speak home to his purpose; but only say, the creeds in general are of apostolical institution: which, for the substance, no one denies; for they speak of several forms, and yet ascribe them all to the apostles; which is an argument they did not mean this particular form any more than others. For the Nicene Creed is often called the Apostles' Creed; and yet no one believes that that Creed was composed totidem verbis by the apostles. Ruffinus indeed seems to say, there was an ancient tradition, that the apostles, being about to depart from Jerusalem," first settled a rule for their future preaching; lest, after they were separated from one another, they should expound different doctrines to those whom they invited to the Christian faith. Wherefore being all assembled together, and filled with the Holy Ghost, they composed this short rule of their preaching, each one contributing his sentence, and left it as a rule to be given to all believers. And for this reason, he thinks, it might be called the symbol, because that word in Greek signifies both a test and a collation of opinions together. The author under the name of St. Austin is a little more particular in the story; for he pretends to tell us what article was put in by each particular apostle: Peter said, "I believe in God, the Father Almighty." John, " Maker of heaven and earth." James," and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord." Andrew added, "who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary." Philip said, "suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried." Thomas, "He descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead." Bartholomew," He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty." Matthew, "From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." James, the son of Alphæus, added, "I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic church." Simon Zelotes, "the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins." Jude, the brother of James, "the resurrection of the body." Matthias, "life everlasting."

But now there is an insuperable difficulty lies against this tradition, which is this, that there are two or three articles here mentioned, which are

2 Ruffin. Expos. Symboli, ad calcem Cypriani, p. 17. Discessuri itaque ab invicem, normam prius futuræ sibi prædicationis in commune constituunt: ne forte alius ab alio abducti, diversum aliquid his qui ad fidem Christi invitabantur, exponerent. Omnes ergo in uno positi, et Spiritu Sancto repleti, breve istud futuræ sibi, ut diximus, prædicationis indicium, conferendo in unum quod sentiebat unusquisque, componunt; atque hanc credentibus dandam esse regulam statuunt. Symbolum autem hoc multis et justissimis caussis appellare voluerunt. Symbolum enim Græce et indicium dici potest, et collatio, hoc est, quod plures in unum conferunt.

"Aug. de Tempore, Ser. 115. al. 92. in Append. t. 10. p. 675.

29

known not to have been in this Creed for three or four ages at least. For Ruffinus himself tells us, The descent into hell was neither in the Roman 28 Creed, which is that we call the Apostles' Creed, nor yet in any creed of the Eastern churches; only the sense of it might be said to be couched in that other expression, he was buried. Bishop Usher and Bishop Pearson have demonstrated the truth of this observation by a particular induction from all the ancient creeds, and showed this article to be wanting in them all for four hundred years, except the Creed of Aquileia, which Ruffinus expounds, and the Creed of the council of Ariminum, mentioned in Socrates. Others have made the same observation upon the article concerning the communion of saints, which is not to be found either in the Creed of Aquileia, or any ancient Greek or Latin creed for above the space of four hundred years. Nor is the article of " the life everlasting" expressly mentioned in many creeds, but only inclusively contained in "the resurrection of the body;" which is the concluding article in many ancient creeds. These are plain demonstrations, without any other argument, that the creed, as it stands in the present form, could not be composed in the manner as is pretended by the apostles. The silence of The Acts of the Apostles about any such composition, is a collateral evidence against it. The silence of ecclesiastical writers for above three whole centuries, is a further confirmation. The variety of creeds, in so many different forms, used by the ancients, yet extant in their writings, some with omissions, others with additions, and all in a different phrase, are no less evident proofs, that one universal form had not been pitched upon and prescribed to the whole church by the apostles. For then it is scarce to be imagined, that any church should have received any other form in the least tittle varying from it. These reasons do now generally satisfy learned men, that no such precise form was composed, according to that pretended tradition, by all the apostles. The reader may find dissertations in Vossius," Bishop Usher," Hammond L'Estrange, Basnagins," Suicerus," and the learned author of the late Critical History of the Creed, to this purpose. And it is much to be

32

2G 2

wondered at, that any knowing person, against such convincing evidence, should labour to maintain the contrary, upon no better grounds than only this, that the ancients agree in calling the creed apostolical. For they do not always intend this particular form, but call all other forms apostolical, the Nicene Creed, the Constantinopolitan Creed, the Eastern Creeds, the Western Creeds, and all others which agree with this in substance, though not in method or expression, and are all equally apostolical, as being all derived from the apostles' preaching, and for substance composed by them, and some of them perhaps left in the churches where they preached, as the first rudiments of this creed seem to have been in the Roman church. So far all the ancient catholic creeds may be said to be apostolical, as being in substance the same with the creeds used in baptism by the apostles.

