Division become none as a great entire streame looseth it self and is quite dried up when parted into severall small Channels Now that this day is neere approaching these sad Prognosticks tell us especially the latter wherewith the present Age so greivously labours all which mischeife both heretofore arose amongst us and now tyrannizeth over us for want of a sure Rule or Ground of faith rightly understood and applied The holy Scripture indeed is an aboundantly sufficient Ground of our Beleife and Rule of manners but being exposed as now adayes it is to every mans private Fancy the Glosse too too oft wyer-drawes and corrupts the Text so that we look upon Gods word through a false-coloured Glasse Pretences of a private Spirit and enthusiasticall Revelations with the Anabaptist of right Reason with the Sosinian which is as diverse in men as their fancies or faces make what they please of Scripture and force it to speak their mind thus by perverting it to their own sense they are not judged by but judge the Law and become as S. James in a like Case saith James 4. 11. Not Doers or Beleevers of the Law but Judges The Apostles those renowned Patriarchs of the Christian faith foreseing this evill left us a double Remedy both by Tradition preserved in the Church to be delivered down unto all Ages from hand to hand viz. a Rule or Ground of faith and the exposition or right applying of this Rule The Ground or Rule in the Creed composed by themselves as a Summary of the points of Faith which lie dispersedly here and there in the large volume of the Scriptures The undoubted Exposition and right applying of this Rule they have left us in the writings of the Fathers who were their Successours to whose care and custody they not only committed the Oracles of God in writing and the Creed by word of mouth but the interpretation also of both as they heard them expounded from their own mouthes whil'st they lived and preached amongst them for in vaine had the Apostles given them the words if they had not given them the sense withall whereby to stop the mouthes of Hereticks who arose even at the first preaching of the Gospell as we may see in S. Pauls Epistles This orthodoxe sense is that which is so frequently mentioned in the writings of the Ancient Fathers under the name of Depositum Catholica seu Apostolica Traditio fides Ecclesiae and the like expressions and which Tertullian makes use of to confound the whole Hydra of Heresies in his Book De Praeser adu Haeret. bidding the Hereticks goe to those mother-Churches which the Apostles founded and personally resided in and to which they committed the true genuine Faith where saith he yee shall heare no newes of your upstart heterodoxe Doctrines invented by yourselves wherewith this proud factious Generation infested the Church and led away after them many seduced Proselytes Of this Tradition S. Paul speaks to his Disciple Timothy whom he had left behind him as his Deputy at Ephesus The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithfull men who shall be able to teach others also 2 Tim 2. 2. And to the Church of Thessalonica Brethren stand fast and hold the Traditions which yee have bin taught whether by word or our Epistle 2 Thes 2. 15. comp v. 5. 6. Observe here the cunning of Satan whereby in all Times but especially in these last and worst he makes way by these his fore-runners for the comming of that great Anti-christ He hath set men on work under pretence of honouring Scripture as the sole Al-sufficient Rule of Faith and of withdrawing themselves from all dangerous Dependance on mens erroneous judgments seeing every man is a liar wholy referring and submitting themselves to the Holy Ghost to be enlightened guided and directed by him some to render suspected others by degrees to enervate and secretly subvert a third sort openly to decry the judgment and Decisions of the Church in the Councils and Fathers when in the interim they are grossly and willingly ignorant that what they denie to Her they ascribe to themselves strongly and confidently asserting that to be the sole meaning of the Holy Ghost which agrees with their opinions confirmes their fore-received Tenents and favours their Side and Faction Now let all the world judge if it will be but an indifferent Arbiter whether it be not more equall to be judged in point of Religion by reverend Antiquity then by upstart giddy Novelty By the Consent of so many Auncient Worthies who living long before our Times are uninteressed and disengaged in our Quarrels then by the partiall Determinations of men educated in and addicted to a Faction By the joynt consent of many then the singular opinion of some one By men eminent for Learning who therefore well could not and for Piety who therefore would not deceive us then by the conceited Ignorance and factious spirit of some proud Novellist start up in this declining wicked Atheisticall Age By those who lived neerest the Apostles Times when the Church was one undevided into Greeke and Latine Romish and Reformed Lutheran and Calvinian when Tradition was fresh and uncorrupted like a streame running pure neere the Fountaine-head which afterwards gathered Dreggs by running farther into the more remote and succeeding Ages then by the Schismatical Directions of latter degenerate corrupt Times Lastly which is farre the most effectuall Argument by those who as they had newly received so constantly unanimously and uncorruptly held the Doctrinall Traditions of the Apostles the genuine sense of Scripture which they themselves left behind them who left the Scripture it selfe then to pinne our Religion upon the sleeves of some Idolized Innovatour who though he pretend the Authority of Gods Word an unerring spirit or the cleare inducements of Reason yet in truth hath nothing but Impudence and his Ipse dixit to maintaine his Assertions This Tradition it is which made the Auncient Bishops and Doctors of the Primitive Church so unanimous among themselves in what Part of the World soever they lived as having the same Deliverers of it who planted all those Churches wherein they succeeded and so taught in all as who received it from the same spirit who received it from the same Christ who received it from the same God the Father as Tertullian deduceth its Pedegree out of St Iohns Gospel Ch. 16. 13. 14 and Ch. 8. 28. Else if they had followed their own private judgements they must needs have often varied in their Determinations Hence it is that they make a great Distinction betweene what they received and published to the world as Depositaries Witnesses Historians and what Expositions or Conclusions they drew from their owne Braines as being their private Opinions in the latter they leave every man to his owne Censure and Judgment to receive or reject them as they find them Consonant to Scripture Antiquity and right Reason but
in the former they require an absolute Assent and condemne them all for Hereticks who goe not along with them in the same Path in that they shewed there modesty in this their Piety The Fathers being thus cashired and appealed from as unmeet illegall Judges because obnoxious to errour which hath been laboured to be made good by publishing som few paradoxicall Tenents found in the writings of some one or few of them which they conceive to be Errours though many of them perhaps will not appeare such upon due examination and after all their undutifull malicious Search whereby like Cham they have laid open their Fathers nakednesse they cannot finde one palpable Errour which they can justly lay to the charge of all or a major part of them thus at last missing their aime they proceed farther to call the Creed in question that undoubted Rule and Foundation of the Christian Faith which the Apostles with so much care Composed and left unto the Church as a most pretious Depositum the lydius lapis or Touchstone of the Catholick Beliefe and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Orthodoxe Professours They have called both the Authors and Authority in question first by doubting of and raising scruples against it then absolutely denying and laying down Arguments to disprove those Authours to whom it hath been constantly entitled for they both fall together take away the Authours and the Authority will soone vanish for if the Creed were not framed by the Apostles but collected out of Scripture by some uncertain and obscure Composer or Composers whose names are buried in forgetfulnesse seeing it containes some Articles which are not set down totidem verbis in any determinate Place of Holy Writ 't were possible that some Points might be mistaken not rightly gathered or deducted as by a fallible Hand and so the whole Frame of it of no more Authority then some peice of a Father or the Canon of a Councill if so much For though it be granted that all the Articles of the Creed be either expresse words of Scripture or by an undoubted consequence deducible from it yet the drawing of these Articles forth of Scripture requires an unerring and Divinely-guided Hand First because none else can know which is an Article of Faith that is a Fundamentall or Point necessary to Salvation who is not divinely informed of Gods will and pleasure in this matter Secondly because the Judge of the consequence must be infallible for otherwise it oft fals out that what in one mans judgment is a necessary Deduction is not so in anothers but probable only or perhaps false else we should have had lesse about the Trinity and Incarnation two maine points of our Faith to name no lesser ones Having removed these two Forts out of their way and demolished these Propugnacula fidei thē after they may safely build what new Fabricks they please upon the abused Groundwork of Scripture or rather having digg'd up the Groundwork of the Creed lay Reason for a new Foundation on which to build Castles in the Aire imaginary structures much like the enchanted Fortresses dream't of in the Monkish Romances then they may entertaine whatsoever strange fancies they please Fancies which unconstantly hover up and down in the Braine like so many Cloudes in the middle Region carried hither and thither by the wind and presenting now this now that monstrous shape having removed these two Bounds of Faith they may wander in the large field of Scripture at randome scatter here there what pernicious seeds they please root up what was already sowen confound the furrowes mixe adulterate graines with the pure seed of the word thus making havock of all and turning the field into a Wildernesse And though they seem to honour Scripture and appeale to it as the sole adequate Rule of Theologicall Truth yet in truth they use it but as a colour to set off their new-fangled Inventions the opinions bred within themselves and so wrest it to serve their own Turnes for where ever it seems to oppose them they strait accuse the Copie of Bastardy that such or such a Passage hath crept out of the Margin or Glosse into the Text or the place hath been interlaced by