Cantate Domino.
Passing now to the corresponding Canticle at Evensong, we findCantate Domino, the 98th Psalm, which, though much briefer, and nearly free from elaborate detail, makes the same acknowledgement of the Almighty Maker, and calls upon His creatures to praise Him in their various orders in very similar fashion. Here however the climax is reversed. Beginning with human beings and God's mercy to them, and notably to Israel, we pass on to the sea, the world, the floods, the hills and all the inhabitants, returning at the end to the people and God's justice and judgment.
In both these Canticles, the thought is present that those, who do what God designs that they should do, are thereby praising Him. Hills, and valleys, and seas, are thought of as if they were human beings: they rejoice, and sing, and clap their hands, when ungrudgingly and with all the beauty and generosity of their best nature they carry out the Will of God. When man does the like, of his own will and in his {82} own place, he also sings, and makes great the praise of God.
v.2.With his own right hand, and with his holy arm. Several passages in Isaiah (li. 9, lii. 10, lix. 16, lxiii. 5) use this figure to represent God's invincible might.
Other phrases of Isaiah (lii. 7-10) are to be traced in this Psalm.The Lord the King, "Thy God reigneth":declared his salvation, "publisheth salvation":all the ends of the world have seen the salvation of our God, "all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God."O sing unto the Lord . . . let the hills be joyful, "Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places."
We have seen that the Gospel is frequently hidden[1] in the Old Testament Lessons. The unfolding of this hidden thought comes by natural sequence in the Second Lessons. They are chosen from the Gospels, which tell the History of our Lord's Earthly Life, or from the other parts of the New Testament, which carry on the History from His Ascension. The Acts of the Apostles is the second volume of the Gospel History, and the Epistles form a book of correspondence commenting on the first, or illustrating the second, volume. Lessons from the Gospels are records of the Gospel Spring-time, Lessons from the {83} Epistles and the Acts are records of the Summer; the Revelation of S. John carries us on to the Autumn, or Harvest time. To adopt a different metaphor, one kind of Second Lessons are chapters from the Wars of our Leader, another kind are chapters from the Wars of His lieutenants. There is in the one kind the Gospel thought, pure and simple; in the other kind there is the Missionary thought.
Since the Lessons have place in the Services as parts of an Act of Praise, we must always consider each Lesson in combination with its attendant Canticle. We saw that the First Lesson, when combined with the Respond of the Congregation inTe Deum, is an Act of Praise to God, for His Promise of Salvation by His Son. In like manner the Second Lesson, when combined with its Responding Canticle, may be an Act of Praise to God, for the Coming of the Saviour, or for the Spread of the Gospel. We must therefore now discuss the connection between the Second Lessons and their attendant Canticles.
BenedictusandNunc dimittispraise God for the Coming of His Son—Jubilate DeoandDeus misereaturpraise Him for the Spread of the Gospel.
Benedictus.
Benedictusis the Hymn of Zacharias upon the first beginning of the actual Coming of Messiah. "The horn of salvation was virtually raised up when the Incarnation became an accomplished fact" (Godet). The birth of S. John the Baptist was foretold to his father Zacharias, and the name by which he was to be {84} called. Zacharias showed his faith in the Angel's message by giving him this name—John—which meansGod's mercy.Benedictusis a Hymn upon that name. There is a Psalm, well-known, we are to suppose, to Zacharias, upon the same theme. It is number cvi. in our Bible. From it a very large proportion of the leading words of this Hymn are taken.Blessed be the Lord God of Israel(v.48),visited(v.4),redeemed(v.10),salvation(v.4),spake(v.2),since the world began(v.48),from our enemies—from the hands of all that hate us(vv.10, 41), mercy (vv.1, 7), remember, remember the covenant (vv.4, 7, 45),being delivered(v.43),righteousness(v.3),all the days of our life(=at all times,v.3). Some of these come twice in the Hymn, or in the Psalm, and leave comparatively few leading words unaccounted for.
