[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 God, 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 assembly 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 God.
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, assist 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 pass--that is the meaning of
_Amen_, "It is assuredly and certainly true."