in the same Creed (St. Athanasius') compared with certain Scripture statements.

Take these three very plain verses. "The Word was made flesh." (John i. 12.) "He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father." (John xiv. 9.) "Our hands have handled of the Word of life." (1 John i. 1.) Here are three very plain statements, expressed almost in monosyllables, and yet any student in Theology knows that each one of these verses, taken as it stands, involves a far greater difficulty than any thing asserted in the Creed of St. Athanasius.

We have now to consider certain expressions in this Creed which are assumed to be unscripturally harsh and uncharitable. I believe that, on examination, the objections to these expressions will be found just as futile as the objections to the rest of it.

What are called the "damnatory clauses" in this Creed are only the echo of certain damnatory clauses in the Word of God, and are to be received in the same sense, applied in the same way, and with the same limitations, as certain corresponding denunciations in the New Testa

ment.

I will take the best known of these denunciations, which forms a part of the last commission of Christ to His Apostles, "He that believeth not shall be damned;" the whole commission being, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned." (St. Mark xvi. 16.)

Now, suppose that with this commission I go to some heathen city, and preach the Gospel, what message must I deliver ? Evidently the message contained in my commission, and this message is twofold. "He that believeth shall be saved." "He that believeth not shall

be damned." If I am to be a faithful messenger, I must deliver all my message. If I think the terms are too harsh, as an honest man I have only one alternative, I must throw up my commission. If I am true to my Master's instructions I have to tell my heathen hearers plainly that if they do not believe they will be damned.

Now supposing that, after I have faithfully delivered my message, a heathen who has heard it dies in unbelief. Am I to say respecting that man that he is certainly lost? No: clearly not-I have nothing more to do with him. He has passed to the bar of his Sovereign Judge. Now, I humbly trust that this Sovereign Judge has reserved to Himself the right of making allowances. I cannot but believe that He has reserved to Himself the right of modifying His decisions in particular cases according to the circumstances of each soul, which circumstances are known only to Him; but though He has reserved to Himself this power, He has assuredly not given it to me. I have but one duty, to deliver His message unaltered and unmodified. Whilst my hearers are in life, then, I must say to them, "He that believeth not shall be damned." When they pass to the bar of their Judge, I humbly hope that God will take every circumstance into consideration which can possibly tell in their favour. But I have no power to make any reservations, the terms of my commission being, "He that believeth not shall be damned."

For a legislature to make a law, and fence that law with a penalty, and at the same time to express all the possible modifications and exceptions, would make any law a dead letter. And as it is with the law of man, so it must be with the law of God. The New Testament contains a multitude of denunciations of the wrath of God against all manner of sins, which denunciations

would be entirely deprived of their force if they were accompanied with reservations, say in favour of those who sin ignorantly, or in particular degrees of ignorance, or who are educated in sin, as many are.

And if, for obvious reasons, these reservations are not expressed in the Bible, neither must the Church express them when she denounces the punishment of God against impenitent sinners.

Now, all this is strictly applicable to the damnatory clauses of this Creed, and in somewhat of this way.

The word of God lays down in the plainest possible terms that belief in Jesus Christ is necessary to salvation. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." "If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." This is so plain, and is so universally acknowledged, that I need say nothing more upon it.

But another matter concerning this belief in Christ is quite as certain, though it is not now recognised in the popular religion of the day-which is, that the only belief in Jesus Christ which is recognised in Scripture is a belief in Christ's PERSON, that He is God's only-begotten Son come in the flesh.

Belief, I say, in His PERSON, rather than-though of course not excluding-belief in His work or in His love. Let us see whether this be not so.

First, we have our Saviour saying, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoso ever believeth in Him should not perish," &c. (John iii. 16.) Now, that this belief is belief in the person of Christ is evident from the next verse but one,

"He that

believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Here is a damnatory clause, for here is expressly laid down the condemnation of those who do not believe,

D

-but in what?" Why, do not believe in the NAME of the Only Begotten Son-not merely in the work of the Son of God, though that work be a "finished work"-not even in the love of the Son of God, though that love "passeth knowledge," but in the name of the only begotten, i.e. in that which distinguishes His Person as the Person of the Only Begotten.

in

Again, "If ye believe not that I am [He], ye shall die

your sins." (John viii. 24.) Of course we must ask here, "Whom are we to believe that He is?" And this is what the Jews asked, for we go on to read, "Then said they unto Him, Who art Thou? And Jesus said unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning." Now up to this time Jesus had represented Himself to be the True, i. e. the Only Begotten Son of God, and because of this they had taken up stones to stone Him. He had as yet said little or nothing to them about His work, but He had said much about His Person; and naturally so, for how could they exercise any true trust in His work, except they realized His Person, for the all-sufficiency of His work depends wholly upon the greatness of His Person, that He is in very truth the Only Begotten Son-the "Word made flesh?"

Again, we have a confirmation of this in the very next chapter (John ix. 35). "Jesus heard that they had cast him out and when He had found him, He said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped Him."

And again, in the thirteenth chapter: "Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He." (John xiii. 19.)

Again, we have the Saviour Himself saying, "Ye believe in God, believe also in ME" (John xiv. 1), mentioning Himself, that is, His Person.

How could He put "believing in Himself" side by side with "believing in God," except that belief be the recognition of what He is, viz. the Son of God, and so in nature equal with God?

Again, when St. Paul began to preach, it is said that "he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God." (Acts ix. 20.)

Again, in the very first verses of the Epistle to the Romans, the Gospel is set forth as having specially to do with Christ's Person. "The Gospel of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power... by the resurrection from the dead." Here we have belief in the resurrection itself set forth as subsidiary to the belief in the Person of Christ as the Son of God, for St. Paul says, "He was declared to be the Son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead."

Lastly, I will take 1 John iv. 3: "Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof," &c. Here we have belief in Christ's Person guarded with a very strong anathema.

Now, what can the Apostle here mean by "confessing not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh?" Evidently he can mean but one thing, "confessing not" the Incarnation, for the Incarnation is the one thing which distinguishes the coming of Christ into the world from the coming of any other man into the world. He must mean, in fact, the thing which he expresses in other words in his Gospel," The Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us."