some of the adverse Party some opposite Father they alter at pleasure points letters words yea dash out whole verses and after all torture the poore Remainder till they have forced it to beare witnesse on their side and speak what they would have it take but for instance the beginning of S. Johns Gospell as 't is expounded by Volkelius If they should openly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reject Scripture they would be exploded and expell'd out of Christian Common-wealths and so hindered from doing mischiefe but now the Divels craft makes use of those to undermine and subvert holy Scripture who seem most to stand for it and to perswade the doctrines of men who seem most to decry them In a word the body of Socinianisme to which we may now adde some other new Sects is compounded like some Hydra or Chymera or what other horrid Poeticall monster of the must pestilent poysonous Heresies which the Church hath ever laboured under or cōdemned in all Ages And wheras this Age hath bin much given to Systems and Compendium's least we should want one in any kind these men have furnisht us with an Epitome of Heresies a Breviary of Epiphanius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea which is worse yet they have opened a large Gap for more by making weak depraved Reason without any other light or guide however the Scripture be pretended the sole Judg of Truth by abolishing faith that Reason may be exalted in her Place that Reason which is never the same or constant to it self either in diverse men or the same man at diverse times yet though they so much cry up liberty of Opinion they themselves are unwittingly though willingly Slaves to Socinus else why doe they all follow him so close was he the only unerring Guide the monopolizer of Reason The Socinians indeed outwardly receive the Canon of Scripture much extoll it to keep up their credit with the Christian world but expounding it as they doe in their own Sense contrary to the received Interpretation of the Ancients from by whose hands they received the Canon it selfe they doe as good as not receive it for the Scripture consists in the sense not in the words And whosoever shall take a full survey of their opinions will find that they imbrace no mystery therein revealed but only what is demōstrable by or at least fals within the Sphere of bare Reason the light of nature All the rest which appeare either opposite unto Reason or placed above it as the mysteries of the Trinity the Hypostaticall union Christs satisfaction for the sin of mankind the Resurrection of the same numericall Body the everlasting punishment of the damned for temporall faults c. they cannot away with because they can
in Symbolo deest quod ex scriptis Dei per Apostolos Dei conditum totum in se quantum ad authoritatem pertinet habet quicquid vel hominum est vel Dei quamvis etiam quod per homines factum est Dei existimandum sit quia non tam illorum per quos factum est quam illius credendum esse qui fecit i That which in Greek is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines call a Collation a Collation I say because the Apostles of the Lord gathered into one in the perfect Breviary of the Creed wherein they faithfully summed up all the Points of the Catholik Beleef whatsoever is largely diffused through the whole Body of the Scriptures This is that short word which the Lord utterd collecting the Faith of both Testaments and concluding the sense of the whole Scripture in a few briefe Sentences framing this Modell out of his owne materialls and comprising the virtue of the whole Divine Law in a most compendious Summary in this manner consulting as a most indulgent Father to apply a Remedy unto the negligence and Ignorance of some of his Children that so the most simple and unskilfull Novice should not be troubled to comprehend it which might also be easily conteined in memory thou seest therefore in the Creed the Authority of God himselfe for a short worke or word will the Lord make upon the Earth Rom. 10. 28. But perhaps thou requirest the Authority of Men neither is that wanting for God made the Creed by the Ministery of men for as he composd the great Bulke of holy writ cheifly by his Patriarchs and Prophets so he framed the Creed by his Apostles Prejsts There is nothing therefore defective in the Creed which being compiled by the Apostles of God out of the Scriptures of God hath perfectly in it selfe for matter of Authority whatsoever either God or men can contribute although indeed that which was thus framed by men is to be esteemed the Worke of God it not being so much to be ascribed unto those by whome it was made as to him who made it nor to be thought the worke of the Instruments but of the Author Afterward he thus sets downe the Text of the Creed Credo in unum Solum verū Deum Patrem Omnipotentem Creatorem omnium visibilium invisibilium Creaturarum in Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium ejus unigenitum primogenitum totius Creaturae ex eo natum ante omnia Secula non factū Deum verum ex Deo vero homoousion Patri per quem secula compaginata sunt omnia facta qui propter nos venit natus est ex Maria Virgine Crucifixus sub Pontio Pilato sepultus tertiâ Die resurrexit secundùm Scripturas in Coelos ascendit iterum veniet judicare vivos mortuos reliqua in Symbolo quòd Ecclesiarum omnium Fidem loquitur c. I believe in one only true God the Father Almighty maker of all Creatures both visible and invisible and in Jesus Christ our Lord his only begotten Sonne the first Borne of every creature begotten of him before all worlds and not made very God of very God of one substance with the Father by whom the worlds were Framed or Ages set in order and all things made who for our sakes came and was borne of the Virgin Mary Crucifyed under Pontius Pilate and buried the third Day he Rose againe according to the Scriptures and ascended into the Heavens and shall come againe to judge the Quicke and the Dead And the rest that Followes in the Creed which speakes the Beleefe of all the Churches By this Creed he confutes Nestorius through his whole First Booke as by that Faith which was received throughout the whole world concluding in these words Licet omnium ecclesiarum sit quia una omnium fides peculiariter tamen Antiochenae urbis atque Ecclesiae est illius sc in qua tu editus in qua institutus in qua renatuses That is Although this be the Faith of al the Churches which believe al alike yet it is more peculiarly the Faith of the Citty and Church of Antioch to wit of that Church wherein thou O Nestorius wert Borne Bred and Baptized 11. Eusebius Emesenus or rather Gallicanus hath three Homilies extant on the Apostles Creed wherein he sets downe the Creed verbatim and after explaines it Gaigneus Chancellour of Paris set forth these Homilies under the name of Eus. Emesenus grounding his opinion on two places of the Decret wherein these Homilies are cited under his name others have ascribed them to Caesarius Bishop of Arles a third sort to Eucherius Bishop of Lyons a fourth unto Faustus Bishop of Regium because the Author of these Homilies saith that he was made Bishop ex Abbate lirinensi as Faustus was so Bellarmine But the Learned Andreas Schottus more probably entitles them to Eusebius not Bishop of Emesa in Syria a Bishop of Gaule sprung perhaps from that or some other Emesa and thence denominated the Latine style being too elegant for a Translation and savouring of the French Dialect and to confirme this he cites an ancient verse made by a Scholler of Rabanus Maurus wherein such an one is set downe by name though his Diocesse be not mentioned But whoever were the Authour of them his Testimony is of good credit each one of the Five mentioned having beene Ancient and famous Bishops 12. Venantius fortunatus Bishop of Poictiers hath written an explication of the Apostles Creed in the Preface whereof he hath these words Collata Apostolis scientia linguarum adhuc in uno positi hoc est inter se Symbolum unusquisque quod sensit dicendo condidere That is The Apostles having conferd on them the gift of Tongues before their dispersion framed the Creed by mutuall consent among themselves every one contributing what he thought meet And a little after Symbolum Collatio dicitur Graece quia hoc ipsi interse per spiritum Sanctum salubriter condiderunt That is The word Symbole in Greek signifies a Collation because the Apostles joyntly framed it for the common benefit through the assistance of the holy Ghost 13. Isidore Bishop of Sevil lib. de off Eccles cap. 22. speakes thus of the Creed Symbolum competentes accipiunt in quo pauca 〈◊〉 verba sed omnia continentur Sacramenta de totis enim Scripturis haec breviatim collecta sunt ab Apostolis ut quia plures Credentium literas nesciunt vel qui sciunt prae occupationibus Seculi Scripturas legere non possunt haec corde retinentes habeant sibi sufficientem scientiam salutarem That is The Competentes receive the Creed wherein there are but few words but all misteries are therein contained which were breifly gathered out of the whole Scriptures by the Apostles because that many of the Beleevers being unable to read and they who can being hindred by their worldly businesses reteining these few
false Brethren who had privily crept into the Church and corrupted the Gospell from those who sincerely bound themselves by Oath in Baptisme to the service of Christ 5. A Catechisme taken out of the Workes of Costerus Pet. de Soto and others set forth by the command of the Arch-Bishop of Triers respons ad 2am qu. saith thus Haeretici quosdam Articulos vel penitùs negant vel interpretationibus depravatis in novas alienasque Sententias detorquent neque ulla unquam extitit haeresis quae non hoc Symbolo damnari potuerit That is The Hereticks doe either wholly deny some Articles of the Creed or by their corrupt interpretations wrest them into new and strange senses neither did there ever arise any Heresy which might not be condemned by this Creed of the Apostles Now how the Church of Rome which gives this Testimony of the fulnesse of the Creed for the Rule of Faith and makes it the Distinctive marke whereby to know her true genuine Children from the Bastardy of Hereticks can justly adde many other Articles to it as Pius 4. doth in his Bull De professione fidei to be believed as necessary to Salvation and for the not receiving of them as undoubtedly Catholick necessary Truths together with the Apostolick Articles condemne the Reformed Churches of Heresy I can see no shadow of Reason except she include these her Dictates in the body of the ninth Article and so inforce them upon us by vertue of the Apostles pretēded Authority interpreting the Article thus I believe the Holy Catholick Church That is I believe whatsoever the Church of Rome usurping the Title of Catholick requireth of me to be believed But this Interpretation will be found obnoxious to a double Errour First Because shee beggs the maine thing in question namely That she is the Catholick