A Confession of Faith

2. Yet I do believe according to his Word, that his most glorious Habitation, Dwelling-place, and Throne is in Heaven, Isa. 57. 15. and 66. 1.

3. I do believe that God made Man upright, in his own Image, and that by Sin he fell from that Estate, into an Estate of Sin and Death, Eccl. 7. 29. Gen. 1. 27. and 3. 17, 18, 19. Rom. 5. 12.

p. 44. I do believe (as the great foundation-principle of Truth and of Faith,) that God loved the World in the gift of his Son, Joh. 3. 16. 1 Joh. 4. 14. which was the only means and way designed of God, for the recovery of Man out of his faln Estate, Gen. 3. 15. and 22. 18. Act. 4. 12. 1 Cor. 15. 21, 22.

5. As I do believe that God is, so do I believe that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him, this being one special Article of the Christian Faith, Heb. 11 6.

p. 4II. Concerning Christ Jesus our Lord.

1. That he is the Son of God, and the Son of Man, truly God and Man, made of the Seed of David according to the Flesh, Rom. 1. 3, 4. conceived by the Holy Ghost, in the Womb of the Virgin Mary, according to the Scriptures, Isa. 17. 14. Jer. 31. 22. Mat. 1. 22, 23.

2. That he was begotten, known, and realized in his whole Person by the Father, before Time, both God and Man, as he was made Flesh, and dwelt among us in Time, (yet his Humanity not in Being, till made Flesh of the Seed of David,) Heb. 1. 6. Col. 1. 15. and therefore he is said to come out from God, and down from Heaven, Joh. 3. 13. and 6. 51, 62. and 16. 28, 30. and 17. 8. 1 Cor. 15. 47. Eph. 4. 9 11. and that it was he by whom all things were made, Joh. 1. 1, 2, 3, 10. and p. 5that the Father, Son, and Spirit, are in nature and essence one, yet in office and relative properties and operations are three, and yet an unity in nature and concent in Will and Work, Joh. 5. 17, 19.

3. That after he had finished the Work he had to do in the World, by which he declared himself to be the Son, and sent of God, the Messiah promised, Joh. 5. 36. and 10. 25. and 17. 4. and 20 30, 31. according to the great love of the Father, and the end for which he sent him into the World, he gave himself a Sin and Peace-offering to God the Father, for the sins of the World, Joh. 1. 29. and 6. 51. 1 Tim. 2. 6. Heb. 1. 1. 1 Joh. 2. 2. and as an effect thereof, hath sent forth the Gospel of his Grace, by commission to be preached to the World, that whoever do believe and obey him therein, may have the saving Benefits thereof, Mar. 16. 15, 16. and that the Father and the Son in this wonderful transaction, had real love to the World therein, and hated none. That when God is said to hate any, it is because of Sin, and not as his Creatures, that in this sense he is good to all, Psal. 145. 9. and seeks to save them from their sins, Joh. 3. 16, 17, 18, 19. and that Jesus Christ crucified is the only Foundation of Christian Faith, and not in the divine Nature only, 1 Cor. 3. 11. and 2. 2.

p. 5The Reasons why I believe this general love of p. 6God and Christ to the World, in this wonderful Gospel-undertaking, are,

1. Because the Scripture saith it, and if I should not so believe, I should (as many others do) make God and Christ Lyars, which is the great and damning sin, 1 Joh. 5. 10. with Mark 16. 15, 16. But he that believeth the testimony that God hath given of his Son, hath set to his Seal that God is true, Joh. 3. 33.

2. Because the denial hereof rooteth up the foundation of Gospel-preaching, there being three things that God hath set in unity in this matter, that Man may not put asunder, without nulling the whole design of God in the Gospel, viz. of Gospel-preaching, of Life to the World, on the terms thereof.

First, The general love of God to the World in the gift of his Son, Joh. 3. 16, 17.

Secondly, And sutable to this general Love of God to the World, is Christ giving himself a Sacrifice for the sins of the World, Joh. 6. 51. The Sacrifice must be as large as the Fathers love, else it answers not his Will and End in giving his Son, Heb. 10. 7.

Thirdly, Sutable to this general Love, and general Sacrifice, is the general Commission for publishing thereof to the World, that so they might understand and believe this Love, and be saved, Mar. 16. 15, 16. These three are as large one as the other, and stand in unity: take away p. 7the general Love of the Father, and the general Sacrifice of the Son, and the general Commission ceaseth, it being grounded on the two former; so that deny the two first, and it ends Gospelpreaching.

3. As an Effect, because the denial hereof rooteth up the Foundation of Gospel-Faith; for if the Foundation of Gospel-preaching be removed, then Gospel-Faith must cease, it being no part of the Doctrine of the Gospel, that Christ was a Sacrifice only for a few, it can be no part of Gospel-Faith so to believe: if it were, the Doctrine of the Gospel must give a very uncertain sound, and then who could prepare himself to the Battel? 1 Cor. 14. 8. But it not being so, an open way is made, and a sure foundation is laid in the Gospel, to build our Faith upon, Joh. 3. 16. And as this is the Doctrine, so this is the Faith of the Gospel, 1 Cor. 15. 3, 11. So we preach, and so ye believed, i. e. that Christ died for our sins, the first Doctrine that is to be preached to sinners, and so the first that is to be believed.