Secondly, It is necessary to believe in the Holy Ghost, not only for the acknowledgment of the eminency of his person, but also for a desire of the excellency of his graces, and the abundance of his gifts. What the apostle wished to the Corinthians, ought to be the earnest petition of every Christian, that "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with us all." (2 Cor. xiii. 14.) For "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his;" (Rom. viii. 9.) if he have not that which maketh the union, he cannot be united to him; if he acknowledgeth him not to be his Lord, he cannot be his servant; and "no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." (1 Cor. xii. 3.) "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit;" such is their felicity who have it: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh;" such is their infelicity which want it. (John iii. 6.) What then is to be desired in comparison of "the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ;" (Phil. i. 19.) especially considering the encouragement we receive from Christ, who said, "If ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Luke xi. 13.)

Thirdly, It is necessary to profess faith in the Holy Ghost, that "the will of God" may be effectual in us, even our sanctification." (1 Thess. iv. 3.) For if "God hath from the beginning chosen us to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit;" (2 Thess. ii. 13.) if we be "elected according to the foreknowledge of the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience;" (1 Pet. i. 2.) if the office of the Spirit doth consist in this, and he be therefore called holy, because he is to sanctify us, how should we "follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord?" (Heb. xii. 14.) How should we endeavour to "cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God?" (2 Cor. vii. 1.) "The temple of God is holy, which temple we are, if the Spirit of God dwelleth in us;" (1 Cor. iii. 16, 17.) for the inhabitation of God is a consecration, and that place must be a temple, where his honour dwelleth. Now if we "know that our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in us, which we have of God;" if we know that we are not our own," for that we are bought with a price;" we must also know that we ought "therefore to glorify God in our body, and in our spirit, which are God's:" (1 Cor. vi. 19, 20.) thus it is necessary to believe in the Spirit of sanctification, that " our hearts may be established unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints." (1 Thess. iii. 13.)

Fourthly, It is necessary to believe in the Holy Ghost, that in all our weaknesses we may be strengthened, in all our infirmities we may be supported, in all our discouragements we

may be comforted, in the midst of miseries we may be filled with peace and inward joy. "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." (Rom. xiv. 17.) We read of the disciples at first, that they were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost;" (Acts xiii. 52.) and those which afterwards" became followers of them and of the Lord, received the word in much affliction, but with joy of the Holy Ghost." (1 Thess. i. 6.) These are the rivers of living water flowing out of his belly that believeth" (John vii. 38.) this is the "oil of gladness," wherewith the Son of God was "anointed above his fellows;" (Psal. xlv. 7. Heb. i. 9.) but yet with the same oil his fellows are anointed also for we have an unction from the Holy One, and the anointing which we receive of him, abideth in us." (1 John ii. 20. 27.)

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Lastly, The belief of the Holy Ghost is necessary for the continuation of a submissive ministry, and a Christian submission to the acts of their function, unto the end of the world. For as God the Father sent the Son, and "the Spirit of the Lord was upon him, because he had anointed him to preach the gospel" (Luke iv. 18.) so the Son sent the apostles, saying, As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you; and when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive the Holy Ghost:" (John xx. 21, 22.) and as the Son sent the apostles, so did they send others by virtue of the same Spirit, as St. Paul sent Timothy and Titus, and gave them power to send others, saying to Timothy, "Lay hands suddenly on no man ;" (1 Tim. v. 22.) and to Titus, For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee." (Tit. i. 5.) Thus, by virtue of an apostolical ordination, there is for ever to be continued a ministerial succession. Those which are thus separated by ordination to the work of the Lord, are to "feed the flock of God which is among them, taking the oversight thereof;" (1 Pet. v. 2.) and those which are committed to their care, are to "remember and obey them that have the rule over them, and submit themselves, for that they watch for their souls, as they that must give account." (Heb. xiii. 7. 17.)

