Christ's Humiliation & Exaltation

Q. What are these articles?

A. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended to heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.

Q. Is it significant that he was "crucified" instead of dying some other way?

A. Yes. By this death I am convinced that he shouldered the curse which lay on me, since death by crucifixion was cursed by God.

Q. Why does the creed add, "He descended into hell"?

A. To assure me during attacks of deepest dread and temptation that Christ my Lord, by suffering unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of soul, on the cross but also earlier, has delivered me from hellish anguish and torment.

Q. What do you mean by saying, "He ascended to heaven"?

A. That Christ, while his disciples watched, was taken up from the earth into heaven and remains there on our behalf until he comes again to judge the living and the dead.

Q. Why the next words: "and sits at the right hand of God"?

A. Christ ascended to heaven, there to show that he is head of his church, the one through whom the Father governs all things.

Q. What does it mean to eat the crucified body of Christ and to drink his poured-out blood?

A. It means to accept with a believing heart the entire suffering and death of Christ and in this way to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life. But it means more. Through the Holy Spirit, who lives both in Christ and in us, we are united more and more to Christ's blessed body. And so, although he is in heaven and we are on earth, we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. And we forever live on and are governed by one Spirit, as the members of our body are by one soul.

Q. How does the Lord's Supper differ from the Roman Catholic Mass?

A. The Lord's Supper declares to us that all our sins are completely forgiven through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which he himself accomplished on the cross once for all. It also declares to us that the Holy Spirit grafts us into Christ, who with his true body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father where he wants us to worship him. But the Mass teaches that the living and the dead do not have their sins forgiven through the suffering of Christ unless Christ is still offered for them daily by the priests. It also teaches that Christ is bodily present under the form of bread and wine where Christ is therefore to be worshiped. Thus the Mass is basically nothing but a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of Jesus Christ and a condemnable idolatry.

We believe that Jesus Christ is a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek—made such by an oath—and that he presented himself in our name before his Father, to appease his wrath with full satisfaction by offering himself on the tree of the cross and pouring out his precious blood for the cleansing of our sins, as the prophets had predicted. For it is written that "the chastisement of our peace" was placed on the Son of God and that "we are healed by his wounds." He was "led to death as a lamb"; he was "numbered among sinners" and condemned as a criminal by Pontius Pilate, though Pilate had declared that he was innocent. So he paid back what he had not stolen, and he suffered—the "just for the unjust," in both his body and his soul—in such a way that when he sensed the horrible punishment required by our sins his sweat became like "big drops of blood falling on the ground." He cried, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" And he endured all this for the forgiveness of our sins.

Therefore we rightly say with Paul that we "know nothing but Jesus and him crucified"; we consider all things as "dung for the excellence of the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." We find all comforts in his wounds and have no need to seek or invent any other means to reconcile ourselves with God than this one and only sacrifice, once made, which renders believers perfect forever. This is also why the angel of God called him Jesus—that is, "Savior"—because he would save his people from their sins.

1. It pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, his only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man, the Prophet, Priest, and King, the Head and Savior of his church, the Heir of all things, and Judge of the world: unto whom he did from all eternity give a people, to be his seed, and to be by him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.

2. The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance and equal with the Father, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon him man's nature, with all the essential properties, and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin; being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance. So that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion. Which person is very God, and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.

3. The Lord Jesus, in his human nature thus united to the divine, was sanctified, and anointed with the Holy Spirit, above measure, having in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell; to the end that, being holy, harmless, undefiled, and full of grace and truth, he might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a mediator, and surety. Which office he took not unto himself, but was thereunto called by his Father, who put all power and judgment into his hand, and gave him commandment to execute the same.

4. This office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake; which that he might discharge, he was made under the law, and did perfectly fulfill it; endured most grievous torments immediately in his soul, and most painful sufferings in his body; was crucified, and died, was buried, and remained under the power of death, yet saw no corruption. On the third day he arose from the dead, with the same body in which he suffered, with which also he ascended into heaven, and there sitteth at the right hand of his Father, making intercession, and shall return, to judge men and angels, at the end of the world.

