it is requisite also to call this to mind, that we are much more bound to worship God in spirit and in truth than they of old time were; for that we are more plentifully enriched with Christ's Spirit, if we truly believe in him.

THE THIRD SECTION.

OF THE ETERNAL PROVIDENCE OF GOD, AND THE
CREATION OF THE WORLD.

I. FROM THE LATTER CONFESSION OF HELVETIA.

Chapter 6. Of the Providence of God.

We believe that all things, both in heaven and in earth, and in all creatures, are sustained and governed by the providence of this wise, eternal, and omnipotent God. For David witnesseth and saith, "The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is as our God, who dwelleth on high, and yet humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and earth?" Psal. cxiii. 4-6. Again, he saith, "Thou hast foreseen all my ways; for there is not a word in my tongue, which thou knowest not wholly, O Lord, &c." Psal. cxxxix. 3, 4. Paul also witnesseth and saith, "By him we live, move, and have our being." Acts xvii. 28. And, "Of him, and through him, and from him are all things." Rom. xi. 36. Therefore Augustine both truly, and according to the Scripture, said in his book De Agone Christi, Cap. 8. The Lord said, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without the will of your Father." By speaking thus he would give us to understand, that whatsoever men count most vile, that also is governed by the almighty power of God. For the truth which said, that all the hairs of our heads are numbered, saith also that the birds of the air are fed by him, and the lilies of the field are clothed by him.'

We therefore condemn the Epicureans who deny the providence of God, and all those who blasphemously affirm, that God is occupied about the poles of heaven, and that he neither seeth or regardeth us nor our affairs. The princely prophet David also condemned these men, when as he said, "O Lord, How long, how long shall the wicked triumph? They say the Lord doth not see, neither doth the

God of Jacob regard it. Understand, ye unwise among the people; and ye fools, when will ye be wise? He that hath planted the ear, shall he not hear? and he that hath formed the eye, how should he not see?" Psal. xciv. 3; 7-9. Notwithstanding we do not contemn the means whereby the providence of God worketh, as though they were unprofitable; but we teach, that we must apply ourselves unto them, so far as they are commended to us in the word of God. Wherefore we mislike the rash speeches of such as say, that if by the providence of God all things are governed, then all our studies and endeavours are unprofitable. It shall be sufficient, if we leave or permit all things to be governed by the providence of God, and we shall not need hereafter to behave or act with carefulness in any matter. For though Paul did confess that he did sail by the providence of God, who had said to him, "Thou must testify of me also at Rome;" Acts xxiii. 11. who moreover promised and said, There shall not so much as one soul perish, neither shall an hair fall from your heads;" Acts xxvii. 22; 34. yet, the mariners devising how they might find a way to escape, the same Paul saith to the Centurion and to the soldiers, "Unless these remain in the ship, ye cannot be safe." Acts xxvii. 31. For God, who hath appointed every thing his end, he also hath ordained the beginning and the means by which we must attain unto the end. The heathens ascribe things to blind fortune and uncertain chance; but St. James would not have us say, "To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and there buy and sell;" but he addeth, "For that which ye should say, If the Lord will, and if we live, we will do this or that." James iv. 13; 15. And Augustine saith, All those things which seem to vain men to be done unadvisedly in the world, they do but accomplish his word, because they are not done but by his commandment.' And, in his Exposition on the 148th Psalm, 'It seemed to be done by chance, that Saul, seeking his father's asses, should light on the prophet Samuel; but the Lord had before said to the prophet, To-morrow I will send unto thee a man of the tribe of Benjamin, &c.'

Chapter 7. Of the Creation of all things; of Angels, the Devil,

and Man.

This good and almighty God created all things, both visible and invisible, by his eternal Word, and preserveth the same also by his eternal Spirit: as David witnesseth, saying, " By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." Psal. xxxiii. 6. And, as the Scripture saith, "All

things that the Lord created were very good," Gen. i. 31. and made for the use and profit of man. Now, we say, that all those things do proceed from one beginning: and therefore we detest the Manichees and Marcionites, who did wickedly imagine two substances and natures, the one of good, the other of evil; and also two beginnings, and two gods, one contrary to the other, a good and an evil.

Amongst all the creatures, the angels and men are most excellent. Touching angels, the holy Scripture saith, "Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire." Psal. civ. 4. Also, “ Are they not ministering spirits sent forth to minister for their sakes, which shall be the heirs of salvation?" Heb. i. 14. And the Lord Jesus himself testifieth of the devil, saying, He hath been a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof." John viii. 44. We teach therefore that some angels persisted in obedience, and were appointed unto the faithful service of God and men; and that other some fell of their own accord, and ran headlong into destruction, and so became enemies to all good, and to all the faithful, &c.

