THE CREED. HISTORY. The Apostles' Creed, the great Creed of the West-found in various forms from very early times, traceable in the writings of Irenæus, Tertullian, and Cyprian, and gradually assuming in the Gallican and Italian Churches its present completeness in the fifth or sixth century-is a type of the simplest kind of Creed; growing up freely, and with local variations, out of the Baptismal Confession generally preserved by oral recitation and not written; having in itself no polemical purpose, and no anathema appended to it; but intended only to bring out with clearness, simplicity, and due proportion, the essential rudiments of the Christian faith. It is now to Holy Scripture what a grammar is to a literature, although it may have grown up in substance before the New Testament was complete. Of such Creeds we have embryo formations in Scripture itself (see 1 Cor. xv. 3-8; Heb. vi. 1, 2; 1 Tim. iii. 16); in which doctrine (so to speak) crystallizes into formal definite shape. They are a practical necessity and an unmixed blessing to the Church.

SUBSTANCE.-This Creed is the one accepted by our Church in Baptism, taught in the Catechism, used daily in the Services, and taken (see Visitation of the Sick) as the test of Christian faith in the dying; as containing the absolute essentials of true Christianity. Its first paragraph is the assertion of Religion as such-the belief in a Living God, Creator of the Universe, but Father of man. The second sets forth, from the Gospel, the Nature, and the various acts

of the Manifestation, of Jesus Christ, without theological comment or deduction. The third part is the belief (expressed in the simplest terms) in the Holy Ghost. The fourth declares the existence of the Holy Catholic Church, with its four great privileges - Unity, Forgiveness, certainty of Resurrection, and the indwelling "Eternal life." It may be noted that on the first three the great mass of Christians are absolutely at one. Division, where it exists, turns mainly on the interpretation (rather than the acceptance) of the last subsidiary article.

VARIATIONS.-In different forms of the Creed the chief variations consist in the occasional absence (a) of the Article "He descended into Hell (Hades)," not, probably, because it was held doubtful Scripturally, but because it is not of the same cardinal importance as the rest; (b) of "the Communion of Saints," supposed to be merely a synonym of the "Holy Catholic Church;" (c) of the "Life Eternal," supposed to be implied in "the Resurrection of the Body."

The first of these omissions is still perpetuated by the bracketing of this Article in the Prayer Book of the American Church.

Note. At the recitation of the Creed two customs prevail generally in the Church,

(a) The custom of bowing at the name of JESUS; which belongs, however, not to this occasion only, although in practice it has naturally attached itself to it with especial solemnity. It is ordered in the xviiith Canon of 1604 (repeating a direction of the Injunctions of Elizabeth)

magnified me and holy is his Name.

And his mercy is on them that fear him throughout all generations.

He hath shewed strength with his arm he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble and meek.

He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel: as he

Let the sea make a noise, and all that therein is the round world, and they that dwell therein.

Let the floods clap their hands, and let the hills be joyful together before the Lord: for he cometh to judge the earth.

With righteousness shall he judge the world and the people with equity.

Glory be to the Father, &c.

As it was in the beginning, &c. Then a Lesson of the New Testament, as it is appointed. And after that, Nunc dimittis (or the Song of Symeon) in English, as followeth. Nunc dimittis. St. Luke ii. 29.

ham and his seed, for ever. Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c. Or else this Psalm; except it be on the Nineteenth Day of the Month, when it is read in the ordinary Course of the Psalms.

Cantate Domino. Psalm xcviii.

SING unto the Lord a new song: for he hath done marvellous things.

With his own right hand, and with his holy arm: hath he gotten himself the victory.

servant depart in peace: according to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

Which thou hast prepared: before the face of all people;

To be a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c. Or else this Psalm; except it be on the Twelfth Day of the Month. Deus misereatur. Psalm lxvii.

tion his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.

He hath remembered his mercy and truth toward the house of Israel and all the ends of the world have seen the salvation of our God.

Shew yourselves joyful unto the Lord, all ye lands: sing, rejoice, and give thanks.

Praise the Lord upon the harp: sing to the harp with a psalm of thanksgiving.

With trumpets alsc and shawms: O shew yourselves joyful before the Lord the King.

bless us and shew us the light of his countenance, and be merciful unto us :

That thy way may be known upon earth thy saving health among all nations.

Let the people praise thee, O God: yea, let all the people praise thee.

O let the nations rejoice and be glad for thou shalt judge the folk righteously, and govern the nations upon earth.

Let the people praise thee, O God: yea, let all the people praise thee.

Then shall the earth bring forth

that, "when in time of Divine Service the Name of the Lord Jesus shall be mentioned, due and lowly reverence shall be done....in due acknowledgment that the Lord Jesus Christ, the true and eternal Son of God, is the only Saviour of the world." There is an evident allusion in this reverent custom to Phil. ii. 9-11, where St. Paul marks out "the Name which is above every name as that "at which" (or rather "in which ") "every knee shall bow;" and this moreover in direct connexion with Our Lord's twofold humiliation for us, in the Incarnation and the Passion.

