thus against them: Christ descended into hell either in his divinity or his soul, or his body; but it is absurd to ascribe the descent into hell either to his divinity or his body, and therefore it must be his soul that descended; which proves the reality of his soul. But Dr. Grabe thinks this article was of earlier date, because it is to be found in some of the Arian creeds themselves, and others, more ancient than the Apollinarians and that, if it had been inserted against the Apollinarian doctrine, it would not have been barely said, "He descended into hell," but rather," he descended by his soul into hell," which had been directly against that heresy. Therefore he rather supposes it to have been added to the creed in opposition to the Valentinians and Marcionites, who according to the account given by Irenæus1 and Tertullian pretended, that the souls of all that died of their sects went immediately to heaven; when yet Christ himself went into the state and place of separate souls for three days before his resurrection and ascension. Upon the whole matter, Dr. Grabe concludes, that all the articles of the creed, except these three, the communion of saints, the Church, and the descent of Christ into hell, were solemnly professed by the first Christians in their confessions of faith in the Apostles' days, by their authority, or at least their approbation for which reason the creed, as to those parts of it, may properly be called apostolical. And it could hardly be, that all Churches in the world should so unanimously agree in the common confession of so many articles of it, unless it had proceeded from some such authority as they all acknowledged. But the reason, why the confessions of particular Churches differed in words and phrases, he thinks was from hence, that the creed, which the Apostles delivered, was not written with paper and ink, but "in the fleshly tables of the heart," as St. Jerom words it. Whence every Church was at liberty to express their sense in their own terms. But he will not undertake to vindicate the common tradition of Ruffinus, that it was made by joint consent of all the Apostles, when they were about to sepa Iren. lib. v. c. 31. 2 Tertul. de Animâ. c. 55. 8 Hieron. rate from one another; and much less, that every one of the twelve Apostles cast in his symbol to complete the number of twelve articles, as the other story is told by the author under the name of St. Austin, which he thinks is not in the least to be regarded. I have been a little more particular in representing the sense of this great man upon this point, both because his account of the original of the several articles of the Creed seems to be most exact, and because the discourse, where he delivers his opinion, may not yet be fallen into the hands ef every ordinary reader. CHAP. IV. A Collection of several ancient Forms of the Creed out of the primitive Records of the Church. SECT. 1.-The Fragments of the Creed in Irenæus. I SHALL now in the next place present the reader with several of the ancient forms of the Creed, as we find them preserved in the most ancient writers and the most authentic primitive records of the Church. The use of these will be, not only to illustrate and confirm what has been said in the last Chapter, but also to declare what was the ancient faith of the Church, and show the vanity of modern heretics, especially the Arians, who pretend that the doctrine of our Saviour's divinity was no necessary article of faith before the council of Nice. Bp. Usher, in his curious tract De Symbolo Romano, has already collected a great many of these ancient forms, but because that piece is written in Latin, and become very scarce, and some things more may be added to it, I will here oblige the English reader with a new account of them, beginning with the fragments of the Creed, which we have in Irenæus, Origen, Cyprian, Tertullian, and other private writers, which Bp. Usher gives no account of. Some fancy the Creed may be found in the writings of Ignatius, Clemens Romanus, Polycarp, and Justin Martyr; but Bp. Pearson1 has rightly observed, that these writers, however they may incidentally 1 Pearson's Exposition of the Creed, Article 5. in Initio. VOL. III. F : mention some articles of faith, do not formally deliver any rule of faith used in their own times. The first, that speaks of this, is Irenæus, who calls it the " unalterable canon' or rule of truth, which every man received at his baptism;" and he immediately declares what it was in these words:* "The Church, though it be dispersed over all the world from one end of the earth to the other, received from the Apostles and their disciples, the belief in one God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and sea, and all things in them: and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was incarnate for our salvation and in the Holy Ghost, who preached by the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advent, and nativity of a virgin, and passion, and resurrection from the dead, and bodily ascension of the flesh of his beloved Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord, into heaven, and his coming again from heaven in the glory of the Father, to recapitulate all things, and raise the flesh of all mankind; that according to the will of the invisible Father every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in the earth; and things under the earth, to Jesus Christ, our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King; and that every tongue should confess to him and that He may exercise just judgment upon all, and send spiritual wickednesses, and the transgressing and apostate angels, with all ungodly, unrighteous, lawless and blasphe'ming men into everlasting fire; but grant life to all righteous and holy men, that keep his commandments and persevere in his love, some from the beginning, others after repentance, on whom he confers immortality, and invests them with eternal glory." This faith, he says, was the same in all the world; men professed it with one heart and one soul: for though there were different dialects in the world, yet the 3 power of the faith was one and the same. The Churches in Germany had no other faith or tradition than those in Iberia or Spain, or those among the Celta, that is, France, or in the East, or in Egypt, or in Libya, or in the middle parts of the world, by which he means Jerusalem and the adjacent Churches, which were reckoned to be in the midst of the earth. But as one and the same Sun enlightened all the world; so the preaching of this truth shined all over, 2 Ibid. c. 2. p. 45. Iren. lib. i. c. 1. p. 44. 