with any jewels stollen from the Aegyptians or fabulous fictions of the Gentiles or sorraine and far-fetcht dresses of humane Arts and Sciences nâ—ither with any other strong and strained lines and the like Sed tantummodo Evangelicis verbis enunciare But fairly smoothly to derive my proofes and interpretation thereof onely from the sacred founâ—aines as I said before For as S. Ierome saith Fides pura aperta confessio non quaerit strophas argumenta verborum that is Subtill and Scholasticall disputes or other verball arguments are no whit requisite in the pure and publike profession and confession of our Christian faith And this sufficeth for the title Now to the words themselves AN EXPOSITION UPON THE Apostles Creed Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem Factorem Coeli Terrae c. That is I beleeve in God the Father Almightie Maker of Heaven and Earth c. WHere first wee are to take notice of the first word Credo I beleeve which shewes as S. Augustine saith Quod non debemus discutere divina judicia sed credere In locum Serm. 181. nec rationem requirere sed fidem simpliciter immobiliter exhibere That wee ought not to question or dispute of divine mysteries but to beleeve them nor so much to require a reason of them as simply and undoubtedly yea immovably and without staggering to submit our faith and credence unto them For there are many things belonging to the salvation of Gods children which if everie plaine and simple man were driven to finde out a reason for upon the paine of his damnation hee were never able to doe it and so consequently could never be saved Nay the most learned and chiefe pillars of the Church of God themselves have beene at a stand in some of them which made S. Paul to cry out Oh the deepnesse of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out Rom. 11.33 And therefore Succumbat ratio fidei captiva quiescat Humane sense and naturall reason must yeeld and submit themselves when faith comes in place For faith is the evidence of things not seene saith the Author to the Hebrewes Chap. 11.1 that is not perceived or understood by the eyes of the body no nor of the minde neither but onely beleeved to be so because God which cannot lie hath said it is so So that Fides incipit ubi ratio desinit There is no place no roome for faith till reason can goe no farther For if wee could comprehend the deepe mysteries of God by reason then it were knowledge and not faith that should apprehend and lay hold upon them Now our knowledge in this life is imperfect saith S. Paul but in the next life we shall know even as we are knowne and see face to face as we are seene For then that which is perfect being come that which is imperfect shall be done away 1 Cor. 13.9 10. But now in this life abideth faith and hope as there followes vers 13. which gave occasion to S. Augustine so often in his works to call this life Tempus fidei The time of faith and beleeving answerable to that of S. Paul elsewhere Nunc per fidem ambulamus c. Now wee walke by faith and not by sight 2 Cor. 5.7 Againe if by knowledge onely men might attaine unto salvation then none but the great Clerks and learned Rabbies of the world should be capable thereof and the illiterat and ignorant poore man such as S. Peter and S. Iohn were before their calling Acts 4.13 should be quite excluded from all hope of grace and mercie But God whose mercies are above all other his works hath otherwise provided that now by the meanes of faith and beleefe the meane as well as the mightie and the poore as well as the rich may be made partakers of salvation And therefore for use and conclusion of this point let us not strive so much in this life to know as to be strong in faith and firmly to beleeve for if wee beleeve now wee shall know hereafter For too great a desire to know hath wrought our woe it being the only occasion first of our sinne and secondly of our miserie Quod homo voluit scire antequam crederet saith Cusanus That man would know before he did beleeve For by this meanes Arbor scientiae complures privavit arbore vitae The tree of knowledge hath deprived many of the tree of life And never any but heretikes did Concludere fidem intra limites humani intellectus as Alfonsus à Castro speakes that is Shut up their faith within the narrow lists and limits of mans shallow and simple understanding but it is the part and propertie of a true Christian Captivare intellectum in obsequium Christi To captivate and subdue his understanding unto the doctrine of Christ Secondly this word Credo I beleeve tells us that we must not only not dispute in matters of faith but so far subject our reason unto faith that wee doe it also without doubting without staggering For Dubius in fide infidelis est It is scarce faith at all if there be any doubting in it as appeares by that speech of our Saviour unto his doubting Apostle Thomas Put thy finger here and put it into my side and be not faithlesse but beleeve Ioh. 20.27 And Vt aliquid fides vere appelletur certitudinem exigit firmitatem in eo qui eam tenet saith the former Alfonsus that is Whatsoever is properly and truly called faith hath certaintie in it and stedfastnesse of beleefe in him that holds it Otherwise saith hee if assurance and stabilitie be wanting and any the least scruple arising it is not to be accounted faith but doubting only or opinion This being the difference between faith