4. That whatever natural talents or acquired graces any one m' possess, he cannot expect to succeed in winning souls to Chri without the blessing of God and the constant aid of the Hly Spirit.

ART. IX. THE APOSTLES' CREED.

IN all ages of the Church great respect has been paid to the Apostles' Creed. St. Augustin calls it, "The illumination of the soul, the perfection of believers, by which the bond of infidelity is dissolved, the gate of life is opened, and the glory of faith is shown; little indeed in words, but great in mysteries; short, so as not to oppress the memory, yet comprehensive, so as to exceed the understanding. Worthily, therefore, is this Creed to be attended unto, since whatsoever is prefigured in the patriarchs, declared in the Scriptures, or foretold in the prophets concerning the blessed TRINITY and the mystery of our SAVIOUR'S incarnation, death, and crucifixion, is contained in it." By Irenæus, Tertullian, and Jerome, the Creed is styled "the rule of faith and truth."

At an early period the Apostles' Creed was called a symbol, and studiously concealed from the pagan world, and not revealed to the Catechumens until just before their baptism, or initiation into the Christian mysteries; then it was delivered to them as that secret mark or token by which the faithful in all parts of the world should know each other and be known.

We have abundant proof that the Creed was carefully kept from the knowledge of the profane and unbelieving. Cyprian assures us that "the sacrament of faith, that is, the Creed, was not to be profaned or divulged; for which he cites two texts of Scripture, the one, Proverbs xxiii, 9: Speak not in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words;' and the other, Matthew vii, 6: "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.'" St. Ambrose advises the utmost vigilance "St. to conceal the Christian mysteries, and to be very "careful not by incautiousness to reveal the secrets of the Creed or the Lord's prayer."

With respect to the author of the Apostles' Creed, or the time of its composition, we can obtain but little satisfactory information. Its title and early tradition assign the authorship to the apostles

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themselves. In the fourth century Ambrose declares that the twelve apostles, as skillful artificers, assembled together and made a key by their common advice, that is, the Creed, by which the darkness of the devil is disclosed that the light of Christ may appear." Some of the fathers allege that each member of the apostolic college inserted a particular article, and thus the Creed was divided into twelve parts. One tradition declared that 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, "who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary;" Philip, "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, sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty;" Matthew, "from thence shall he come to judge the quick and the dead;" James, the son of Alpheus, "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. Amen."

This tradition cannot be true, because it was nearly four hundred years after CHRIST before the framing of the Creed by the apostles was heard of. It is also historically certain that several of the articles attributed to them formed no part of it during the three first centuries. These were "the descent into hell," and the " communion of saints." A venerable authority informs us that "the descent into hell" was neither in the Roman nor Oriental creeds.* "The communion of saints" was not in any creed till above four hundred years after Christ, and then not immediately received in all. The clause of "life everlasting" was omitted in several, while in others it was inserted.

Thus, although no reliance can be placed on the tradition of the apostolic authorship of the Creed, still it originated in the earlier ages of Christianity. Irenæus was born A. D. 97, and was the scholar of Polycarp, the disciple of St. John, and repeats a creed not much unlike the apostles'. He also declares that the Church dispersed throughout the whole world had received this faith from the apostles and their disciples. This celebrated father and bishop further says: "This faith the Church guards carefully, as if she dwelt in one house, believes, as if she had but one soul, and proclaims, teaches, and delivers, as if she possessed but one mouth."

The Creed doubtless obtained its distinctive title because it was universally received as the best summary of the facts and doctrines

• Rufinus.

which constituted the subject of apostolic preaching. It was regarded also as requisite to be believed by all converts to Christianity, and all who took upon themselves its holy profession. So it early became the Creed of Christendom, and still continues to be. The primitive fathers took extraordinary care to conceal the Creed, keeping it from the knowledge not only of the heathen but also the catechumens. They even scrupled to commit it to writing, choosing rather to transmit the sacred articles to posterity by tradition, as they called it, the "tradition of faith." Jerome asserts "that this symbol of our faith and hope, delivered by the apostles, was not written in paper and ink, but in the fleshly tables of the heart;" and another father exhorts his hearers to preserve this gift in the most inward recesses of their hearts, not to permit vile paper to depreciate this precious gift, or black ink to darken this mystery of light." There are numerous similar passages as evidence of the strange disposition to keep the Creed secret among the early Christians.

Although we do not know who were its authors, still it is evident the Creed was not the work of one man, or composed at the same moment. We presume that some of its articles were derived from the days of the apostles themselves, while others were afterward added by the primitive Church, to oppose errors and heresies that had sprung up. We know that the first apostles and evangelists who preached the Gospel in the Jewish and pagan world received converts into the Church by baptism. Then their assent to the Christian faith was demanded; and we have an example in Acts viii, after the conference between Philip and the eunuch. The latter desired to be baptized, when the evangelist told him, that if he did believe with all his heart he might. The eunuch replied, "that he did believe Jesus Christ to be the SON OF GOD," on which Philip baptized him, not before.