Church whereas shee is but a member thereof and that a very diseased one Secondly Because the sense of the word Credo I believe must in all reason be taken in the same sense here as it is in the following Articles unto which it is in like manner referred viz. I believe there is a Remission of Sinnes that there is to be a Resurrection of the Body and Life everlasting So here I believe there is an Holy Catholick Church that is That the Christian Church is Holy and Catholick or Universall Holy for Doctrine and Manners and universall for Place not tied to Greece or Rome or Geneva but generally diffused throughout the whole world To conclude this Point I shall adde some concurrent Testimonies of the Protestant Divines whose agreeing in this with the Church of Rome though much differing in others shewes the Power and cleerenesse of this Truth which extorts a Confession from all Mouthes and withall may serve to stop the violence of some zealous Reformatists who even Reprobate all those that goe not along with them in every new-broached Doctrine and in the Resolution of each Theologicall Controversy These Divines shall be six 1. Luther in his larger Catechisme after he hath set downe the Creed the Commandements and the Lords Prayer he subjoynes In hisce tribus partibus summatim ac nuditér quoad ejus fieri potuit simplicissimè comprehensa sunt omnia quicquid passim in sacris literis longè lateque tractamus That is In these Three are summarily and plainly comprehended whatsoever Things are handled at large in the holy Scriptures The Creed being the Breviary of the whole Scripture for matter of Faith as the ten Commandements are for matter of of Practise and the Lords Prayer for our Petitions Each perfect in its kind 2. Selneccerus in his Paedag. Christianâ saith Certum est in hoc Symbolo Apostolorum contineri omnia Capita totius Christianae Religionis rectè perspicuè ordine That is It is certain that in this Creed of the Apostles are contained all the Heads of Christian Religion rightly clearely and methodically 3. Ioan Gerardu◠a late Learned and Moderate Lutherane in the Epistle Dedicatory to his second Tome of Common Places speaks thus of the Creed Quotquot Doctrinae Christianae c. Whatsoever Collections or Systems of Christian Doctrine which Saint Luke calls Catechises Luke 1. 4. Act. 18. 25. Saint Paul The forme of sound words 2 Tim. 1. 13. The Epistle to the Hebrewes The first Principles of the Oracles of God chap. 5. 12. and the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ cha 6. 1. Clemens of Alexandria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rude Draughts Origen Principles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dionysius of Alexandria Elements of Divinity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eusebius lib. 3. cap. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A breviary of the Elements of Religion Nazianzen Theology Theophilus and Lactantius Institutions The most at this day call them Common Places Whatsoever Collections I say in this kind of Christian Doctrine have been written and set forth by diverse Authority from the most ancient times of the Primitive Church the first lineaments as it were and chiefe Heads of them are set forth in the Apostles Creed This Rule of Faith set downe by Irenaeus and Tertullian and styled an Apostolicall Tradition if any one compare with the words of the Apostles Creed he will easily find a great agreement between them sometimes the Apostles Creed sometimes the Scripture it selfe is called the Rule of Faith by the Ancients namely by reason of the exact harmony or concord between both which lookes on the holy Scripture as the fountain and the Creed as a streame thence derived As in Ages past when new Disputes ever and anon arose the Fathers who succeeded the Apostles were enforced to set forth larger and more expresse summaries of the Apostolick Doctrine partly to unfold it more fully partly to vindicate it from corrupt Glosses So also in this latter Age of ours wherein the mindes of many are very farre withdrawn from the Apostolick simplicity by the subtilty of Satan the shortnesse of the Creed is to be explained more at large out of the fulnesse of Scripture and thereby fortified against the corruptions of Hereticks that so we may faithfully preserve in our own persons and deliver over to Posterity the sacred Depositum of the Christian Faith Thus for Jo. Gerardus 4. Calvin Instit lib. 2. cap. 16. § 18. Of this we are undoubtedly assured saith he Totam in eo Symbolo Apostolorum fidei nostrae historiam succinctè destincteque recenseri That the whole History or subject of our Beliefe is contained in the Apostles Creed briefly and orderly 5. Beza on Rom. 12. 6. the place before cited tels us That the Apostles Creed was composed at the very beginning of the Gospels Preaching veluti Evangelii Epitome as a Compendium or short summary of the Gospell and therefore was deservedly called the Rule of Faith by Tertullian 6. Bullinger in the Preface to his Decads tels us That the Generall Councells in setting forth their Creeds changed nothing in the Doctrine of the Apostles neque quicquam novi
see no reason for them diverting in the meane time all those Testimonies of Scripture which are produced to confirm these Principles by altering as I said of words letters points wresting of phrases affixing to the words new contrary Glosses by perverting other places to serve their own turn by false unheard-of Expositions so that this right Reason proves a crooked Rule and instead of imforming us of the Truth deformes the Originall the Touchstone of its Triall The Church of England in her 21 Article saith indeed that Generall Councils may erre and have erred But shee saith not that they have erred in matters of Faith only shee infers from hence wherefore things ordained by them as necessary to Salvation have neither strength nor authority unlesse it may be declared that they be taken out of Holy Scripture And good reason because the Scripture containes all things necessary to salvation But by whom are these things to be so declared Sure by the Fathers assembled in a Generall Councill So she makes these Fathers Declarers or Collectours of those necessary Points out of Scripture and for ought I can see judges of that necessity A very great Priviledge and as much as was ever challenged by them But she more expresly ties her Clergy to submit unto the judgment of the Fathers whether in or out of a Councill in weighty Points of Religion Synod Lond. An. 1571. Tit. 19. De Concionatoribus Imprimis videbunt Cincionatores ne quid unquam doceant pro Concione quod a Populo religiose teneri credi velint nisi quod consentaneum sit doctrinae veteris aut Nâ—vi Testamenti quodque ex illa ipsâ doctrinâ Catholici Patres veteres Episcopi collegerint Where she makes the Orthodoxe Fathers the sole Interpreters of Scripture who are to be followed by Preachers in matters of Consequence and ranks their Collections out of Holy Scripture with the letter it selfe which if it imploy not infallibility in expounding Scripture I am sure it comes very neere it Reason then is not the Judge of all Truth to which our Church may seeme to referre us by making Councils fallible that is bare naturall Reason but Reason enlightned neither were the Fathers guided by it in the maine Principles of Religion but by Faith relying on Authority divine or universall Tradition She may indeed yea ought to search into and examine Tradition whether it be genuine or spurious as the Beraeans Acts 17. 11. examined S. Pauls Citations of the Old Testament touching the Prophecies of the Messiah But when the Tradition is found to be good and cleare old and Catholick then Reason must submit to it although it may seeme to thwart or exceed her Neither doth S. Peter bid us to give a reason of our faith but to be ready to give an answer to every one that asketh us a reason of the hope that is in us 1 Peter 3. 15. that is upon what Grounds we expect eternall Happinesse by the Profession and Practice of the Christian Religion and this answer or reason to be given not rashly or conceitedly but with meeknesse and feare Indeed who the most Learned much lesse every ordinary Christian who hath the charg there given him can give a Reason or Demonstration of all Mysteries in Religion some of which as the Trinity and Incarnation we cannot so much as conceive or comprehend fully and distinctly Besides the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there may be as fitly rendred a Reckoning or Account for the word is thus elsewhere taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Give an Account of thy Stewardship Luk 16. 2. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall give an Account thereof viz. of every idle word Mat. 12. 36. but never as farre as I remember is the word used for a medium or Demonstrative Argument a Priori Is it not then the ready way to the Introduction of all Sects of Libertinisme yea at last of Atheisme it selfe to bring all Points of Religion to the Censure and Tribubunall of this conceitedly-blind Iudge which according to the mad wish of that Roman Tyrant cuts off the very neck of Religion at one blow For all Religions which hitherto have dared to shew their face to the world have grounded themselves on Authority either true or false on Reall or Pretended Revelations The Grecians had their Oracles Numa his Egeria and Mahomet his pretended Gabriel as well as the Jewes had their Moses and Christians their Jesus Humane Reason left to its own light and guidance never presumed in any Nation to be the Mother of a new Religion or a sufficient Directresse in it yea the light of Nature is acknowledged by the most acute Philosopher to be dim and darke in relation to Divine Objects compared therefore by him to the eye of an Owle at mid-day 't is not able therefore of it self to shew us the way to Heaven who converse here in a spirituall Aegypt a land of darknesse which is our naturall state no getting into Canaan but by a pillar of fire supernaturally raised and divinely moved Now as Anabaptisme is more suitable to the dreggs of the People and worketh on the grosser humours of the Body Politicke to whom Community of goods and freedome from the power of Magistrates are pleasing Tenents so this as a poyson farre more deadly seazeth on the subtler wits as on the finer animal-spirits therefore the more dangerous because abler Instruments of mischeife Reason at the best is fallacious enough but when thus cried up as the sole supreme Judge of all from whom lies no Appeale no marvell if she extreamly please he selfe in novell Inventions and become much enamoured of them as her owne genuine Birthes Shee is therefore a most dangerous Guide being thus left to her selfe in matters of Religion which as Vincentius Lir. tels us is not Res inventa sed tradita not found out by our selves but received from our Auncestours Sure then Eternall Salvation is a businesse of more weight then to be intrusted to her Dictates and Directions whence it is that holy Scripture every where cries downe the wisdome of the world the judgment of the naturall man the vaine deceits of the Heathen Philosophers who were the great Masters and Admirers of Reason and the darknesse of our understanding in things Divine in the Mystery of Godlinesse And methinks when Reason decives us so oft in smaller matters in objects farre lower such as lie within its owne Spheare it should a loud proclaime this Caveat to an indifferent and experienced man that we are not to trust it in things of the greatest moment which lie so farre above its reach that we are not to follow a false wandering Meteour an Ignis fatâ—us here below when we have the bright Morning Starre to guide us in this vale of darknesse untill the Sunne of Righteousnesse arise with healing in his winges But to returne to the Argument which I have in hand As I dare not be so rash as
