in regard of the Sonnes being Incarnate and taking our nature upon him For this indeed brings in many points to bee beleeved whereof considered onely as the second person in the Trinity there should be no need So as the two Natures in Christ must needs give cause to have more spoken of him then of the holy Ghost that hath but one nature The Doctrine concerning the Holy Ghost hath in all Ages beene most obscure so much that in some Churches it was some time before it was beleeved at all or so much as knowne whether there were a Holy Ghost or no even in these present times the Greeke Church a Church of great extent differs thus from us that where we beleeve the Holy Ghost to proceede from the Father and the Son that Church beleeves the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father by the Sonne a nice difference in so Incomprehensible a Mystery that there seemes no just cause to lay such Anathemaes as some doe upon that Church for so beleeving If wee should beleeve in the Father and in the Sonne and not beleeve in the Holy Ghost this beliefe would never be sanctified seeing the Holy Ghost onely is the Sanctifier and sanctifies none that beleeve not in him and the beliefe not being sanctified would never bee acceptable to the Father himselfe notwithstanding our beliefe in him And this perhaps was the cause why the Offering of Cain was not accepted because though a Sacrifice yet it wanted a devotion sanctified by the Holy Ghost There is a sinne which is properly called The sinne against the Holy Ghost and for them that commit this sinne we are forbidden to pray a grievous sinne no doubt which stops the current of Charity whose nature is wont to overflow al banks but what the sinne is and by what marks it may certainly be known though a Question much agitated is not yet so fully explicated but that it leaves scruples but whatsoever it is or may be we may be sure that the Not-beleeving in the Holy Ghost is one principall ingredient in it Or rather where a true beleeving in the Holy Ghost is this sinne properly can never bee committed And therefore in making profession of our Faith there is none of all the Articles in the whole Creed that seemes more necessary to be said then this For by saying this Article we make it appeare there can bee no danger in praying for us as not being likely to commit the sin against the Holy Ghost who beleeve in the Holy Ghost But why is it that sinnes committed against the Father or the Sonne shall bee forgiven but a sinne committed against the Holy Ghost shall never bee forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come Is it not that if a sinne bee committed against the Father or the Sonne the Holy Ghost being the Sanctifier can sanctifie that sinne and make it pardonable but if a sinne bee committed against the Holy Ghost there is none to sanctifie it and not being sanctified it justly exceeds all bounds of Remission O therefore thou blessed God the Holy Ghost Vouchsafe to endue me with a Spirit of sanctification that what other sinnes soever I may happily unhappily commit yet I may never be so unhappy to commit this dreadfull sinne of sinning against thee When we read the order of the Persons in the Trinitie the Father placed first the Sonne second the Holy Ghost last wee must not conceive it as though there were any Priority betweene them in time who are all Go-eternall or any disparity betweene them in dignitie who are all Consubstantiall but that it is an expressing of Order onely to our capacities seeing although they be Three Persons yet they are all but One God All but One in Substance though Three in Subsistence The Incomprehensiblenesse of which Mysterie though it exceed our capacities yet not our Beliefe Or therefore the fitter for beliefe because it exceeds our capacities And now having professed our Beliefe in God the Father God the Sonne and God the Holy Ghost wee may justly conclude and say O Holy Blessed and glorious Trinity Three Persons and One God have mercy upon us miserable sinners And thus is finished the first part of our Creed In whom it is we Beleeve the other part remaines containing What it is we Beleeve For to know In whom to beleeve and not know what to beleeve were to stand at a gaze and bee to seeke when wee come to our lesson Indeede the things wee beleeve have dependance upon the Persons in whom we beleeve and such dependance as without beleeving in those wee cannot truely beleeve these If wee did not beleeve in the Holy Ghost we could not beleeve the Holy Catholike Church nor the Communion of Saints for these are benefits that come by the Holy Ghost And if we did not beleeve in the Son of God Christ Jesus we could not beleeve the Forgivenesse of sinnes nor the Resurrection of the body for these are benefits that accrue unto us by the Sonne of God Christ Jesus And if we did not beleeve in God the Father we could not beleeve the life Everlasting seeing by him onely it is that we live and have our present being and shall have our eternall being And the first Article of this kinde is this I beleeve the holy Catholike Church I beleeve the Holy Catholike Church I beleeve it in deed but not in it as I doe in God For this is a Priviledge due onely to him and besides if I should beleeve in it I should beleeve partly in my selfe as being a Member of it but I beleeve there is a Holy Catholike Church Holy as in which are the Elect of God and