First Confession.

He left his divine glory, form, and riches, went out from God, his Father, and came down from heaven into this world, so that he was conceived by a virgin, and she brought forth this Son at Bethlehem, where God brings his first-born Son into the world in the likeness of sinful flesh. John 13:3; 3:13,31; 6:38,51,62; Eph. 4:9,10; Is. 7:14; Matt. 1:23; Luke 2:21; Is. 9:6; Luke 3:6; Gal. 4:4; Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:6; Heb. 1:6; Rom. 8:3. For the Word became flesh; that which was from the beginning, which the apostles saw, which they heard with their ears, and which their hands handled, of the Word of life; for the life was manifested, so that there was seen that eternal life, which was with the Father. John 1:14; 1 John 1:1,2; John 1:9; 20:25,27; Is. 40:5,9. Therefore, all true believers must show and ascribe to their Savior, not as to a creature, but as to the Creator, all divine honor, even as they do unto the Father. John 5:23; 3:30,31; 20:28. For, although, for a little while, he was made lower than the angels, yet all the angels of God must worship him. Phil. 2:10; Matt. 14:33; Heb. 1:6; For he is worthy of this who hath so loved us that he purchased us with his death, and washed us from our sins in his own blood; who died for our sins and rose for our justification; who destroyed the power of the devil, hell, and death; who abolished the sinful hand-writing of the law, and has forgiven all sins, reconciling to God the Father all things that are in heaven and earth, in that he made peace through the blood of his cross; who brought life and immortality to light, and unto whom we are appointed by God, to inherit eternal salvation. Rev. 5:9; 1:5; Rom. 5:10; Acts 20:28; Col. 1:14; 1 Pet. 1:19; Rom. 4:25; 5:6,8; Col. 2:13,14,19,20; Heb. 2:14; 1 Cor. 15:54,55; Rev. 20:14; Is. 25:8; 2 Tim. 1:10; Eph. 1:10; 2:13; 1 Thess. 5:9.

Thus the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, is the true corner-stone, the way and door to eternal life, and there is no other name given unto man, either in heaven or on earth, whereby he can be saved, and become a child or heir of God, than the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Is. 28:16; Rom. 9:33; Eph. 2:20; 1 Pet. 2:6; John 14:6; 10:9; Acts 4:12.

The believer, seeing, by faith, that God in his weightiest and unspeakably great promises is not mutable, but does, in truth, fulfill them through the giving of his only, dear, and beloved Son, feels assured by this, that there is nothing with God, which he shall not also give us with his Son. He, therefore, has firm confidence, that the benefits which God has promised in and through the suffering, death, shed blood, resurrection and ascension of his Son, belong to the believer, and that he shall in truth receive them. Heb. 6:17,18; Ps. 33:4; John 3:16; 1 John 4:9; Eph. 1:6; Col. 1:12–14; 2 Tim. 4:8; Eph. 1:11–13; Rom. 8:32,34,38; 2 Pet. 1:3; Gal. 2:21; Eph. 2:17; 2 Cor. 4:6,7.

This faith begets in the heart of the believer an inward taste of the kindness of God, and of the powers of the world to come; which is followed by gladness, joy, and a firm security of the Father’s favor in the soul, whereby, in every time of need, he is enabled to say, confident that he will be heard, “Abba, Father;” and doubts not, though the thing promised be not apparent to human eyes, nay, seem contrary to nature, and transcends the comprehension, understanding and capability of man (Ps. 34:8;28 1 Pet. 2:3; Eph. 2:7; Heb. 6:5,19; 2 Cor. 4:17; Rom. 12:12; 14:17; 2 Cor. 6:10; John 8:56; Rev. 19:7; Rom. 8:31,38; Ps. 32:1; 1 Pet. 5:7; Ps. 55:22; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6; Rom. 4:20; James 1:6; Heb. 11:1; Rom. 4:18,19; Heb. 11:11; Heb. 11:29), for the believer, by faith, looks not only at the things which, through the creation and government of God, exist in nature (which man may comprehend and understand), but to the goodness and omnipotence of the Promiser, unto whom nature and all creatural power in heaven, earth and sea, nay, death itself, must bow. Upon this ground the believer stands fast, even when, with Abraham, the father of the faithful, and with many of the pious, he is tried of God by things seemingly contradictory; for he is assured that God cannot lie. Ps. 52:9; Rom. 4:21; Heb. 11:19; Ps. 135:5; Is. 40:26; 4 Esdr. 3:21,23; Josh. 10:13; Heb. 3:10,11; Matt. 27:44; Is. 40:12; Rev. 20:11; Prov. 8:29; Jer. 5:22; Ex. 14:22; Heb. 11:10,35; 2 Cor. 1:10; Gen. 22:1; 1 Pet. 1:7.