autem in illis quidem vocabulis ubi de Divinitate fides ordinatur In Deum Patrem dicitur In Jesum Christum Filium ejus in Spiritum Sanctum In caeteris verò ubi non de Divinitate sed de Creaturis ac Mysteriis sermo est In praepositio non additur ut dicatur In Sanctam Ecclesiam sed Sanctam Ecclesiam credendam esse non ut in Deum sed ut Ecclesiam Deo congregatam Remissionem Peccatorum credendam esse non in remissionem peccatorum resurrectionem carnis non in resurrectionem carnis Hac itaque Praepositionis syllabâ Creator à Creaturis secernitur divina separantur ab humanis that is He said not In the holy Church nor in the forgivenesse of sinnes nor in the resurrection of the Body for if he had added the Preposition In there had been the same sense with what went before but now in those passages of the Creed wherein our faith concerning God is digested we say In God the Father and in Jesus Christ his Sonne and in the Holy Ghost but in the residue which speak of the Creatures and the mysteries relating to them the Preposition In is not added for we say not I beleeve in the Holy Church but I beleeve the Holy Church not as in God but as the Church gathered to God likewise we are to beleeve the remission of sinnes not in the remission of sinnes and the resurrection of the Body not in the resurrection of the Body So by this short Preposition the Creatour is distinguished from the Creature and God from man Now Ruffinus was one very well skill'd in the Greek Tongue as who Translated much of Origen out of that Language as well as in the Latine and so deserves the more credit in judging of the Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Credo in Paschasius also in his Book de Spiritu Saucto written against Macedonius vindicates the true Writing and sense of the Creed as touching this particular in these words Credimus Ecclesiam quasi Regenerationis Matrem non in Ecclesiam credimus quasi in Salutis Authorem nam cum hoc de Spiritu Sancto universa confiteatur Ecclesia numquid in seipsam credere potest qui in Ecclesiam credit in Hominem credit non enim Homo ex Ecclesiâ sed Ecclesia esse caepit ex Homine recede itaque ex hac Blasphemiae persuasione ut in aliquam humanam te aestimes debere credere Creaturam cum omninò nec in Angelum nec in Archangelum sit credendum nonnullorum imperitia praepositionem hanc In velut de proximà vicinaque sentintiâ in consequentem traxit ac rapuit ex superfluo imprudentur apposuit in nullis autem Canonicis de quibus textus Symbolipendet accepimus quia in Ecclesiam credere sicut in Spiritum Sanctum Filiumque debeamus Et ideò cum ab hoc Honore Creatura omnis aliena sit hic in quem credere praecipimur viz. Spiritus Sanctus Deus est quod verbum Divinitati specialiter vox Domini Salvatoris assignat ita dicens Credite in Deum in me credite Et iterum Qui credit in me non credit in me sed in eum qui me misit that is We beleeve the Church as the Mother of our new Birth not in the Church as in the Authour of Salvation For when as the whole Church professeth this of the Holy Ghost can she beleeve also in her selfe He who beleeveth in the Church beleeveth in man for man sprung not from the Church but the Church from man be farre therefore from this Blasphemous perswasion as to think that thou oughtest to beleeve in any humane Creature whereas our Faith is not to be placed no not in an Angel or Archangel The unskilfulnesse of some hath caused them to take the Preposition In from the neighbouring sentence which went before and to apply it to the subsequent rashly imprudently and superfluously whereas we are not warranted by any of the Canonicall Books on which the Text of the Creed depends to beleeve in the Church as we ought to beleeve in the holy Ghost and the Sonne and therefore seeing this Honour is not communicable to any Creature he in whom we are commanded to beleeve namely the holy Ghost is God hence also our Saviour especially applieth this word unto the Divinity saying thus yee beleeve in God beleeve also in me And againe He that beleeveth in me beleeveth not in me but in him that sent me Thus did these Fathers read this Article of the Creed and thus they understood it Credo in that is Colloco fiduciam in Deo which the Scripture appropriats to God alone as to the peculiar object of our Trust and Confidence and wholy denies to Creatures See Psal 146. 3. 44. 7. Jer. 17. 5. 1 Tim. 6. 17. As for that place Exod. 14. 31. the Hebrew word there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used signifies properly to beleeve the truth or Fidelity of one so may well agree to Moses who spake to the People in Gods name and had so often confirmed the truth of his words by the following miraculous Successe now the word is usually joyned in Construction with a Noune of the Ablative Case having the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prefixt which is the signe of that Case and therefore should be rather translated if we follow the Hebraisme close Crediderunt in Deo in Mose However the sense is this They beleeved Gods word spoken to them by Moses God as the Author Moses as the Messenger So here 's no opposition but a Subordination and therefore no Derogation to Gods Prerogative But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greeke and Credo in in the Latine are phrases implying more and answer to the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to depend or rely on an Infinite Power and goodnesse which therefore both can and will deliver us from all evill and conferre in due time all Good upon us now this is peculiar to God alone and therefore appropriated to him both in the Scripture and Fathers The Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew is I confesse oft superfluous Thence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek and In in the Latine which answer to it sometimes redound in the Scriptures Creeds and Fathers in their translations out of the Hebrew or imitations of that sacred Tongue yet not alwayes Now to know when these Particles redound when not we are to compare them with other Parallell places of Scripture and Copies of the Creed and then we shall find that though some Greeke Copies of the Creed prefixe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Article of the Church and the three subsequent ones yet others as those of Marcellus Anoyranus and Chrysostome hereafter to be alleaged omitt it as superfluous but still religiously retaine it in the precedent Articles of the Sonne and Holy Ghost by
which it plainly appeares that they esteemed it essentiall to these but pleonasticall unto those The like may be said of some old Latine Copies of the Creed which yet are very few wherein In redounds by the like Hebrew Pleonasme Ob. 2. The Socinians say they doe all acknowledg the Apostles Creed for the matter though they doubt whether it were composed in this Forme by the Apostles wherein they are not the first nor alone Erasmus seems to have first made question of it after him Calvin and most of his followers wholy yet deny not the Authority but acknowledge the matter to be true Nay the Socinians complaine that whereas the Creed containes all Fundamentall Truthes yet other Articles are obtruded as necessary such as be not contained in the Creed how then can the denyall of the Composure of this Creed by the Apostles any way advantage the Socinians Answ The Socinians deny some Articles of the Creed in the Sense which the Ancient Fathers understood them from whom they received the Creed it selfe for words and ought to have done for meaning and the denyall of the Authors makes them in all likelihood the bolder in their mis-interpretations Then although they hold that the Creed containes all Fundamentall Truthes yet they hold not all the Articles thereof Fundamentall On the other side they unjustly complaine of other Articles obtruded on their Beleefe whereas the Church hath only explained some few Articles of the Creed and vindicated them from Hereticall Glosses and Corruptions warranting those her Expositions by old Catholick Tradition upon a due legall search in an Oecumenicall Synod Lastly the denyall of the Composure of this Creed by the Apostles as a Summary of Truthes ordinarily necessary to Salvation which was the maine end of Composing it much advantageth the Socinians who beleeve not all to be necessary and some not true as they are construed in the old received Sense If Erasmus began first to doubt of the received Authors of the Creed he cannot well be excused for questioning so ancient and establish'd a Tradition whereby no Benefit could redound to the Christian Church but the Faith of many might be startled and Heresies awaked as we have seen by the Event and I am sorry that the Socinians should look on him as they doe though I hope amisse as their first Founder or chiefe Patron in this latter Age by reason of this and some other extravagancies of his Pen so that what Posseuine from others saies of him in relation to Luther may be verified in respect of Socinus in some of his Errours Erasmus innuit Socinus irruit And this Nescio of Erasmus which others have since improved to a Nego was presently censured by the Parisian Divines As for Mr Calvin though he saith indeed that he will not contend with any one about the Authors of the Creed as a Thing in his judgment not overmuch materiall yet he produceeth two Arguments in the same place which evince the Apostles and none others to have been the Composers thereof namely the concordant suffrages of Antiquity and the publike receiving or use thereof presently upon the Rise or originall of the Christian Church Instit lib. 12. cap. 16. 6. 18. But of his Testimony more fully hereafter Ob. 3. It seemes that the Creed containes not the whole Body of the Credenda or Christian Beleefe not all Credenda in generall for there are many thousand more which lie scattered in the Scriptures no nor all Fundamentall Points or necessary Doctrinall Truthes E. G. faith in the Trinity the Canon of Scripture that we are to worship God and goe to the Father by the Sonne the doctrine of Repentance good Works Baptisme Imposition of hands which are expresly called a Foundation Heb. 6. 