In like body, and has since required and assumed none other.141 manner, with a view to maintain the personal identity of Christ, as we are taught to expect him at his second coming, and not only while ascending and ascended, the further assertion_might have Judgment. been made, that he, the same, "shall come to judge the quick and the dead." The particular phrase, “quick and dead," applied to the objects of his judicial appearance, may then be understood as denoting a further extension of the orthodox view, and implying that Christ, although once dead, buried, and ascended into heaven, shall come again in like manner, and with the same body; and, that not only the "quick," those who are alive at his coming, shall in their unperished bodies stand before his tribunal, but “the dead of all ages, awaking to a real bodily resurrection. The Third The Holy 2 Cor. v. 7. Holy Catholic I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Of the articles of faith set forth in this portion of the Creed, the first, relating to the Holy Ghost, must have been of very early date. This we may presume, without any reference to historical testimony. In no particular was the early Christian's faith so severely tried, as in embracing the doctrine of his own intimate connexion with, and influence by, that Holy Person, who, like the wind, from which he received his name, was viewless and impalpable, and only known by his effects. Hence, the necessity at first of accompanying the ceremony of baptism, when this insensible endowment takes place, with some sensible manifestation, to assure the sanctified of its reality. With the same view, the catechumen would require to be familiarized with a truth, which of all demanded the greatest effort of his faith; and the most experienced Christian, too, would need some perpetual remembrancer, to prevent oblivion or doubt of the golden rule of Christianity, we walk by faith, and not by sight." The other two articles of belief are of a later age. When the clause concerning the Church was first made use of, the point of faith expressed, was simply belief in " the holy Church;" and it was added, perhaps, by way of enlargement upon the doctrine to which it is now appended, the belief in the Holy Ghost. It is as a Church that we are the temple of the Holy Ghost;society, that we perform those acts which are the appointed means of grace; and that society is therefore emphatically termed "the holy." The introduction of the term "catholic" into the sentence, may be easily accounted for, by considering the ambiguity of the term Church. It conveyed a caution, that the Church using such a creed should not confine its belief in the Divine residence, to its 141 It appears first in the writings of Tertullian, who mentions, what might lead us to suppose that it denoted the exercise of his mediatorial power at the right hand of God, namely, the existence 66 -as a of certain heretics, who supposed Christ's state of glory to be one of inactivity. "Affirmant carnem in cœlis vacuam sensu, ut vaginam, exempto Christo, sedere."-De Carne Christi, C. 24. 66 own particular society; but extend it to that large body, of which Christ is the head, and all churches are portions in particular. The communion of saints" was a still later addition; and its introduc- Communion tion implies, that the preceding clause had become obscure, inasmuch of Saints. as it is manifestly an explanation of it. The communion of saints, or Christians, is that which constitutes the essentials of a church; and consists in those acts which are the means of grace, the outward forms through which the Holy Ghost vouchsafes his operations. 66 last clauses. Tertullian is the earliest who makes mention of an article on the Tertullian's Church, and this is the view under which he represents it: 142" After view of the the declaration of faith has been made, and the pledge of salvation received in the name of the Trinity, there follows," he observes, necessarily, a mention of the Church; forasmuch, as where the three are, that is, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, there is the Church; which is their body.' Augustin has the same remark, "The right arrangement of the articles of confession required, that to the Trinity should be annexed the Church, as the house to its tenant, to a God his temple, the State to its founder. "'143 145 of Sins. The clause on the forgiveness of sins has by some been applied Forgiveness to errors which arose in the second century, the errors of the Montanists and Novatians.144 But there can be no doubt that it was made an article of belief among the earliest Christians." Without searching far into the probable need for such an article, it may be sufficient to observe, that remission of sins formed not only one of the most prominent points of the good tidings which the Gospel preachers announced, but one of the most objectionable. "Who is Luke vii. 49. he that forgiveth sins also?" expresses a scruple felt in common by Jew and Gentile. It was, in truth, no accidental bias originating in the heated imagination of a theorist, which caused the doctrine to be unacceptable, and likely to be got rid of. The converted Pharisee, who trusted in his righteousness, and the Gentile convert, with his habitual view of unlimited human merit, capable of raising him to heaven, would naturally require some provision against the continual revival of feelings subversive of the true Christian spirit, -so contrary to the humiliating truth, that all, even the best, require the forgiveness of sins. The same may be observed of "the resurrection of the body," or "the flesh;" which, although Resurrecuseful as a fence against the Gnostic follies already alluded to, Body must, we may conjecture, have been needed from the ancient prejudice of the anti-Christian world, and is noticed by the earliest Life The concluding words, the life everlasting," seem everlasting. writers. 