Catholike as in which are of all Nations under heaven and this is not the Church of the Jewes for that Church though at some time it were Holy yet it was never Catholike as being bounded within Canaan but now as the Holy Ghost hath made the Church Holy by sanctifying it so Christ hath made it Catholike by enlarging it for at his comming at least at his going away he broke downe the Partition wall by his last Warrant to the Apostles Goe teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost But though Christ set his Church at large yet not long after his time a Sect of Hereticks would needs restraine it againe For Donatus and his followers would perswade the world that as before the true Church was onely in Canaan so now the true Church was onely in Africa but by beleeving the Holy Catholike Church I now disclaime both these Churches the Church of the Jewes as not being Catholike and the Church of the Donatists as being neither Catholike nor Holy But what use is there of this Article May not a Christian man doe well enough and yet leave this Article out of his Creed Indeed there is not onely great use of it but even necessitie For
yet in some respects they are sometimes appropriated more to One then to another heere therefore in speaking of Heaven and Earth the Originall of Creatures the making them is justly attributed to God the Father the originall Creator for otherwise it is so true that they all had a hand in making them that it is said of the Holy Ghost also that Spiritus Dei Incubabat the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and what was this but a Fomenting the worke of the Father and the Sonne by the Bond of Concord the proper worke of the Holy Ghost From hence we may learne that the World hath not been from Everlasting For if God be Maker of Heaven and Earth then Heaven and Earth were made and if made then made in time and if made in time then there was a time when they were not made But how could this bee seeing there was no time till they were made But yet there was a space of Duration and that space had beene from Everlasting and being from Everlasting how could it ever come to have an ende and an End it must have before Time could come to have a Beginning O my Soule These are no Thoughts for thee thy wings are too weake to fly so high a pitch Thy Plummets are too short to sound so great a depth It may bee sufficient for thee to know that although God made not the World from Everlasting yet hee made it then when from Everlasting hee had Decreed to make it but how hee brought Time out of Eternity is a mystery thou shalt never attaine to know till thou come thy selfe to attaine Eternity Thus farre wee are brought by Beleeving in God the Father And in his onely Sonne Jesus Christ our Lord. but seeing Father is a Relative and every Relative imples a Correlative and the Correlative to Father is Sonne this brings my Beliefe a degree further to Beleeve in his onely Sonne Jesus Christ our Lord Not his Sonne by Adoption as we are nor his Son by Creation and Grace as Angels are but his Sonne by Generation as onely himselfe is and such a Sonne as the Father Proclaimes to be His and tels the day when he begot him Hodie genui te This day have I begotten thee But what day was this day Not such a day as our dayes are which follow one after another but a day in which there is nothing Before nor after but the Past and the Present are both at once the Past in Genui the Present in Hodie indeed a day Not of Time but of Eternity which makes him Co-eternall with his Father One good degree of Equality And as the day of his Begetting is not like ours So neither is the manner of his Begetting like ours For where our Begetting is a Third from Two his Begetting is a Second from One and therefore must needs bee of One substance Both and this makes him Consubstantiall with the Father another good degree of Equality which kind of Begetting though it exceede our capacity yet it exceeds not our Beliefe and therefore though our Inquisitive Thoughts would faine bee making further Querees about it yet Faith makes us contented to take this for an Answer Generationem ejus quis enarrabit Who shall declare his Generation If then the day of his Begetting make him Co-eternall with the Father and the manner of his Begetting make him Consubstantiall with the Father have we not as good ground for our Believing in him as in the Father And though it may be thought no Power is left for the Sonne the Father being Almighty yet all Power is given to the Sonne both in Heaven and Earth for though the Father bee Almighty yet Almighty but as God and therefore Almighty as due to the Sonne who is God with the Father and as just cause wee have to say to the Sonne as to the Father Wee praise thee O God wee knowledge thee to bee the Lord. But how can the Sonne that is begotten be Co-eternall with the Father who Begets Seeing that which Begets is alwaies before that which is Begotten But is not this a fallacie They being Relatives Seeing nothing can Beget but there must bee something Begotten there cannot bee a Father till there bee a Sonne and therefore if the Father bee from Everlasting the Sonne also is from Everlasting and so are Co-eternall But though the Sonne may bee Co-eternall with the Father yet how can he be Consubstantiall with the Father Seeing the Substance of every thing is proper to it selfe and cannot bee communicated to