spoken of may have been made at the time of ordination, but is generally understood of the baptismal vow. The question is not material; the passage indicates that a pledge, either initial or official, was required from members and ministers of the Church. In the case of the Ethiopian eunuch the verse * which relates a condition and a declaration made precedent to his baptism is of doubtful genuineness; nevertheless its undoubted antiquity, attested as it is by Irenæus, claims weight for it as evidence. What St. Paul "received" and "delivered" to the Corinthians seems to present a Creed in substance or in germ; and so does his statement of "the mystery of godliness." The injunctions "Hold fast the form of sound words"; § and "Let that abide in you which ye heard from the beginning" || imply the existence of a definite scheme of teaching to be assented to T and embraced by neophytes; and the adaptation of such for rehearsal is the formation of a Creed. The Greek of the New Testament supplies other indications which are less apparent in our translation. The verb rendered "believe" ** conveys in many places the notion of "declaring belief," "Simon himself believed, and being baptized;" compared with "In whom after that ye believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit." The meaning is plainly that upon profession of the faith the converts were baptized. *Acts viii. 37. § 2 Tim. i. 13. † 1 Cor. xv. 3-8. 1 Tim. iii. 16. ῇ ἀποδεξάμενοι τὸν λόγον ἐβαπτίσθησαν (Acts ii, 41). ** πιστεύω. 66 So in the two sentences nearer than when we believed," " and "even we believed in Christ," + the aorist has but a strained meaning unless a declaration of belief is understood; the belief itself was not a thing of the past.‡ It is probable that the earliest form of Creeds reflected little more than Christ's final command to baptize all men into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, or even simply "into the Name of the Lord Jesus," § faith in Jesus as Christ and Son of God being the cardinal point of the new revelation, and leading up to and including the truth already acknowledged in relation to the Father; and the evangelic promise of the Holy Ghost. It is evident that the Creeds which have come down to us are mainly an expansion of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity; a doctrine shadowed out in many places of the Old Testament, but first embodied with distinct acknowledgment in the Lord's command above mentioned, and in the benediction of St. Paul, and subsequently in the Christian Doxologies. In the mention of the Son, however, is included the *Rom. xiii. 11. † Gal. ii. 16. The Greek perfect often denotes a continuous state, therefore oldaπеяlσтеνкα may be taken as equivalent to "Whom I believe," 2 Tim. i. 12 (and yet more markedly in St. John ii. 22). So rois TETTIOTEUKÓσi, Acts xviii. 27, might simply be rendered "believers "; but the true perfect sense is brought out if the meaning assigned above to πɩσTEúw is allowed. § Acts xix. 5. Compare the disputed but instructive verse ch. viii. 37. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. sum of His ministries for man; and to that of the Holy Ghost is subjoined the effect of His operation in and for the Church. Thus the use of the Creed becomes doctrinal as well as declaratory; not stating merely abstract truths, but inferring the obligatory action of Christian hope. And this character is in a measure represented by the names Symbolum, Kavov (Canon), Regula Fidei. Our word Creed is derived from the first word of the Latin version, Credo, I believe. Symbolum, meaning in ordinary usage a token agreed on, a ticket of admittance, a military password, readily passed into the idea of a distinctive mark (yvópioμa) of the Christian body. Kavov, like Regula Fidei, signified that the Creed was a rule and standard of faith. The primitive Creeds admitted as much diversity of terms as was consistent with substantial agreement. The variations may be probably due to the leading Churches, (e.g. Jerusalem, Antioch, Ariminum, Aquileia and others), having each set forth their own profession of faith; partly also to the fact that the Creeds, like the Liturgies of those days, either for the sake of reverence, or of concealment from heathen persecutors, were more often preserved orally than in writing. The Apostles', anciently called the Roman, Creed, may have been the original type of all; it is beyond doubt of extreme antiquity. A tradition of the fourth century affirms that the Twelve met in conference before departing from Jerusalem, and drew it up, each contributing to it a sentence. That the Creed was of Apostolic origin may be true; but the story is self-refuted by including among the articles some, as the Descent into Hell, and the Communion of Saints, which are known to be of later date. The moral value of Creeds and their relation to the Christian system remains to be briefly noticed; and it is clearly put in a well-known sermon on the work and teaching of St. Paul. "A Creed, not a Commandment, henceforth became the symbol of that religion which rests not on the requirement of what man is to do towards God, but on its belief of what God has done for man. The Living Person in whom we trust is the centre of the Christian Society. The name by which religion in all subsequent times has been known is not an outward ceremonial' (Opýσκela) as with the Greeks; nor an outward 'restraint' (religio) as among the Romans; nor an outward 'law' as among the Jews; it is by that far higher and deeper title which it first received from the mouth of St. Paul, 'the Faith.'"* * Dean Stanley's Sermons on the Apostolic Age, p. 183. ARTICLE I. "I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH." “I BELIEVE." These words are to be understood as applying throughout to each separate clause and term in the Articles that follow: as thus, I believe in God, I believe God to be a Father, I believe that Father to be Almighty. This first. The next step is to determine the nature of belief. Bishop Pearson defines it to be an assent to what is credible, as credible; thereby distinguishing it (as is most necessary) both from knowledge and opinion. Knowledge deals with things evident to sense; with axiomatic truths; with observed facts and conclusions. Knowledge has its province in nature; the object of belief is supernatural and Divine truth.* Opiniont is exercised on things seemingly true, yet *Some who are not careful to make this distinction have said that science opposes nature to God. They are wrong. Science cannot make this opposition; scientific men as such cannot. Some have made it, but in so doing have put away their scientific character, under some non-scientific influence. Science is atheous not atheistic.-See Bishop H. Goodwin's Science and Faith. †This distinction also is important; it has this result, that differences of opinion may be justified and acquiesced in, they are compatible with correct action and feeling; whereas differences in belief tend to schisms and heresies. |