13. STRUCTURE OF CREED. Two Parts. Part I. (a) Preamble; verses 1 and 2. 1. Announcement of an offered Salvation. (b) Catholic Faith, as to God in Heaven. (v. 3—26.) 1. Trinity in Unity, Unity in Trinity. 2. Personality distinct; Substance indivisible. 3. Godhood all one; Glory equal; Majesty co-eternal. 4. Uncreated; Illimitable; Eternal. 5. Almighty; God; Lord. 6. (1) Made of none; (2) Begotten; (3) Proceeding. 7. None afore or after; None greater or less. Nihil prius... Nihil majus. . . (c) 1. These points, for Acceptance, not Comprehension. 2. Settled for Belief; not, open for Discussion (v. 27, 8). Part II. Catholic Faith, as to God on Earth. (a) THE INCARNATION; its mode and character (v. 30-7). I. Two Natures, Divine and Human. 2. Deus, ex substantiâ Patris; Homo, . 3. Deus, ante sæcula genitus; Homo, in 4. Each, Its own separate and complete identity. 5. Equal to the Father; Inferior to the Father. 6. Godhood not "converted;" but Manhood "assumpted." 7. Substance distinct; Personality indivisible. (b) THE INCARNATION; its purpose and history (v. 38-41). 1. Earth. Passion. 2. Heaven. Ascension. Session. Advent. 3. Earth and Heaven. Resurrection. Judgment. Separation. (c) Loyal adherence to this Faith, the only safety (v. 42). (d) The "Ascription" (v. 43, 4). Faith breaking out into Acts and Utterance. Gloria Patri, et Filio: et Spiritui Sancto; Sicut erat in principio, et nunc et semper : et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen. 14. THE CATHOLIC FAITH; its vital importance. (a) "Quicunque vult salvus esse, ante omnia opus est ut teneat Catholicam Fidem." "Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for." "Substance" (Sub-Sto), ύποστασις, The Under-lying Foundation upon which Hope, &c., rests. Hence the primary necessity of having a sound and reliable basis for the superstructure of Eternal Life; and hence the Preamble,"Whosoever willeth to be safe in either (b) the present or the future, must, first of all and chief of all things, receive and believe the Catholic Faith; and then must hold fast by it as a precious possession." (Heb. xi. 1, 6; ii. 1; 1 Cor.. xv. 2; 2 Tim. i. 13; S. Jude 3; S. Matt. vii. 24; xiii. 44.) "Catholic Faith," thoroughly reliable. Not the invention of any single person, like that of modern Sects, whose faith is pinned on some fallible "master," such as Luther, Calvin, Wesley, &c.; but handed down with the Bible and other Church traditions as having been received and believed "Always, Everywhere, and By All." (Notes, suprà,— Rule of Vincentius.) (c) "And the Catholic Faith is this:" 1. That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity. (S. Matt. iii. 16, 7; xxviii. 19: Eph. iv. 6.) 2. That we believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Tim. iii. 16; Heb. iv. 15; S. Luke ii. 52; S. Luke i. 35.) These two points form the pith or backbone of the Creed; and the statements which envelop them are designed rather as a protective warning for simple-minded believers against Satanic falsities, than an explanation of what after all must pass man's understanding." (Gen. iii. 4, 5; 2 Cor. xii. 4; 2 Pet. i. 16; 2 Tim. ii. 18.) (d) These two points, the only Baptismal Creed. (S. Matt. xxviii. 19; Acts viii. 37; xvi. 30.) * 1. Exhibits the "Three Persons" united in the one design of giving New Birth to that creature at whose Birth had been said, "Let us make MAN." (Gen. i. 26.) 2. Shews how this helps him. The union of God and Man in the Person of Christ forms, as it were, a DivinelyHuman Ladder, or Bridge, whose Humanity may be said to rest upon the Earth, while its Divinity reaches up to Heaven. Along this the "Faithful" pilgrims may safely pass, in their upward progress to the "city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." (Gen. xxviii. 12; Heb. xi. 10; 2 Pet. i. 4; Lecture Notes on Art. xxvii.) 15. "Hard things" elucidated. (2 S. Pet. iii. 16.) (a) "Trinity in Unity." Various illustrations. (1) Shamrock (clover, trefoil). (2) Sun, Light, Heat. (3) Spring, River, Mist. Body, Soul, Spirit. (4) Man, Head, Heart, Limbs. Thought, Feeling, Action. (5) Hand and Fingers; one in purpose, separate in act. (b) "Person" Individual, as marking the distinct identity of "The Three *." (c) "Substance" = ovσia, Essence; imply ing those attributes of Eternity, Omni Sabellius (A.D. 250) "confounded," i.e. confused, or "mixed up," the Three Persons; asserting that they were all the same under different manifestations; like one and the same Man in the different characters of Son, Father, Husband, &c. ; or the same Actor in different " Parts;" thus annihilating Christ's Atonement and Mediation. presence, &c., which characterize Divinity, and distinguish IT from created beings. (Notes suprà; Transubstantiation.)* (d) "Perfect God... Subsisting." (v. 32.) (1) "Subsisting" (Lat. Subsistens) Under = lying, or Sub-sisting, or con-sisting with. (2) The fact of Christ's perfect Godhood is quite consistent with the other fact of His perfect Manhood, and His consequent possession of a genuine Human Body with its Soul and Reason; the two Natures having the same interpenetration as the Soul and Body in an ordinary man, each with its own individuality and identity distinct from the other. (Col. ii. 9; 1 Tim. iii. 16; Art. ii.) (3) The miraculous circumstances attending Christ's Birth, Baptism, Transfiguration, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension, sufficiently witness to His perfect Godhood; while His perfect Manhood is equally attested by Increase in wisdom and stature, Subjection to parents, Hunger in the wilderness, Thirst at the well of Samaria, Sleep in the ship, Tears at the grave of Lazarus, Agony in the garden, Despondency on the Cross, &c. (4) Eutyches, and his sect of Monophy * Arius (A.D. 320), like the Gnostics of the first century, "divided" or separated, the "Substance;" asserting that the Father only was Eternal, and that the other "Two" were merely Persons "evoluted" afterwards. (1 Tim. vi. 20; 1 S. John iv. 3; S. John i. 1, 14; Gal. iv. 4.) Р |