[112] The sources from which this chapter was taken can still be pretty clearly traced. I place in parallel columns its statements and those of the two Confessions from which it was probably taken:—

"We confesse and acknawledge ane only God, to whom only we must cleave, whom onelie we must serve, whom onelie we must worship, and in whom onelie we must put our trust. "Je confesse qu'il y a un seul Dieu auquel il nous faut tenir, pour le servir, adorer, et y avoir notre fiance et refuge."—Confession subscribed by students in Academy in Geneva.
"Who is eternall, infinit, unmeasurable, incomprehensible, omnipotent, invisible: ane in substance, and zit distinct in thre personnis, the Father, the Sone, and the Holie Gost."—Old Scottish Confession, in Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 21, 22. "I beleve and confesse my Lorde God eternal, infinite, unmeasurable, incomprehensible, and invisible, one in substance, and three in persone, Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghoste."—Confession of English Congregation at Geneva, in Laing's Knox, iv. 169; Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 3.

[113] This also comes from a Genevan source:—

"We condemne the damnable and pestilent heresies of Arius, Marcion, Eutyches, Nestorius, and sik uthers."—Old Scottish Confession, as above, ii. 31."Ideirco detestor omnes haereses huic principio contrarias puta Marcionis, Manetis, Nestorii, Eutychetis, et similium."—Genevan Confession.

[114] Extraneum ab omni benedictione Dei, Satanae mancipium, sub peccati jugo captivum, horribili denique exitio destinatum et jam implicitum.—Calvin.

[115] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 24, 25; Laing's Knox, ii. 98. It has been questioned if this description of faith is one which Calvin and his stricter followers would have used. But nothing is more common, even in the earliest edition of his Institutes, than to find him describing faith as the apprehension of Christ with His gifts, or graces, as well as with His righteousness: "Apprehendimus ac obtinemus et ... Christi dona amplectimur, quod ipsum est habere veram, ut decet fidem." "Haec omnia nobis a Deo offeruntur ac dantur in Christo Domino nostro nempe remissio peccatorum gratuita, ... dona et gratiae Spiritus Sancti si certâ fide ea amplectimur." In one of these chapters [of the Scottish Confession] relating to the incarnation of Christ Jesus, He is spoken of not only, as in most of the Protestant Confessions, as the promised Messiah, the just seed of David, the Immanuel, or God in our nature—God and man in one person—but also as the Angel of the great counsel of God [Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 31; Laing's Knox, ii. 99]. This expression is no doubt a translation of the μεγαλης βουλης αγγελος of the Septuagint, and is the more remarkable, not only as showing familiarity on the part of some of the framers of the Confession with a somewhat unusual rendering of one of the most explicit Messianic prophecies of Isaiah, but also as showing that they had perceived the true significance of an expression which last century gave rise to no little discussion and misconception. So far as I can remember, this remarkable expression does not appear in any other of the Protestant Confessions of that age.

[116] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 32; Laing's Knox, ii. 100.

[117] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 60, 61; Laing's Knox, ii. 108.

[118] The following are a few specimens of close verbal coincidence between the Scottish Confession and the first edition of Calvin's Institutes:—

1. "It behooved that the Sonne of God suld descend unto us, and tak himself a bodie of our bodie, flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bones, and so become the Mediator betwixt God and man, giving power to so many as beleeve in Him to be the sonnes of God."—Dunlop, ii. 33, 34.Filii Dei sumus quod naturalis Dei Filius sibi corpus ex corpore nostro, carnem ex carne nostra ossa ex ossibus nostris composuit ut idem nobiscum esset.
2. "Quhatsaever wee have tynt in Adam is restored unto us agayne."—Dunlop, ii. 34.Ut quod in Adamo perdidimus Christus restitueret.
3. "It behooved farther the Messias and Redemer to be very God and very man, because He was to underlie the punischment due for our transgressiouns, and to present himselfe in the presence of His Father's judgment as in our persone to suffer for our transgression and inobedience, be death to overcome him that was author of death. Bot because the onely Godhead culd not suffer death, neither zit culd the onlie manhead overcome the samin, He joyned both togither in one persone that the imbecillitie of the ane suld suffer and be subject to death quhilk we had deserved: and the infinit and invincible power of the uther, to wit, of the God-head, suld triumph and purchesse to us life, libertie, and perpetuall victory."—Dunlop, ii. 35, 36.Praeterea sic nostra referebat, verum esse Deum et hominem qui Redemptor noster futurus esset.... Prodiit ergo verus homo, Dominus noster, Adae personam induit ... ut Patri se obedientem pro eo exhiberet ut carnem nostram in satisfactionem justo Dei judicio statueret ac sisteret, ut in eâdem carne peccati poenam persolveret. Quum denique mortem nec solus Deus sentire, nec solus homo superare posset, humanitatem cum divinitate sociavit ut alterius imbecillitatem morti in poenam persolveret, alterius virtute adversus mortem in victoriam luctaretur.
4. "That Hee being the cleane, innocent Lambe of God, was damned in the presence of an earthlie judge, that we suld be absolved befoir the tribunal seat of our God."—Dunlop, ii. 37, 38.Judicis scilicet sententia damnatus pro nocente et malefico ut apud summi judicis tribunal ejus damnatione absolveremur.
5. "Suffered ... the cruell death of the Crosse, quhilk was accursed be the sentence of God."—Dunlop, ii. 38.Crucifixus in cruce quae Dei lege maledicta fuerat.
6. "Suffered for a season the wrath of His Father quhilk sinners had deserved. Bot zit we avow that He remained the only wel-beloved and blessed Sonne of His Father, even in the middest of His anguish and torment."—Dunlop, ii. 38.Divini judicii horrorem et severitatem sensisse ... luens poenas non suae ... sed nostrae iniquitati. Neque tamen intelligendum est patrem illi unquam iratum fuisse. Quomodo enim dilecto filio, in quo illi complacitum est, irasceretur.