingular and proper Son, His own, His beloved, His only-begotten Son: Whom He hath not only begotten of the Bleffed Virgin, by the coming of the Holy Ghost, and the over-shadowing of His Power; not only fent with special Authority, as the King of Ifrael; not only raised from the Dead, and made Heir of all things in His House ; but antecedently to all this, hath begotten Him by way of Eternal Generation, in the same Deity and Majefty with Himself (h): By which Paternity, coæval to the Deity, I acknowledge Him always Father, as much as always GOD. And in this relation I profess fuch an Eminence and Priority (ż), that as He is the Original Cause of all things, as created by Him, fo He is the Fountain of the Son begotten of Him, and of the Holy Ghost proceeding from Him ( k ).

(a) Thefe are the Generations of the Heavens and the Earth, when they were created *. Hath the Rain a Father, or who ↑ Job xxxviii. 28 bath begotten the Drops of Dew†? Plato, and the other Philofophers who acknowledge the World to have been made by GOD, call Him not only the Maker, but the Father, of all things.

*Heb. xii. 9.

(b) Hence he is ftiled the Father of Spirits *; and the Bleffed Angels, his Sons; when, at the laying the Foundation of the Earth, the Morning Stars fang together, and all the + Job xxxviii. 7. Sons of GOD fhouted for Joy †. Hence Man, whom He created after his own Image, is called His Offspring, and Adam, the immediate Work of His Hands, the Son of Luke iii. 38. GOD. Hence may we all cry out with the Ifraelites,

taught

taught by the Prophet fo to speak, Have we not all one Father? Hath not one GOD created us†

↑ Mal. ii. 10.

(c) Whofoever believeth that Jefus is the Chrift, is born of God: Which Regeneration is, as it were, a fecond Crea-* Joh. v. I tion; for we are GODs Workmanship, created in Chrift Jefus, unto good works t.

(d) He hath predeftinated us unto the Adoption of Children, by Jefus Chrift, to Himfelf*; and hath given us the Spirit of Adoption; whereby we cry Abba, Father t. Others aret wont to fly to this Civil Paternity, as to a Comfort of their Solitary Condition,. when either Nature has denied them, or Death bereft them of their Offspring. Whereas GOD doth it not for his own, but for our fakes; nor is the Advantage his, but ours. Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the Sons of GOD!*

+ Ephef. 2. 10.

Ephef. i. 5. Rom. viii. 15.

1 Joh. iii. 1.

(e) The Soul, as after its natural Being it requires a Birth into the Life of Grace, fo is alfo, after that, born again into a Life of Glory. They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that World, and the Refurrection from the Dead, are the Sons of GOD, being the Sons of the Refurrection. And tLuk. xx. 35.36. Bleffed be the GO D, and Father of our Lord Jefus Christ, which according to his abundant Mercy bath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the Refurrection of Jefus Chrift from the dead; to an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, referved in Heaven for us *.

*I. Pet. i. 3.4v

(f) The Neceffity of this Faith in GOD, as in our Father, appears, in that it is the ground of all our filial Fear, Honour, and Obedience to Him. A Son honoureth his Father, and a Servant his Mafter: If I then be a Father, where is my Honour? And if I am a Mafter, where is my Fear? fays the Lordof Hoftst. It is the Life of our Devotions, in † Malach. i. 6. which as it cuts off all vain repetition, for our Father knoweth what things we have need of before we ask Him†, fo it cre- † Mat.vi 8. ates an affurance of Succefs: If we who are evil know how to give good Gifts unto our Children, how much more shall our Father, which is in Heaven, give good things to them that ask bim? When ye pray, fay, Our Fathert. The fame Rela

tion

Mat. vii. 9.

10. II.

† Luke xi. 2,

tion is the great fupport of Chriftian Patience, fweetning all Afflictions with the Name and Nature of Fatherly Corrections. We have had Fathers of our Flesh which corrected us, and we gave them Reverence: Shall we not much rather be in fubjection to the Father of Spirits, and live? efpecially confidering that they chaften'd us after their own pleafure; but *Heb. xii.9, 10. He for our profit, that we might be Partakers of his Holiness*: They, as an Argument of their Authority; He, as an affurance of his Love: They, that we might acknowledge them to be Parents: He, that He may perfwade us, that we are his Sons. Lastly, it infers an abfolute neceffity of our Imitation. Generation is but the Production of the like: Nature, ambitious of perpetuity, ftriving to preferve the fpecies in the multiplication and fucceffion of Individuals. A likeness to GOD, in Nature we cannot obtain; and therefore must study to resemble Him in our Actions and Affections. Be ye Followers (or rather Imitators) of GOD, as dear Children +. Love your Enemies, &c. that the Children of your Father which is in Heaven. *