and opinion Quod qui credit tenaciter adhaeret That he which beleeves sticks so close unto his Tenet that no man or meanes shall be able to withdraw him from it or to wry him another way whereas hee that doth but hold opinion onely Sic accedit suae sententiae ut aliquantulum haesitet mobili intellectu assentiat Hee comes but doubtingly and with an uncertaine assent unto it As to the opinions of the Philosophers which were truths onely of consequence upon supposed grounds still disputable and therefore still uncertaine Whereas our doctrine the doctrine of Christians is a truth of foundation without question and therefore not disputed but beleeved and thorowly setled in our hearts by the operation and power of him who is both the Author and the Finisher of it as the Scripture speaketh And therefore in these fundamentall grounds of our Christian faith away with doubting and hesitation For hee that doubteth and wavereth in these is like a wave of the sea tossed of the wind and carried away as S. Iames saith Iam. 1.6 But let everie one amongst us not onely men but women also yea and children
she ought to be in subjection in all things as the Apostle speaketh Ephes 5.23 24. and if in all things then much more in the service and worship of God For if it be as S. Augustine saith but Perversa domus ubi foemina habet imperium super virum A disorderly and ill-governed family where the wife will take upon her to rule all though in houshold affaires then much more when it is so in Church affaires And those men that suffer it in their houses to the breach of the unitie of the Church of God as it is to be feared many doe shall be sure to answer for it it being a powerfull and unresistable reason urged by the Apostle why inferiours should obey them that have the oversight of them and submit themselves unto them because they watch for their soules as they that must give an account Heb. 13.17 And therefore in the name and feare of God let me perswade all masters of families that they permit neither themselves nor any others of their houshold to be carried about with divers and strange doctrines because it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace as the same Apostle in the same chapter exhorteth vers 9. But let everie one say with Ioshua I and my house will serve the Lord Iosh 24.15 and that in the unitie of the Church of God in which we have beene nourished up in the faith of God and particularly of the Apostles Creed the subject of our discourse at this time And this sufficeth for the first circumstance the unitie of the holy Apostles in composing and compiling of this Summe of Christian Beleefe In the second place in this title The Apostles Creed wee may take notice also of the antiquitie and universall consent which hath been given to the doctrine in the same contained in all ages So that as a Councell saith Conc. Fer. Sess 10. Patet neutiquam licuisse ab Apostolorum Symbolo quicquam dimovere It is evident that it is not lawfull by any meanes to depart a jot from the Symbole or Beleefe of the Apostles Which may teach us to grow suspitious of all novelties in matters of faith and to keepe our selves close onely to this needfull and ancient truth according to Gods owne direction by his Prophet Stand in the wayes and behold and aske for the old way which is the good way and walke therein and yee shall finde rest unto your soules Ierem. 6.16 For if our soules cannot finde rest in this anciâ—nt and so long received truth they will never be able to finde it I am confident in the new created Creeds of these latter times I meane that of the Trent Councell and the like of which Sir Humphrey Lyne hath given a true verdict saying Epist Dedic before The Safe way I am sure that those twelve new coyned articles declared by their grand Councell of Trent and published by Pope Pius the fourth with straight charge to be received of all men are so farre from the knowlâ—dge of Antiquitie that as yet they are scarce understood amongst their owne Disciples for articles of faith and their best learned Romanists professe openly that most of them were unknowne to former ages So farre hee Which as hee hath truly averred so as learnedly and fully proved in his Treatise called The safe way whither I referre you To which purpose also of discovering the noveltie of Popish Tenets you may sâ—e a Treatise called The Old Religion written by that reverend and learned Prelate Dr. Ioseph Hall now Lord Bishop of Exon as likewise another Treatise called Credo Sanctam Catholicam Ecclesiam written by Dr. Chaloner Now if the faith of the Papists he so new it cannot be true for Primum verum as Tertullian hath well observed In divinitie and matters of religion the first must needs be truest as being neerest to the fountaine of all truth which is God himselfe and his sonne Christ the streame issuing from the said fountaine even truth it selfe as Ioh. 14.6 It being a rule and received maxime in nature that Quo res magis appropinquat fonti caussae alicujus perfectionis eo plus recipit The nâ—erer any thing approches to the fountaine or originall of any perfection so much the more it doth participate thereof As the neerer any thing comes to the fire it is the hotter to the Sunne the brighter to the water the colder to the truth the truer And therefore our Apostles Creed flowing so immediately from the fountaine-head of truth Christ Jesus