SECOND CHAPTER.

THE ECUMENICAL CREEDS.

Literature on the three Ecumenical Creeds.

GERIL. JOAN. Voss (Dutch Reformed, b. near Heidelberg 1577, d. at Amsterdam 1649): De tribus Symbolis, Apostolico, Athanasiano, et Constantinopolitano. Three dissertations. Amst. 1642 (and in Vol. VI. of his Opera, Amst. 1701). Voss was the first to dispute and disprove the apostolic authorship of the Apostles', and the Athanasian authorship of the Athanasian Creed.

JAMES USSHER (Lat. USSERIUS, Protestant Archbishop of Armagh, d. 1655): De Romanæ ecclesiæ Symbolo Apostolico vetere, aliisque fidei formulis, tum ab Occidentalibus tum ab Orientalibus in prima catechesi et baptismo proponi solitis, Lond. 1647 (also Geneva, 1722, pp. 17 fol., and whole works in 16 vols., Dublin, 1847, Vol. VII. pp. 297 sq. I have used the Geneva ed.).

Jos. BINGHAM (Rector of Havant, near Portsmouth, d. 1723): Origines Ecclesiastici; or the Antiquities of the Christian Church (first publ. 1710-22 in 10 vols., and often since in Engl. and in the Latin transl. of Grischovius), Book X. ch. 4.

C. G. F. WALCH (a Lutheran, d. at Göttingen in 1784): Bibliotheca Symbolica vetus, Lemgo, 1770. (A more complete collection than the preceding ones, but defective in the texts.)

E. KÖLLNER: Symbolik aller christlichen Confessionen, Hamburg, 1837 sqq., Vol. I. pp. 1-92.

AUG. HAHN: Bibliothek der Symbole und Glaubensregeln der Apostolisch-katholischen Kirche, Breslau, 1842. A new and revised ed. by LUDWIG HAHN, Breslan, 1877 (pp. 300).

W. HARVEY: History and Theology of the Three Creeds, Cambridge, 1856, 2 vols.

CHARLES A. HEURTLEY (Margaret Prof. of Divinity, Oxford): Harmonia Symbolica: A Collection of Creeds belonging to the Ancient Western Church and to the Medieval English Church. Oxford, 1858. The same: De Fide et Symbolo. Oxon. et Lond. 1869.

C. P.CASPARI (Prof. in Christiania): Ungedruckte, unbeachtete und wenig beachtete Quellen zur Geschichte des Taufsymbols und der Glaubensregel. Christiania, 1866 to 1875, 3 vols.

J. RAWSON LUMBY (Prof. at Cambridge): The History of the Creeds. Cambridge, 1873; 2d ed. London, 1880. C. A. SWAINSON (Prof. of Divinity, Cambridge): The Nicene and Apostles' Creeds. Their Literary History; together with an Account of the Growth and Reception of the Creed of St. Athanasius.' Lond. 1875. F. JOHN ANTHONY HORT (Prof. in Cambridge): Two Dissertations on povoyevis Zeos and on the 'Constantinopolitan' Creed and other Eastern Creeds of the Fourth Century. Cambridge and London, 1876.

§ 6. GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE ECUMENICAL CREEDS.

By œcumenical or general symbols (symbola œcumenica, s. catholica)1 we understand the doctrinal confessions of ancient Christianity, which are to this day either formally or tacitly acknowledged in the Greek, the Latin, and the Evangelical Protestant Churches, and form a bond of union between them.

They are three in number: the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian Creed. The first is the simplest; the other two are fuller developments and interpretations of the same. The Apostles' Creed is the most popular in the Western, the Nicene in the Eastern Churches.

To them may be added the christological statement of the œcumenical Council of Chalcedon (451). It has a more undisputed authority than

The term oikovμevikóç (from oikovμévη, sc. yñ, orbis terrarum, the inhabited earth; in a restricted sense, the old Roman Empire, as embracing the civilized world) was first used in its ecclesiastical application of the general synods of Nicæa (325), Constantinople (381), Ephesus (431), and Chalcedon (451), also of patriarchs, bishops, and emperors, and, at a later period, of the ancient general symbols, to distinguish them from the confessions of particular churches. In the Protestant Church the term so used occurs first in the Lutheran Book of Concord (œcumenica seu catholica).

the Athanasian Creed (to which the term œcumenical applies only in a qualified sense), but, as it is seldom used, it is generally omitted from the collections.