1 2. none of which are in the Creed Adde hereunto the Deity of the Sonne of God which seems not to be proved by those words in the second Article His only begotten Sonne for he is called the Sonne of God in Scripture in respect of his Conception and Resurrection both which relate to his Humane Nature See Luk. 1. 35. Act. 13. 32 33. Rom. 1. 4. Answ The Creed containes all Fundamentall Points purely Doctrinall or Speculative that is necessary Credenda as opposed to the Agenda or Practicalls of Christianity The Canon of Scripture containes these Fundamentalls dispersedly and is delivered downe to us as the Creed is by Tradition but not comprehended in the Creed for when we name Fundamentals we speake of Matters or Points to be beleeved not of the Bookes which containe those Points The Points cited out of Heb. 6. are all Practicall so also is the worship of God and comming to the Father by the Sonne Baptisme is a Sacrament one of the Agenda's in the Church yet referr'd in the Nicene Creed to the 10th Article as the outward ordinary meanes for remission of Sinnes The Mystery of the Trinity is included in the Creed as hath been already shewed And so is the Divinity of our Saviour in those fore-cited words Vnigenitum Patris Filium The only begotten Sonne of the Father For though he be called the Sonne of God in relation to his Humanity in Luk. 1. 35. because in his Conception or Incarnation the Holy Ghost did supplere vicem Patris by a miraculous overshadowing or rather not simply as man but as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and man in one Person in respect of that strange Vnion of the Humane Nature in one Hypostasis with the Divine by the supernaturall operation of the Holy Ghost as also in relation to his Raising againe whereby he was chiefly demonstrated to be the true Messiah or Sonne of God the first begotten of the Dead Act. 13. 32 33. Rom. 1. 4. Col. 1. 18. and Revel 1. 5. comp Col. 1. 15. Rom. 8. 29. Yet in the second Article of the Creed he is called the Only begotten Sonne of God with relation to God the Father and in respect of his Divinity which he received of the Father by an ineffable Generation from all Eternity for this Article is placed before his Conception by the Holy Ghost and his Nativity of the Virgin Mary much more before his Resurrection which manifested not made him the Sonne of God and therefore cannot relate to his Manhood but to his Godhead not to his Conception or Resurrection in time but to his Generation from Everlasting CAP. II. The History of the Apostles Composing the Creed out of Ruffinus Five Reasons why the Apostles delivered it to the Church not in Writing but by an Orall Tradition An objection against the preserving of it by Tradition Answered TOuching the Composing of the Creed by the Apostles which is my first Head Ruffinus Presbiter of Aquileia St Jeromes Contemporary and great Emulatour gives us this Relation in the beginning of his Exposition on the Creed Tradunt majores nostri quod post Ascensionem Domini cum per adventum Sancti Spiritus super singulos quosque Apostolos igneae
interrogabat quemadmodum ex variis Patrum Testimoniis constat praesertim de Symbolo quod Apostolicum vocant examen habehatur Ille primus quasi ingressus erat in Ecclesiam iis qui jam adulti Christo nomen dabant cum priùs alieni fuissent ab ejus fide Paraeus Fidem pro Symbolo fidei intelligere possumus ubi haud dubiè quaerebatur credisné in Deum Patrem Credisné in Jesum Christum filium ejus unigenitum Credisné in Spiritum Sanctum In his quaestionibus Jeronimi temporibus Catechumeni baptizandi quadraginta diebus erudiebantur ut ipse scribit ad Pammachium These foure Testimonies so cleerely understand this place of the Creed and so plainly speake of the profession thereof at the time of Baptisme that it were lost labour to insist farther on them 9. Ninthly and lastly S. Jude in his generall Epistle ver 3. exhorteth all good Christians That they would earnestly contend for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints Where by Faith is plainly meant the object of Faith or the Principles of Beliefe which are contained as we know in the Creed for he renders this as the reason of his exhortation in the words immediatly following That certain men viz. Hereticks had crept in unawares who denied the only Lord God and our Saviour Jesus Christ which be the two first Articles of the Creed This Faith saith the Apostle was delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So it is a Tradition And but once delivered to shew the perfection and stability of it the Perfection for nothing must be added to it since it was once delivered entire and the stability of it for nothing must be taken from it it must for ever remain firme and untoucht in both like a Depositum no second Delivery thereof either to increase or correct it To conclude This Faith the Apostle would have contended for and that not slightly but earnestly because it concernes the maine Grounds or foundation of Christianity not some By-poynts or slight superstructures Thus at length have I proved the Antiquity and Orinall Authors of the Creed from severall Texs of Scripture accordingly expounded by Divines of the best note both in the Primitive Times and this latter Age. But before I proceed to any farther proofes it will be requisite to remove such objections as may be raised against what I have here produced Ob. 1. How can it be proved out of Scripture that the Apostles made the Creed that is this forme of faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the same words wherein we now have it Seeing it is no where in Scripture and as for those Metaphors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They agree to every Epistle or Sermon of the Apostles as well as to the Creed and therefore it will no more follow they speake of the Creed under those formes then that I speake of Homo therefore I meane Socrates And indeed most of the Fathers cited on those places seeme to relate to the Doctrine of faith in generall not to any Epitome of it such as the Creed Besides Anselme and Cajetan extend the Rule as well to the Agenda as the Credenda whereas the Creed comprehends no Agenda at all Answ Every Epistle or Sermon of the Apostles cannot properly be stiled a forme of Doctrine a Rule a Depositum c. First not every Epistle for the Apostles mention this forme whatsoever it were in diverse of their Epistles as somewhat severall from them and contradistinct unto them nor secondly every Sermon for the Apostles Sermons which we find recorded in the Acts were commonly made unto the Jewes circumcised Proselites or to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Gentile-worshippers of the true God and observers of the seaven Lawes of the sonnes of Noah now such as these needed nothing to be proved to them but that Jesus was the Messiah that is to have the foregoing Promises and predictions of the Old Testament applied to a particular person namely to Iesus the sonne of Mary as for the rest the most of the Creed they believed it before and therefore had no need to have it preached unto them Yea in that Sermon of S. Paul at Athens Acts 17. to the Heathen Philosophers who were pure idolatrous Gentiles we find nought preached unto them but the knowledge and worship of one true God Christs Resurrection and coming to judgement so not the whole Canon or forme of Doctrine which if it were not explained to the Chatechumeni before they came to Baptisme as we have already learned from Cyril of Ierusalem when he was Catechist much lesse was it propounded in grosse to the raw Pagan who in likelihood at first sight might either deride the faith or stumble at the threshold upon the hearing of so many strange mysteries Besides many of the places alleadged out of S. Pauls Epistles not obscurely allude unto Baptisme wherein the Catechumene made his confession of Faith by a publique rehearsall of the Creed as will more fully appeare hereafter but had not that Creed Preached unto him at his first invitation to Christianity only in the precedent dayes of Lent the Creed was explained to him by the Catechist on Palme-sunday by the Bishop The Rule involves the Agenda or practicall grounds of Christianity as Anselme and Cajetan rightly tell us but it includes the Credenda too that is our Articles of Beliefe and primarily poynts at them which is sufficient for our purpose for we make not the Creed the whole but the Principall part of the Christian Catechisme S. Paul therefore Heb. 6. 1 2. and Cyril of Ierusalem in his Catechises joyne them both together as necessary for the Catechumeni who were to be taught what to doe observe as well as what to believe As for the Fathers in their Expositiōs on the forecited places of Scripture some of thē expressely mention the Creed others referre what they say to Bapt. when the custome was to make open professiō of the Creed these therefore may well speak for the rest and explaine their meaning touching the doctrine of Faith that though exprest it be in more generall Termes yet is to be understood in the same sense for the Breviary of this Doctrine couched in the Creed and confest at the time of Initiation into the Church by Baptisme Ob. 2. Suppose it be granted that the forecited places of Scripture import there was some Forme of Doctrine delivered before the new Testament was written or after and that it contained the cheif heads of Christian Religion yet that this Forme or Rule was the same with that which we call the Apostles Creed is not necessarily inferr'd nor doe most of the Expositours alleaged affirme any such Thing Nay those Principles Heb. 6. 1 2. are such as some of them are not mentioned in the Creed as Baptisme Imposition of Hands Repentance from dead works It is not enough to prove there were Summaries of Faith containing the same in