(b) The custom less general, but now increasingly observed, of turning in the East. This also is a survival of a general custom of worship towards the East-as the region of light, and as accordingly symbolizing to us the rising of Christ as the "Sun of Righteousness and Day spring from on high"--which is at least as old as Tertullian, in the 2nd century. But in the recitation of the Creed, as the Symbolum or watchword of the Christian warfare, there is a special appropriateness in the marshalling of all, as one army of Christ, towards the East. This custom has, however, no Canonical authority.

With this Creed compare and contrast the NICENE and ATHA NASIAN CREEDS.

The two Evening Collects (like the Morning Collects) are to be used continually, because they ask for that which we continually need. They are not unlike the others in idea: but the

Morning Collects breathe the spirit of freshness and activity, these of quiet restfulness and calm.

The COLLECT FOR PEACE, like the corresponding Collect of the Morning Service, is found in the Sacramentary of Gelasius, and was used in the Litany of the Sarum Breviary. The general idea is the same, but it emphasizes more strongly the blessing of peace, and it has still greater beauty and ful ness of meaning. The preamble traces the course of the spiritual experience of God's grace, first to kindle holy desires, then to shape them into "counsels," i.e. deliberate resolutions of good; and finally to bring them to the fruit of "just works" (see Collects for Easter-Day, 5th Sunday after Easter, &c.). The prayer itself asks for the two essential elements of peace,first, from within, a heart in harmony with the law of our being, because set to obey God's commandments, and, next, a consciousness of God's guardianship against all evil from without.

The COLLECT FOR AID AGAINST ALL PERILS comes originally from the same source, and was used in the Sarum Breviary for the later Service of Compline, as indeed its language clearly shows. It is the last prayer of one who lies down to rest; that God will be to his own soul within a light in the darkness, and from without a salvation against all dangers which may beset the helplessness of the sleeper.

(A) USE OF THE CREED.-In the Sarum Breviary this Creed was appointed for the Service of Prime; there sung as a Psalm in connection with the other Psalms of the Service; used, of course, in Latin, and in a Service which was hardly a Service for the people. At the Reformation it was determined not only to accept it (as in Art. viii.) as a Rule of faith, but to take a new step by bringing it before the people in public, although but occasional, use. Till 1662 it was directed to be "sung after Benedictus," without (apparently) any displacement of the Apostles' Creed from its usual place. This use accords well with its original character as an Exposition of the Creed, which might naturally be followed by a recitation of the Creed itself. In 1549 it was used only on the great Festivals; in 1552 the other days were added, with the effect of bringing the number of recitations to 13 in the year, and arranging them so as to occur about once a month.

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the

(B) TRANSLATION. In translation some imperfections may be noticed. (a) In v. 1 the original is Qui vult Salvus esse,' i.e. "Whoever desires to be in the way of salvation." (b) In v. 25, In this Trinity nothing is," &c., that is, "there is no such thing as before or after, greater or less." (c) V. 28 should run, "He therefore that will be in the way of salvation, let him thus think of the Trinity. (d) In v. 29, instead of "believe rightly," we should read "believe faithfully." (e) In v. 42 to the word "faithfully " "and firmly" should be added.

All the variations (except the last, which appears to be accidental) tend to emphasize even more strongly than in the original the importance of a clear conviction of absolute truth.

(C) AUTHORSHIP AND HISTORY. -The authorship of this Confession, and some points of its history, are still uncertain. But

the main points of practical importance are, on the whole, sufficiently ascertained.

1. It is not in any proper sense "Athanasian; " for it is certainly of Western origin, and traceable to the influence of St. Augustine (de Trinitate) more than of any other Father. It was probably called the Fides Athanasii, in opposition to the Fides Arii, against which it was especialy directed.

2. It is not strictly a Creed (Symbolum), as is clear by its expository form, its fulness of theological explanation, and its admonitory clauses; but rather a "Rule of Faith,"-an Exposition and Defence of the Catholic Creed of Christendom.

3. It probably originated in Spain or Gaul, towards the close of the long conflict against the deep rooted Arianism of the Gothic races. In the Canons of three Councils of Toledo (A.D. 589, 633, and 638) its substance (with variations) is found; and in a Council at Autun (670), it is directed that all Clerics shall learn the Apostles' Creed (Symbolum) and the Fides sancti Episcopi Athanasii." It was presented to the Pope by Charlemagne in 722, but not adopted in the Roman Service till 930. It was never formally authorized by any General Council, or received by the Eastern Church; but from the year 800 onwards, it won its way into regular and general use in the Western Church.

4. The question of the date of its composition depends partly on external evidence-the date of the Psalters (e.g. the Utrecht Psalter) containing it, and the genuineness of the Commentary of Venantius Fortunatus (about A.D. 570) upon it; partly on internal evidence, such as a consideration of the heresies contemplated by it, especially the Eutychian, condemned at Chalcedon in 451, and the insertion of the et Filio ("and from the Son") in v. 23. It should be