THE THEOLOGICAL CREED OF LORD BACON.

I BELIEVE that nothing is without beginning but God; no nature, no matter, no spirit, but one only and the same God. That God, as he is eternally almighty, only wise, only good, in his nature; so he is eternally Father, Son, and Spirit, in persons.

I believe that God is so holy, pure, and jealous, as it is impossible for him to be pleased in any creature, though the work of his own hands; so that neither angel, man, nor world, could stand, or can stand, one moment in his eyes, without beholding the same in the face of a Mediator; and, therefore, that before him, with whom all things are present, the Lamb of God was slain before all worlds: without which eternal counsel of his, it was impossible for him to have descended to any work of creation; but he should have enjoyed the blessed and individual society of three persons in the godhead for ever.

But that, out of his eternal and infinite goodness and love, purposing to become a creator,

and to communicate to his creatures, he ordained in his eternal counsel, that one person of the Godhead should be united to one nature, and to one particular of his creatures; that so, in the person of the mediator, the true ladder might be fixed, whereby God might descend to his creatures, and his creatures might ascend to God.

That he chose (according to his good pleasure) man to be that creature, to whose nature the person of the eternal Son of God should be united; and, amongst the generations of men, elected a small flock, in whom (by the participation of himself) he purposed to express the riches of his glory.

That God created man in his own image, in a reasonable soul, in innocency, in free-will, and in sovereignty: that he gave him a law and a commandment, which was in his power to keep; but he kept it not: the man made a total defection from God, presuming to imagine that the commandments and prohibitions of God were not the rule of good and evil.

That, in the fulness of time, according to the promise and oath of a chosen lineage, descended the blessed seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, and Saviour of the world; who was conceived by the power and overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, and took flesh of the Virgin Mary; that the Word did not only take the flesh, or was joined to flesh,

but was made flesh, though without confusion of substance or nature; so as the eternal Son of God, and the ever-blessed Son of Mary, was one person.

That Jesus the Lord became in the flesh a sacrificer, and sacrifice for sin; a satisfaction and price to the justice of God; a meriter of glory and the kingdom; a pattern of all righteousness; a preacher of the word which himself was; a finisher of the ceremony; a corner-stone to remove the separation between Jew and Gentile; an intercessor for the Church; a Lord of nature in his miracles; a conqueror of death and the power of darkness in his resurrection: and that he fulfilled the whole counsel of God; performing all the sacred offices and anointing on the earth.

That the sufferings and merits of Christ, as they are sufficient to do away the sins of the world, so they are only effectual to those which are regenerate by the Holy Ghost, who breatheth where he will of free grace: which as a seed incorruptible quickeneth the spirit of man, and conceiveth him anew, a son of God, and member of Christ.

That the work of the Spirit, though it be not tied to any means in heaven or earth, yet is ordinarily dispensed by the preaching of the word, and administration of the sacraments, the covenants of the fathers upon the children; prayer; reading; the censures of the Church; &c.

That there is an universal or catholic Church of God, dispersed over the face of the earth, which is Christ's body; being gathered of the fathers of the old world, of the church of the Jews, of the spirits of the faithful dissolved, and the spirits of the faithful militant, and of the names yet to be born, which are already written in the book of life. That there is also a visible Church, distinguished by the outward works of God's covenant, and the receiving of the holy doctrine with the use of the mysteries of God, and the invocation and sanctification of his holy Name.

I believe that the souls of such as die in the Lord are blessed, and rest from their labours, and enjoy the sight of God; yet so as they are in expectation of a farther revelation of their glory in the last day. At which time all flesh of man shall arise and be changed, appear, and receive from Jesus Christ his eternal judgment: and the glory of the saints shall then be full; and the kingdom shall be given up to God the Father.

CONCLUSION.