These three or four creeds contain, in brief popular outline, the fundamental articles of the Christian faith, as necessary and sufficient for salvation. They embody the results of the great doctrinal controversies of the Nicene and post-Nicene ages. They are a profession of faith in the only true and living God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who made us, redeemed us, and sanctifies us. They follow the order of God's own revelation, beginning with God and the creation, and ending with the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. They set forth the articles of faith in the form of facts rather than dogmas, and are well suited, especially the Apostles' Creed, for catechetical and liturgical use.

The Lutheran and Anglican Churches have formally recognized and embodied the three cecumenical symbols in their doctrinal and liturgical standards. The other Reformed Churches have, in their confessions, adopted the trinitarian and christological doctrines of these creeds, but in practice they confine themselves mostly to the use of the Apostles' Creed. This, together with the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments, was incorporated in the Lutheran, the Genevan, the Heidelberg, and other standard Catechisms.

The Lutheran Form of Concord (p. 569) calls them 'catholica et generalia summæ auctoritatis symbola.' The various editions of the Book of Concord give them the first place among the Lutheran symbols. Luther himself emphasized his agreement with them. The Church of England, in the 8th of her 39 Articles, declares, 'The three Creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasius's Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles' Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and believed, for they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture.' The American editions of the Articles and of the Book of Common Prayer omit the Athanasian Creed, and the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States excludes it from her service. The omission by the Convention of 1789 arose chiefly from opposition to the damnatory clauses, which even Dr. Waterland thought might be left out. But the doctrine of the Athanasian Creed is clearly taught in the first five Articles.

* The Second Helvetic Confession, art. 11, the Gallican Confession, art. 5, and the Belgic Confession, art. 9, expressly approve the three Creeds, as agreeing with the written Word of God.' In 'The Constitution and Liturgy' of the (Dutch) Reformed Church in the United States the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed are printed at the end. The Apostles' Creed is embodied in the Heidelberg Catechism, as containing the articles of our catholic undoubted Christian faith.' The Shorter Westminster Catechism gives it merely in an Appendix, as 'a brief sum of the Christian faith, agreeable to the Word of God, and anciently received in the churches of Christ.'

7. THE APOSTLES' CREED.

Literature.

í. See the Gen. Lit. on the Ecum. Creeds, § 6, p. 12, especially HAHN, HEURTLEY, LUMBY, SWAINSON, and CASPARI (the third vol. 1875).

II. Special treatises on the Apostles' Creed:

RUFINUS (d. at Aquileja 410, a presbyter and monk, translator and continuator of Eusebius's Church History to A.D. 395, and translator of some works of Origen, with unscrupulous adaptations to the prevailing standard of orthodoxy; at first an intimate friend, afterwards a bitter enemy of St. Jerome): Expositio Symboli (Apostolici), first printed, under the name of Jerome, at Oxford 1468, then at Rome 1470, at Basle 1519, etc.; also in the Appendix to John Fell's ed. of Cyprian's Opera (Oxon. 1682, folio, p. 17 sq.), and in Rufini Opera, ed. Vallarsi (Ver. 1745). See the list of edd. in Migue's Patrol. xxi. 17-20. The genuineness of this Exposition of the Creed is disputed by Ffoulkes, on the Athanas. Creed, p. 11, but without good reason.

AMBROSIUS (bishop of Milan, d. 397): Tractatus in Symbolum Apostolorum (also sub tit. De Trinitate). Opera, ed. Bened., Tom. II. 321. This tract is by some scholars assigned to a much later date, because it teaches the double procession of the Holy Spirit; but Hahn, 1. c. p. 16, defends the Ambrosian authorship with the exception of the received text of the Symbolum Apostolicum, which is prefixed. Also, Explanatio Symboli ad initiandos, ascribed to St. Ambrose, and edited by Angelo Mai in Scriptorum Veterum Nova Collectio, Rom. 1833, Vol. VII. pp. 156–158, and by Caspari, in the work quoted above, II. 48 sq. VENANT. FORTUNATUS (d. about 600): Expositio Symboli (Opera, ed. Aug. Luchi, Rom. 1786). AUGUSTINUS (bishop of Hippo, d. 430): De Fide et Symbolo liber unus. Opera, ed. Bened., Tom. XI. 505-522. Sermo de Symbolo ad catechumenos, Tom. VIII. 1591-1610. Sermones de traditione Symboli, Tom. VIII. 936 sq.