5. The Lord Jesus, by his perfect obedience, and sacrifice of himself, which he, through the eternal Spirit, once offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied the justice of his Father; and purchased, not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto him.

6. Although the work of redemption was not actually wrought by Christ till after his incarnation, yet the virtue, efficacy, and benefits thereof were communicated unto the elect, in all ages successively from the beginning of the world, in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices, wherein he was revealed, and signified to be the seed of the woman which should bruise the serpent's head; and the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world; being yesterday and today the same, and forever.

7. Christ, in the work of mediation, acts according to both natures, by each nature doing that which is proper to itself; yet, by reason of the unity of the person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture attributed to the person denominated by the other nature.

8. To all those for whom Christ hath purchased redemption, he doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same; making intercession for them, and revealing unto them, in and by the Word, the mysteries of salvation; effectually persuading them by his Spirit to believe and obey, and governing their hearts by his Word and Spirit; overcoming all their enemies by his almighty power and wisdom, in such manner, and ways, as are most consonant to his wonderful and unsearchable dispensation.

Q. What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?

A. Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation.

Q. Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist?

A. Christ's humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.

Q. Wherein consisteth Christ's exaltation?

A. Christ's exaltation consisteth in his rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day.

Q. Why was our Mediator called Christ?

A. Our Mediator was called Christ, because he was anointed with the Holy Ghost above measure; and so set apart, and fully furnished with all authority and ability, to execute the offices of prophet, priest, and king of his church, in the estate both of his humiliation and exaltation.

Q. What was the estate of Christ's humiliation?

A. The estate of Christ's humiliation was that low condition, wherein he for our sakes, emptying himself of his glory, took upon him the form of a servant, in his conception and birth, life, death, and after his death, until his resurrection.

Q. How did Christ humble himself in his conception and birth?

A. Christ humbled himself in his conception and birth, in that, being from all eternity the Son of God, in the bosom of the Father, he was pleased in the fullness of time to become the son of man, made of a woman of low estate, and to be born of her; with divers circumstances of more than ordinary abasement.

Q. Wherein consisted Christ's humiliation after his death?

A. Christ's humiliation after his death consisted in his being buried, and continuing in the state of the dead, and under the power of death till the third day; which hath been otherwise expressed in these words, He descended into hell.

Q. What was the estate of Christ's exaltation?

A. The estate of Christ's exaltation comprehendeth his resurrection, ascension, sitting at the right hand of the Father, and his coming again to judge the world.

Q. How was Christ exalted in his resurrection?

A. Christ was exalted in his resurrection, in that, not having seen corruption in death, (of which it was not possible for him to be held,) and having the very same body in which he suffered, with the essential properties thereof, (but without mortality, and other common infirmities belonging to this life,) really united to his soul, he rose again from the dead the third day by his own power; whereby he declared himself to be the Son of God, to have satisfied divine justice, to have vanquished death, and him that had the power of it, and to be Lord of quick and dead: all which he did as a public person, the head of his church, for their justification, quickening in grace, support against enemies, and to assure them of their resurrection from the dead at the last day.

Q. How is Christ exalted in his sitting at the right hand of God?

A. Christ is exalted in his sitting at the right hand of God, in that as God-man he is advanced to the highest favor with God the Father, with all fullness of joy, glory, and power over all things in heaven and earth; and doth gather and defend his church, and subdue their enemies; furnisheth his ministers and people with gifts and graces, and maketh intercession for them.

Q. What is sanctification?

A. Sanctification is a work of God's grace, whereby they whom God hath, before the foundation of the world, chosen to be holy, are in time, through the powerful operation of his Spirit applying the death and resurrection of Christ unto them, renewed in their whole man after the image of God; having the seeds of repentance unto life, and all other saving graces, put into their hearts, and those graces so stirred up, increased, and strengthened, as that they more and more die unto sin, and rise unto newness of life.

