_I believe in G.o.d the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth._
_This means--_
I renounce the evil spirit, all idolatry, all sorcery and misbelief.
I put my trust in no man on earth, nor in myself, my power, my learning, my wealth, my piety, nor anything that I may have.
I put my trust in no creature in heaven or on earth.
I dare to put my trust only in the one absolute, invisible, incomprehensible G.o.d, Who made heaven and earth, and Who alone is over all creatures.
On the other hand, I am not afraid of any wickedness of the devil and his company, or my G.o.d is above them all.
Even though I be forsaken or persecuted by all men, I still believe in G.o.d.
I believe, even though I am poor, unwise, unlearned, despised or in need of everything.
I believe, even though I am a sinner. For this faith of mine must and shall soar above everything that is and everything that is not--above sin and virtue and all else--so that it may remain simply and purely a faith in G.o.d, as the First Commandment constrains me.
Nor do I ask of Him a sign, to tempt Him. [Luke 11:16]
I trust constantly in Him, however long He tarry, and do not prescribe the goal, the time, the measure or the manner of His working, but in bold, true faith I leave all to His divine will.
If He is almighty, what can I lack that He cannot give me and do for me?
If He is Creator of heaven and earth and Lord of all things, who will take anything from me, or harm me? [Rom. 8:28] Nay, how shall not all things rather serve me and turn out to my good, if He to Whom all things are obedient and subject wishes me well?
Because He is G.o.d, He can do the thing that is best for me, and knows what that thing is.
Because He is Father, He wills to do what is best for me, and to do it with all His heart.
Because I do not doubt, but put my trust in Him, I am a.s.suredly His child. His servant and His heir forever, and as I believe, so will it be done unto me. [Matt. 8:13]
The Second Part
[Sidenote: The Second Article]
_And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into h.e.l.l; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of G.o.d the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead._
_This means--_
I believe not only that Jesus Christ is the true and only Son of G.o.d, begotten from eternity in one eternal, divine nature and substance; but also that all things are made subject to Him by His Father, and that in His humanity He is made Lord of me and of all things which, in His divinity, He, with the Father, has created.
I believe that no one can believe in the Father or come to the Father by his own learning, works or reason, nor by anything that can be named in heaven or on earth, save only in and through Jesus Christ, His only Son--that is, through faith in His name and lordship. [John 14:6]
I firmly believe that for my sake He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, without human or fleshly work, without bodily father or seed of man, to the end that so He might purify my sinful, fleshly, unclean, d.a.m.nable conception, and the conception of all who believe in Him, and make it spiritual through His own and His almighty Father"s gracious will.
I believe that for me He was born of the pure Virgin Mary, without harm to her bodily and spiritual virginity, in order that, by the mercy of His Father, He might make my sinful, d.a.m.nable birth, and the birth of all who believe in Him, blessed and harmless and pure.
I believe that He bore His cross and pa.s.sion for my sin and the sin of all believers, and thereby has consecrated all sufferings and every cross, and made them not only harmless, but salutary and highly meritorious.
I believe that He died and was buried to slay entirely and to bury my sin and the sin of all who believe in Him, and that He has destroyed bodily death and made it altogether harmless, nay profitable and salutary.
I believe that He descended into h.e.l.l to overthrow and take captive the devil and all his power, guile and wickedness, for me and for all who believe in Him, so that henceforth the devil cannot harm me; and that He has redeemed me from the pains of h.e.l.l, and made them harmless and meritorious.
I believe that He rose on the third day from the dead, to give to me and to all who believe in Him a new life; and that He has thereby quickened us with Him, in grace and in the Spirit, that we may sin no more, but serve Him alone in every grace and virtue.
I believe that He ascended into heaven and received from the Father power and honor above all angels and all creatures, and thus sitteth on the right hand of G.o.d--that is, He is King and Lord over all that is G.o.d"s, in heaven and h.e.l.l and earth. Therefore, He can help me and all believers in all our necessities against all our adversaries and enemies.
I believe that He will come again from heaven at the last day, to judge those who then are living and those who have died meanwhile, and all men, all angels and devils must come before His judgment-seat and see Him in the flesh; that He will come to redeem me and all who believe in Him from bodily death and all infirmities, to punish our enemies and adversaries eternally, and to redeem us eternally from their power.