Sect. 6.
That probably the

creeds differing in

By all, then, that has hitherto been

apostles used several said, I intend not to insinuate, that form, not in sub- the apostles used no creeds at all, but rather that they used many, differing

stance.

in form, but not in substance, from one another. All that I contend for, is only this, that none of the present forms are exactly the same in expression with those of the apostles, which is demonstrated from the variety of creeds used in several churches, and from the addition of some words to that creed which pretends most to be apostolical. But though the apostles composed no one creed to be of perpetual and universal use for the whole church, yet it is not to be doubted but that they used some forms in admitting catechumens to baptism. There are many expressions in Scripture that favour this, particularly Philip's questions to the eunuch before he baptized him, and St. Peter's interrogatories, or the answer of a good conscience towards God, which was used in baptism: and the constant practice of the church, in imitation of the apostles, admitting none to baptism but by answer to such interrogatories, is a sufficient demonstration of the apostolical practice. But then, as the church used a liberty of expression in her several creeds, so it is not improbable the apostles did the same, without tying themselves to any one form, who had less need to do it, being all guided by inspiration. And hence it came to pass, that there being no one certain form of a creed prescribed universally to all churches, every church had liberty to frame their own creeds, as they did their own liturgies, without being tied precisely to any one form of words, so long as they kept to the analogy of faith and doctrine at first delivered by the apostles: which seems to be the true reason of so many ancient forms, differing in words, not in substance.

36 Episcop. Institut. lib. 4. sect. 2. cap. 34. 37 Bull. Judic. Eccles. Cathol. &c. cap. 6.

39

36

What were

postolical creeds.

But now the grand question still Sect. 7. remains, concerning the nature, sub-contained in the a stance, and extent of the apostolical creeds, that is, what articles were contained in them? Some there are who would confine these to very narrow bounds, making them at first to be no more than what is contained expressly in the form of baptism, "I believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." So Episcopius and his followers, who would persuade the world, that for the three first ages, the doctrine of our Saviour's Divinity was no necessary article of the Christian faith. But the learned Bishop Bull," and Dr. Grabe," have judiciously refuted these pretences; the one, by showing from all the ancient creeds, that this doctrine was a necessary article before the Nicene council; and the other, by evincing from Scripture, that the lineaments of the Apostles' Creed used in the administration of baptism, were at the first much larger than what Episcopius pretended; and that in the apostles' age, either by their authority or permission, the creed consisted of all the present articles, except only those two, of the descent into hell, and the communion of saints, which are owned to be of later admission. Mr. Basnage indeed has a peculiar opinion, that the creed was composed and the chief articles inserted only in the second century, in opposition to several heresies, which then began to infest the church. The Gnostics brought in the doctrine of a two-fold deity, the one good, the other evil: against this pestilent heresy, the church put that article into her creed, "I believe in God," or, in one God. Menander, the disciple of Simon Magus, asserted, that the world was not created by God, but by angels: this occasioned the church to insert those words, "Maker of heaven and earth.” Carpocrates taught, that Jesus was a mere man, and begotten of both sexes, as other men: in opposition to whom, it was inserted, that Christ was "conceived by the Holy Ghost." The Basilidians did not believe Jesus was crucified by the Jews, but only Simon of Cyrene: to confute whom, they put in those words, "He was dead and buried." Carpocrates rejected the resurrection of the flesh and upon that, "I believe the resurrection of the flesh," was added to the creed. Thus, if we will hearken to this learned person, there was no creed at all made by the apostles, but it was composed entirely by the church, and gradually augmented, only as the rise of sects and heresies required some opposition to be made to them. The learned author of the late Critical History of the Creed goes the same way, only with this difference, that he supposes (what Mr. Basnage does not) that some articles were inserted by the apostles themselves, and others su