That our Lord Jesus offered Himself a voluntary sacrifice unto His Father for us (Heb. 10), that He suffered contradiction of sinners, that He was wounded and plagued for our transgressions (Isa. 53), that He being the clean and innocent Lamb of God was damned in the presence of an earthly judge, that we should be absolved before the tribunal seat of our God. That He suffered not only the cruel death of the cross (which was accursed by the sentence of God [Deut. 21; Gal. 3]), but also that He suffered for a season the wrath of His Father, which sinners had deserved. But yet we avow that He remained the only well beloved and blessed Son of His Father, even in the midst of His anguish and torment which He suffered in body and soul to make that full satisfaction for the sins of His people (Heb. 10). After which we confess and avow that there remains no other sacrifice for sin, which if any affirm, we nothing doubt to avow that they are blasphemous against Christ's death and the everlasting purgation and satisfaction purchased to us by the same.

We undoubtedly believe that in as much as it was impossible that the sorrows of death should retain in bondage the author of life (Acts 2–3), that our Lord Jesus, crucified, died, and buried (Rom. 6), who descended into hell, did rise again for our justification, and destroying him who was author of death brought life again unto us that were subject to death and to the bondage of the same. We know that His resurrection was confirmed by the testimony of His very enemies (Matt. 28), by the resurrection of the dead whose sepulchers did open and they did arise and appeared to many within the city of Jerusalem (Matt. 27). It was also confirmed by the testimony of angels and by the senses and judgments of His apostles and of others (John 20–21), who had conversation and did eat and drink with Him after His resurrection.

We nothing doubt but that the selfsame body which was born of the virgin, was crucified, and buried, and which did rise again, did ascend into the heavens (Acts 1), for the accomplishment of all things where in our names and for our comfort, He has received all power in heaven and earth (Matt. 28), where He sits at the right hand of the Father (1 John 2), inaugurating His kingdom, advocate and only mediator for us (1 Tim. 2; Ps. 110). Which glory, honor, and prerogative, He alone amongst the brethren will possess till all His enemies are made His footstool, as that we undoubtedly believe they will be in the final judgment: to the execution whereof we certainly believe that the same Lord Jesus will visibly return as He was seen to ascend (Acts 1). And then we firmly believe that the time of refreshing and restitution of all things will come (John 19; Acts 3), in so much that those who from the beginning have suffered violence, injury, and wrong for righteousness' sake will inherit that blessed immortality promised from the beginning. But contrariwise the stubborn, disobedient, cruel oppressors, filthy persons, idolaters, and all sorts of unfaithful (Rev. 20; Isa. 66) will be cast in the dungeon of utter darkness, where their worm will not die, neither yet their fire be extinguished. The remembrance of which day and of the judgment to be executed in the same is not only to us a bridle whereby our carnal lusts are restrained, but also such inestimable comfort that neither may the threatening of worldly princes, neither yet the fear of temporal death and present danger move us to renounce and forsake that blessed society which we the members have with our Head and only Mediator, Christ Jesus. Whom we confess and avow to be the Messiah promised, the only Head of His kirk, our just Lawgiver, our only High Priest, Advocate and Mediator (Isa. 7; Col. 1; Heb. 6, 10). In which honors and offices, if man or angel presumes to intrude themselves, we utterly detest and abhor them as blasphemous to our sovereign and supreme governor Christ Jesus.

Moreover, we believe and teach that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was from all eternity predestinated and foreordained of the Father to be the Savior of the world. And we believe that He was begotten, not only then, when He took flesh of the virgin Mary, nor yet a little before the foundations of the world were laid, but before all eternity; and that of the Father, after an unspeakable manner. For Isaiah says, "Who can tell His generation?" (53:8). And Micah says, "Whose egress hath been from everlasting" (5:2). And John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word" (1:1). Therefore, the Son is co-equal and consubstantial with the Father, as touching His divinity: true God, not by name only, or by adoption, or by special favor, but in substance and nature (Phil. 2:6). Even as the apostle says elsewhere, "This is the true God, and life everlasting" (1 John 5:20). Paul also says, "He hath made His Son the heir of all things, by whom also He made the world: the same is the brightness of His glory, and the engraved form of His person, bearing up all things by His mighty word" (Heb. 1:2–3). "Likewise in the gospel the Lord Himself says, "Father, glorify thou Me with Thyself, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was" (John 17:5). Also elsewhere it is written in the gospel, "The Jews sought how to kill Jesus, because He said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God" (John 5:18).