the righteous must needs be farre more worthy of all men to be received as the Apostle speakes 1 Tim. 1.15 than that which is of a farre later Edition For whatsoever comes at the second hand as being brought in by mans invention must needs savour of mans corruption And therefore I say Serm. 181. de temp Praefat. let us keepe our selves fast and close to this which howsoever as S. Augustine speakes Breve sit verbis magnum tamen est Sacramentis It be briefe and short in words yet it is verie large and long in sense containing whatsoever is requisite and necessarie to be beleeved toward salvation Yea let everie one as well old as young as well men and women as children be diligent and carefull to learne and hold and understand and when time is to make confession too of this which containes the summe and substance of the Catholike faith which except a man beleeve faithfully he cannot be saved but without doubt hee shall perish everlastingly As Athanasius in his Creed And therefore it stands everie man upon as much as the saving of his soule comes to to beleeve and know and understand this which everie ordinarie person can hardly doe without a guide as the Eunuch told Philip Hieron ad Paulin. Acts 8.31 because Singula in eo verba plena sunt sensibus There is not a word in it but hath its weight Wherefore I shall endevour for your farther benefit and instruction herein after a short plaine and familiar manner to make interpretation thereof unto you out of the holy Scriptures and Word of God For it is not fitting as Cyrill saith either for me to deliver Catech. or for you to heare and beleeve any thing concerning the divine and holy mysteries of faith without demonstrations and proofes thereof out of the same the holy Writ For the verie safetie of our faith doth not depend upon a subtill and devised disputation but upon plaine and evident probation out of the Word of God And therefore that I may shew my selfe Vt opinione sic dictione Christianum that is As in beleeving so in speaking and writing a right Christian you must not expect Pet. Nannius de Athanasio Me mysteria regni coelorum aut furtis Aegyptiis aut Gentilibus fucis aut comptelis exoticis ornare That I should strive to set forth these deepe mysteries of our Christian faith and Kingdome of Heaven
God by a Christian conversation but that he did beleeve trust in God what makes the difference between Saints and sinners between the reprobate and the righteous between Iudas Peter but only trust want of trust in God wherfore was the world all that therein is at the the first created but only to make men trust in God How came it by the fall of men and Angels to be corrupted but onely because they forsooke their trust in God and wherefore was it againe redeemed at the last but onely to renew mens trust in God wherefore are all those many and manifold blessings soli poli as well of earth as heaven conferred and bestowed upon the children of God but onely because they trust in God and wherefore are all Gods curses and heavie judgements both of this world and that which is to come inflicted upon the wicked and enemies of God but onely because they have refused to trust in God would wee then avoyd and decline the heavie wrath and vengeance of God prepared for the Devill and his angels let us trust in God or would wee be invested with the glorious liberty of the sons of God and made partakers of the plentious redemption that is in Christ Jesus why then let us trust in God Credere Deum to beleeve that there is a God cannot doe it for this the devils doe beleeve and yet they tremble Credere Deo to beleeve that God is just and true comes likewise short of it for this the wicked may doe nay they shall doe not onely beleeve but finde and feele too the truâ—h of Gods judgements and threatnings against them for their sins to their greater terror and confusion But Credere in Deum This little Monosyllable In added to it only shall and can effect it Loe here then is the little cloud that arose out of the sea no bigger than a mans hand out of which notwithstanding did fall a great raine 1 Reg. 18.44 45 verses Loe here is the little well that grew into a great river and flowed over with great waters Esther 10.6 in the Apocripha Loe here not only the Iliades but the Odisses too of Homer nay the workes and writings of the whole world as well sacred as prophane within the shell of a nut For what good use is to be made of them all but only to cause men to trust in God which service if they doe not in some sort or other promote and advance forward They shall burne in the end like stubble and vanish like chaffe before the face of the winde as being lighter than smoak or vanitie it selfe If then the Gospell of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ may fitly be counted and called the Compendium of the whole Bible and this the Apostles Creed the abridgement of the Gospell then likewise our little In here may not unfitly be stiled the epitome of the Creed For whereas there may be said to be two parts of the Creed viz. A dutie required and rewards proposed for the faithfull dispatch and performance of the said dutie This In doth fully performe the dutie in beleeving in the Father in the Son and in the Holy Ghost and so consequently not only intitle us to but invest us with the rewards and they are rich rewards too by making us members of the holy Catholike