Church 2. That this Creed is produced by Tertullian against those Hereticks who denyed the Scriptures 3. That the Nicene Creed although a full and compleate Forme yet was not the first which the Christian Church had for which he refers us to Tertullian Now that Creed which was older than the Councell of Nice can be no other than the Apostles Creed seeing no other Creed was ever mentioned before the time of that Councell nor other Authors assigned And for Tertullians Testimony to whom we are referd he clearely assignes the Apostles for the Authors 6. Bullinger in the Begining of his Decads whereto he prefixeth the Ancient Creeds hath these words Sufficiebat hactenus Symbolum Apostolorum sufficisset Ecclesiae Christi etiam Constantini Seculo confitentur enim omnes omnes Ecclesias non alio Symbolo quam Apostolico usas eodemque fuisse per totam terrarum orbem contentas quoniam verò Constantini magni aetate emerfit impius blasphemus Arius qui Christianae fidei puritatem corrupit simplicitatem doctrinae Apostolicae pervertit coacti sunt ipsa necessitate Ecclesiarum ministri sese impostori opponere ac Symbolo editio verum id est veterem fidei confessionem damnatâ Arii novitate declarando ex Scripturis canonicis illustrare neque enim in aliis mox sequentibus tribus conciliis Generalibus editis Symbolis quicquam mutatum est in Doctrinâ Apostolorum neque quicquam novi adiectum quod prius ex Scriptura sancta Ecclesiae Christi habuerunt crediderunt sed corruptionibus novitatibus Haereticorum antiqua veritas illustrata per Symbola prudenter utiliter religiose est opposita That is Hitherto the Creed of the Apostles sufficed and had sufficed the Church of Christ even in the Time of Constantine for it is confest by all that all Churches used no other Creed than that of the Apostles and were contented therewith all the world over but because in the Time of Constantine the Great there sprang up that impious and blasphemous Arius who corrupted the Purity of the Christian Faith and perverted the Simplicity of the Apostolick Doctrine the Pastors of the Churches were compeld out of necessity to oppose themselves unto such an Imposture and setting forth a Creed to illustrate the True that is the Ancient Confession of Faith by manifesting it out of Scriptures thereby condemning the novelty of Arius for neither in the three other generall Councels which followed that of Nice was there any thing changed by setting forth their Creeds in the doctrine of the Apostles nor any new thing added unto what the Churches of Christ formerly had and believed out of the Holy Scripture but the Ancient Faith being illustrated by the Creeds was prudently profitably and piously opposed unto the Corruptions and Novelties of the Hereticks 7. Christopher Barbarossa in the Preface to his Catecheticall Analysis wherein he hath drawne into Method the Catechisticall Meditations of seventeene Protestant Divines set forth by the Deane and Colledge of Divines in the Academy of Rostock hath these words Apostoli Synodi brevibus Symbolis doctrinae Christianae Summam complexi sunt quilibet Apostolorum suum contulit ad hoc Symbolum Ratio quare Apostoli composuerunt hoc Symbolum duplex est 1. Suiipsius causâ ut certam haberent Regulam Amussim doctrinae postquam exire vellent in totum Mundum 2. Propter nos ipsos ut haberemus Regulam Amussim Fidei contra Haereticos Nomen Articuli requirit integram omnium Fidei Articulorum cognitionem confessionem si modò Fides perfecta integra esse debet That is The Apostles and Synods comprehended the summe of Christian doctrine in certaine breife Creeds Every one of the Apostles contributed his part to the Creed There is a double Reason why the Apostles composed the Creed 1. For their owne sake that they might have a certaine Rule or measure of Doctrine after they had resolved to goe forth into the whole world 2. For our sakes that we might have a Square or Rule of Faith against the Hereticks The word Article requires an entire knowledg and Confession of all the Points of Faith if so be it ought to be whole and perfect 8. Grinaeus de Eccles contin Primitiva Ecclesia habuit Symbolum Apostolorum cujus plena in Scripturis explicatio non abit ab hoc quod in Irenaeo extat Symbolum lib. 1. cap. 2. That is The Primitive Church had the Creed of the Apostles which is fully explained in the Scriptures This Creed is not diverse from that which is extant in Irenaeus 9. Nicol. Selneccerus in his Paedagogia Christiana Tria Symbola usitate nominantur Apostolicum Nicenum Athanasianum Apostolicum majus in quarta Apostolorū Synodo conscriptum fuisse arbitrantur 1. De electione Matthiae 2. De Ordinatione Diaconorum 3. De Abdicatione legalium 4. Vt existimatur de conscribendis his Fidei Articulis ut certa norma 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praecipuorum Capitum doctrinae Christianae cum Apostolis jam esset in totum terrarum orbem abeundum extaret confessio quae unanimem ipsorum consensum exhiberet ut autem hoc se habeat certum tamen est in hoc Symbolo quod internae nostrae Fidei Professio concordia est contineri omnia Capita totius Religionis Christianae recte perspicue ordine That is There be three famous Creeds the Apostles the Nicene and that of Athanasius the Apostles Creed is of the greatest account and is supposed to have been compiled in the fourth Synod of the Apostles whereof the first was concerning the election of Mathias the Second concerning the Ordination of Deacons the Third concerning the disanulling of Ceremonies Act. 15. the Fourth as is conceived concerning these Articles of Faith which should serve as a certaine Rule or Modell of the cheife Heades of Christian Doctrine and seeing that the Apostles were now to goe forth into the whole world there might be extant a Confession which should exhibite their unanimous consent unto all But however this businesse was ordered 't is certaine that in this Creed which is the concordant profession of our inward Faith are conteined all the Heads of the whole Christian Religion Rightly Clearely and Orderly 10. Alex. Nowell in his Catechisme giveth two Reasons why the Creed is entituled to the Apostles whereof the First and Cheife and to which he principally enclines is this that it was ab Ore Apostolorum exceptum Received from the mouthes of the Apostles and his following words confirme this reason of the Name wherein he declares that it hath been Ab initio usque Ecclesiae receptum received from the very begining of the Christian Church and from that Time hath perpetually abode in it firme Authentick immoved amongst all Pious Christians ut certa atque constituta Christianae Fidei Regula as a sure setled Rule of the Christian Beliefe As for his latter conjecture of the name Apostolick that
Canon of Scripture for if you say it pertaines to unwritten Traditions as S. Jerome and others tell us we must know that those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerne only the Goverment and Rites of the Church whereas the Creed is a Rule of Faith or Doctrine required to be profest by Christians at their Baptisme Answ First To retort a like question why is not the number of the Canonicall Bookes put into the Canon that so we might the more certainly know what Bookes are of Divine Authority and what are Supposititious This sure is a Doctrinall Point the maine Fundamentall one and highly concernes our Faith if any thing doe and yet it is derived unto us by Tradition why may not the Creed in like manner Secondly the Creed is taken out of the Canon of Scripture either in expresse words or by evident and necessary Consequence whereof the Apostles were unerring Iudges reduced only to a Method and set Forme Thirdly The Apostles thought not fit to commit it unto writing but delivered it by word of mouth to the Pastours or Bishops of the Churches whom they left to succeed them and who in a continued Succession downe from the Apostles delivered the Creed unto us Fourthly That unwritten Traditions comprehend not only matters of Practise such as are the Rites Regiment of the Church but also matter of Doctrine I appeale not only to the former instance of the Canon of Scripture and to this of the Creed constantly witnessed by St Ierome with many other Fathers whose testimony deserves much credit but to a Third also the perpetual Virginity of the Mother of God of which Mr Perkins no friend of Romish Traditions saith thus That the Virgin Mary lived and died Virgin is received for Truth but yet not recorded in Scripture and in Ecclesiastical Writers many worthy sayings of the Apostles and other holy Men are Recorded and received of us for Truth which neverthelesse are not set downe in the Bookes of the Old or New Testament and many things we hold for Truth not written in the Word if they be not against the Word Thus he in his Reform Cath. of Tradit Concl. 2. Ob. 6th The Creed hath not been preserved so safe from Addition Detraction Mutation as the rest of the Scriptures alwayes have been therefore not likely to have come from the Apostles Answ I could wish that the holy Scriptures had beene kept so safe as the Objectour beares us in hand the Church then would have been more pure and more peaceble But First For Additions Doth not our Church cut off those Apocryphall pieces which were long a goe an next to Daniel and Hester And doe we not find the 151 Psalme added unto the rest a Copy whereof we have in Sixti Sen. Bibliothecâ And in the New Testament for some Ages the Booke called Hermae Pastor was joyned to the Bookes we now have and esteemed by many for Canonicall Secondly For Detraction Have not whole bookes been taken a way by diverse Hereticks who would acknowledge no scripture that made against them For Instance Marcion acknowledged none of the four Gospels but only that of St Luke neither his entirely as Tertullian witnesseth Examples of other Hereticks are almost infinite Yea which is more some Canonicall Bookes for a while were denied or at least doubted of and so left out in diverse Copyes by some Orthodox Doctors of the Church till the Truth became afterwards better cleared as the Epistles of James Iude the Second Epistle of Peter the Second Third Epistles of St Iohn the Epistle to the Hebrewes the Revelation of St Iohn For this we may consult the Syriack Translatiō of the New Testament Thirdly For Mutation The Hereticks of old time who were bold to cut off whole Bookes did much more boldly adventure on changing of verses wordes letters and points The fraud of the Arians both old and new is notorious in this kind Neverthelesse for all these subtile and various Devices of Satan to overthrow Religion and pervert the Word of Truth by these his mischievous Instruments yet some ancient copies both of the Scripture Creed by Gods especiall Providence have been kept entire whereby the rest might be examined and amended Ob. 7th Although the Creed hath ever been much esteemed in the Church yet was it never accounted Canōicall The Ancient Doctors were so far from equalling it with Scripture that they appealed from it thereunto as to an higher Authority so did Cyr. Catech. 4. And Paschasius in his Booke against Macedonius Bib. Pat. Tom. 9. Which without question they never would have done had they thought it had bin from the Apostles in such Forme and as now wee have it Answ First Whether the Creed were accounted for Authority Canonicall that is Divine and unquestionable and for Frame Apostolicall I appeale to all those Ancient Fathers which I have already produced amongst whom Tertullian one very Ancient expresly tels us that the Creed was ordained by Christ viz. by the Ministery of his Apostles who were Authorised by him and assisted by his Spirit to compose it according to that saying of his He that heareth you heareth me Luk. 10. 16. Whence he sends the Hereticks to the Churches founded by the Apostles to find this Doctrine or Rule of Faith there left by them De praesc adv haer cap. 21. Withall he cals it The Canon or Rule of Faith as Irenaeus had done before him and tels us that no part thereof may be cald in question Seconly 'T is not unlikly that some of the Fathers may cite places of Scripture in confirmation of the Creed as the Apostles themselves in their writings bring forth places out of the old Teastament to back and vindicate the truth of what they said yea our Blessed Saviour himselfe oft cites Moses the Prophets and authorizeth his doctrine by their Testimony bidding his Auditours to Search the Scriptures of the old Testament for they are they saith he which Testify of me Io. 5. 39. See also Act. 26. 22. 2 Pet. 1. 19. Iam. 2 14 23. And it is the usuall practise of our preachers at this day to bring proofes for their textuall observations though oft expresse wordes of Scripture out of other paralell Places But as well those citations of the Fathers as these of our Blessed Sauiour and his Apostles are brought not so much to confirme the truth of what they said as to satisfy the mindes of their Auditours which were more fully cōfirmed whē they they saw the joynt correspondence of the Creed with the Scripture and the Gospell with the Law And we find at this day though divine Authority doe abundantly suffice to confirme us in the Grounds of our Religion yet it doth more fully content the judgment of the Learned when they see the probates of Reason to conspire with the dictates of Faith for Instance in the Vnity of the Godhead and the immortality of the Soule Thirdly As for the two Fathers