This apostolical confession at baptism was not at that early period committed to writing, but intrusted to the officers of every Church, to preserve undefiled, and use as the terms of Christianity and admission to their communion. Some imagine that St. Paul had this in view when he exhorted Timothy "to keep that which was committed to his trust," and "to hold fast the form of sound words." Rufinus states that in his days "the ancient custom was retained at Rome for persons to be baptized publicly to recite the Creed." Athanasius relates that those who came to the sacred laver of regeneration confessed, saying, "I believe in God the Father almighty, and in Jesus Christ his only Son, and in the Holy Ghost." Long before either of these fathers, Justin Martyr, who was martyred about A. D. 165, assures us that "none were baptized unless

they did first declare their assent to the doctrine and faith of the Gospel."

In the apostolic ages several heresies arose in the Church, and were very detrimental to her best interests; and to prevent their fatal tendencies, as well as to hinder heretics from uniting with the orthodox Christians, the fundamental truths of the Christian faith were inserted in the Creed.

Thus did the early Christians respect and reverence the Apostles' Creed; and later, for several centuries, it was not only used at baptism, but usually read as the standard and basis of the Christian faith, the congregation testifying their commendation by saying, AMEN.

Timothy, Archbishop of Constantinople, about the year A. D. 521, appointed the reading of the Creed at every assembly in the Eastern Church; and the Bishop of Antioch, at the same time, also prescribed "the perpetual recital of the Creed at the public administration of divine service." Before that time, an early historian observes, "it was only repeated on the day immediately preceding Good Friday, when the catechisms were more solemnly performed in order to the celebration of baptism the Easter or the Easter-eve ensuing."

At a synod of thirty-five bishops in the Western Churches, held under Alaricus, in Languedoc, it was ordained: "On the Lord's day before Easter, the Creed should be publicly preached in the Church to the competitors, or to those of the catechumens who, being ripe for baptism, were speedily to be admitted thereunto." Still its constant reading did not become general in the West until nearly six hundred years after Christ, when all the Churches of Spain and Gallicia were instructed to repeat the Creed" with a loud voice every Lord's day, that so the true faith might be manifested and assented to, and the hearts of the people being purified by faith, they might be prepared to partake of the body and blood of Christ."

The creed here referred to was the Nicene, or Constantinopolitan, which for some reasons peculiar to that age was preferred to the Apostles'; still the last soon recovered its former use and value, and for ages has been esteemed the most venerable and divine. All others, with the exception of the Nicene, and that ascribed to Athanasius, have long since ceased to be used. Thus has the Apostles' Creed, in the providence of GOD, been honored of him.

"I believe in God." These first words of the Apostles' Creed, expressing the existence of GOD, and the unity of the GODHEAD, lie at the foundation of everything sacred and of religion. St. Paul declares that he that cometh unto God must believe that he is."

In all the Eastern creeds the language is, "I believe in ONE GOD the Father;" and so it is with most primitive creeds, whether Latin or Greek. There is a peculiar force in the expression one God, in contradiction to the errors of some men who at that day wickedly opposed this vital sentiment of our holy religion, the unity of the divine essence.

These opposers could not have been the Jews, for the unity of the Godhead is everywhere inculcated in the Mosaic law. In all their captivity and dispersion, throughout hundreds of years, they have never deserted this great principle; and in their thirteen articles of faith, composed by Maimonides, the second is the "unity of the blessed God." In their hymns, published as early as 1642, we find this chorus often repeated: "All creatures, both above and below, testify and witness all of them as one, that the Lord is one and his name ONE."

The apostles and first preachers of the Gospel carefully warned the heathen converts against polytheism, directing them to the belief and worship of the true and only God. St. Paul and Barnabas exhorted the Lycaonians to turn from the idolatrous worship of Jupiter and Mercury unto the living God, "who made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all things that are therein."

Heresies, doubtless, were the principal cause of the first article in the Creed. In the earliest ages of the Church there were such, and their leaders, Irenæus declares, "were all disciples and successors of that first grand heretic, Simon Magus. Among these false leaders were the Gnostics, professed Christians of the first and second centuries, who held two principles, the one good and the other evil. They supposed the soul to be the substance of God, but denied the divinity of Christ, saying that God only dwelt and acted within him; not unlike some fashionable Unitarians of our day. Some imagine this heresy to have arisen in the apostles' time, and that St. Paul alludes to it in 1 Tim. vi, 20: "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and opposition of science falsely so called." In the dialogues of Origen, a disputant for this sect affirms "matter to be co-eternal with God;" another "that matter was co-eternal with the Lord; that it was neither born nor made, but was without beginning and end."

This doctrine would really make two gods. How false and absurd! Origen mentions another faction of the heretics, which affirm that there were three principles: the first the good God, who was the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; the second the creator of the world, and the third the devil. We doubt not that these impious doctrines may be traced to Simon Magus, for an