Burnet on Article VIII: Of the Three Creeds

ALthough no doubt seems to be here made, of the Names or Designations given to those Creeds, except of that which is ascribed to the Apostles, yet none of them are named with any exactness: Since the Article of the Procession of the Holy Ghost, and all that follows it, is not in the Nicene Creed, but was used in the Church as a part of it; for so it is in Epiphanius, ¹ before the Second General Council at Constantinople; and it was confirmed and established in that Council: Only the Article of the Holy Ghost’s proceeding from the Son, was afterwards added first in Spain, Anno 447. which spread it self over all the West: So that the Creed here called the Nice Creed, is indeed the Constantinopolitan Creed, together with the Addition of Filioque made by the Western Church. That which is called Athanasius’s Creed is not his neither: [?]or as it is not among his Works, so that great Article of the Christian Religion having been settled at Nice, and he and all the rest of the Orthodox referring themselves always to the Creed made by that Council, there is no reason to imagine that he would have made a Creed of his own; besides, that not only the Macedonian, but both the Nestorian and the Eutychian Heresies are expresly condemned by this Creed, and yet those Authorities never being urged in those Disputes, it is clear from thence, that no such Creed was then known in the World; as indeed it was never heard of before the Eighth Century; and then it was given out as the Creed of Athanasius, or as a Representation of his Doctrine, and so it grew to be received by the Western Church; perhaps the more early, because it went under so great a Name, in Ages that were not Critical enough to judge of what was genuine, and what was spurious.

There is one great difficulty that arises out of several Expressions in this C[?]ed, in which it is said, That whosover will be saved, must believe it; That the Belief of it is necessary to Salvation; and that such as do not hold it pure and undefiled, shall without doubt perish everlastingly: Where many Explanations of a Mystery hard to be understood, are made indispensably necessary to Salvation; and it is affirmed, That all such as do not so believe, must perish everlastingly. To this two Answers are made: 1. That it is only the Christian Faith in general that is hereby meant, and not every Period and Article of this Creed; so that all those severe Expressions are thought to import only the necessity of believing the Christian Religion: But this seems forced; for the words that follow, And the Catholick Faith is, do so plainly determine the s[?]gnification of that word to the Explanation that comes after, that the word Catholick Faith, in the first Verse, can be no other than the same word, as it is defined in the third and following Verses; so that this Answer seems not natural. 2. The common Answer in which the most Eminent Men of this Church, as far as the Memory of all such as I have known, could go up, have agreed, is this, That these Condemnatory Expressions are only to be understood to relate to those who having the Means of Instruction offered to them, have rejected them, and have stifled their own Convictions, holding the Truth in Unrighteousness, and chusing darkness rather than light: Upon such as do thus reject this great Article of the Christian Doctrine, concerning One God and Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that other concerning the Incarnation of Christ, by which God and Man were so united as to make one Person, together with the other Doctrines that follow these, are those Anath[?]maes denounced: Not so as if it were hereby meant, that every man who does not believe this in every tittle must certainly perish, unless he has been furnished with sufficient means of conviction, and that he has rejected them, and hardned himself against them. The Wrath of God is revealed against all sin, and the wages of sin is Death: So that every Sinner has the Wrath of God abiding on him, and is in a state of Damnation; yet a sincere Repentance delivers him out of it, even though he lives and dies in some sins of Ignorance; which though they may make him liable to damnation, so that nothing but true Repentance can deliver him from it; yet a general Repentance, when it is also special for all known sins, does certainly deliver a man from the guilt of unknown sins, and from the Wrath of God due to them. God only knows our hearts, the degrees of our knowledge, and the measure of our obstinacy, and how far our Ignorance is affected or invincible, and therefore he will deal with every man according to what he has received. So that we may believe that some Doctrines are necessary to Salvation, as well as that there are some Commandments necessary for Practice; and we may also believe that some Errors as well as some Sins are exclusive of Salvation; all which imports no more than that we believe such things are sufficiently revealed, and that they are necessary Conditions of Salvation; but by this we do not limit the Mercies of God towards those who are under such darkness as not to be able to see through it, and to discern and acknowledge these Truths. It were indeed to be wished, that some express Declaration to this purpose were made by those who have Authority to do it: But in the mean while this being the Sense in which the Words of this Creed are universally taken, and it agreeing with the Phraseology of the Scripture upon the like occasions, this is that which may be rested upon. And allowing this large Explanation of these severe words, the rest of this Creed imports no more than the Belief of the Doctrine of the Trinity, which has been already proved, in treating of the former Articles.

As for the Creed called the Apostles Creed, there is good reason for speaking so doubtfully of it as the Article does, since it does not appear that any determinate Creed was made by them: None of the first Writers agree in delivering their Faith in a certain Form of Words; every one of them gives an Abstract of his Faith, in Words that differ both from one another, and from this Form. From thence it is clear that there was no common Form delivered to all the Churches: And if there had been any Tradition after the Times of the Council of Nice, of such a Creed composed by the Apostles, the Arians had certainly put the chief strength of their Cause on this, That they adhered to the Apostles Creed, in opposition to the Innovations of the Nicene Fathers: There is therefore no reason to believe that this Creed was prepared by the Apostles, or that it was of any great Antiquity, since Ruffin was the first that published it. It is true, he published it as the Creed of the Church of Aquileia; but that was so late, that neither this nor the other Creeds have any Authority upon their own account. Great Respect is indeed due to things of such Antiquity, and that have been so long in the Church; but after all, we receive those Creeds, not for their own sakes, nor for the sake of those who prepared them, but for the sake of the Doctrine that is contained in them; because we believe that the Doctrine which they declare, is contained in the Scriptures, and chiefly that which is the main Intent of them, which is to assert and profess the Trinity, therefore we do receive them; tho we must acknowledge that the Creed ascribed to Athanasius, as it was none of his, so it was never established by any General Council.

Footnotes

1. In Anchoreto. ↩