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Having thus at large asserted the verity contained in this Article, and declared the necessity of believing it, we may easily give a brief exposition, by which every Christian may know what he ought to profess, and how he is to be understood, when he saith, I believe in the Holy Ghost. For thereby he is conceived to declare thus much I freely and resolvedly assent unto this as unto a certain and infallible truth, that beside all other whatsoever, to whom the name of Spirit is or may be given, there is one particular and peculiar Spirit, who is truly and properly a person, of a true, real, and personal subsistence,

not a created but uncreated person, and so the true and one eternal God; that though he be that God, yet he is not the Father nor the Son, but the Spirit of the Father and the Son, the third person in the blessed Trinity, proceeding from the Father and the Son: I believe this infinite and eternal Spirit to be not only of perfect and indefectible holiness in himself; but also to be the immediate cause of all holiness in us, revealing the pure and undefiled will of God, inspiring the blessed apostles, and enabling them to lay the foundation, and by a perpetual succession to continue the edification of the Church, illuminating the understandings of particular persons, rectifying their wills and affections, renovating their natures, uniting their persons unto Christ, assuring them of the adoption of sons, leading them in their actions, directing them in their devotions, by all ways and means purifying and sanctifying their souls and bodies, to a full and eternal acceptation in the sight of God. This is the eternal Spirit of God; in this manner is that Spirit holy; and thus I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY GHOST.

ARTICLE IX.

The Holy Catholick Church, the Communion of Saints. In this ninth Article we meet with some variety of position, and with much addition; for whereas it is here the ninth, in some Creeds we find it the last ;* and whereas it consisteth

Although generally the Article of the holy Church did immediately follow the Article of the Holy Ghost, as Tertullian well observeth: Cum sub tribus et testatio fidei et sponsio salutis pignorentur, necessario adjicitur ecclesiæ mentio, quoniam ubi tres, id est, Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus, ibi ecclesia quæ trium corpus est.' De Baptis. c. 6. And St. Augustin: Spiritus S. si creatura non Creator esset, profecto creatura rationalis esset. Ipse enim esset summa creatura ; et ideo in Regula fidei non poneretur ante ecclesiam, quia et ipse ad ecclesiam pertineret.' Enchir c. 56. And the author of the first book De Symb. ad Catech. 'Sequitur post S. Trinitatis commendationem, sanctam ecclesiam.' §. 13. And St. Jerome cited in the next note. Yet notwithstanding this order was not always observed, but sometimes this Article was reserved to the end of the CREED. first appeareth in that remarkable place of St. Cyprian: Quod si aliquis illud opponit, ut dicat eandem Novatianum legem tenere quam catholica ecclesia te

neat, eodem symbolo quo et nos baptizare, eundem nosse Deum Patrem, eundem Filium Christum, eundem Spiritum S., ac propter hoc usurpare eum potestatem baptizandi posse, quod videatur in interrogatione baptismi a nobis non discrepare; sciat quisquis et hoc opponendum putat, primum non esse unam nobis et schismaticis symboli legem, neque eandem interrogationem. Nam cum dicunt, Credis remissionem peccatorum, et vitam æternam per sanctam ecclesiam? mentiuntur in interrogatione, cum non habent ecclesiam. Tunc deinde voce sua ipsi confitentur remissionem peccatorum non dari, nisi per sanctam ecclesiam.' Ep. ad Magn. 1. i. ep. 6. §. 6. al. ep. 76. Thus Arius and Euzoius, in the words hereafter cited, place the Church in the conclusion of their creed. And the author of the second book de Symb, ad Catech. placeth the remission of sins after the Holy Ghost: 'Noli injuriam facere ei qui te fecit, ut consequaris ab illo, quod in isto sancto symbolo sequitur, Remissionem omnium peccatorum:' §. 21. and after he hath spoken of

As

of two distinct parts, the latter is wholly added, and the former partly augmented; the most ancient professing no more than to believe the holy Church:* and the Greeks having added, by way of explication or determination, the word catholick, it was at last received into the Latin Creed.

To begin then with the first part of the Article, I shall endeavour so to expound it, as to shew what is the meaning of the Church, which Christ hath propounded to us; how that Church is holy, as the apostle hath assured us; how that holy Church is catholick, as the fathers have taught us. For when I say, I

believe in the holy catholic Church, I mean that there is a Church which is holy,* and which is catholick; and I understand that Church alone, which is both catholick and holy: and being this holiness and catholicism are but affections of this Church which I believe, I must first declare what is the nature and notion of the Church; how I am assured of the existence of that Church; and then how it is the subject of these two affections.