142 De Baptismo. 143 Enchir. ad Laurentium, C. 15. 144 This is the view of the learned and ingenious author of "The Critical History of the Apostles' Creed," whose views 66 generally have been adopted in the pre- 145 It appears from Cyprian, that it was tion of the properly to belong to the foregoing, and to form with it one assertion; the foundation of which may be seen in our Saviour's declaraJohn v. 28, tion, that "the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the 29. Origin of separate different Churches. graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. If this view of the Apostles' Creed be correct, it is nothing improCreeds for bable, that with the exception of the few clauses specified in the foregoing review of it, Creeds, in substance the same, were used during the apostolic age. At all events, little doubt can be entertained, that such was the case in the age immediately succeeding. We say Creeds, because the ancient Creeds corresponded to what in modern Churches are called the Articles of Religion. This, being so, however intimate the union may be among orthodox Churches, the particular circumstances of each may require a different formula of belief, as well as of conformity; even as two confederate monarchies, or democracies, would not require precisely the same statutes and forms of administration. And so, although the Apostles' Creed be the substance of the earliest Creeds, and the precise language to a certain extent, yet there may have been many Creeds from the first; shaped by each Church with reference to its peculiar dangers of faith from without, or the prejudices of its own members within. Thus, as far back as we can trace the history of the early Creeds, that of Jerusalem was always distinct from that of Cæsarea or Antioch, and all these, again, from those of Alexandria or of Rome; and this, during the period of harmony between these Churches. First encroachment separate Churches. The gradual infringement on the independent character of each on the inde- separate Church, until it was extinguished by the papal usurpation, pendence of is a subject well worthy of more detailed discussion than is compatible with the limits of this inquiry. Among the primitive Churches, each formed its own Creed, its own Liturgy, and regulated its own ceremonies and discipline. The first encroachment took its rise from an apparent convenience. When the ruling powers of the world were generally Christians, each kingdom was made to have the same Liturgy, &c. for all its Churches. To give an instance: when Spain and Gallia Narbonensis became one distinct kingdom, it was decreed by a Council, that there should be exact uniformity through all the Churches of these provinces.' 146 The same principle, which thus produced an exact conformity among all the Churches of the same nation, became the ground of enforcing it, at length, on all the Churches of the empire. The first change was in the boundary line of a Church, which was made political instead of ecclesiastical. Men's minds being familiarized to this, and Churches being con 146"When Churches became subject to one political head, and national Churches arose from that distinction; then it was thought convenient by all the bishops of such a nation, to unite more closely in rituals and circumstantials of Divine worship, as well as faith and substantials."-Bingham's Eccl. Antiq. Book XVI. C. I. Sec. 13. of Rome tropolitan sidered as national bodies, it was no very revolting step which was taken by the Romish Church, when it made itself the metropolitan The Church of national Churches; and gradually claimed that conformity to its assumes the decrees, and that obedience to its laws, which the metropolitan title of MeChurch of every nation had acquired a right to expect from all of National Churches within the political pale of its jurisdiction. It was this miscalled Christian unity which the Reformation violated; and it is against such a Catholic Church, that all Protestants are accused of being guilty of heresy and schism. Churches. Canons. Clement. The custom of forming a code of rules for ceremonial conformity, was of later date than Creeds. The oldest are the Apostolical Canons, Apostolical and the Constitutions of Clement, as they are called, although written Constituconfessedly long after the death of that bishop. The date of both tions of these must be assigned, even on the view most favourable to their antiquity, to a period much later than that over which the present inquiry extends; nevertheless, some use has been made of them, as records of an order of things, which, if then recorded, must have been established in part, some time before any such