D

EXPOSITION

OF THE

Apottles Creed,

According to

Bishop PEARS ON,

In a New METHOD, by way of

Paraphrafe and Annotation.

BY

B. KENNETT, D. D. late Prefident of
Corpus Chrifti College, Oxon.

The SECOND EDITION, Corrected.

LONDON:

Printed by W. Botham, for JAMES and JOHN
KNAPTON, at the Crown in St. Paul's Church-
Yard. MDCC XXVI.

SODLEIAN [24.7-1897) LIBRARY

THE

THI

PREFACE.

T has been the Wisdom and Happiness of the Church of England, to approve Herself the foundest Part of the Catholic Church, by contributing moft to the Support of the Whole, and the Defence of the Common Faith. Of which were all other Testimonies wanting, that are so great and numerous, the Claim wou'd be made good by one Performance of one Man, that of Excellent Bishop Pearson on the Apostles Creed; than which the Christian World has feen nothing more accomplish'd, fince the Divine Truths of Scripture have been guarded by the Succours of Human Learning. Whofoever wou'd engage in the ufeful Task of drawing up a more fuccinct View of folid Divinity, a Manual of Faith and Practice, must chiefly borrow his Supplies from this noble Treasury; and therefore the latter Proceeding cannot be difingenuous, unless the former cou'd be unjust, But then the admirable Judgment and Accuracy

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Accuracy of this great Author renders him as
difficult to be followed, as it is fafe, and even
neceffary, to follow him. Perhaps, he comes
the nearest of all Writers in Profe to that Cha-
racter of the most exact of Poets,
His Judgment fuch,

Never to fay too little, or too much.
Yet while his own great Capacity and Oppor-
tunity hindred him from being ever deficient,
the lefs Capacity and lefs Opportunity of o-
thers may ftill make him appear to them fome-
times redundant; and tho' he fays not too lit-
tle for any of his Arguments, he may yet say
too much for fome of his Readers. For the
Eafe and Benefit of thofe Readers, this more
compendious Syftem is propos'd. In which
after a Paraphrafe on each Member of the
Antient and Orthodox Confeffion, a Proof
and Illustration of the faid Paraphrafe is fub-
join'd, both with regard to the most appofite
Texts of Holy Scripture, and to those invin-
cible Reasonings by which they are connected
and enforc'd. And because a farther Con-
firmation was given in the Marginal Notes
from the Authority of the Primitive Fathers,
and the true Rules of Criticifm, fo much of
this affiftance likewife is taken in, as may fe-
cure the Words and Import of the feveral Ar-
ticles, either from the Exceptions of antient
Heretics, or from the Cavils of that modern
Sect which has refin'd upon all that were in-
famous in former Ages. Yet the Critical Re-
marks are by Parentheses disjoin'd from the
plainer Series of Argument, that no Interrup-
tion may be given to the unlearned Reader,
nor that Disadvantage be incurr'd, which the
incomparable Author with fo much Sagacity
avoided.

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avoided.

Nor will it be an Injury to his Name, that we have, on fome few Occafions, produc'd the concurrent Senfe of other our great English Divines. The Ufe and Neceffity of believing each Particular, with the PraÉtical Inferences moft naturally flowing from it, are preferv'd in their due Place. And as this brief Expofition has received the Improvement of an Index, fo we hope it may it felf be admitted for an Index to the larger Work or be allow'd to resemble thofe Glaffes which by contracting a great and beautiful Object, prefent it with more Clearness to weaker Eyes, such as cannot view it in its full Compass and Proportion.

;

The Apostle's Creed.

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Believe in God the Father Al mighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth: And in Jefus Chrißt his only Son our Lozd, who was concet. bed by the Holy Ghoft, Born of the Airgin Mary, Suffered under Pon. tius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried, He defcended into Hell; The tbird day he rose again from the dead, He afcended into Heaven, and litteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he thall come to judge the quick and the dead. believe in the Holy Ghoft; The holy Catholick Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of Sins ; The Resurrection of the Body, And the life everlasting. Amen.

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