8 Ibid. lib. i. c. 3. and enlightened all men that were willing to come to the knowledge of truth. Nor did the most eloquent ruler of the Church say any more than this; (for no one was above his master) nor the weakest diminish any thing of this tradition: for the faith being one and the same, he that said most of it could not enlarge it, nor he that said least take any thing from it. The reader will easily perceive, that Irenæus by this one faith did not mean the express form of words now used in the Apostles' Creed; for his words differ much in expression from that, though in sense and substance it be the same faith, and that which was then preached and taught over all the Churches. SECT. 2.-The Creed of Origen. There is another such form of apostolical doctrine collected by Origen in his books of Christian Principles,' where he thus delivers the rule of faith: "The things which are manifestly handed down by the apostolical preaching, are these; First, that there is one God, who created and made all things, and caused the whole universe to exist out of nothing; the God of all the just that ever were from the first creation and foundation of all; the God of Adam, 1 Origen. Пɛpì'Apx~v, in Præfat. tom.i. p. 665. Species verò eorum, quæ per prædicationem apostolicam manifestè traduntur, istæ sunt. Primo, quod unus Deus est, qui omnia creavit atque composuit, quique ex nullis fecit esse universa; Déus à primâ creaturâ et conditione mundi omnium Justorum, Deus Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Enoch, Noe, Sem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, duodecim Patriarcharum, Moysi, et Prophetarum. Et quod hic Deus in novissimis diebus, sicut per prophetas suos ante promiserat, misit Dominumn nostrum Jesum Christum, primo quidem vocaturum Israel, secundo etiam Gentes post perfidiam populi Israel. Hic Deus justus et bonus, Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, Legem et Prophetas et Evangelia dedit, qui et Apostolorum Deus est, et Veteris et Novi Testamenti. Tum deinde quia Jesus Christus ipse qui venit, ante omnem creaturam natus ex Patre est: qui cùm in omnium conditione Patri ministrâsset (per ipsum enim omnia facta sunt) novissimis temporibus seipsum exinaniens homo factus est: incarnatus est cùm Deus esset, et homo mansit quod Deus erat. Corpus assumpsit nostro corpori simile, eo solo differens quod natum ex virgine de Spiritu Sancto est. Et quoniam hic Jesus Christus natus, et passus est in veritate et non per imaginem communem hanc mortem, verè mortuus est; verè enim à mortuis resurrexit, et post resurrectionem conversatus cum discipulis suis, assumptus est. Tum deinde honore ac dignitate Patri et Filio sociatum tradiderunt Spiritum Sanctum, &c. Abel, Seth, Enos, Enoch, Noe, Sem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve Patriarchs, Moses, and the Prophets : and that this God in the last days, as he had promised before by his prophets, sent our Lord Jesus Christ, first to call Israel and then the Gentiles, after the infidelity of his people Israel. This just and good God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, gave both the Law and the Prophets, and the Gospels, being the God of the Apostles, and of the Old and New Testament." The next article is, "that Jesus Christ, who came into the world, was begotten of the Father before every creature, who ministering to his Father in the creation of all things, (for by him all things were made,) in the last times made himself of no reputation and became man he who was God, was made flesh, and when he was man, he continued the same God that he was before. He assumed a body in all things like ours, save only that it was born of a virgin by the Holy Ghost. And because` this Jesus Christ was born and suffered death common to all, in truth, and not only in appearance, he was truly dead; for he rose again truly from the dead, and after his resurrection conversed with his disciples, and was taken up into heaven. They also delivered unto us, that the Holy Ghost was joined in the same honour and dignity with the Father and the Son." Thus far Origen speaks of the principal articles of the Christian faith, as handed down by the Church from the preaching of the Apostles. And there goes another book under his name, written by way of dialogue against the Marcionites, where he more succinctly delivers the Catholic faith in opposition to the false principles of those Heretics; "I believe there is one God,' the Creator and Maker of all things; and one that is from him, God the Word, who is consubstantial with him and co-eternal, who in the last times took human nature upon him of the Virgin Mary, and was crucified, and raised again from the dead. I believe also the Holy Ghost, who exists to all eternity.' It is true, learned men are not certainly agreed, who was the true author of those Dialogues; Westenius, who first pub 1 Origen. Cont. Marc. Dial. i. p. 815. tom. ii. Edit. Latin. Basil. 1571. |