code of rules respecting it could have been framed. derived from tion of We hear Articles. The Creeds were not only taught to the catechumens, but were Advantages publicly read in the churches; a custom which has become now frequent almost impracticable. The Articles of the Church of England form promulgatoo bulky a symbolum to be read, as might be desirable, at stated Church times, in the congregation, and as part of the service. them read in Church only when a clergyman reads himself in, as it is called, to a benefice. It is to be wished, however, that the members of the Church could be reminded more frequently and habitually of its peculiar Articles. The subject is well worthy of the consideration of those in authority. A few Articles at a time might be read without too much prolonging the service, although the reading of the whole at once might prove tedious and useless. The main object of such a form is, that it be used "as a sign upon the hand, and as frontlets between the eyes," that the Lord's law may 'be in our heart;" and it should not be kept merely for reference and appeal. This is the purpose of Scripture, not of the Articles. One substitute, doubtless, has been provided, in commanding the three Creeds to be read publicly; and, accordingly, in order to give these the sanction and authority of our Church, they are inserted in our Articles, although the doctrines contained in them are elsewhere expressed in the Articles themselves.147 Still, this only partially effects the purpose which would be gained by continual promulgation of the Articles. 66 Discipline To return to the primitive Church. It was not only careful to Moral preserve itself, by thus providing against errors of faith, but also by Discip taking cognizance of all immorality or indecorum, which would have Primitive 147 In the first five Articles, namely, which are obviously framed on the basis of the Creeds sanctioned afterwards in Art. VIII. Church. Immorality an Ecclesi well as a endangered the wellbeing of the community, endangered it, either by defeating the practical results of the faith on Christians, or by exposing the Church to the scorn and reprehension of those without, whom it was a sacred duty to conciliate by every honest endeavour. In this spirit, Ignatius writes to the Trallians,148 Do not let a few unthinking ones among you give occasion to the Gentiles for blaspheming the word and the dispensation of it." Precedents for the application of St. Paul's rule, of being "all things to all men," are furnished abundantly by the apostolic Church, and especially that portion of it which was immediately superintended by the great Gentile apostle. Even in the partial record which is left us, there is no lack of such precedents. The unobtrusive and cautious demeanour of the Church, in every place, may be pointed out as the visible means whereby Providence sheltered it from the ready spirit of persecution in Jew and Gentile; and the testimony of Pliny, when that spirit was awakened, fully proves how little the Church had incurred it by any imprudence or indiscreet regulations." 149 But, it was not merely the decorous and appropriate demeanour astical as of Christians, which required the guardian care of their constituted Wivilerime guides; their morals, even more than their manners, came under the cognizance of ecclesiastical government; and the exercise of ecclesiastical control here was peculiarly difficult and delicate. It was so on this account: moral offences are, for different reasons, proper objects of punishment to the Christian community considered as a Church, and to the same community considered as a State. With us, accordingly, who have lodged all power in the State, the former view is nearly lost, and punishment is only directed against immorality as a civil crime. But, at the period which we are now considering, each Christian society, bearing all the weight of responsibility on its own shoulders, and not receiving any support from the several civil authorities, felt itself bound to take cognizance of immorality, which, accordingly, became an ecclesiastical offence. In many instances the same act would be both a civil and also an ecclesiastical crime; and this circumstance has had greater influence on the character of the Church's authority than Christians are commonly sensible of. It has occasioned a natural disposition in the Church, from its first patronage by the first Christian emperor, to withdraw its exercise of authority in those matters which come under the cognizance both of Church and State; until all moral ecclesiastical discipline, as such, has been gradually superseded. Theft, for instance, is a crime against the community considered as a civil body, 148 Chap. viii. In another Epistle of the same Father, (ad Ephes. C. X.) there is a similar passage, and rather an eloquent one, which may, indeed, be applied to the prudence and expediency of good morals, as well as of discreet behaviour. "Give them (unbelievers) the chance of be ieving through you. Consider your selves employed by God; your lives, the form of language in which He addresses them. Be mild when they are angry, humble when they are haughty; to their blasphemy oppose prayer unceasing, to their inconsistency, a stedfast adherence to your faith," &c. 140 Ep. ad Traj. |