our memories, that so we may never forget this blessed rule of our prayers, nor be at any time without this necessary touchstone to try all doctrines by.

2ndly, The renewing our profession of fidelity to Almighty God, and repeating that watchword which was given us when we were first listed under Christ's banner, declaring thereby that we retain our allegiance to him, and remain his faithful servants and soldiers, will move him the sooner to hear our prayers for his aid.

3rdly, We declare our unity amongst ourselves, and show ourselves to be members of that holy Catholic Church, by and for which these common prayers are made; those who hold this faith, and those only, have a right to pray thus, nor can any others expect to be admitted to join in them; and, therefore, this creed is the symbol and badge to manifest who are fit to make these prayers, and receive the benefit of them.

In our use of this sacred form we should, in the first place, be heartily thankful to God for revealing these divine, mysterious, and saving truths to us; and though the doxology be only set at the end of St. Athanasius' creed, yet the duty of thanksgiving must be performed upon every repetition of this creed also; 2ndly, We must give our positive and particular assent to every article as we go along, and receive it as an infallible oracle from the mouth of God, and for this reason we must repeat it with an audible voice after the minister, and in our mind annex that word, "I believe," to every particular article; for though it be but once expressed in the beginning, yet it must be supplied, and must be understood in every article ; and to show our consent the more evidently, we must stand up when we repeat it, and resolve to stand up stoutly in defence thereof, so as if need were to defend it, or seal the truth of it with our blood. 3rdly,

We must devoutly apply every article as we go along, to be both a ground of our prayers, and a guide to our lives; for if we rightly believe the power of the Father, the love of the Son, and the grace of the Holy Ghost, it will encourage us (who are members of the Catholic Church,) to pray heartily for all spiritual and temporal blessings, and give us very lively hopes of obtaining all our requests. Again, since these holy principles were not revealed and selected out from all other truths for any other end but to make us live more holily; therefore we must consider how it is fit that man should live, who believes that God the Father is his Creator, God the Son his Redeemer, and God the Holy Ghost his Sanctifier; who believes that he is a member of that Catholic Church wherein there is a communion of saints and remission for sins, and shall be a resurrection of the body, and a life everlasting afterwards. No man is so ignorant but he can tell what manner of persons they ought to be who believe this, and it is evident that whoever firmly and fully believes all this, his faith will certainly and necessarily produce a holy life.

The Jews, when they worshipped, turned their faces towards the mercy-seat; so did the primitive Christians look towards the altar, of which the mercyseat was a type-and where God affords his most gracious and mysterious presence. They built also their churches towards the East, because they expected the next coming of the Sun of Righteousness to be from thence; and, as the practice was intended only to honour him, it ought not to be condemned as superstitious,—and yet being neither obligatory in itself, nor commanded by authority, omission of it ought not to be censured as irreverence or disobedience.

To bow at the name of Jesus in the creed, seems founded upon a Scripture command,-Isai. XLV. 23;

Phil. ii. 9,-spiritual in design, but not without reference to outward adoration. There is no rubric directing the practice; it is, however, enjoined by the 18th Canon, which is based on an injunction of our pious Reformers*, (see Injunctions by Queen Elizabeth, Sparrow's collection, page 81.) The canon directs that "when in time of Divine service the Lord Jesus shall be mentioned, due and lowly reverence shall be done by all persons present, as it has been accustomed, testifying by these outward ceremonies and gestures, their inward humility, Christian resolution, and due acknowledgment, that the Lord Jesus Christ, the true and eternal Son of God, is the only Saviour of the world, in whom alone all the mercies, graces, and promises of God to mankind for this life, and the life to come, are fully and wholly comprised."

* * *

Jesus is our Saviour's personal name, it was given him by the angel at the Annunciation; Christ denotes his office, as he was the Anointed of God. Heretics in the time of the apostles, denied that the man Jesus was the Christ, they asserted that Christ, or the Holy Spirit, dwelt in Jesus as in other holy men. St. John opposed this heresy in his epistles. It is not at the name of Christ we bow, but at that of Jesus. By this action we acknowledge the man Jesus to be the Christ, the Saviour of the world. We hereby bear our testimony against the heresy of Cerinthus, and the modern Socinians. To bow at the great name of God would not distinguish us from Jews or Mohammedans, or even heathens, for they all acknowledge a God. Nor at the name of Christ, for the Jews expect the Messiah to come. They deny the man Jesus to be the Messiah. Therefore to bow at the name of Jesus, is to acknowledge the man Jesus to be the

* "To kneel in prayer, and to bow at the name of Jesus, is not therefore popish, unless our Martyr-Reformers were Papists.”— DR. HOOK.