Church and partakers of the Communion of Saints forgivenesse of sins resurrection of the body and life everlasting And therefore if wee were wont to wonder when wee were children and schoole-boyes at the dexteritie of him that could write the Pater noster within the compasse of a penny pardon the lownesse of the comparison then much more may we now admire the infinite wisdome of God that could contrive the whole substance of his owne will our worship into so small a volume as two small letters and yet this as you have seene is fully and at large pâ—rformed And this may serve to checke and condemne our dulnesse and backwardnesse in Gods service that having so small a lesson to learne and to take forth we are so long in learning it and so hardly brought to put it in practice and execution For who it there that truly beleeveth and putteth his trust in God as it behoveth a Christian man to doe But some put their trust in chariots and some in horses as the Scripture speaketh Some in the strength of their owne armes and others in the invention of their own braines some in the fatnesse of their owne fields and fertilitie of their owne soyles and others in their owne policies in their owne paines in so much as they offer sacrifice to their nets and burne incense to their yarne as the Prophet complaineth of them Habacuk 1.16 So that we may justly take up Davids complaint and say Loe these are the men that take not God for their strength but trust to the multitude of their riches c. Psal 52. But these are but vaine things for vaine men to put their trust in which made Job to protest against such vain confidence saying If I have made gold my hope or said to the wedge of gold Thou art my confidence Job 31.24 As knowing that Sperando pereunt qui sic sperant such hypocrites hope shall perish as himselfe may be said to translate it Iob 8.13 Yea their confidence shall be cut off and their trust shall be but as the house of a Spider They may well leane upon their house but it shall not stand yea though they hold fast by it yet shall it not indure as there followes verses 14 15. For cursed is that man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arme and with-draweth his heart from the Lord Ierem. 17.5 And therefore Salomon adviseth us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and not leane so much as to our owne wisdome Prov. 3.5 For blessed are all they said David that trust in him Psal 2.12 Which if it be so saith S. Austen that they are blessed that trust in the Lord Tunc miseri sunt qui confidunt in se They must needs be wretched and miserable that trust only to themselves as the justiciaries and all that boast of their owne righteousnesse doe But S. Paul saith Qui gloriatur in Domino glorietur He that boasteth let him boast in the Lord 1 Cor. 1. vltimò For as S. Augustine goes on Nihil in te placet Deo nisi quod habes ex Deo c. There is nothing in man that can be or is acceptable unto God but that which he hath received from God and therefore seeing there is no good thing in man but what he hath received from God Why doth he glory as though he had not received it 1 Cor. 4.7 Seeing then there is nothing in man whether our selves or others worthy of our trust or dependance on him let us be perswaded as well for the salvation of our soules as the preservation of our bodies to take
and we that have beene ruled but with an iron rod in the time of the Law able to breake all the kingdomes of the earth to powder have now the golden scepter of grace stretched out over us to guide us thorow the paths of righteousnesse in this world unto the land of everlasting happinesse in the world to come And therefore let us praise the Lord all wee Heathens and sing unto him all we nations because Jesus Christ that is the Anoynted Saviour as well to us Gentiles as to the Jewes is conceived by the Holy Ghost and borne of the Virgin Marie and this sufficeth for his two names Iesus Christ It followeth His onely Sonne our Lord. Where you see that everie good Christian professes to beleeve how that Jesus Christ is first the Sonne of God secondly his onely Son and thirdly our Lord of these in order And first of the first his Sonne First he is the Sonne of God which when you heare Beloved you must take heed that you doe not understand it onely as he was man conceived by the Holy Ghost and borne of the Virgin Marie as followes afterward to be handled in the description of his manhood when we shall come to those articles for so he is usually stiled the Sonne of man as well as of God but here he is to be beleeved the Sonne of God from the beginning before ever he became man or ever man was or indeed before the world was A Sonne Qui non in temporibus esse coepit sed ante saecula sempiternus incomprehensibiliter à patre genitus as Cyril speakes Which had not his beginning in transitorie and fleeting time but was begotten by his Father before all worlds as it is in the Nicene Creed God of God light of light verie God of verie God begotten not made being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made as there followes so that as the Father is eternall so is the Sonne eternall too as saith Athanasius in his Creed Now if any should be inquisitive to know Quomodo aeternus aeternum as S. Augustine speakes how one eternall should beget another seeing according to our naturall reason that which begets is before that which