We, therefore, abhor the blasphemous doctrine of Arius, and all the Arians, uttered against the Son of God; and especially the blasphemies of Michael Servetus the Spaniard, and of his accomplices, which Satan by them has, as it were, drawn out of hell, and most boldly and impiously spread abroad throughout the world against the Son of God.

We teach also and believe that the eternal Son of the eternal God was made the Son of man, of the seed of Abraham and David (Matt. 1:1–25), not by the means of any man, as Ebion affirmed; but that He was most purely conceived by the Holy Ghost, and was born of Mary, who was always a virgin, even as the history of the gospel declares. And Paul says, "He took in no sort the angels, but the seed of Abraham" (Heb. 2:16). And John the apostle says, "He that believeth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God" (1 John 4:3). The flesh of Christ, therefore, was neither flesh in show only, nor yet flesh brought from heaven, as Valentinus and Marcion dreamed.

Moreover, our Lord Jesus Christ did not have a soul without sense and reason, as Apollinaris thought; nor flesh without a soul, as Eunomius taught: but a soul with its reason and flesh with its senses, by which senses He felt true grief in the time of His passion, even as He Himself witnessed when He said, "My soul is heavy even to death" (Matt. 26:38) and "My soul is troubled" (John 12:27).

We acknowledge, therefore, that there are in one and the same Jesus Christ our Lord two natures, the divine and the human nature; and we say that these two are so conjoined or united that they are not swallowed up, confounded, or mingled together, but rather united or joined together in one person, the properties of each nature being safe and remaining still: so that we worship one Christ our Lord, and not two; I say, one true God and man; as touching His divine nature of the same substance with the Father, and as touching His human nature of the same substance with us and "like unto us in all things, sin only excepted" (Heb. 4:15).

As, therefore, we detest the heresy of Nestorius, which makes two Christs of one, and dissolves the union of the person; so do we curse the madness of Eutyches and of the Monothelites or Monophysites who overthrow the propriety of the human nature.

Therefore, we do not teach that the divine nature in Christ suffered or that Christ according to His human nature is yet in the world, and so in every place. For we do neither think nor teach that the body of Christ ceased to be a true body after His glorification, or that it was deified, and so deified that it put off its properties, as touching body and soul, and became altogether a divine nature and began to be one substance alone: and, therefore, we do not allow or receive the unwitty subtleties, and the intricate, obscure, and inconstant disputations of Schwenkfeld and such other vain janglers about this matter; neither are we Schwenkfeldians.

Moreover, we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ did truly suffer and die for us in the flesh as Peter says (1 Peter 4:1). We abhor the most horrible madness of the Jacobites and all the Turks, which abandon the passion of our Lord. Yet we deny not but that "the Lord of glory (according to the saying of Paul) was crucified for us" (1 Cor. 2:8). For we reverently and religiously receive and use the communication of expressions drawn from Scripture, and used of all antiquity in expounding and reconciling places of Scripture which at first sight seem to disagree one from another.

We believe and teach that the same Lord Jesus Christ, in that true flesh in which He was crucified and died, rose again from the dead; and that He did not rise up another flesh instead of that which was buried, nor took a spirit instead of flesh, but retained a true body: therefore, while His disciples thought that they saw the spirit of their Lord Christ, He showed them His hands and feet, which were marked with the prints of the nails and wounds, saying, "Behold my hands and my feet, for I am He indeed: handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (Luke 24:39).

