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. Roin. 7: 18--23.

ARTICLE FOURTEENTH.

OF THE INCARNATION OF THE ETERNAL AND ON-◄ LY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD.

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.

In this manner did He, who before was equal in brightness and glory with God his Father, ' and who thought it no robbery to be equal with God, (Phil. 2: 6.) being essentially the same, divest himself of his brightness and glory which he had with his Father, and became Man. He

who was before exalted above the angels, and was equal with God his Father, though in an invisible and immortal form, is now made lower than the angels, and made like unto his brethren, in a visible and mortal form. He who was rich with his Father, became poor for our sake; and for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame. Heb. 12: 2.He who, in the presence of the Apostles ascended into heaven, is the same that first descended from God out of heaven into the lower parts of the earth, and is now ascended above all heavens. This is the great mystery of Godliness, which is believed but by few, as it is too great and high to be comprehended by human or carnal reason, that God was manifest in the flesh. But thus he came, and appeared as an all-sufficient Redeemer and Saviour; and as an everlasting light, sprung up to them which sat in the region and shadow of death.

And in like manner as the manna, or bread, which the children of Israel did eat in the wilderness, was bread from heaven, (Neh. 9: 15.) inasmuch as it was not the natural production of the earth, but came down from heaven, notwithstanding its being prepared as bread on the