Mos. AMYRALDUS (AMYRAUT, Prof. at Saumur, d. 1664): Exercitationes in Symb. Apost. Salmur. 1663. ISAAC BARROW (Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, d. 1677): Sermons on the Creed (Theolog. Works, 8 vols., Oxf. 1830, Vol. IV.-VI.).

JOHN PEARSON (Bishop of Chester, d. 1686): An Exposition of the Creed, 1659, 3d ed. 1669 fol. (and sev eral later editions by Dobson, Burton, Nichols, Chevallier). One of the classical works of the Church of England.

PETER KING (Lord Chancellor of England, d. 1733): The History of the Apostles' Creed, with Critical Observations, London, 1702. (The same in Latin by Olearius, Lips. 1706.)

H. WITSIUS (Prof. in Leyden, d. 1708): Exercitationes sacræ in Symbolum quod Apostolorum dicitur, Amstel. 1700; Basil. 1739. English translation by Fraser, Edinb. 1823, 2 vols.

J. E. IM. WALCH (Professor in Jena, d. 1778): Antiquitates symbolicæ, quibus Symboli Apostolici historia illustratur, Jena, 1772, 8vo.

A. G. RUDELBACH (Luth.): Die Bedeutung des apost. Symbolums, Leipz. 1844 (78 pp.).

PETER MEYERS (R. C.): De Symboli Apostolici Titulo, Origine et Auctoritate, Treviris, 1849 (pp. 210). Defends the apostolic origin.

J. W. NEVIN: The Apostles' Creed, in the 'Mercersburg Review,' Mercersburg, Pa., for 1849, pp. 105, 201, 313, 585. An exposition of the doctrinal system of the Creed.

MICHEL NICOLAS: Le symbole des apôtres, Paris, 1867. Rationalistic.

G. Lisco (jun.): Das apostolische Glaubensbekenntniss, Berlin, 1872. In opposition to its obligatory use 'n the church.

O. ZÖOKLER: Das apostolische Symbolum, Güterslohe, 1872 (40 pp.). In defense of the Creed.

CARL SEMISCH (Prof. of Church History in Berlin): Das apostolische Glaubensbekenntniss, Berlin, 1872 (31 pp.).

A. MÜCKE: Das apostolische Glaubensbekenntniss der ächte Ausdruck apostolischen Glaubens, Berlin, 1873 (160 pp.).

The APOSTLES' CREED, or SYMBOLUM APOSTOLICUM, is, as to its form, not the production of the apostles, as was formerly believed, but an admirable popular summary of the apostolic teaching, and in full harmony with the spirit and even the letter of the New Testament.

I. CHARACTER and VALUE.-As the Lord's Prayer is the Prayer of prayers, the Decalogue the Law of laws, so the Apostles' Creed is the Creed of creeds. It contains all the fundamental articles of the Christian faith necessary to salvation, in the form of facts, in simple Scrip

ture language, and in the most natural order-the order of revelationfrom God and the creation down to the resurrection and life everlasting. It is Trinitarian, and divided into three chief articles, expressing faith-in God the Father, the Maker of heaven and earth, in his only Son, our Lord and Saviour, and in the Holy Spirit (in Deum Patrem, in Jesum Christum, in Spiritum Sanctum); the chief stress being laid on the second article, the supernatural birth, death, and resurrection of Christ. Then, changing the language (credo in for credo with the simple accusative), the Creed professes to believe 'the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the remission of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting." It is by far the best popular summary of the Christian faith ever made within so brief a space. It still surpasses all later symbols for catechetical and liturgical purposes, especially as a profession of candidates for baptism and church membership. It is not a logical statement of abstract doctrines, but a profession of living facts and saving truths. It is a liturgical poem and an act of worship. Like the Lord's Prayer, it loses none of its charm and effect by frequent use, although, by vain and thoughtless repetition, it may be made a martyr and an empty form of words. It is intelligible and edifying to a child, and fresh and rich to the profoundest Christian scholar, who, as he advances in age, delights to go back to primitive foundations and first principles. It has the fragrance of antiquity and the inestimable weight of universal consent. It is a bond of union between all ages and sections of Christendom. It can never be superseded for popular use in church and school.2

1 This change was observed already by Rufinus (1. c. § 36), who says: 'Non dicit "IN Sanctam Ecclesiam," nec "IN remissionem peccatorum," nec "IN carnis resurrectionem." Si enim addidisset "IN" præpositionem, una eademque vis fuisset cum superioribus. . . . Hac præpositionis syllaba Creator a creaturis secernitur, et divina separantur ab humanis.' The Roman Catechism (P. I. c. 10, qu. 19) also marks this distinction, ‘Nunc autem, mutata dicendi forma, “sanctam," et non “in sanctam” ecclesiam credere profitemur.'