another This indeed were true if the Father and the Sonne were Aliud Aliud and not onely Alius Alius but now being Both One God and onely Two Persons Seeing the difference of Persons makes no difference of Substance they remaine of One Substance Both and so are Consubstantiall Thus farre reacheth our Beliefe in the Divinity of the Son but seeing we beleeve him to be both perfect God and perfect Man this leades our Beliefe a degree further To Beleeve in Jesus Christ our Lord Termes belonging to his Humanity Jesus a Name given him by an Angel when hee was yet in his Mothers womb Because hee should save his people from their sinnes Christ a Name given him from his Office As being a Priest after the Order of Melchisedech annointed with the oyle of gladnesse above his fellowes Lord a Name given him from his Dominion For of his Kingdome there shall be no end O Blessed Son of God Let mee enjoy the benefit of thy Name Jesus that I may bee saved from my sinnes Let me enjoy the benefit of thy Name Christ that I may bee partaker of the oyle of gladnesse with which thou wert Annointed Let me enjoy the benefit of thy being my Lord that being thy Servant I may have thy Protection and Thou my Obedience But how happens it that having said in the beginning of my Creede I Beleeve I now come to say Our Lord and so where I went single out am now suddenly fallen into company It is true indeed I sayd I Beleeve when I spake but as regarding my owne person but now that I speake as regarding the Communion of Saints I say Our Lord. For though Saint Thomas said My God and my Lord as though hee would claime CHRIST wholly to himselfe yet that seemes spoken but in passion and to make amends for his former doubting But now that I speak deliberatly I can say no lesse then Our Lord seeing as Christ is a Saviour not of me onely but of all mankinde so he is the Lord not of me onely but of all that serve him and thus Christ is that Lord in whom is expounded the Riddle of David The Lord said unto my Lord For if hee be Davids Lord how is hee his Sonne and if he bee his Sonne how is he his Lord Indeed Both his Son as concerning the Flesh but his Lord concerning Divine Generation and if Davids Lord
then also of us all seeing of his Kingdome as there shall be no End so neither is there any limitation but it is as Universall as Eternall But though Christ bee the Sonne of God by Generation concerning his Divinity yet not by generation concerning his Humanity but I Beleeve Conceived by the Holy Ghost He was conceived by the Holy Ghost Not that the Holy Ghost was his Father For the Father contributes matter to the being of a Sonne but the Holy Ghost contributes no matter to the being of Christ doth nothing to supplere vicem Patris but onely to be supplementum Matris Indeed a Conception which passeth our conceiving That if Mary doubted how this should be seeing she knew not man we as well may doubt it seeing we know not the manner nor ever can know it but the answer which the Angels gave to satisfie Mary must serve also to satisfie us The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee And here now comes in the great Mystery of the Incarnation of the Sonne of God to the Jewes a Scandall and a stumbling Blocke to the Gentiles and yet the Mystery not more hard to Beleeve then necessary to be Beleeved indeed so necessary that there is properly no Antichristian but hee that denyes it as Saint John saith Who is the Antichrist but hee that denies Christ to be come in the flesh But why was it necessary that the Sonne of God should bee Incarnate Indeed for many great reasons For his being Incarnate makes him the more to commiserate our infirmities his being Incarnate brings our Flesh againe within the Verge of Sanctification but chiefly his being Incarnate makes him fit to be a Mediator betweene God and us makes him fit to bee a Sacrifice for our sins and if it were not for his being Incarnate we should never have Accesse to the Throne of God O blessed Iesus what Infinite benefits doe we receive by thy being Incarnate but what benefit dost thou receive by it thy selfe Alas onely to make a purchase of a number of ungratefull wretches who little consider what great things thou hast done for us little consider what great sufferings thou hast endured for us little consider thy Love thy Patience thy Humilitie in taking our Flesh upon thee when yet but for thy taking it upon thee our Flesh should never have come to Inherit Heaven But why was the Sonne Incarnate and not as well the Father or the Holy Ghost Indeede for just cause For it was not fit the Father should bee Incarnate because the Incarnation was to pacifie the Father Nor was it not fit the Holy Ghost should be Incarnate because the Incarnation was to be the worke of the Holy Ghost onely the Son was fit to bee Incarnate because it was congruous that being the Sonne in the Trinitie hee should also bee the Sonne of the Woman So to make us the Sonnes of God without remooving out of his Spheare of Sonne-ship at all And heere begins the difference betweene the Humane nature of Christ and Ours For wee are all of us conceived in sinne as David saith of himselfe That he was conceived in sinne and as David so wee all but Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost and therefore without sinne And as all the passages of our time esteemed are like our Beginning Conceived in sinne Borne in sinne Living