Veneer on Article VIII: Of the Three Creeds

AfHANASIUS’s Creed is fo call’d, not ”” because ‘twas written by S. Athamftus himself “f”’ but because ‘tis agreeable to his Doctrine, who was a very celebrated Champion for the true Christian Faith.

It hath very much employed the Pens of the Learned, to find out who was the Author of this Creed. The learned Dr. Waterland hath lately publiih’d a very curious and elaborate Piece, entitled, A Critical Hifiory of the Atha— nafian Creed representing the Opinions of An- tients and Moderns concerning it; With an Account of the Manuscripts, Versions, and Comments, and such other Particulars as are of Moment for the determining the Age and Author and Value of it and the Time of its Reception in the Christian Churches, This ex- cellent Person concludes the Eighth Chapter of this Book in the following manner : ” The ” Sum then of what I have presumed to ad- ” vance upon probable Conjedlure, in a Cafe ” which will not admit of full and perfed Evi- ” dence, is this : That Hilary once Abbot of ” Lerins and next Bishop of Arles about ” the Year 430 composed the Exposition ’ of Faith, which now bears the Name of the ’ Athanafian Creed. It was drawn up for the ” Ufe of the Gallican Clergy, and eipeciaJIy ” for the Diocese or Province of Arks. It ’ was esteemed by as many as were acquainted ” with it, as a valuable Summary of the Chri- ” ftian Faith. It seems to have been in the ” Hands of Vincentius. Monk of Lerws be- * fore 434. by what he has borrowed from it; ’ and to have been cited, in part, by Avitus of ’ Vienne about the Year 500 and by defarius

” of

2 34 ^^ Exposition on the

Article VIII. ’ of Atles before the Year 543. About the yy ’ Year 570, it became famous enough to be ’ commented upon, like the LordVPrayer and ” Apostle’s Creed and together with them. ” All this while, and perhaps for several Years ” lower, it had not yet acquired the Name of ” the Athanafian Faith, but was simply ftyl’d the Catholick Faith. But before 670, Atha- ” nafiuss admired Name came in to recom- ” mend and adorn it ; being in it self also aa *’ excellent System of the Athanafian Principles ’ of the Trinity and Incarnation, in Opposition ” chiefly to Arrians Macedonians and Apolli- ’ narians. The Name of the Faith of At ha- ’ jiajitis in a while occafioned the Mistake of ’ afcribing it to him, as hisCompofition. This ” gave it Authority enough to be cited and ’ appealed to as a Standard, in the Disputes ” of the middle Ages, between Greeks and ” Latins about the ProceJJion : and the fame ” admired Name, together with the intrinfick * Worth and Value of the Form it self, gave ’ it Credit enough to be received into the pub- ’ lick Service in the Western Churches ; first * in France next in Spain foon after in Ger- ’ many., England Italy and at length in Kome *’ it self- while many other excellent Creeds, ’ drawn up in Councils, or recommended by ” Emperors, yet never arrived to any iuch Honour and Esteem as this hath done. The truly good and great Author, as I now fup- pose him, tho’ ill used by the then Pope of Kome and not kindly treated, with refpedl ” to his Memory in After-ages, has neverthe- ’ less been the Mouth of all the Western Churches, and fome Eastern too, for a long Trad of Centuries, in celebrating the Glories * of the co-eternal Trinity : And fo may he ever

” contmue.

TJjirty’-Wtne Articles. 235^

• continue, till the Chriflian Churches can find Article viii. ” out, which they will not easily do, a jufter /VV ” or founder, or more accurate Form of Faith than this is. ”

The other Creed is fliled, That which is t Apoflles commonly called the Apostles Greedy because it * does not appear that ‘twas written by the Apostles themselves.