† Eph. v. 1. (μιμηταί)

* Luke vi. 36.

ye may

be

(g) Chrift hath taught us to fay Our Father, a Form of Speech which He never ufed Himfelf. Sometimes He calls Him the Father, fometimes my Father, fometimes your, but never our. He makes no fuch conjunction of us to Himfelf, as to make no distinction between us and Himself; fo conjoining us as to distinguish, tho' fo diftinguishing as not to separate us.

(b) This will be fully stated under the Second Article.

(i) The Glory which this Mystery afferts and afcribes to the Father fuppofeth not, that the Effence or Attributes of the Father are greater than thofe of the Son, but that the Father hath them of Himself, (not pofitively, but negatively and exclusively) the Son, by Communication from the Father. What the firft is, He giveth; what the fecond is, He receives. As the Branch is from the Root, and the River from the Fountain, and by their Origination from them receive that Being which they have: Whereas the Root receiveth nothing from the Branch, nor the Fountain from the River: Agreeably to the Expreffions of the Antients on

this Subject. We read of Chrift's being fent by the Father, and the Holy Ghoft fometimes by the Father, fometimes by the Son; but to apply this Term to the Father would be vifibly incongruous: Where therefore there is place for derogation, there we must acknowledge a Pre-eminence. Tho' in fome Paffages of Scripture the Son be named first, and the Holy Ghost in others; yet where the Three Perfons are barely enumerated, and delivered to us as the Rule of Faith, (for instance, in the Form of Baptism,) there the proper Order is inviolably observ'd.

(k) The Form of Baptifm being the Original of the Creed, while the Converts and younger Chriftians were taught and oblig'd to profefs a Belief in thofe Names, with fome fhort explication, (at length reduc'd into a regular and standing Pattern;) we find this not only to be the most eminent Notion of GOD's Paternity, but to be principally meant in our Creed. The neceffity of believing it we perceive, as well in avoiding multiplication and plurality of Gods, (this Origination in the Divine Paternity having been look'd upon by the Antients as an affertion of the Unity) as in hoping for Salvation by an access unto the Father, from whom we have fallen away. Thro' the Son we have an access by one Spirit unto the Father. †

I believe in GOD, the Father Almighty,

A

S I am perfwaded of an infinite and independent Effence, which I term a GOD, and of the Mystery of an Eternal Generation by which that GOD is a Father ; fol affure my felf that Father is not fubject to Infirmities of Age, nor is there any Weaknefs attending on the Antient of Days; but on the contrary, I believe Omnipotency to be an effential Attribute of His Deity; and that, not only in respect of Operation and active

Power,

† Ephef. ii. 18.

Power, (concerning which I fhall have occafion to express my Faith hereafter ( a )) but alfo in regard of Power Authoritative (b), in which I must acknowledge His antecedent and eternal Right of making what, and when, and how He pleas'd, of poffeffing whatsoever He maketh by direct Dominion, of ufing and difpofing as He pleaseth all things which He sfo poffeffeth. This Dominion I believe most absolute in respect of its Independency, both in the Original (c), and the Use or Exercife (d) thereof: This I acknowledge Infinite for Amplitude or Extenfion (e), as being a Power over all things without exception; for Plenitude, or Perfection (f), as being all Power over every thing, without limitation; for Continuance, or Duration (g), as being Eternal, without End or Conclufion (b).

+

(a) In the fixth Article; where tho' the English, and the Latin repeat the fame Word, yet in the antient Greek Copies there is a manifest distinction: The Term used in the first t Article comprehending Power in Operation, as well as Authority in Dominion; whereas that in the fixth * denotes only Infinity of Power, without regard to Dominion or Autho rity.

eup

(b) The Dominion over All, and the Rule and Govern ment of All. This He juftly challengeth upon the Right of Creation. I have made the Earth, and created Manu onit: I, even my Hands have ftretched out the Heavens, and all their Hoft have I commanded t. Upon the fame Do minion or Command, He raifeth the Title of the Lordo Hofts; which tho' preferv'd in the Original Languag

by