in sinne and Dying in sinne So all the passages of Christs time afterward are like his Beginning Conceived without sinne Borne without sinne Living without sinne and Dying without sinne by which it was wrought that though he tooke upon him our whole nature became in al things like to us yet sinne was excepted And that which was conceived by the Holy Ghost did not prove we may be sure a false conception but prospered and proceeded to a perfect Birth therfore as I Beleeve he was conceived by the Holy Ghost So I Beleeve Borne of the Virgine MARIE hee was Borne of the Virgin Mary Conceived altogether Supernaturally in her but borne for the most part Naturally of her was nourished in her Wombe lay nine moneths enclosed in her Wombe came forth of her Wombe after the course of Nature and yet Borne Supernaturally of her too Supernaturally as of a Virgine though naturally as of a Woman For he was Natus ex Virgine Borne of a Virgine So he was Factus ex muliere made of a Woman Not made in her but made of her was Flesh of her Flesh and Bone of her Bone as truly as Eve of Adams It may well bee said hee was Borne Supernaturally of her For who ever heard of such a thing before a Virgine to bee the mother of a Childe But though it were never heard off before that such a thing was Yet it was heard before that such a thing should bee For the Prophet Esay long before had foretold A Virgin shall be with Childe and shall bring forth a Sonne and what marvell if there never were such a Mother before when there never was such a Childe before For this is that Childe of whom it is said This day is borne to you a Saviour which is Christ the Lord and a Saviour of whom No lesse then of all mankinde and this no lesse strange then his Birth A child to be a Saviour of men and One Childe of all mankinde fully as strange as to be Borne of a Virgin Indeed strange Both or rather Wonderfull Both yet as strange or wonderfull as they Both are we Beleeve them Both though but One of them be delivered heere for an Article of our Creede It is Recorded of many that they were Sanctified in their Mothers Wombe as amongst others of Jeremy the Prophet but never Recorded of any that he was Conceived by the Holy Ghost but onely of Christ and between being Sanctified and being conceived by the Holy Ghost there is very great oddes For to be Sanctified is only to have a measure of Holinesse but to bee conceived by the Holy Ghost is to have the whole Substance made Holy To be sanctified is onely to have Grace infused in the Soule but to be conceived by the Holy Ghost is to have both Body and Soule bee altogether Grace it selfe But though Christ were conceived without sinne because conceived by the Holy Ghost yet how could hee bee borne without sinne being borne of a sinnefull woman For though Mary were a Virgin yet no doubt shee was a sinner For why else should she need a Saviour as shee saith her selfe My spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour and could Christ take flesh of a sinner and not with that flesh take sinne But is it not that the Holy Ghost is the Sanctifier and could aswell sanctifie the Flesh it selfe as the motions of the Flesh and therefore make him as well borne without sinne as conceived without sinne sinne not being able to enter where the Holy Ghost keeps possession But why is there
the innumerable number of persons that must make their appearance there scarse the whole earth would be roome enough to make a Sessions-house for such a company unlesse perhaps by the like miracle as is said to have beene usuall in the Jewish Synagogue that when the people kneeled downe there was roome enough in the Temple to hold them all but when they stood up they were fain many of them to goe out of the Temple for want of roome when yet kneeling downe must needs take up more roome then standing up But though we know not either at what time or to what place hee shall come yet we beleeve to what purpose hee shall come For hee shall come to judge the quicke and the dead The quick those whom hee shall finde alive at his comming and the dead those who dyed before his comming Or the quicke those that are alive in grace and the dead them that are dead in sin But not to judge the dead while they are dead for so they should not bee able to answer for themselves which cannot stand with the justice of so righteous a Judge but at his comming at the sound of a Trumpet The Sea and the Earth shall give up their dead and they shall all arise and stand at his Tribunall to receive their sentence of pardon or condemnation according to their works And oh how terrible will that day be For if the day were terrible in which the Law was given so terrible that Mount Sinai was all of a smoake how terrible will that day bee in which the transgressors of the Law shall all be brought to receiue their Triall If the day were terrible which was a day of grace how terrible will the day be which shall be a day of punishment O my soule let the remembrance of this Article be never out of thy minde and if at any time thou find in thy selfe either suggestions of Satan or motions to sinne then thinke upon this Article and when thou thinkest upon it beleeve it and be most assured that there shall most certainly bee a day of judgement in which all thoughts of the heart though never brought forth in words shall bee discovered all actions of life though never so secretly done shall all