39 Grabe, Annotata ad cap. 5, 6, et 7. ejusd. p. 61. 39 Basnag. Exercitat, in Barou. p. 476.

peradded by the church, as the occasion of heresies required. But when he speaks of the particular articles, he falls in with Mr. Basnage's notion about the chiefest; for he supposes the first article, "I believe in one God," not to be made against the polytheism of the Gentiles by the apostles, but only by the church, upon the rise of the heresies of the Valentinians, Cerdonians, Marcionites, and others in after ages. Which in effect is to say, the creed was made, and not made by the apostles; for if the principal articles were not composed by them, I see not what else can entitle them to have been the authors of it. And therefore I much more readily subscribe to the opinion of the learned Dr. Grabe, which he maintains against this learned person, that the article of "one God the Father, Maker of heaven and earth," was originally inserted into the creed by the apostles, against the capital error of the Gentiles, who made one god to have power over heaven, another over the earth, another over the sea, &c., and divided the divine honour among them. For so the vulgar among the heathen practised their idolatry; however, the philosophers among them might be a little more refined in their theology, and have more agreeable notions of the unity of the supreme God. Therefore it is reasonable to believe this first article was inserted, to make men renounce in their baptism this erroneous opinion of the Gentiles.

The opinion of Episcopius, that nothing more was originally in the creed about our Saviour, but only the bare title of the Son, is solidly refuted by Dr. Grabe, who proves from Scripture, that he had always this title with the addition of his being the Son of God: and that those other articles, "He was crucified, dead, and buried; that he rose again, and ascended into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God, and from thence should come to judge the quick and dead," were all original articles of the creed; being such doctrines as the apostles chiefly taught their catechumens, and such as the Jews and Gentiles either denied or ridiculed: and therefore it was proper to make all new converts, at their entrance on Christianity, make a particular profession of such articles, in opposition to their former errors, whether they came over from the Jews or Gentiles. Upon this account he also rejects the opinion of the author of the Critical History, who supposes the article of the ascension of Christ into heaven, to have been added to the creed only in the second century, and that in opposition to Apelles, one of Marcion's disciples, who denied the ascension of Christ's flesh into heaven. But if it had been designed against him, it would no doubt have been more particularly expressed, that his flesh

Tertul. de Bapt. cap. 6. Cum sub tribus et testatio fidei et sponsio salutis pignorentur necessariò adjicitur ec

ascended into heaven, as Dr. Grabe observes it is in Irenæus, and not barely that Christ ascended into heaven. For the same reason he concludes, that the following articles, of his session at God's right hand, and his coming to judge the quick and the dead, could not be inserted into the creed in opposition to the Marcionites and Gnostics, as the forementioned author supposes; for then they would have been more precisely worded against their reigning tenets, which were, that Christ's flesh was void of sense in heaven, and that Christ was not the Son of that God who is the Judge of the world: wherefore it is more reasonable to suppose those articles were originally inserted by the apostles, to correct the ignorance and errors of the Jews and Gentiles.

As to those two articles, "He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary," Dr. Grabe makes some question whether they were as ancient as the former, because they do not appear in the common catechetical discourses of the apostles, but he thinks, before St., John's death they were inserted against the heresies of Carpocrates, Ebion, and Cerinthus, who denied both articles, and asserted, that Christ was born of Joseph and Mary, after the common way of mankind.

The article of the Holy Ghost was always a part of the Apostles' Creed, by the confession of Episcopius himself. And therefore the opinion of those who maintain, that nothing more was required of catechumens before baptism, but only the profession of their faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, is wholly to be rejected.

The article of "remission of sins" was also originally in the apostolical creeds, because it always appears to have been one principal point of their catechetical institutions. And therefore the opinion of the learned author of the Critical History, that it was only in some creeds, but not in all, till the rise of the Novatian heresy, is also to be rejected; because it appears from Cyprian, that it was in the creed which the Novatians themselves made use of in baptism.

The articles of "the resurrection of the dead, and life everlasting," are also concluded to have been in the Apostles' Creed, if not from the very first, yet at least when St. Paul wrote his Epistle to the Hebrews, because he there mentions "the resurrection of the dead," and "eternal judgment," among the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith, Heb. vi. 2.

The article of "the church," Dr. Grabe thinks, was not originally in the creed, but added in the latter end of the first century, or beginning of the second, upon occasion of heretics and schismatics separating from the church. At least it appears from Tertullian's book De Baptismo," that the profession of it

clesiæ mentio; quoniam ubi tres, id est, Pater, Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus, ibi ecclesia, quæ trium corpus est.

was required in his time, of catechumens at their baptism. For he says, after they had testified their faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, they also added the church, because where those three were, there was the church, and it was the body of the three.

