! 1 his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name-sake, shall receive a hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting life. Matth. 19: 28, 29.---For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. Gal. 6: 15, 16.---But as many as received him, to those gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1: 12, 13. But all those who have been the servants of sin, and are not born again, shall not inherit the kingdom of God:---Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And farther: Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. John 3: 3, 5, 6, 7, 8. And, that the regenerated will not arrive to perfection in this life, but that they have a continual conflict with the flesh, the world and sin, till death, read :---Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Phil. 3: 12--14.---I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 1 Cor. 9: 26, 27.--For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Gal. 5: 17, 18. ---Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. 1 Pet. 2: 11.---For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. James 3: 2. --For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good, I find • not. For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now, if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I delight in the law of God after the inner man: but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Ron. 7: 18--23. ARTICLE FOURTEENTH. OF THE INCARNATION OF THE ETERNAL AND ON- Or the incarnation of the eternal and only begotten Son of God, we believe and acknowledge, That the righteous and just God has thus accomplished his excellent promise, made in the beginning, concerning his Son, who was foreordained before the foundation of the world, and, in the fullness of time, was, for our sake, made manifest. This glorious and hope-inspiring promise was first made unto fallen Adam and Eve, and was afterwards ratified in their seed, as in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses and David. Of him have all the holy prophets prophesied, and in him did all the patriarchs and fathers hope, as seeing him who is invisible. The Shiloh cut of Judah, and the Star out of Jacob, to rise and come forth. This hoped-for-promise and prophecy, God has in due time fulfilled. For, when the sceptre was departing from Judah, and the seed of Jacob becoming tributary to the heathens, our gracious God remembered his holy cov enant, and sent his true essential Word, or Son, out of heaven, his kingly throne, upon the earth, to become Man. To accomplish which, God had before chosen and elected the righteous man Joseph, of the house and lineage of David, and Mary his, espoused wife, who was highly favoured and blessed among women. To this glorious advent of the promised Messiah, by Joseph and Mary, the lineal descendants of the house of David, did the Holy Spirit point, as with the hand, from generation to generation; and to the city of Bethlehem, as the place of his nativity, from whence he, that long predicted light, should arise and shine forth: so that all the faithful, who feared God, trusted in his promises and longed for their accomplishment, might learn and know out of which tribe, city and place, they might look for this great Deliverer to arise and come forth. So Mary, to whom the angel of God was sent with the message that she should conceive of the Holy Ghost, believed the message; and, by the power of God, she conceived of the Holy Ghost, the true essential WORD, which was in the beginning with God, and by whom all things were created. This Word, through the operating power of Almighty God, in her, became flesh, or Man: and thus from her was born the Son of the Highest, whom she before conceived of the Holy Ghost. On this wise the everlasting and only begotten Son of the living God became a visible Man, subject to sorrow and pain! He was wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and laid in a manger. He was brought up at Nazareth, under the care of Joseph and Mary, his father and mother. He was subject to hunger and thirst; became weary, groaned and wept! He grew up, increased in wisdom and stature, or age, and in favour with God and man. Thus the eternal Son of God, in the days of his incarnation, did not remain equal with God his heavenly Father, in an invisible, impassible, immortal and spiritual form; but for our sake he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; (Phil. 2: 7.) in a visible, passible, mortal form; in all things made like unto us, sin excepted, that he might thereby deliver us from the poisonous sting of the old serpent, and from eternal punishment. Therefore are all the true witnesses of Jesus Christ in duty bound to believe and acknowledge, according to the holy scriptures, that the Word, which was in the beginning, which was then with God, and which was God, and by whom were all things made; that this Word went out from God, his Father, came into the world, and through the power of God, himself became flesh, or Man: so that the visible glory, as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, was felt and seen. |