une. The
prophet Jeremias asks: "Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be
done, when the Lord commandeth it not?" (Lam. iii, 37). "Thy
providence, O Father, ruleth all things," so we read in the Book of
Wisdom. And so God orders and disposes everything in our lives, that we
may attain the eternal goal. We have but to commit ourselves to divine
Providence and place our trust in God. For this reason we should
exclaim with David: "The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing. For
though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evils, for thou art with me" (Ps. xxii).

In the first article we profess our faith, therefore, in the
omnipotence of God, divine Providence, and all the divine attributes.
God has created us and preserves us. But He has done still greater
things for us. Is this possible? Yes, for God so loved the world that
He sacrificed His only begotten Son for it. And this brings us to the
second article, which comprises the truths we must believe of God the
Son.

II. When the sin of our first parents had deprived us of the friendship
of God as well as of our heirship to Heaven, there came to our rescue
the second Person of the Godhead, the only begotten of the Father. The
succeeding articles tell us of the love and sacrifice of the Son of God
for our race.

The second article is: "And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord."
What does this mean? It means I believe that He is the Son of God, God
of God, true God of true God. It means I believe that He became
incarnate for the sake of our salvation. It means I believe in the
doctrines that He proclaimed, in the miracles that He performed. It
means I believe in His presence in the holy Eucharist; in the effects
of the holy Sacraments which He instituted. It means I believe in His
holy Church, to which He transmitted His authority. To believe in Jesus
Christ means, furthermore, to believe in His Passion and death, by
which He redeemed the world; in His glorious resurrection and
ascension. He is the Divine Master, and as such the supreme Lawgiver
whom all creatures must obey. He is also the Judge of the universe, and
as such will come again one day to preside at the general judgment,
when He will judge all men according to their belief, according to the
manner in which each one has observed or transgressed His commandments,
used or neglected the means of salvation. Then will be the end of time;
and mankind will go to its reward or to