Now, touching man, the Spirit saith, that in the beginning he was "created good according to the image and likeness of God;" Gen. i. 27. that God placed him in Paradise, and made all things subject unto him; which David doth most nobly set forth in the 8th. Psalm. Moreover God gave unto him a wife, and blessed them. We say also, that man doth consist of two, and those divers substances in one person; of a soul immortal, (as that which, being separated from his body, doth neither sleep nor die,) and a body mortal, which notwithstanding at the last judgment shall be raised again from the dead, that from henceforth the whole man may continue for ever, in life or in death. We condemn all those which mock at, or by subtle disputations call into doubt, the immortality of the soul, or say that the soul sleepeth, or that it is a part of God. To be short, we condemn all opinions of all men whatsoever, which think otherwise of the creation of angels, devils, and men, than is delivered unto us by the Scriptures in the apostolic Church of Christ.

II. FROM THE CONFESSION OF BASLE.

Article 1. Section 2. Of Creation and Providence.

We also believe, that God made all things by his everlasting Word, that is, by his only-begotten Son; John. 3. and that he

upholdeth and worketh all things by his Spirit, that is, by his own power and therefore that God, as he hath created, so he foreseeth and governeth all things.

Article 3. Of the Care of God towards Man.

And albeit man by the same fall became subject to damnation, and so was made an enemy to God, yet that God never laid aside the care of mankind. The Patriarchs, the promises before and after the flood, likewise the law of God, given by Moses and the holy prophets, do witness this thing.

III. FROM THE CONFESSION OF FRANCE.

Art. 2. This one only God hath revealed himself unto men ; first, both in the creation, and also in the preservation and government of his works, &c. (See the rest in the First Section,- Of the Scripture; and in the Second Section,- Of God.)

Art. 7. We believe that God, the Three Persons working together, by his virtue, wisdom, and incomprehensible goodness hath made all things; that is, not only heaven and earth, and all things therein contained, but also the invisible spirits, of which some fell headlong into destruction, and some continued in obedience. Therefore we say that those, as they are through their own malice corrupted, are perpetual enemies to all good, and therefore to the whole church; but that these, preserved by the mere grace of God, are ministers for his glory, and for the salvation of the elect.

Art. 8. We believe that God hath not only made all things, but also ruleth and governeth them, as he who according to his will disposeth and ordereth whatsoever happeneth in the world. Yet we deny that he is the author of evil, or that any blame of things done amiss can be laid upon him, seeing his will is the sovereign and most certain rule of all righteousness; but he hath wonderful rather than explicible means, by which he so useth all the devils and sinful men as instruments, that whatsoever they do evil, that hc, as he hath justly ordained, so he also turneth it to good. Therefore while we confess that nothing at all is to be done, but by the means of his Providence and appointment, we do in all humility adore his secrets that are hid from us, neither do we search into those things which be without the reach of our capacity. Nay rather we apply to our own use that which the Scripture teacheth for our quietness and contentation sake, to wit, that God, to whom all things are subject, with a fatherly care watcheth for us,

so that not so much as a hair of our head falleth to the ground without his will; and that he hath Satan and all our adversaries so fast bound, that unless leave be given them, they cannot do us even the least harm.

IV. FROM THE CONFESSION OF SCOTLAND.

Article 2. Of the Creation of Man.

We confess and acknowledge this our God to have created man, to wit, our first father Adam, to his own image and similitude; Gen. i. 27. to whom he gave wisdom, lordship, justice, free-will, and clear knowledge of himself; so that in the whole nature of man there could be noted no imperfection. From which honour and perfection, man and woman did both fall; the woman being deceived by the serpent, and man obeying the voice of the woman; Gen. iii. 6. both conspiring against the sovereign majesty of God, who in express words had before threatened death, if they presumed to eat of the forbidden tree. Gen. ii. 17.

V.-FROM THE CONFESSION OF BELGIA.

Art. 2. We know God by two manner of ways; first by the making, preserving, and governing of this whole world. For that to our eyes is a most excellent book, in which all creatures, from the least to the greatest, are graven, as it were, in characters, and certain letters, by which the invisible things of God may be seen and known of us; namely, his everlasting power and Godhead, as Paul the apostle speaketh; Rom. i. 20. which knowledge sufficeth to convince and make all men without excuse, &c. (Look for the rest in the First Section,-Of the Scripture; and in the Second Section,-Of God.)

Art. 12. We believe that the Father by his word, that is, by the Son, made heaven, earth, and all other creatures of nothing, when he saw it fit and convenient, and gave to every one his being, form, and divers offices, that they might serve their Creator; and that he doth now cherish, uphold, and govern them all, according to his everlasting Providence and infinite power; and that to this end, that they might serve man, and man might serve his God. He also made the angels all good by nature, that they might be his ministers, and might also attend upon the elect: of which notwithstanding some fell from that excellent nature in which God had created them, into everlasting destruction; but some by the singular grace of God, abode in that first state of theirs.