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A. He flourished in the second century, about the year of our Lord 178, at Lyons in Gaul, of which place he was Bishop.

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Q. Is he particularly worthy of notice?

A. His testimony is important, inasmuch as he was the disciple of Polycarp, who was the contemporary of the Apostles'.

He is also mentioned on account of his excellence as a writer, his five books against heresies being considered among the most precious monuments of ancient erudition.

Q. What is contained in his Creed?

A. In substance as follows. First, A declaration of the belief of the Church disseminated throughout all the world, in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and all that therein is.

Secondly, An acknowledgment that Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, was incarnate for our salvation. That he was born of a pure virgin, suffered and died for us, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven in a bodily form; and will come again from heaven in the glory of his Father, at the final consummation of all things, when every knee shall bow to him, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under

This and the following dates rest on the authority of Lardner.

Mosheim, Cent. II. ch. 2. part 1.

the earth; and every tongue shall confess him to be Lord and God, our Saviour and our King, according to the good pleasure of his Father. Then shall he pass a just judgment upon all flesh, consigning to everlasting fire all spiritual wickedness, both of apostate angels, and unrighteous and wicked men. But rewarding his faithful followers, who have kept his Commandments, and loved him continually, with immortality and ceaseless glory.

Thirdly, A belief in the Holy Ghost, who by the mouth of the Prophets hath made known the dispensations of God, and preached the advent of Christ Jesus.

"This faith," Irenæus eloquently observes, "the Catholic Church dispersed throughout the world, retains with one consent, as if it was animated with oné soul, and spake with one mouth this faith, like the sun, illumines the whole world"."

Q. Whose Creed do you next mention?
A. That by Tertullian.

Q. When did he flourish? And what was the scene of his ministry?

Irenæus, Adv. Hæres. lib. 1. cap. ii. and iii. In this Creed Irenæus is supposed to have had principally in view the refutation of the Valentinians, who taught that there was another God, above and besides the Creator of the world. Vid. lib. i. cap. i. iv. and v.

A. He flourished about the year 200, at Carthage in Africa.

Q. Was he much celebrated?

A. He is generally considered the most ancient, or rather one of the most ancient of the Latin fathers, as he was also one of the most renowned among their writers. At Rome he was in the highest esteem. And Jerom says no less than this," That his apology, and his other books against the Gentiles, take in all the treasures of the learning of that age"."

Q. What was his Creed?

A. It must be mentioned that he has left us, in different parts of his writings, three summaries of faith. Of which, as they substantially agree one with the other, we will select the most concise, as follows. "There is but one rule of faith, fixed, certain, and unalterable, that is, to believe in one God Almighty, the Maker of the world. And in his Son, Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, rose again on the third day from the dead, was received up into heaven, and now sitteth at the right hand of the Father, whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead, by the resurrection of the flesh".'

'Jerom. Ad. Magn. Orator. Ep. 85. tom. ii. p. 116..

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" Tertull. de Virg. Veland 1. The two other Creeds of Tertullian are to be found in his Treatise de Præscript. Hæret.

Q. The Holy Ghost, we perceive, is not mentioned in this Creed?

A. From that omission no reasonable doubt can be entertained of Tertullian's orthodoxy, because in his book against Praxeas, which contains another of his formularies, he says, " Christ having ascended into heaven, sent down from his Father the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the sanctifier of the faith of those who believe in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost." In that formulary also which is in his book De Præsc. Hæret. he twice makes mention of the Holy Spirit, first at the conception of the Virgin Mary; secondly, after our Saviour's ascent into heaven, when he says, Christ sent down the Holy Ghost to supply his place among his followers *.

Q. Whose authority do you next quote?

A. That of the celebrated Origen. He was born in Egypt, and was a scholar of the learned Clement of Alexandria. He afterwards himself presided for many years in the Catechetical

cap. xiii. and Adv. Prax. cap. ii. Tertullian was opposed to Praxeas, who not being able to believe three persons in one numerical essence, taught that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are but one person; and consequently that the Father was incarnate, and was that Jesus Christ that died. Wall's Infant Baptism.

* Misit vicariam vim Spiritus Sancti qui credentes agat.

schools at Alexandria, and flourished about A. D. 230. He is called by Jerome the greatest Doctor of the Churches since the Apostles, and a man immortali ingenio." His learning was vast, his writings in favour of Christianity, numerous almost beyond belief". His Apology for the Christian Religion has been called the completest and best written Apology which the ancients have left us. "His virtues and his labours," says Mosheim, "deserve the admiration of all ages, and his name will be transmitted with honour through the annals of time, as long as learning and genius shall be esteemed among men". Vincentius observes, "Sicut ille (Origines) apud Græcos, ita et hic (Tertullianus) apud Latinos nostrorum omnium facile princeps judicandus est"."

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Q. State the words of the Creed attributed to him?

A. "I believe there is one God, the Maker and Creator of all things. And one who is from him, God the Word, who is of one substance with him, and co-eternal, who in these latter ages assumed human nature, being born of Mary, was crucified, and rose again from the

Jerom, tom. ix. 113. ii. 69. i. 101. Eusebius, Ecc. Hist.

lib. vi. cap. xviii. Du Pin. Ecc. Hist. Art. Origines.

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Mosheim, Ecc. Hist. Cent. III. Part 2. chap. ii. § 7.

a Vincent. Lirinens. Commonit. Adv. Hæres. 24 Inst.

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