Saviour of the world, which is a complete demonstration that we hold the Christian faith.

PARAPHRASE ON THE APOSTLES' CREED.

I make this confession of my faith, relating to those truths which, upon the testimony of God, are revealed to me; I believe that there is one only God, Deut. iv. 35; 1 Cor. viii. 6; that He is father of all men by creation, Mal. ii. 10; by redemption, Deut. xxxii. 6; adoption, 1 John iii. 1; but in a peculiar manner the Father of our blessed Lord by eternal generation, Heb. i. 1, 2; John vi. 57. I believe further, that this one God is "Almighty," and is vested with an infinite power of doing all things, Isai. XLV. 12; Rev. xix. 6, and governing all things at his pleasure, 1 Chron. xxix. 11; Jer. xvi. 21; that He was the "Maker of heaven and earth," that is, the whole world, and everything contained therein, Exod. xx. 11; John i. 10; Col. i. 16.

I believe likewise in "Jesus Christ," being verily persuaded that he is what his name Jesus signifies, the Saviour of the world, Luke i. 31; Matt. i. 21; Acts xiii. 23; that he is Christ or the Messiah, which was so long before his coming promised under the Old Testament, Gen. xxi. 12, and xXLIX. 10; Mal. iii. 1. That he is the "only Son" of God, begotten from all eternity, partly as being said to come down from heaven, John vi. 38; partly because he is recorded in Scripture to have made the worlds, Heb. i. 2; Col. i. 16; partly by reason he is frequently called God, John i. 1; Phil. ii. 6, 7; 1 Tim. iii. 16; Rom. ix. 5 ; but chiefly because of the Divine essence being communicated to him, John xvi. 15, and v. 26; 2 Cor. iv. 4; and that in a manner different from all created beings, Heb. i. 13. Who is likewise "our Lord," by being the true Jehovah or Lord, Hos. i. 7; Matt. iii. 3;

by having all things put under his dominion, Psalm' cx. 5; by redeeming us from the power of the devil, who before had got the master over us, Heb. ii. 14; Col. ii. 15; by purchasing us by his blood, Acts xx. 28; Eph. i. 7; by our voluntarily becoming his servants and scholars by baptism, Rom. vi. 6, 13. I believe further, that though Christ was true man, Heb. iv. 15, yet, that he was not produced after the ordinary manner of human conception, but by the overshadowing "of the Holy Ghost, Luke i. 35; was born of Mary," a poor maid of the lineage of David, who was a Virgin, notwithstanding that miraculous. birth, Luke i. 27; that he suffered an ignominious death, as was foretold, Isai. Liii. 9; Mark ix. 12; and this at the time when "Pontius Pilate" was governor under the Romans, in Judea, Matt. xxvii. 2; was nailed to a cross, a terrible and scandalous punishment by which the Romans used to put their wicked slaves to death; that under this grievous punishment he became really "dead," Luke xxiii. 46; Mark xv. 37; and after that, by a third disciple, was "buried, and descended into hell*", or hades, the place of separate souls, Isai. v. 14; Psalm xvi. 10; on "the third day" after his crucifixion he "rose again," Matt. xvi. 21; Mark ix. 31, as he had before foretold, Matt. xxvii. 63; after that, in the sight of a great many credible witnesses, he, in a most glorious manner, ascended up into heaven, Luke xxiv. 50, 51; Acts i. 9, 10, as the prophets had long before predicted, Psalm Lviii. 18; Micah ii. 13; and was shortly after advanced to a most especial honour, which

* The word hell is derived from the participle helled, of the Saxon verb hill, to hide, and accordingly in its primary and original acceptation signifies an invisible or hidden place, and this article of the creed was inserted to bear testimony to the actual separation of Christ's body and soul after his crucifixion; that he was not merely in a trance for the three days, during which his body remained in the grave; but that his soul really quitted his body, and went to the place where the departed souls of men are reserved, waiting for the great and final day of their resurrection.