2

Augustine calls the Apostolic Symbol ‘regula fidei brevis et grandis; brevis numero verborum, grandis pondere sententiarum.' Luther says: 'Christian truth could not possibly be put into a shorter and clearer statement.' Calvin (Inst., Lib. II. c. 16, § 18), while doubting its strictly apostolic composition, yet regards it as an admirable and truly scriptural summary of the Christian faith, and follows its order in his Institutes, saying: 'Id extra controversiam positum habemus, totam in eo [Symbolo Ap.] fidei nostræ historiam succincte distinctoque ordine recenseri, nihil autem contineri, quod solidis Scripturæ testimoniis non sit consignatum.' J.T. Müller (Lutheran, Die Symb. Bücher der Evang. Luth. K., p. xvi.): 'It retains the double significance of being the bond of union of the universal Christian Church, and the seed from which all other creeds have grown.' Dr. Semisch (Evang. United, successor of Dr. Neander

At the same time, it must be admitted that the very simplicity and brevity of this Creed, which so admirably adapt it for all classes of Christians and for public worship, make it insufficient as a regulator of public doctrine for a more advanced stage of theological knowledge. As it is confined to the fundamental articles, and expresses them in plain Scripture terms,.it admits of an indefinite expansion by the scientific mind of the Church. Thus the Nicene Creed gives clearer and stronger expression to the doctrine of Christ's divinity against the Arians, the Athanasian Creed to the whole doctrine of the Trinity and of Christ's person against the various heresies of the post-Nicene age. The Reformation Creeds are more explicit on the authority and inspiration of the Scriptures and the doctrines of sin and grace, which are either passed by or merely implied in the Apostles' Creed.

II. As to the ORIGIN of the Apostles' Creed, it no doubt gradually grew out of the confession of Peter, Matt. xvi. 16, which furnished its nucleus (the article on Jesus Christ), and out of the baptismal formula, which determined the trinitarian order and arrangement. It can not be traced to an individual author. It is the product of the Western Catholic Church (as the Nicene Creed is that of the Eastern Church) within the first four centuries. It is not of primary, apostolic, but of secondary, ecclesiastical inspiration. It is not a word of God to men, but a word of men to God, in response to his revelation. It was originally and essentially a baptismal confession, growing out of the inner life and practical needs of early Christianity. It was explained to the in Berlin) concludes his recent essay on the Creed (p. 28) with the words: 'It is in its primitive form the most genuine Christianity from the mouth of Christ himself (das ächteste Christenthum aus dem Munde Christi selbst).' Dr. Nevin (Germ. Reformed, Mercersb. Rev. 1849, p. 204): The Creed is the substance of Christianity in the form of faith . . . the direct immediate utterance of the faith itself.' Dr. Shedd (Presbyterian, Hist. Christ. Doctr., II. 433): 'The Apostles' Creed is the earliest attempt of the Christian mind to systematize the teachings of the Scripture, and is, consequently, the uninspired foundation upon which the whole after-structure of symbolic literature rests. All creed development proceeds from this germ. Bishop Browne (Episcopalian, Exp. 39 Art., p. 222): Though this Creed was not drawn up by the apostles themselves, it may well be called Apostolic, both as containing the doctrines taught by the apostles, and as being in substance the same as was used in the Church from the times of the apostles themselves.' It is the only Creed used in the baptismal service of the Latin, Anglican, Lutheran, and the Continental Reformed Churches. In the Protestant Episcopal and Lutheran Churches the Apostles' Creed is a part of the regular Sunday service, and is generally recited between the Scripture lessons and the prayers, expressing assent to the former, and preparing the mind for the latter.

Tertullian, De corona militum, c. 3: 'Dehinc ter mergitamur, AMPLIUS ALIQUID RESPONDENTES, quam Dominus in Evangelio determinavit.' The amplius respondentes refers to the