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SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 1. God is not only supremely merciful, but also supremely just. And His
justice requires (as He has revealed Himself in His Word) that our sins committed against His infinite
majesty should be punished, not only with temporal but with eternal punishments, both in body and soul; which
we cannot escape, unless satisfaction be made to the justice of God.
SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 2. Since, therefore, we are unable to make that satisfaction in our own
persons, or to deliver ourselves from the wrath of God, He has been pleased of His infinite mercy to give His
only begotten Son for our Surety, who was made sin, and became a curse for us and in our stead, that He might
make satisfaction to divine justice on our behalf.
SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 3. The death of the Son of God is the only and most perfect sacrifice and
satisfaction for sin, and is of infinite worth and value, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the
whole world.
SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 4. This death is of such infinite value and dignity because the person who
submitted to it was not only really man and perfectly holy, but also the only begotten Son of God, of the
same eternal and infinite essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit, which qualifications were necessary to
constitute Him a Savior for us; and, moreover, because it was attended with a sense of the wrath and curse of
God due to us for sin.
SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 5. Moreover, the promise of the gospel is that whosoever believes in Christ
crucified shall not perish, but have eternal life. This promise, together with the command to repent and
believe, ought to be declared and published to all nations, and to all persons promiscuously and without
distinction, to whom God out of His good pleasure sends the gospel.
SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 6. And, whereas many who are called by the gospel do not repent nor believe in
Christ, but perish in unbelief, this is not owing to any defect or insufficiency in the sacrifice offered by
Christ upon the cross, but is wholly to be imputed to themselves.
SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 7. But as many as truly believe, and are delivered and saved from sin and
destruction through the death of Christ, are indebted for this benefit solely to the grace of God given them
in Christ from everlasting, and not to any merit of their own.
SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 8. For this was the sovereign counsel and most gracious will and purpose of
God the Father that the quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious death of His Son should extend to
all the elect, for bestowing upon them alone the gift of justifying faith, thereby to bring them infallibly
to salvation; that is, it was the will of God that Christ by the blood of the cross, whereby He confirmed the
new covenant, should effectually redeem out of every people, tribe, nation, and language, all those, and
those only, who were from eternity chosen to salvation and given to Him by the Father; that He should confer
upon them faith, which, together with all the other saving gifts of the Holy Spirit, He purchased for them by
His death; should purge them from all sin, both original and actual, whether committed before or after
believing; and having faithfully preserved them even to the end, should at last bring them, free from every
spot and blemish, to the enjoyment of glory in His own presence forever.
SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 9. This purpose, proceeding from everlasting love towards the elect, has from
the beginning of the world to this day been powerfully accomplished, and will henceforeward still continue to
be accomplished, notwithstanding all the ineffectual opposition of the gates of hell; so that the elect in
due time may be gathered together into one, and that there never may be wanting a Church composed of
believers, the foundation of which is laid in the blood of Christ; which may stedfastly love and faithfully
serve Him as its Savior (who, as a bridegroom for his bride, laid down His life for them upon the cross); and
which may celebrate His praises here and through all eternity.
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