be laid open and judgement shall be given upon them all without favour or partialitie And let us not flatter our selves in security because he who is now our Advocate shall be then our Judge but rather consider that though hee be now a Lambe he will then be found to be a Lyon Demonstravit potentiam qui demonstravit patientiam and let us prepare our selves against that day in feare and trembling and let us send up strong cries to him that as the good Thiefe obtained to be remembred of him when he came into his kingdome so wee may obtaine of him to be remembred in mercy when he comes to judgement Before wee leave this Article there is one observation which may not be omitted that this Article is of a different making from all the rest all the other might bee made by Apostles but this seemes rather to bee made by a Prophet For our beliefe in it is Propheticall and tells what Christ will doe in time to come Indeed none of the Articles concerning Christ are in the Future tense but onely this as none of them is in the Present tense but onely the next before He fitteth at the right hand of his Father all the other Articles are in the Preter perfect tense and speake of the time past even from his conception to his ascending into Heaven in the Preterperfect tense all but once ascended into Heaven where all time is Present no more Preterperfect tense then no more mention of time past and therefore our Article turnes Present too He sitteth at the right hand of his Father and there should sit and enjoy his Present tense and time for ever if it were not for us but as once before for our sakes hee left Heaven and came downe to redeeme us so once againe for our sakes hee will leave Heaven and come downe to judge us For without judging he could not come to rewarding No comming to Venite benedicti Patris Come yee blessed of my Father untill hee have judged first and without comming to this Venite all that went before would come to nothing And therefore all the benefit of these Preterperfect tenses consists in this Future all the harvest I may say of the other Articles is reaped in this last that Christ shall come to judge the quick and the dead O therefore my soule be carefull to lead thy life so in this present world that thou maist not bee afraid of his comming to judgement because of Ite maledicti in ignem aeternum Goe yee cursed into everlasting fire but maist rather rejoyce at his comming because of Venite benedicti Patris Come yee blessed of my Father For as that Ite will pay them home for all the pleasures of a wicked life So this Venite will make amends for all the pressures of a wretched life and indeed without the benefit of this Venite all the delights and pleasures the world can afford will prove but as Naboths Vineyard to Ahab Corosives in the end And now having beleeved in the first and second Person of the Trinity I beleeve in the Holy Ghost the Father and the Son if wee should not beleeve in the third Person the Holy Ghost wee should doe him great wrong and our selves more seeing it hath been through him and by his assistance that we have beleeved in thē For as it is true that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son so it is true that beleeving in the Father the Son proceeds from the Holy Ghost For beleeving being a work of Faith and Faith a worke of Sanctification and Sanctification a worke of onely the Holy Ghost how should wee come to beleeving but by the Holy Ghost And it is indeed for this that he hath his Name to be called the Holy Ghost or Spirit Not but that the Father and the Sonne are both Holy and Spirits as well as he but because it is properly Hee that inspires our mindes with all good thoughts and holy desires And now my soule while I beleeve in the Father as the author of my Creation and in the Sonne as the author of my Redemption and in the Holy Ghost as the author of my Regeneration that all the Persons in the Deity may have their severall operations in me and bestow their severall gifts upon me will there not be cause of my thankefulnesse to every one of them and of returning to every one of them all praise and glory who are all of them but one But why is there so much spoken of Christ and so little of the Holy Ghost being a Person in the Trinity as well as hee Is it not that there is more spoken of the Sonne then of the Holy Ghost
seeing there is no salvation out of the Catholike Church what assurance could I have of my salvation if I did not beleeve that there is a Catholike Church How can I beleeve my selfe to be a member of that Body which I doe not beleeve to bee For this Holy Catholike Church is the number of all those whō God hath Predestinated and Elected and though the Catholike Church may have in it errours and perhaps Heresies yet the Holy Catholike Church can have none in it but Orthodoxe and true beleevers For it is as the Arke of Noah to save all that beleeve the comming of the Flood but unbeleevers are all excluded from entring into it It is as the Corporation of the Citizens of the New Hierusalem in which whose names are not Enrolled and none are Enrolled that beleeve not they can bee no partakers of the Heavenly Priviledges of which Salvation is the chiefest If there were not a Holy Cathotholike Church then Christ should be a Shepherd without a Flocke then God the Father should bee a King without a People then the Holy Ghost should bee a guide and have none to