whom the objectour cites I shall returne a more particular Answer First Cyril indeed in that place tels us that the mysteries of the Faith ought not to be delivered unto the Catechumeni simply nakedly but as clothed with scripture and that they should not simply believe him unlesse he brought proofes from thence for what he delivered because the safety of our Faith saith he depends not on the pleasingnes of Rhetorick but on the demonstration of Gods Word written The reason whereof he assignes in the begining of the same Homily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Disciples of the Hereticks by their elegancy of speech and fair soothing tongues under the name of Christians deceive the hearts of the simple they hide the poysoōusdartes of their ungodly Doctrines with sugred expressions of all whom joyntly our Lord saith beware least any man deceive you then he goes on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this cause the doctrine of Faith is delivered with expositions thereon So that he would not have the Creed or himselfe believed without Scripture not that the Creed but the Times required such proofe for the Heretickes of those Dayes partly framed new Creeds of their own partly added to altered and perverted the old withall indeavouring to make their doctrine good by seeming probabillities of Reason and flourishes of Rhetorick It was necessary therefore in this case to discover these false Creeds and Interpretations by bringing all unto the Text of Scripture Secondly The other Father Paschasius in the begining of his Booke De Spiritu Sancto written against Macedonius taxeth a false reading of the Creed crept into it through the ignorance of some Transcribers who wrote I believe in the holy Church for I believe the holy Church by this error enervated an Argument usually alleadged by the Fathers for the Deity of the holy Ghost against Macedonius and his Followers Paschasius therefore proves by certeine Places of Scripture that they are commanded to believe in God alone but never in man wherefore seeing the Church consists of a company of men that reading of the Creed must consequently be false which enjoynes us to believe in the Church But what of all this He appealed not in this from the Creed unto Scripture but by Scripture corrects a false reading of the Creed as the Fathers in their polemicall writings against Hereticks frequently correct their corrupt quotations of some places of Scripture by other undoubted places Ob. 8th The Reason assigned why the Apostles composed this Creed discovers the vanity of the Tradition what was that That it might be forsooth to the Apostles a Canon or Rule according to which they should square and conforme their Preaching what to the Apostles to whom Christ promised his Blessed Spirit that should lead them into all Truth Certeinly they needed it not for their owne sakes amongst whom there was no ground of difference nor doubt of the Principles of Christianity And whereas others more probably say it was framed for the Churches sake that shee might have a short plaine yet full confession of Faith as a Formula of Beliefe to be publickly recited at the Time of Baptisme neither will this hold for in the Apostles Age the Confession of Faith was plaine and simple when they came to be Baptized namely in Jesus Christ or in the Father Son and holy Ghost as appeares by the History of the Acts so that the Church had then no need of such a Formula It began not to be required till diverse Heresies brake into the Church Answ First It is readily confest that the Apostles needed no Rule of Faith whereby to square their Preaching as if otherwise they should have erred yet they might well agree one a Canon or Rule of Fundamentals wherewith they thought fit to acquaint all Christians as with Points necessary to Salvation whereas otherwise they might have Preached more at large and intermixt matters of lesser Consequence As for the Authors who bring the Reason alleaged in the objection they lay it downe not in these Termes least the Apostles being seperated each from other ipsi inter se in varias scinderentur partes much lesse thus ne subinde alii abaliis in doctrinâ abirent as is odiously alleaged but Ruffinus renders the reasō thus Ne diversum aliquid his qui ad fidem Christi invitabantur exponerent S. Austin in like words Ne diversum vel dissonum praedicarent his qui ad fidē Christi invitabantur Now diversum and abversum dissonum and absonum are two things there was no feare that the Apostles by being severed each from other should Preach ought contrary to the Truth or to one Another if they had not before agreed uppon a Forme yet they might have Preached somewhat diverse from the Fundamentalls of Christianity namely other Points of inferiour concernment or at least the same in other wordes if they had not agreed on this Rule at their setting forth whence their Auditours might have taken occasion to suspect and argue them of falsehood not believing they were all guided by the same Spirit or to part themselves into factions as it fell out in the Church of Corinth about Paul and Apollos although they taught the same Gospell And what stirres arose in the Church about a Ceremony viz. the time of observing Easter derived frō a different tradition of S. Iohn to the Churches of Asia frō the rest of the Christian world though they all agreed in the main the keeping of the Feast Eusebius others will sufficienly informe us But to come closer to our Subject A notable instance in the very same kind namely in matter of of Doctrin such as the Creed is we find in the Greek and Latine Church about the middle of the fourth Century touching the Grand mystery of the Trinity which yet upon due examination proved only a difference of the tongue language The Controversie is thus set down by Greg. Naz Orat. 21. written in praise of the Great Athanasius Num. 46. 47. The Orientals saith he held one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Essence and three Hypostases or or subsistences The Latines by Reason of the barrennesse of their Tongue and the narrownesse of expression could not distinguish Hypostasis from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Subsistence from Essence therefore insteed of Hypostasis brought in the new-coind word Persona Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signify the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the proper distinctive Relations of the Three as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signified the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Nature what was the effect of this saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The effect deserved laughter or rather Lamentation this small difference of wordes seemed a diversity of Beliefe for the Orientals suspected the Westrne Church of Sabilianisme because they would not acknowledge three Hypostases but caled them by the name of three Persons And the Western Church suspected the Orientals of Arianisme for holding three Hypostases
time of Preaching the Gospell to the Gentiles and incorporating them into the Church was not before revealed as appears by the Series of the story now this conversion of Cornelius is placed by Baronius Aº 41. the very same yeare wherein S. Mathews Gospell according to him was written It is most probable therefore that this Dispersion of the Apostles happened in that Persecution of Herod mentioned Act. 12. for presently after this we find Paul and Barnabas solemnely consecrated and sent away from Antioch by the holy Ghosts command for the performance of this great worke the conversion of the Gentiles Ast. 13. 2 3 4. Whereas before the Gospell was Preached unto the Jewes only or at the most unto the Hellenists who were Jewes by Nation or Religion that is Jewish Proselites at least though they speake the language of the Grecians amongst whom they lived This appears Act. 11. 19 20. And to this accord the words of S. Chrysostome Apostoli praedicaverunt Iudaeis longoque temporis spatio caesi slagellati in Iudaeâ manentes ac demum ab ipsis propulsi in Gentes profecti sunt That is The Apostles Preached unto the Jewes and having been a long time scourged and beaten yet abode in Iewry till at length being driven out by them they went forth unto the Gentiles Hom. 70. in Mat. cap. 22. Compare herewith Act. 1. 8. chap. 13. 