The Third Part
[Sidenote: The Third Article]
_I believe in the Holy Ghost, a Holy Christian Church, a communion of saints, a forgiveness of sins, a resurrection of the body, and a life everlasting. Amen._
_This means--_
I believe not only that the Holy Ghost is one true G.o.d, with the Father and the Son, but that no one can come to the Father through Christ and His life, sufferings and death, and all that has been said of Him, nor attain any of His blessings, without the work of the Holy Ghost, by which the Father and the Son teach, quicken, call, draw me and all that are His, make us, in and through Christ, alive and holy and spiritual, and thus bring us to the Father; for it is He by Whom the Father, through Christ and in Christ, worketh all things and giveth life to all.
I believe that there is on earth, through the whole wide world, no more than one holy, common[15], Christian Church, which is nothing else than the congregation[16], or a.s.sembly of the saints, i. e., the pious, believing men on earth, which is gathered, preserved, and ruled by the Holy Ghost, and daily increased by means of the sacraments and the Word of G.o.d.
I believe that no one can be saved who is not found in this congregation, holding with it to one faith, word, sacraments, hope and love, and that no Jew, heretic, heathen or sinner can be saved along with it, unless he become reconciled to it, united with it and conformed to it in all things.
I believe that in this congregation, or Church[17], all things are common, that everyone"s possessions belong to the others and no one has anything of his own; therefore, all the prayers and good works of the whole congregation must help, a.s.sist and strengthen me and every believer at all times, in life and death, and thus each bear the other"s burden, as St. Paul teaches. [Gal. 6:2]
I believe that in this congregation, and nowhere else, there is forgiveness of sins; that outside of it, good works, however great they be or many, are of no avail for the forgiveness of sins; but that within it, no matter how much, how greatly or how often men may sin, nothing can hinder forgiveness of sins, which abides wherever and as long as this one congregation abides. To this congregation Christ gives the keys, and says, in Matthew xviii, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven." [Matt. 18:18] In like manner He says, in Matthew xvi, to the one man Peter, who stands as the representative of the one and only Church [Matt. 16:19], "Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
I believe that there will be a resurrection of the dead, in which, by the same Holy Ghost, all flesh will be raised again--that is, all men, in flesh, or body, the good and the wicked; and, therefore, the self-same flesh which has died, been buried, mouldered and been destroyed in many ways shall return and become alive.
I believe that after the resurrection there will be an eternal life for the saints and an eternal death or sinners; and I doubt not that the Father, through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, with and in the Holy Ghost, will bring all this to pa.s.s--that is the meaning of _Amen_, "It is a.s.suredly and certainly true."
Hereupon follows
THE LORD"S PRAYER
[Sidenote: The Preface]
The Preface and Preparation for offering the Seven Pet.i.tions to G.o.d: _Our Father Who art in heaven_.
_This means--_
O Almighty G.o.d, Who in Thy boundless mercy hast not only granted us permission, but by Thine only beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, hast bidden and taught us through His merit and mediation to look to Thee as Father and call Thee Father, though Thou mightest in all justice be a stern Judge of us sinners, who have sinned so often and so grievously against Thy divine and gracious will, and thus have angered Thee: Put in our hearts, by this Thy mercy, a comfortable confidence in Thy fatherly love, and make us feel and taste the sweetness of childlike trust, so that we may joyfully name Thee Father, and know Thee and love Thee, and call upon Thee in all our necessities. Have us in Thy keeping, that we may remain Thy children, and not be guilty of making Thee, dear Father, a terrible Judge, and ourselves Thine enemies, and not Thy children.
It is Thy will that we not only call Thee Father, but that all of us together call Thee our Father, and thus offer our prayers with one accord or all: Grant us, therefore, brotherly love and unity, that we may know and think of one another as true brethren and sisters, and pray to Thee, our one common Father, or all men and for every man, even as one child prays or another to its father.
Let no one among us seek his own things or forget before Thee the things of others; but, all hatred, envy and dissension laid aside [Phil. 2:4], may we love one another as good and true children of G.o.d, and thus say with one accord not "my Father," but "_our_ Father."