We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, in the same flesh, did ascend above all the visible heavens into the very highest heaven, that is to say, the seat of God and of the blessed spirits, unto the right hand of God the Father. Which, although it signifies an equal participation of glory and majesty, yet it is also taken for a certain place of which the Lord, speaking in the gospel, says that "He will go and prepare a place for His" (John 14:2). Also the apostle Peter says, "The heavens must contain Christ, until the time of restoring of all things" (Acts 3:21). And out of heaven the same Christ will return unto judgment, even then, when wickedness shall chiefly reign in the world, and when Antichrist, having corrupted true religion, shall fill all things with superstition and impiety, and shall most cruelly destroy the church with fire and bloodshed. Now Christ shall return to redeem His, and to abolish Antichrist by His coming and to judge the quick and the dead (Acts 17:31). For the dead shall arise and "those which shall be found alive in that day" (which is unknown unto all creatures) "shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Cor. 15:51–52). And all the faithful shall be taken up to meet Christ in the air (1 Thess. 4:17) that thenceforth they may enter with Him into heaven, there to live forever (2 Tim. 2:11), but the unbelievers, or ungodly, shall descend with the devils into hell, there to burn forever, and never to be delivered out of torments (Matt. 25:41).

We, therefore, condemn all those which deny the true resurrection of the flesh, and those which think amiss of the glorified bodies; as did John of Jerusalem, against whom Jerome wrote. We also condemn those which have thought that both the devils and all the wicked shall at length be saved and have an end of their torments: for the Lord Himself has absolutely set it down that, "Their fire is never quenched, and their worm never dieth" (Mark 9:44). Moreover we condemn the Jewish dreams that before the day of judgment there shall be a golden world in the earth; and that the godly shall possess the kingdoms of the world, their wicked enemies being trodden under foot: for the evangelical truth, Matthew 24 and 25, and Luke 21, and the apostolic doctrine in the second epistle to the Thessalonians 2, and in the second epistle to Timothy 3 and 4, are found to teach far otherwise.

Furthermore, by His passion or death, and by all those things which He did and suffered for our sakes from the time of His coming in the flesh, our Lord reconciled His heavenly Father unto all the faithful (Rom. 5:10), purged their sin (Heb. 1:3), spoiled death, broke asunder condemnation and hell, and by His resurrection from the dead, brought again and restored life and immortality (2 Tim. 1:10). For He is our righteousness, life, and resurrection (John 6:44); and, to be short, He is the fullness and perfection, the salvation and most abundant sufficiency of all the faithful. For the apostle says, "So it pleaseth the Father that all fullness should dwell in Him" (Col. 1:19); and "In Him ye are complete" (Col. 2:10).

For we teach and believe that this Jesus Christ our Lord is the only and eternal Savior of mankind, yes, and of the whole world; in whom are saved by faith all that ever were saved before the Law, under the Law, and in the time of the gospel, and so many as shall yet be saved to the end of the world. For the Lord Himself in the gospel says, "He that entereth not in by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up another way, he is a thief and a robber" (John 10:1). "I am the door of the sheep" (v. 7). And also in another place of the same gospel He says, "Abraham saw my day, and rejoiced" (John 8:56). And the apostle Peter says, "Neither is there salvation in any other, but in Christ; for among men there is given no other name under heaven whereby they might be saved" (Acts 4:12). We believe, therefore, that through the grace of our Lord Christ we shall be saved, even as our fathers were. For Paul says that "All our fathers did eat the same spiritual meat and drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ" (1 Cor. 10:3–4). And, therefore, we read that John said that "Christ was that Lamb which was slain from the beginning of the world" (Rev. 13:8) and that John the Baptist witnesses that "Christ is that Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world" (John 1:29). Wherefore we do plainly and openly profess and preach that Jesus Christ the only Redeemer and Savior of the world, the King and High Priest, the true and looked for Messiah, that holy and blessed one (I say) whom all the shadows of the Law, and the prophecies of the prophets, did prefigure and promise; and that God supplied and sent Him unto us so that now we are not to look for any other. And now there remains nothing but that we all should give all glory to Him, believe in Him, and rest in Him only, condemning and rejecting all other aids of our life. For they are fallen from the grace of God, and make Christ of no value unto themselves, whosoever they be that seek salvation in any other things besides Christ alone (Gal. 5:4).

