vanities of the heathen, or is He true God? See Jer. x. 6-10.

Is there any other God beside this God? See Deut. vi. 4. Mark xii. 32.

Is he an everlasting God? See Psalm xc. 2. Has He bodily parts? or is He a spirit? See John iv. 4. 1 Tim. i. 17.

Are we to consider Jehovah capable of being moved by passions as the creature may be? or, is His perfection independent and unchangeable? See Mal. iii. 6. Jam. i. 17.

Is He infinite, or unlimited, in His power, and goodness, and wisdom? See Matt. xix. 26. Ps. lii. 1. Ps. cxlvii. 5.

It is here said that He displays these perfections in the works of creation and preservationcan this be proved from God's word?

xliv. 24. Neh. ix. 6.

See Is.

Can the doctrine of a Trinity, or unity of three persons in Jehovah, be confirmed by the word of God? See 1 John v. 7: that the Son is God is positively revealed, John i. 1-3. 1 John v. 20: and equally so that the Holy Ghost is God, 1 Cor. xii. 3-6: and thus the rite of baptism is administered, Matt. xxviii. 19; and the scriptural salutation given, 2 Cor. xiii. 14.

Some very important reflections may be made upon this subject: it is an interesting detail of the great fundamental article of our faith. We

ought, in the first place, to be filled with gratitude, for that revelation which has dispersed the darkness and ignorance of our minds, and to bless the Lord for delivering our country from the horrors of idolatry, and from the abominations of a destroying superstition; we should look back, to those times of blood and crime, with awe, at the developement of human depravity, that has been the disgrace of man, and that must have plunged us likewise into shame and ruin, had not the Lord raised up witnesses of his truth, visited us with light, and given power to those who were constituted his servants to rescue us from our night of error. Such gifts from God are all free and unmerited by us, and ought to be gratefully appreciated; nor should we possess our present civil order, religious liberty, and great spiritual advantages, without an unfeigned and grateful sense of Jehovah's bounty. But we have to be deeply humbled also: for, notwithstanding the privileges which are thus granted, we are in a lamentable state of remaining darkness, unless we are further taught of God. External advantages will not ensure internal devotion, nor can they secure the saving knowledge of God: for these requisites we must have divine teaching, and the Holy Ghost must re move the blindness from our eyes, and the hardness from our heart: we ought therefore to offer up constant supplication, that God would give us the effectual instruction, by breaking open

the seals of the word, and by applying the revelation individually to our souls. Experimental knowledge of the Almighty is the only effectual way of keeping us from error, or of conducting us to peace; and this is never possessed, until we have been brought to understand our own nothingness, and to see how absolutely needful it is, that we should be loved by the Father freely and eternally, redeemed by the Son fully in an atoning work of mercy, and sanctified in the Spirit's regenerating grace in the heart. These things, once known in individual experience, will lead us into the secret of the covenant, and help us so to acquaint ourselves with God that we shall be at peace with Him.

Can we then, on concluding this Article, faithfully address our souls, and uprightly answer these inquiries. Have we fellowship with this great and glorious Jehovah, so that we are one spirit with our God, with a heart reconciled to all His will and ways? Are we privileged to come to His perfections, as to so many chambers of safety, running into the name of the Lord, and finding it a strong tower, especially in times of distress and need? Can we thus run, to power, to wisdom, to goodness, and take from these glories the grace we want? This is the privilege of believers, as we shall see in future articles; and it is ours, if we have an experimental application of this subject,—that is, if God has cast out idolatry from the inward world, and set up

His own name as our one God, our true, living, eternal, unchangeable God, whose infinite power and wisdom and goodness are our portion, and our satisfying good.

Let protestant believers, who verbally confess this interesting article, as a part of their sound creed or belief, look well that it be more than verbal confession, and that the spirit of the article be known and proved.

ARTICLE II.

Of the Word, or Son of God, which was made very Man.

The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, of her substance, so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one Person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God and very Man, who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men.

THIS article is intended to lead the Christian mind into a clear understanding of that wonderful undertaking, by which fallen man is restored to the favour of his offended Creator: this was effected through redemption: and this redemption was accomplished, in behalf of the sinner, by the second Person in the Trinity, who, in order to perform those conditions upon which Jehovah, without violating His justice and truth, could turn to the transgressor, became incarnate. Thus it is here stated, that the Son took man's