is begotten I might answer as in my former Catechisme about the name of Father Generationem ejus quis enarrabit Who shall declare his generation Esay 53.8 seeing the Angels thereof are ignorant and it is unknowne to the Prophets and therefore Non à nobis discutiendum sed credendum as S. Augustine It is rather to be beleeved than disputed or inquired into too farre but yet because the Lord hath given us many earthly comparisons both in his word and works by which wee may make some resemblances and attaine unto some glimpse of knowledge in those things that are heavenly therefore with the same Father wee will expresse it as plainly as we can to your apprehension and conceit entreating you with him that if there be any thing that you cannot thorowly and plainly understand that yet you would beleeve considering as the Prophet saith That untill you beleeve you cannot understand as S. Augustine reads it Esay 7.9 Intellectus enim est merces fidei as he further saith Understanding is the reward of faith and therefore seeke not to understand that thou mayest beleeve but beleeve first that thou mayest understand afterward Nay thou shalt understand if thou firmly beleevest if not in this life yet in that which is to come when thou shalt see face to face and know as thou art knowne Well then Quomodo aeternus aeternum sayest thou How doth one eternall beget another S. Augustine shall answer for mee Quomodo flamma temporalis generat lucem temporalem Even as a temporall flame or fire doth beget a temporall light where the begotten light is coequall in time to the begetting flame neither being before nor after other so that where there is a flame you may be bold to say there is light and where you see such a light there you may be sure is also a flame or fire so that Ex quó incipit flamma ex illo incipit lux Looke where the flame begins then also the light even at that verie instant of time And therefore as S. Augustine goes on Da mihi flammam sine luce do tibi Deum Patrem sine Filio Shew mee a flame without light and I will beleeve that God the Father may have a time to be without a Sonne but not else but as the light from its verie first beginning begets shining so God the Father from all eternitie hath begot this Son which in some places of the holy Scripture is called the Word of God In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God c. Joh. 1.1 In other places Sapientia Patris The wisdome of the Father as Luk. 11.49 Sometimes Virtus potentia Dei The vertue and power of the Lord other times Brachium fortitudo Domini The arme and strength of the Lord and the like All which shew him to have his verie essence and being with and from God from the verie beginning of eternitie even before all times in this onely to be distinguished from the Father that the Father is of none whereas the Sonne is of the Father and the Holy Ghost is from them both being but one God howsoever three persons so that as learned Mr. Hooker saith The substance of God with this propertie to be of none doth make the person of the Father the verie selfe-same substance in number with this propertie to be of the Father maketh the person of the Sonne the same substance having added unto it the propertie of proceeding from the other two maketh the person of the Holy Ghost so that howsoever in the God-head there be three persons yet wee acknowledge but one God for the Father is God the Sonne God and the Holy Ghost God and yet not three Gods but one God as Athanasius in his Creed and therefore this one God howsoever but one in substance and essence when hee was to make man seemes to distinguish himselfe into persons by saying within himselfe Let us make man in our image according to our likenesse Gen. 1.26 in which words and those immediately going before Et divinitatis unitas personarum pluralitas aperte ostenditur The unitie of the God-head and pluralitie of persons is plainly and evidently shewne For whereas the next words before are And God saw that it was good he presently added saying Let us make man c. which adding of a verb of the plurall number to a noune of the singular number shewes plainly as well a pluralitie of persons as singularitie of essence in the God-head And so likewise doe the two nounes of the singular number Image and Similitude shew evidently Non in Deo esse plura exemplaria That there are not in God more patternes and samples to be resembled than one according to the image and
similitude whereof man was made but adding a pronoune of the plurall number to these nounes of the singular as our image and our similitude it clearely demonstrates a pluralitie of persons as well as the other did but one God for if there were but one person as the heretique Sabellius would inferre he had not said our image but mine nor our likenesse but only my likenesse The same likewise viz. the pluralitie of persons in the God-head is further proved in another place of the same booke of Genesis and that is chap. 19. vers 24. where it is said Then the Lord rained upon Sodome and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven now if there were but one person in the God-head what Lord should this be that should thus raine fire and brimstone from the Lord but Lord being twice named it doth plainly shew the Sonne to be hee that rained Quoniam à Patre genitus Because he is begotten of his Father And the Father to be him from whom