And to speak many things in few words, with a sincere heart we believe, and with liberty of speech we freely profess, whatsoever things are defined out of the Holy Scriptures, and comprehended in the creeds, and in the decrees of those four first and most excellent Councils held at Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, together with blessed Athanasius' Creed, and all other creeds like to these, touching the mystery of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ; and we condemn all things contrary to the same. And thus do we retain the Christian, sound, and catholic faith, whole and inviolable, knowing that nothing is contained in the foresaid creeds which is not agreeable to the Word of God, and makes wholly for the sincere declaration of the faith.

1. It pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus his only begotten Son, according to the covenant made between them both, to be the Mediator between God and man; the Prophet, Priest, and King; Head and Savior of his church, the Heir of all things, and Judge of the world; unto whom he did from all eternity give a people to be his seed, and to be by him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.

2. The Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father's glory, of one substance and equal with him who made the world, who upholdeth and governeth all things he hath made: did when the fullness of time was come take upon him man's nature, with all the essential properties, and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin: being conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit coming down upon her, and the power of the Most High overshadowing her, and so was made of a woman, of the tribe of Judah, of the seed of Abraham, and David according to the Scriptures: so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, were inseparably joined together in one person: without conversion, composition, or confusion: which person is very God and very man; yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.

3. The Lord Jesus, in his human nature thus united to the divine, in the person of the Son, was sanctified, anointed with the Holy Spirit, above measure; having in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell: to the end that being holy, harmless, undefiled, and full of grace, and truth, he might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a mediator and surety; which office he took not upon himself, but was thereunto called by his Father; who also put all power and judgment in his hand, and gave him commandment to execute the same.

4. This office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake, which that he might discharge he was made under the law, and did perfectly fulfill it, and underwent the punishment due to us, which we should have born and suffered, being made sin and a curse for us: enduring most grievous sorrows in his soul; and most painful sufferings in his body; was crucified, and died, and remained in the state of the dead; yet saw no corruption: on the third day he arose from the dead, with the same body in which he suffered; with which he also ascended into heaven: and there sitteth at the right hand of his Father, making intercession; and shall return to judge men and angels, at the end of the world.

5. The Lord Jesus by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of himself, which he through the eternal Spirit once offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied the justice of God, procured reconciliation, and purchased an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto him.

6. Although the price of redemption was not actually paid by Christ, till after his incarnation, yet the virtue, efficacy, and benefit thereof were communicated to the elect in all ages successively, from the beginning of the world, in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices, wherein he was revealed, and signified to be the seed of the woman, which should bruise the serpent's head; and the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world: being the same yesterday, and today and forever.

7. Christ, in the work of mediation, acteth according to both natures, by each nature doing that which is proper to itself; yet by reason of the unity of the person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture, attributed to the person denominated by the other nature.

8. To all those for whom Christ hath obtained eternal redemption, he doth certainly, and effectually apply, and communicate the same; making intercession for them, uniting them to himself by his Spirit, revealing unto them, in and by the Word, the mystery of salvation; persuading them to believe, and obey, governing their hearts by his Word and Spirit, and overcoming all their enemies by his almighty power, and wisdom; in such manner, and ways as are most consonant to his wonderful, and unsearchable dispensation; and all of free, and absolute grace, without any condition foreseen in them, to procure it.

9. This office of Mediator between God and man, is proper only to Christ, who is the Prophet, Priest, and King of the church of God; and may not be either in whole, or any part thereof transferred from him to any other.

10. This number and order of offices is necessary; for in respect of our ignorance, we stand in need of his prophetical office; and in respect of our alienation from God, and imperfection of the best of our services, we need his priestly office, to reconcile us, and present us acceptable unto God: and in respect to our averseness, and utter inability to return to God, and for our rescue, and security from our spiritual adversaries, we need his kingly office, to convince, subdue, draw, uphold, deliver, and preserve us to his heavenly kingdom.