For the understanding of the true notion of the Church, first we must observe, that the nominal definition or derivation of the word is not sufficient to describe the nature of it. If we look upon the old English word now in use, Church or Kirk,† it is derived from the Greek, and first signified, the house of the Lord, that is, of Christ, and from thence was taken to signify the people of God, meeting in the house of God. The Greek word used by the apostles to express the Church, signifieth a calling forth, if we look upon the origination; a con

⚫ Credo sanctam Ecclesiam,' I believe there is a holy Church; or, 'Credo in sanctam Ecclesiam,' is the same: nor does the particle in added or subtracted make any difference. For although some of the Latin and Greek fathers press the force of that preposition, as is before observed, though Ruffinus urge it far in this particular: Ut autem una eademque in Trinitate divinitas doceatur, sicut dictum est in Deo Patre credi adjecta præpositione, ita et in Christo Filio ejus, ita et in Spiritu S. memoratur. Sed ut manifestius fiat quod dicimus, ex consequentibus approbabitur. Sequitur namque post hunc sermonem, sanctam ecclesiam, remissionem peccatorum, hujus carnis resurrectionem. Non dixit, in sanctam ecclesiam, nec in remissionem peccatorum, nec in carnis resurrectionem; si enim addidisset in præpositionem, una eademque vis fuisset cum superioribus. Ne autem (f. Nunc autem) in illis quidem vocabulis, ubi de divinitate fides ordinatur, in Deo Patre dicitur, et Jesu Christo Filio ejus, et in Spiritu S.; in cæteris vero, ubi non de divinitate, sed de creaturis ac mysteriis sermo est, in præpositio non additur, ut dicatur in sanctam ecclesiam, sed sanctam ecclesiam credendam esse; non ut in Deum, sed ut ecclesiam Deo congregatam; et remissionem peccatorum credendam esse, non in remissionem peccatorum ; et resurrectionem carnis, non in resurrectionem carnis. Hac itaque præpositionis syllaba creator a creaturis secernitur, et divina separantur ab humaDis.' Ruff. in Symb. §. 34, 35. Though I say this expression be thus pressed, yet we are sure that the fathers did use is and in for the rest of the Creed as well as for the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

We have already produced the authorities of St. Cyril, Arius, and Euzoius, p. 24. and that of Epiphanius in Ancorato. Thus also the Latins, as St. Cyprian: ' In æternam pœnam sero credent, qui in vitam æternam credere noluerunt.' Ad Demetrianum, §. 21. So Interpres Irenæi : 'Quotquot autem timent Deum, et credunt in adventum Filii ejus,' etc. So Chrysologus: In sanctam ecclesiam. Quia ecclesia in Christo, et in ecclesia Christus est; qui ergo ecclesiam fatetur, in ecclesiam se confessus est credidisse.' Serm.62. And in the ancient edition of St. Jerome, in the place before-cited, it was read: Credis in sanctam ecclesiam :' contr. Lucif. col. 297. and the word in was left out by Victorius.

+ Kúpios, the Lord, and that properly Christ; from whence Kugianos, belonging to the Lord Christ; olnog Kuglands, from thence Kyriac, Kyrk, and Church.

The word used by the apostle is ἐκκλησία, from ἐκκαλεῖν evocare. From ἐκκέκλησαι ἔκκλησις, from ἔκκλησις ἐκκλησία, of the same notation with the Hebrew p: Ecclesia quippe ex vocatione appellata est.' S. August. Exp. ad Rom. §. 2. And though they ordinarily take it primarily to signify convocatio, as St. Augustin: Inter congregationem, unde synagoga, et convocationem, unde ecclesia nomen habet, distat aliquid:' Enar. in Psal. 81. §. 1. yet the origination speaks only of evocation without any intimation of congregation or meeting together, as there is in σύγκλητος. From whence arose that definition of Methodius, "OTI ἐκκλησίαν παρὰ τὸ ἐκκεκληκέναι τὰς ἡδονὰς λέγεσθαί φησιν. Photius Biblioth. Cod. ccxxxv. col. 937. Whereas ixxaλty is no more here than καλεῖν, ἔκκλησις no more