lead but the Two first of these are assured us by Christ where he saith Feare not little Flock For it is your Fathers pleasure to give you a kingdome and the last where hee saith Hee will send the Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth Therefore there is an Holy Catholike Church which he that beleeves not is not of it and not being of it can have no hope of salvation by it To be Holy and Catholike are indeed the proper Caracters of a Christian Church the first representation whereof was then when at Pentecost there met at Hierusalem of all Nations under heaven Parthyans and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and Judea in Cappadocia Pontus and Asia Phrygia and Pamphylia in Aegypt and in the parts of Lybia and sirangers of Rome Jewes and Proselites Creetes and Arabians For here was no bounding within Canaan no bounding within Africa but the Church was made apparent by plurality of Nations to bee Catholike and by visible graces to be Holy This Church therefore I beleeve to be holy yet not holy in perfection but tending to perfection and justly called holy for its Inchoation and I beleeve it to bee Catholike but Catholike in doctrine not in discipline and therefore the rule of it as concerning doctrine is this Quod ab omnibus Quod ubique Quod semper For if it be not ab Omnibus It is not Catholike in Persons if not Vbique not Catholike in place if not Semper not Catholike in time and all these must concurre to make the Church be Catholik in Doctrin In Discipline not so for there neither ab omnibus nor ubique nor semper is required but it may be various and diverse according to the diversity of Time and Place and yet in doctrine bee the Catholike Church For Discipline is but onely Ecclesiasticall where Doctrine is divine This Article bindes my beliefe to no particular Church as it is a particular but as it is a Member of the Catholike For take it by it selfe without considering it as a Member of the Catholike Church and it is not so properly a Church as a Conventicle which though I cannot deny but it may be Holy at least in a Morall holinesse yet I can deny that I am bound to beleeve it to be holy because I am bound to beleeve no true holinesse to bee out of the Catholike Church This Catholike Church is a Schoole of instruction to teach us as much as we are bound to know and a Rule of direction to informe us as much as wee are bound to beleeve if it were but onely what Saint Thomas saith this might make us doubt of Christs resurrection or if it were but onely what Saint Peter saith this might make us incline to comply with the Jewes but when it is that which all the Apostles with one consent say this is the voice of the Catholike Church and can never make us to goe astray And therfore to this Church I submit all my faculties both my understanding to her decrees and my will to her counsels and make account that if I know any thing and not of her instruction it will prove but falsehood if doe any thing and not by her direction it will prove but folly For this that Spouse of Christ of which it is said Thou art all faire and there is no spot in thee Oh then let not me beginne to make any spot in the face of thy Spouse O Lord but so purge me with Hysope that though I be not pure yet I may bee cleane at least not so foule to defile others nor deserve with Miriam to be put out of the campe of thy Militant Church but may come to thy Triumphant As therefore this Article is the first of all we have to beleeve so let it have the honor that is due to the first and have the highest place in our beliefe For indeed all the Articles that follow are but as flowres that grow in the garden of this Catholike Church The Communion of Saints as the flowre of Charitie The forgivenesse of sinnes as the flowre of Faith The resurrection of the body as the flowre of Hope and the life everlasting as the flowre of reward if I may not rather say as the whole nosegay of all the other flowres together seeing in this they have all their smels united into one fragrant odour Charity raised to perfection Faith turned into love and Hope into enjoying But what should be the cause why amongst these Articles that are to be beleeved there is no mention at all made of the Scriptures For seeing we are commanded to search the Scriptures No doubt it is required wee should beleeve the Scriptures and if we should beleeve them why are they left out in the Article of our beliefe Is it not that these were Articles of Beliefe for a Christian man before any Gospell of Christ was written and how then could they have any place in the Creed when they had not as yet any being in the world For the life and doctrine of Christ was published by word before it was recorded by writing and the Apostles preached it before the Evangelists writ it and this Creede being a Breviate and summe of that which was preached who can tell but it may bee more antient then that which is written at least being the substance of them both what more is it to beleeve the Scripture then the Creed And then what neede is there to have them named when they are exprest And as for the words of Christ Scrutamini Scripturas Search the Scriptures or yee search the Scriptures if we extend them no further then Christ spake them we may be farre enough off from beleeving the Gospel For Christ spake then but of the Olde Testament and not of the New which at that time was none For