1. The light of nature shows that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all; is just, good, and doth good unto all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshiping the true God, is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshiped according to the imaginations, and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way, not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.

2. Religious worship is to be given to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to him alone; not to angels, saints, or any other creatures; and since the fall, not without a Mediator, nor in the mediation of any other but Christ alone.

3. Prayer, with thanksgiving, being one special part of natural worship, is by God required of all men. But that it may be accepted, it is to be made in the name of the Son, by the help of the Spirit, according to his will; with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency, faith, love, and perseverance; and when with others, in a known tongue.

4. Prayer is to be made for things lawful, and for all sorts of men living, or that shall live hereafter; but not for the dead, nor for those of whom it may be known that they have sinned the sin unto death.

5. The reading of the Scriptures, preaching, and hearing the Word of God, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord; as also the administration of baptism, and the Lord's Supper, are all parts of religious worship of God, to be performed in obedience to him, with understanding, faith, reverence, and godly fear; moreover, solemn humiliation, with fastings, and thanksgivings, upon special occasions, ought to be used in an holy and religious manner.

6. Neither prayer, nor any other part of religious worship, is now under the gospel tied unto, or made more acceptable by, any place in which it is performed, or towards which it is directed; but God is to be worshiped everywhere in spirit, and in truth; as in private families daily, and in secret each one by himself; so more solemnly in the public assemblies, which are not carelessly nor willfully to be neglected, or forsaken, when God by his word, or providence calleth thereunto.

7. As it is the law of nature, that in general a proportion of time by God's appointment, be set apart for the worship of God, so by his Word, in a positive moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto him, which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord's Day; and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath; the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.

8. The Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering their common affairs aforehand, do not only observe a holy rest all the day, from their own works, words and thoughts, about their worldly employment and recreations, but are also taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.

1. The supper of the Lord Jesus was instituted by him the same night wherein he was betrayed, to be observed in his churches, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance, and showing forth the sacrifice in his death, confirmation of the faith of believers in all the benefits thereof, their spiritual nourishment, and growth in him, their further engagement in, and to all duties which they owe to him; and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him, and with each other.

2. In this ordinance Christ is not offered up to his Father, nor any real sacrifice made at all, for remission of sin of the quick or dead; but only a memorial of that one offering up of himself, by himself, upon the cross, once for all; and a spiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God for the same; so that the popish sacrifice of the Mass (as they call it) is most abominable, injurious to Christ's own only sacrifice the alone propitiation for all the sins of the elect.

3. The Lord Jesus hath, in this ordinance, appointed his ministers to pray, and bless the elements of bread and wine, and thereby to set them apart from a common to an holy use, and to take and break the bread; to take the cup, and (they communicating also themselves) to give both to the communicants.

4. The denial of the cup to the people, worshiping the elements, the lifting them up, or carrying them about for adoration, and reserving them for any pretended religious use, are all contrary to the nature of this ordinance, and to the institution of Christ.

5. The outward elements in this ordinance, duly set apart to the uses ordained by Christ, have such relation to him crucified, as that truly, although in terms used figuratively, they are sometimes called by the names of the things they represent, to wit, the body and blood of Christ; albeit, in substance, and nature, they still remain truly, and only bread, and wine, as they were before.

6. That doctrine which maintains a change of the substance of bread and wine, into the substance of Christ's body and blood (commonly called transubstantiation) by consecration of a priest, or by any other way, is repugnant not to Scripture alone, but even to common sense and reason; overthroweth the nature of the ordinance, and hath been, and is the cause of manifold superstitions, yea, of gross idolatries.

7. Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this ordinance, do then also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally, and corporally, but spiritually receive, and feed upon Christ crucified, and all the benefits of his death: the body and blood of Christ, being then not corporally, or carnally, but spiritually present to the faith of believers, in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses.

8. All ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with Christ; so are they unworthy of the Lord's table; and cannot without great sin against him, while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto: yea, whosoever shall receive unworthily, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, eating and drinking judgment to themselves.