The article of "the communion of saints," he readily acknowledges, was never in any creed before the fourth century. And that concerning the descent into hell, was not originally in the creed, but added upon occasion of heretics in after ages. But the precise time of its addition is not exactly agreed upon between the author of the Critical History and Dr. Grabe. The former (who is allowed to have explained the genuine sense of this article with as great exactness as the most consummate divine) supposes it to have been added against the Arians and Apollinarians, (who denied the soul or spirit of Christ,) because the fathers argued thus against them: Christ descended into hell either in his Divinity, or his soul, or his body: but it is absurd to ascribe the descent into hell either to his Divinity or his body; and therefore it must be his soul that descended; which proves the reality of his soul. But Dr. Grabe thinks this article was of earlier date, because it is to be found in some of the Arian creeds themselves, and others, more ancient than the Apollinarians: and that if it had been inserted against the Apollinarian doctrine, it would not have been barely said, "he descended into hell;" but rather, he descended by his soul into hell; which had been directly against that heresy. Therefore he rather supposes it to have been added to the creed in opposition to the Valentinians and Marcionites, who, according to the account given by Irenæus" and Tertullian," pretended, that the souls of all that died of their sects went immediately to heaven; when yet Christ himself went into the state and place of separate souls for three days before his resurrection and ascension.

Upon the whole matter, Dr. Grabe concludes, that all the articles of the creed, except these three, the communion of saints, the church, and the descent of Christ into hell, were solemnly professed by the first Christians, in their confessions of faith in the apostles' days, by their authority, or at least, their approbation; for which reason, the creed, as to those parts of it, may properly be called apostolical. And it could hardly be, that all churches in the world should so unanimously agree in the common confession of so many articles of it, unless it had proceeded from some such authority as they all acknowledged. But the reason why the confessions of particular churches differed in words and phrases, he thinks was from hence, that the

Irenæus, lib. 5. c. 31. 42 Tertul. de Anima, cap. 55.

creed which the apostles delivered, was not written with paper and ink, but in the fleshy tables of the heart, as St. Jerom words it." Whence every church was at liberty to express their sense in their own terms. But he will not undertake to vindicate the common tradition of Ruffinus, that it was made by joint consent of all the apostles, when they were about to separate from one another; and much less, that every one of the twelve apostles cast in his symbol to complete the number of twelve articles, as the other story is told by the author under the name of St. Austin, which he thinks is not in the least to be regarded. I have been a little more particular in representing the sense of this great man upon this point, both because his account of the original of the several articles of the creed seems to be most exact, and because the discourse where he delivers his opinion may not yet be fallen into the hands of every ordinary reader.

CHAPTER IV.

A COLLECTION OF SEVERAL ANCIENT FORMS OF THE CREED OUT OF THE PRIMITIVE RECORDS OF THE CHURCH.

Sect. 1. The fragments of

nieus.

I SHALL now in the next place present the reader with several of the ancient the creed in Ire forms of the creed, as we find them preserved in the most ancient writers, and the most authentic primitive records of the church. The use of these will be, not only to illustrate and confirm what has been said in the last chapter, but also to declare what was the ancient faith of the church, and show the vanity of modern heretics, especially the Arians, who pretend that the doctrine of our Saviour's Divinity was no necessary article of faith before the council of Nice. Bishop Usher, in his curious tract De Symbolo Romano, has already collected a great many of these ancient forms; but because that piece is written in Latin, and become very scarce, and some things more may be added to it, I will here oblige the English reader with a new account of them, beginning with the fragments of the creed which we have in Irenæus, Origen, Cyprian, Tertullian, and other private writers, which Bishop Usher gives no account of. Some fancy the creed may be found in the writings of Ignatius, Clemens Romanus, Polycarp, and Justin Martyr: but Bishop Pearson' has rightly observed, That these writers, however they may incidentally mention some articles of faith, do not formally deliver any rule of faith used in their own times. The