46 47. Thirdly S. Austins meaning in those words may well be thus construed The Articles of the Creed lye disperst in the Scriptures of both Testaments which in his Time were fully and compleatly extant and were collected from thence That is partly from the Old Testament then written partly from the History of the New which the Apostles were eye and eare-witnesses of and shortly after committed to writing Otherwise we must make him palpably to contradict himselfe for elsewhere he more then once affirmes that the Twelve Apostles composed the Creed which now bears their name and which he there explaines Object 10th If the Creed were composed by the Apostles latter Ages out of respect unto them would not have added ought unto it as we see they did in the Creeds of Nice Chalcedon and that of Athanasius for the Church of Rome was very slow to adde one particle unto the Constantinopolitan Creed viz. Filioque thereby to signify the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son as well as the Father though fully perswaded of the Truth thereof so greatly did they respect those 150 Bishops who composed it although they had made some Canons in prejudice of the former Dignity not only of the Alexandrian but of the Roman See Sure succeeding Ages owed far more reverence to the Apostles Answ Succeeding Ages added nothing to the Apostles Creed but only explained some Articles which by reason of their briefnesse or obscurity had been perverted by hereticall Glosses Now this was no disrespect but in honour of the Apostles thus to vindicate their Creed from false Interpretations and so restore it to its primitive Lustre and Integrity Secondly The Constantinopolitan Creed Framed by those 150 Fathers of the Easterne Church had been confirmed by the Church of Rome in the Synod under Damasus no marvaile then if they were not over forward to adde the Particle Filioque without their consents who were the prime Framers of that Creed least by so doing they should seeme to vary as well from themselves as the Fathers of that Councell Howsoever then that Councell might exalt the Dignity of the Constantinopolitan Patriarch now seated in the Head City of the Empire to the seeming prejudice of the Bishop of Rome yet in matter of Faith such as the Creed there was no disagreement at all and so no ground of Alteration If it be replyed That to charge the Creed writen for the capacity of the meanest with obscurity is something hard that to insert ought or adde to it though by way of explication would be thought great presumption that to think they would adde any thing to it who would not endure that of filioque to be put into a Creed of humane Composure when they agreed in the matter is hardly credible Besides that succeeding Ages have added to the Creed in some Particulars is apparent in the Nicene and if those additions be only explications yet to joyne them with the other Articles and to urge them as necessary accounting all those Heretickes who receive them not is all one as to make new Articles or fundamentall Truthes and withall it secretly taxeth the Apostles Creed of insufficiency and obscurity without those Additions I rejoyne First That the Creed in it selfe is plaine for the capacity of the meanest yet the briefnes generally indefinitenes of some Articles hath laid it open to variety of Glosses and those oft Hereticall which hath forced the Church to deliver the true meaning thereof by exegeticall Additions Seconly As for these explicatory Particles the Fathers fecht them not from their owne Braines but from Apostolicall Tradition Conserved in the Church from hand to hand and attested by the writings of precedent Bishops to whom the Apostles both delivered the wordes of the Creed and the true sence of each Article and hence it is that they urged and imposed their explications on the Church as necessary to be believed Neither Thirdly Is the Apostles Creed hereby argued of Insufficiency or obscurity seeing nothing is added to it as if it were Defective in it selfe or explaind as if it were of it selfe obscure 'T is only vindicated by this meanes from corrupt Glosses and restored to its primitive sense and meaning so the Scripture in like manner though cleare in all necessary Points and more copious by far than the Creed yet hath been abused in all Ages by curious and Daring Heads whence so many large comments on it for remedy to this mischiefe and we see dayly that lawes though as clearly framed as may be yet stand in need of Glosses and Additionall Interpretations when abused by reason of their Generality Lastly As to the addition of the Particle Filioque it is not of the same Nature because it was annext to the Creed contrary to the Decree of the third Generall Councell contrary to the mind and open protestation of the Greeke Church which had framed that Creed at Constantinople and by on part of the Church only viz. The See of Rome her adherents in the west Ob. 11h. If after Ages were forced by new succrescent Heresies to adde something unto the Apostles Creed yet sure if they had thought it to be theirs they would never have taken ought frō it for this had been a ready course to make way for new Heresies wheras we find severall Articles of the Creed omitted by them in their new-framed Symboles Answ The Councels and Fathers which have delivered unto us new Symboles or Confessions of Faith occasioned by emergent Heresies or rather explications of the old Creed in some particulars which were
third Day he rose againe according to the Scriptures Christs descent into Hell as we see in this Collation is expressely set downe but in two Creeds namely this of the Apostles and the Athanasian although the Fathers of the first Ages generally acknowledge it and mention it in their writings for which we may looke back on the Creeds of Thaddaeus and Ignatius set downe before The reason therefore why it is omitted in other Creeds I conceive to be this That they held it involved or presupposed in the following word The third Day he rose againe from the Dead For Christ may not improperly be said to have risen the third Day according to both Parts from the Grave in his Body from Hell a low place especially in comparison of Heaven in his Soule So both Parts in this Rising met together from two severall Places whether they had before Descended both which places are set downe in holy Scripture as the Receptacles of the Dead as well Good as Bad so 't is in either a Rising from the Dead and are joyntly called by the names of Sheol Hades Inferi This also S. Chrysostome in setting downe the Creed passeth by Christs ascension into Heaven as being included in or presupposed by that which followes His sitting at the Right Hand of the Father See Gen. 37. 35. Job 26. 6. Psal 86. 13. 139 8. Prov. 15. 11. Isa 13. 9. Luk. 16. 23. Rev. 1. 18. chap. 20. 13. Artic. VI. Apost He ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right Hand of God the Father Almighty East And ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of the Father Nic. hath the same Aquil. the same Athan. He ascended into Heaven he sitteth on the right hand of the Father God Almighty Antioch And he ascended into Heaven Article VII Apost From whence he shall come to judge the quicke and the dead East And he shall come to judge the quicke and the dead Nic. Who shall come againe with glory to judge the quicke and the dead of whose kingdome there shall be no end Aquil. From thence he shall come to judge the quicke and the deade Athan. From whence he shall come to judge the quicke and the Dead Antioch And he shall come againe to judge the quicke and the dead Article VIII Apost I believe in the Holy Ghost East And in the Holy Ghost the comforter who spake by the Prophets Nic. And in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life who proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne according to the Latines who with the Father and the Sonne together is worshipped and glorified who spake by the Prophets Aquil. And in the Holy Ghost Athan There is another Person of the Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost is God the Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son Neither made nor created nor begotten but proceeding Article IX Apost I believe the holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints East One holy Catholick Church Nic. One holy Catholick and Apostolick Church Aquil. The holy Catholick Church Where Ruffinus in his explication interprets Holy by that which preserves the Faith or Religion of Christ entire and opposeth the Church to the Conventicles of severall Hereticks which he calls Concilia vanitatis thus explaining the word Catholick and the Communion of Saints Article X. Apost The forgivenesse of Sinnes East One Baptisme of Repentance for the Remission of Sinnes Nic I acknowledge one Baptisme for the Remission of Sinnes Aquil. The Remission of Sinnes Article XI Apost The Resurrection of the Body East And the Resurrection of the Body Nice And I look for the Resurrection of the Dead Athan. At whose comming All men shall rise againe with their Bodies and shall give an account for their own Workes Aquil. The Resurrection of this Body In the Exposition whereof Ruffinus hath these words Et ideo satis cautâ providâ adjectione Ecclesia nostra Aquilegiensis docet quae in eo quod a caeteris traditur Carnis Resurrectionem uno addito pronomine tradit Hujus Carnis Resurrectionem hujus sine dubio quam is qui profitetur signaculo Crucis fronti imposito contingit That is our Church the Aquileian hath warily and providently added the Pronoune This to the Article of the Resurrection of the Body which is delivered without it in other Churches This Body that is which he toucheth who maketh profession of the Creed having the Signe of the Crosse made upon his Forehead whence we may observe not only the Antiquity of the Crosse in Baptisme but the custome also of the ancient Church in adding some exegeticall particles to the Creed as a Thing publickly received and practised in the Christian World Article XII Apost And life Everlasting East And life Everlasting Nic. And the life of the World to come Athan. And they that have done good shall goe into life Everlasting and they that have done Evill into Everlasting fire Aquil. Incloseth it in the precedent Article of the Resurrection in the explication whereof Ruffinus hath these words Dabitur peccatoribus incorruptionis immortalitatis ex Resurrectione conditio ut sicut Deus justis ministrat ad perpetuitatem Gloriae ista peccatoribus ad prolixitatem confusionis ministret paenae That is Sinners also shall rise to an immortall and incorruptible estate so that as God affourdeth the rightious everlasting Glory he also prepareth the sinners for length of shame and sorrow Ob. 14th That Creed which was neithe made by the Apostles nor by any Generall Councell nor was recieved by the Greeke or Easterne Churches but in the Church of Rome and had beene so long recited and used in the Church now about the yeare 400 that then it was held an Apostolicall Tradition which it is certaine was conveyed also by the Church of Rome to other Churches of the West the Easterne Churches in the meane time using other Creeds that Creed was composed by those who had the Government of the Romane Church but there is nought of this which agreeth not to the Creed that we call the Apostles therefore the Bishop and Presbyters of the Church of Rome composed it Answ This is the summary Argument used to disprove the Authors of the Creed and which we have already answered by Parts For that the Creed was composed by the Apostles we have proved at large both by Authorities and Arguments That it was received for the full sense and substance thereof in the Greeke or Easterne Churche appears both by what we have before cited out of the Greeke Fathers especially Marcellus and Chrysostome as also by the foresaid Parallell of the Jerosolymitan Nicene Antiochian and Athanasian Creeds with the Romane and Aquileian That it was held an Apostolicall Tradition by the Church of Rome before the yeare 400 appeares by the forecited Testimonies of the Laine Fathers Irenaeus Tertullian Ambrose and others That it was convaied by the Church of Rome to other Churches of the West which the Objector invidiously