hee rained because hee is not à Domino sed ingenitus not from the Lord being unbegotten but the Lord raining from the Lord must needs be the Sonne from the Father who à quo habet esse ab illo habet operari looke from whom hee hath his essence from him also hee hath his operation and therefore it is said that by him were all things made Ioh. 1.3 And yet further Ego Paterunum sumus I and my Father are one saith Christ himselfe Ioh. 10.30 And againe this is life eternall to know thee to be the onely true God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ Ioh. 17.3 both which places shew plainly a pluralitie of persons though but one God But you will say that howsoever these places and the like may be sufficient to prove a Dualitie or that there are two persons in the God-head as Father and Sonne yet they doe not prove a Trinitie or that there are three persons in the same as we are farther taught to beleeve and therefore you desire proofe of this also for the better strengthening of your faith in that point which I am content to yeeld unto though it were more proper when wee shall come to that article of beleeving in the third person of this blessed Trinitie that is the Holy Ghost But if this be sufficiently proved now that labour may be spared then hearken therefore for you farther satisfaction in this point to that which followes when Abraham sate in his tent doore in the plaine of Mamre in the heat of the day it is said that the Lord appeared unto him and he lift up his eyes and looked and loe three men stood by him and when hee saw them hee ran to meet them from the rent doore and bowed himselfe to the ground and he said Lord if I have now found favour in thy sight goe not I pray thee from thy servant Gen. 18.1 2 3. Here you see three appeared yet Abraham speakes but as to one saying Lord and thy and thee all in the singular number Yea the Text it selfe expresseth these three to be but one Lord saying That the Lord appeared vers 1. and yet three appeared vers 2. Secondly the Prophet David saith God even our owne God shall blesse us God shall blesse us and all the ends of the earth shall feare him Psal 67. ult where hee names God thrice to shew a Trinitie of persons and then concludeth with All shall feare him expressing these three persons to be notwithstanding but one God Thirdly the Prophet Esay speaking of the Seraphims praising the Lord sayes they did it after this manner saying Holy holy holy is the Lord God of hosts the whole world is full of his glorie Esa 6.3 where by crying thrice holy they demonstrate a Trinitie of persons and by saying Lord God and his glorie in the singular number they declare also the Unitie of the same And these proofes shall serve out of the Old Testament in the new likewise we finde sundrie to the same purpose and we will begin with S. Paul first who saith That of him and through him and for him are all things to him therefore be glorie for ever Amen Rom. 11. ult where having named him thrice hee shewes the three persons and adding to him and not to them be glorie hee likewise manifestly teaches but one God And againe hee shewes the Trinitie in another place verie plainly though not the Unitie viz. when he sayes The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all 2 Cor. 13. ult where the three persons are expressely named which is as much as we looke for at this time having plentifully proved the Unitie before S. Iohn likewise saith There are three that beare record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one 1 Ioh. 5 7. where both Trinitie and Unitie are apparently expressed as also in the Revelation Holy holy holy Lord God Almightie which was and which is and which is to come Revel 4.8 And lastly our Saviour himselfe likewise to manifest the same unto his Church in after ages commands his Apostles at his last farewel from them on earth to goe unto all Nations and to baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost Matth. 28.19 which should never have beene done if these three Persons had not beene one and the same God Now then to finish this point if you understand these things give praise and thankes unto God that hath made you capable of such high and hidden mysteries by enabling you so to doe if you doe not understand yet faithfully beleeve and it may be a meanes to save your soules And in particular for the present Article in hand beleeve the confession of Saint Peter which hee made unto Christ himselfe demanding of his Disciples who he was Simon Peter answered for all the rest Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Matth. 16.16 So say you every one for himselfe I beleeve in Jesus Christ the Son of God The next circumstance is that he is unicus his onely Son And in Jesus Christ his only Son So that he is to be beleeved not onely to be his Son but his onely Son too for thus the holy Scriptures declare him and therefore it is our parts so to beleeve him As first where it is said The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we saw the glory thereof as the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father full of grace and truth Ioh. 1.14 And againe No man hath seene God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him verse the tenth of the same Chapter But if Christ be Gods only Son how then are we also called his sons will you say unto me yea and the Angels likewise are termed his