13 Hieron. Ep. 61. ad Pammach. c. 9.

1 Pearson's Exposition of the Creed, Article 5. Initio.

first that speaks of this is Irenæus, who calls it the unalterable canon2 or rule of truth, which every man received at his baptism. And he immediately declares what it was in these words: The church, though it be dispersed over all the world," from one end of the earth to the other, received from the apostles and their disciples the belief in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and sea, and all things in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Ghost, who preached by the prophets the dispensations [of God], and the advent, and nativity of a virgin, and passion, and resurrection from the dead, and bodily ascension of the flesh of his beloved Son Christ Jesus our Lord into heaven, and his coming again from heaven in the glory of the Father, to recapitulate all things, and raise the flesh of all mankind; that, according to the will of the invisible Father, every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in the earth, and things under the earth, to Jesus Christ, our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King, and that every tongue should confess to him; and that he may exercise just judgment upon all, and send spiritual wickednesses, and the transgressing and apostate angels, with all ungodly, unrighteous, lawless, and blaspheming men, into everlasting fire; but grant life to all righteous and holy men, that keep his commandments and persevere in his love, some from the beginning, others after repentance, on whom he confers immortality, and invests them with eternal glory. This faith, he says, was the same in all the world; men professed it with one heart and one soul: for though there were different dialects in the world, yet the power of the faith was one and the same. The churches in Germany had no other faith or tradition than those in Iberia or Spain, or those among the Celta, that is, France, or in the East, or in Egypt, or in Libya, or in the middle parts of the world, by which he means Jerusalem and the adjacent churches, which were reckoned to be in the midst of the earth. But as one and the same sun enlightened all the world; so the preaching of this truth shined all over, and en

4

2 Iren. lib. 1. c. 1. p. 44. Ibid. cap. 2. p. 45. Ibid. c. 3.

Origen. Tapi dpxov, in Præfat. t. 1. p. 665. Species vero eorum, quæ per prædicationem apostolicam manifeste traduntur, istæ sunt. Primo quod unus Deus est, qui omnia creavit atque composuit, quique ex nullis fecit esse universa; Deus a prima creatura et conditione mundi omnium justo. rum, Deus Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Enoch, Noe, Sem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 12 patriarcharum, Moysi et prophetarum: et quod hic Deus in novissimis diebus, sicut per prophetas suos ante promiserat, misit Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, primo quidem vocaturum Israel, secundo etiam Gentes post perfidiam populi Israel. Hic Deus justus et bonus, Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, legem et

lightened all men that were willing to come to the knowledge of truth. Nor did the most eloquent ruler of the church say any more than this, [for no one was above his Master,] nor the weakest diminish any thing of this tradition. For the faith being one and the same, he that said most of it, could not enlarge it, nor he that said least, take any thing from it.

The reader will easily perceive, that Irenæus, by this one faith, did not mean the express form of words now used in the Apostles' Creed; for his words differ much in expression from that, though in sense and substance it be the same faith, and that which was then preached and taught over all the churches.

5

Sect. 2.

gen.

There is another such form of apostolical doctrine collected by Origen in The creed of Orihis books of Christian Principles, where he thus delivers the rule of faith: The things which are manifestly handed down by the apostolical preaching, are these: first, That there is one God, who created and made all things, and caused the whole universe to exist out of nothing; the God of all the just that ever were from the first creation and foundation of all; the God of Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Enoch, Noe, Sem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs, Moses and the prophets : and that this God, in the last days, as he had promised before by his prophets, sent our Lord Jesus Christ, first to call Israel, and then the Gentiles, after the infidelity of his people Israel. This just and good God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, gave both the law and the prophets, and the Gospels, being the God of the apostles, and of the Old and New Testament. The next article is, That Jesus Christ, who came into the world, was begotten of the Father before every creature, who, ministering to his Father in the creation of all things, [" for by him all things were made,”] in the last times made himself of no reputation, and became man: he who was God, was made flesh; and when he was man, he continued the same God that he was before. He assumed a body in all things like ours, save only that it was born of a virgin by the Holy Ghost.

prophetas et Evangelia dedit, qui et apostolorum Deus est, et Veteris et Novi Testamenti. Tum deinde quia Jesus Christus ipse qui venit, ante omnem creaturam natus ex Patre est. Qui cum in omnium conditione Patri ministrasset (per ipsum enim omnia facta sunt) novissimis temporibus seipsum exinaniens homo factus est: incarnatus est cum Deus esset, et homo mansit quod Deus erat. Corpus assumpsit nostro corpori simile, eo solo differens quod natum ex Virgine de Spiritu Sancto est. Et quoniam hic Jesus Christus natus, et passus est in veritate et non per imaginem communem hanc mortem, vere mortuus est; vere enim a mortuis resurrexit, et post resurrectionem conversatus cum discipulis suis, assumptus est. Tum deinde honore ac dignitate Patri et Filio sociatum tradiderunt Spiritum Sanctum, &c.