The learned Bifliop Btdl, in his Judgment of the Catholick Church, undertakes, among others, to demonstrate this Thesis or Propofi- tion : ” That the Apoftolical Creed (fo called) ” however conformable to the Apoftolical Do- * d:rine, yet was not didated by the Apostles * themselves, in that Form and Method which ” we have it in at this Day 5 but that it was ’ properly the Creed of the Roman Church, ’ which received its Completion and Perfection ” in that Church, about Four hundred Years or more after Christ ; the Churches of the ” East ufmg, all that time, another Creed. ”

This Proposition is fo learnedly defended by the great Vojfiusy that all the Criticks in general, both of the Komijh and Protestant Commu- mons, have, fmce the Publication of his most famous Book concerning the I’hree Creeds^ con- curred with him herein, and rested in his Deter- mination. The Bishop, among the rest, con- cluded the Arguments there brought to be demonftrative in this Cafe, and to need there- fore no farther Confirmation. And, indeed, the Engllflj Socinians^ by their nibbling at them, in opposition chiefly to Dr. Bull^ have but thereby contributed the more to the EftabliOi- ing the Truth of the Discovery which Vojjitis

had

1^6 Jn Eypofition on the

[…]

The Contents of these Creeds are fo fully proved by Scripture under other Articles, that I shall not in this Place produce any Texts of Scripture to make good the latter Part of this Article : And indeed almost all of them have been already confirm’d by the Testimonies of the Fathers. But fmce the Nicene Fathers, fome of which bore in their Bodies the Marks of the Lord Jesus, and S. Athanafius^ have been bit- terly inveigh’d against by Hereticks, as if they •were Corrupters of the Christian Faith • I here present the Reader with Expofitions of the Faith of greater Antiquity than the Nicene Creed.

[…]

fTihTof “The Church which was planted all over

IrlatZ Ann- ’^ thc World, unto the Ends of the Earth,

[…]

Nicens Creed, cc Difcipjes that Faith which teaches us to be-

’^ lieve in One God, the Father Almighty,

^’ who made Heaven and Earth, the Sea, and

” all Things that are therein , and in One Je-

^^ fus Chrjfi, the Son of God, who was incar-

” nate for our Salvation ^ and in the Holy

” Ghost, who foretold by the Prophets what

*’ God had ordain’d, and the Coming of his

*^ dearly beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord ;

t Adver.HAr. Lib. I. C. 11.

« his

Thirty ‘Wine x\rticles, ^l7

” his being born of the Virgin Mary ; his Paf- Ar-cle vill. ” fion and Refurredion from the Dead, and - ” his Afcenfion into Heaven in the Flelh • and ” his Coming again from Heaven, in the Glory ” of the Father, to take Cogni,zance of all ” Things that are pail:, and to raise the whole ” Race of Mankind from the Dead that to ” Christ Jesus, who is our Lord and our God, ” our Saviour and our King, according to the ’ Will of the invisible Father, every Knee may ” bow, of Things in Heaven, and Things in ” Earth, and Things under the Earth , and that every Tongue may confess to him, and that he may administer true Judgment unto all : That the Workers of Wickednefs, both the Angels that finn’d and became Apollates , *’ and impious, unjust, unrighteous, and blat ’ phemous Men, may be fent away by him ’ into everlasting Fire j but that all just and ’ righteous Men, and such as obierve and keep ” his Laws, and perfevere in loving him, fome ” from the Beginning, and fome from the Time of their Repentance, may receive from his Hands Life and Perfedion, and be fur- rounded with such Honour and Excellency as will not fade away. ”

Oat of Tertulllan, de Pr^script. Adver. H^ref. Cap. XUL

“The Rule of Faith is that which teaches us to believe that there is no other God but One, and no other besides him, who made the World, and produced all Things by his Word, which he begot before all Things ; that that Word of his, which is call’d his Son, appeared, in the Stile and Title of God,

” in

2^8 j4n Exposition on the

“JeVIII. jn various Manners to the Patriarchs, and is - ” always mention’d as such in the Writings of ’ the Prophets ; and at last, by the Spirit and ’ Power of God, was conceived by the Virgin ’ Mary was incarnate in her Womb, and was ’ born of her a Man, in order to be Jclus ” Christ: That after that time he preached a ” new Law, attended with a new Promise of * the Kingdom of Heaven , wrought Miracles, was nan’d to a Cross, and role again the Third Day ; that he was taken up into Hea- ’ ven, and fat at the Pight Hand of the Fa- ’ ther that he fent the Power of the Holy * Ghost to supply his Absence, and to influence ” those that believe in him : That he shall ''' come again with Pomp and Splendor to re- ” ceive the Saints into the Enjoyment of eter- ’ nal Life, and the heavenly Promises 3 and ’ to condemn the Wicked to everlasting Fire ; * having before, for that purpoie, raised both ” Parties from the Dead, and restored to them ” their Flelh or Bodies. ”

7%e ancient Creed ^ Jerufalem.

