to avoid it; this indeed is a favour so overwhelming, as to deprive even the most grateful heart, not only of the power of re turning due thanks, but even of adequately feeling the extent of the obligation. We may hence form an idea of the transcendant and intense love of Jesus Christ towards us, and of his divine and boundless claims to our gratitude.
But if, when we confess that he was buried, we make this, as it were, a distinct part of the Article, it is not because it presents any difficulty which is not implied in what we have said of his death; for believing, as we do, that Christ died, we can also article. easily believe that he was buried. The word " buried" was added in the creed, first, that his death may be rendered more certain, for the strongest proof of a person's death is the interment of his body; and, secondly, to render the miracle of his resurrection more authentic and illustrious. It is not, however, our belief, that the body of Christ was alone interred: these words propose, as the principal object of our belief, that God was buried; as, according to the rule of Catholic faith, we also say with the strictest truth, that God was born of a virgin, that God died; for, as the divinity was never separated from his body which was laid in the sepulchre, we truly confess that God was buried.
As to the place and manner of his burial, what the Evangelists record on these subjects will be found sufficient for all the purposes of the pastor's instructions. [1] There are, however, two things which demand particular attention; the one, that the body of Christ was, in no degree, corrupted in the sepulchre, according to the prediction of the Prophet: " Thou wilt not give thy Holy One to see corruption; [2] the other, and it regards the several parts of this Article, that burial, passion, and also death, apply to Jesus Christ, not as God, but as man: to suffer and die are incidental to human nature only, although they are also attributed to God, because predicated with propriety of that person who is, at once, perfect God and perfect man.
When the faithful have once attained the knowledge of these things, the pastor will next proceed to explain those particulars of the passion and death of Christ, which may enable them, if not to comprehend, at least to contemplate the infinitude of so stupendous a mystery. And, first, we are to consider who it is who suffers. To declare, or even to conceive in thought, his dignity, is not given to man. Of him, St. John says, that he is "the Word which was with God;" [3] and the apostle describes him in these sublime terms: " this is he, whom God hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world; who being the brightness of his glory, and the figure of Us substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, making purgation of sins, sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high." [4] In a word, Jesus Christ, the man-God, suf-