I believe in One God, the Father Al- mighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all Things visible and invisible ; And in ’ One Lord Jesus Chrifl, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all Worlds , very God, by whom all Things * are made; who was incarnate, and made ’ Man ; crucified, and buried ; rose again from ” the Dead, and ascended into Heaven, and * fitteth at the Right Hand of the Father ; and ” Ihall come again to judge the Quick and Dead, *’ of whose Kingdom there shall be no End. ’ And in the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, who

Ipake

Thirty -Wine Articles. 25^

” fpake by the Prophets: And in one Baptifin Article viii ’ of Repentance, for the Reniiffion of Sins j ‘y ’ and in the Refurreition of the Body, and •’ Life Everlasting.

7he Dedarafion of the Bijhops who met at the Synod of Knx\oQ\ concerning the In-^ carnation of the TVord of God^ and Son of the Father ; and an Expoftion of Faith agreed upon by the fame Synod^ in Oppoftion to Paulus Samofatenus, Anno Domini 272.

€C

” W E confess that our Lord Jesus Chrlft was before the Worlds begotten of the Father in a spiritual Manner, but in these last Days born of a Virgin, according to the Fiefh j that he is One Perlbn, compounded of the heavenly Godhead and human Fle/h ^ that he is One with regard to his Manhood : That he is both perfedl God, and perfect Man ; perfed God, even with his Body, but not God with relation to his Body • and per- fed: Man, even with his Godhead, but not Man with relation to his Godhead : In like manner, that he is to be entirely worfhipp’d, even with his Body, but not to be worfhipp’d as to his Body ; that he be worfhipp’d en- tirely, even with his Godhead, but not as God: That he is uncreated, even with his Body, but not uncreated with relation to his Body: That he was made, even with his Godhead, but not as to his Godhead: That he is altogether of the fame Substance with God, even with his Body, but not of the fame Substance as to his Body : As on the other hand, he is not Co-effential with Men,

” with

240 Jn Expofitioti on the

Article viiI.” with regard to his Godhead, tho’ he be Co- '''“V ” effential with us according to the Flefb, and ’ that too while he retains his Godhead : For when we fay that he is of the fame Substance ’ with God according to the Spirit, we do ” not fay that he is Co-eifential with Men ” according to the Spirit , but, on the con- ’ trary, when we declare that he is Co-effential ’ with Men according to the Flesh, we do not ’ fay that he is of the fame Substance with God ” in relation to the Flesh : For as he is not Co- ’ effential with us according to the Spirit, he is ’ in this refpedt of the fame Substance with ’ God 3 fo neither is he of the fame Substance with God with regard to the Flesh, because ’ in this reipedl he is Co-eflential with us. And ’ as these Things are diftinguifh’d and declar’d ’ not to induce us to divide an undivided Per- ’ ion, but to denote the unconfounded Diftin- dion of the Properties of the Word and the Flesh , fo those Things which relate to this undivided Union and Composition, we publish and declare.

I SHALL now venture to take Leave of this Article in the Words of St. Jude ver. 3. Be- lo’ved when I gave all Diligence to write unto you of the common Salvation, it was needful for me to write tinto you, and e:hort you, that ye Jhould earnefily contend for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints.

Article

Ihtrty-Kme Articles.^

M^]

Notes

• See Hooker’s Ecclef. Tol Book V. §. 42. Wall’s H’lft. of Infant Bap. Part II. C. IX. §. 10. Cave’s Hift. Lit. Vol. I. p. 14,6. and Vita Athmafiij §. 6, 10. BhIH Judic. Eccl.Cath, C. V.