There are, however, two verses in the Hymn which require further notice. The wordanatoleis translateddayspringin the last couplet, because it is treated here as giving light to those who sit in darkness. But in Zech. iii. and vi. it is used of Joshua the son of Zerubbabel and translatedBranch. The thought of Joshua the High Priest as prefiguring Jesus our High Priest suggested the idea of the Branch, but its other meaning suggested the star of the East ushering in the day.
Distinguish between the Zacharias who speaks and the Zechariah of the Old Testament, the prophet whose words he uses. Note that Joshua and Jesus are the same word, and that the prophet's words about Joshua are used by John's father about Jesus. {85} Also there are references to Psalm cxxxii., wherevv.1 and 11 mention God's remembrance and God's oath, andv.17 has thehornof David andI will make to flourish, using a word akin to the word fordayspring(exanatelo,anatole).
v.2.A mighty salvation. In S. Luke (A.V.) horn of salvation: see Psalm xviii. 2. The horn is used as the symbol of strength.
v.6. The oath is in Gen. xxii. 16, 17, 18,By myself have I sworn—that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven—and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. It is explained (Gal. iii. 16) that Abraham's seed is Christ: in Him all nations are blessed.And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise(Gal. iii. 29). Thus the oath to multiply Abraham's seed is fulfilled in the increase of the Christian Family.
v.9.Thou, child,=John the Baptist.
The Highest=God Almighty.
v.10. St John Baptist was to give people knowledge of Jesus—the Saviour.
v.11. The Dayspring is Jesus. The word for dayspring in Greek means "springing up," and is translatedBranchin Zech. iii. 8 and vi. 12, and Jer. xxiii. 5.
v.12. Read Isaiah ix. 2 (to give light, &c.) and Isaiah xlix. 9-11 (to guide, &c.). Also 2 Pet. i. 19 and Rev. xxi. 23 and xxii. 16.
It will be noticed that although the occasion was the Birth of John, yet his father's Hymn is directed to the Coming of Jesus. Jesus is the Dayspring or {86} Branch—John is to be the herald of the Saviour. Not till the 9th verse does the father address his infant son: his mind is turning upon the greater Birth which was to come six months later.
In verses 5, 6 and 7 there is a complex reference to the birth ofChrist's forerunner. By a play on the names Zacharias, Elizabeth andJohn he sings thatGod's remembrancewas wedded toGod's oath, andthence was bornGod's mercy: for as we said above the 'text' of theHymn is John—God's mercy.
This Hymn may be called a Hymn of the Advent; whatever is read in the Gospels as the Second Lesson will be sure to excite, in those who listen, Praise to God for the Advent of His Son.
Nunc Dimittis.
The Evening Service is supplied with a different Hymn of the Advent for its Second Lesson—that of the aged Simeon, when, having waited through his long life for it, he was blessed at last with the sight of the Infant Jesus. Holding Him in his arms when He was brought to the Temple, he used these words of praise. God was letting him depart in peace: notice the wordsThou lettest: it is not the imperative, praying for release; but the indicative, praising God for His mercy. The other chief thoughts of this short Hymn are that Jesus is God'sSalvation—before the face of all people—a Light to Gentiles—and the glory of Israel. Comparing these with the Hymn of Zacharias, we shall be struck with the correspondence of two very different compositions.
{87}
Lighten: not as in Te Deum 'to come upon,' but as in 3rd Collect at Evening Service, 'to give light.'
Gentiles—Israel: making up together the whole human race.
Jubilate Deo.
It is scarcely necessary at this time to show that the 100th Psalm is suitable as a Canticle after a Missionary Lesson; for it seems to be assumed that the Old Hundredth, in its metrical form, is an integral and necessary part of a Missionary meeting. "In its breadth and simplicity it is fit for all occasions of access of the redeemed to God, and naturally it has become (both in its original form and its metrical rendering) the regular hymn of unmixed thanksgiving in the Church of Christ. It is invv.1, 2 an invitation to joy, because we know that we are God's people[2]."
This Psalm was formerly used at Lauds on Sundays.
1. We claim the whole earth for God,
2. Because He is God, because He made us, and because He protects us.
4. The wide extent of His mercy is made the ground of praise and thanksgiving at this place in the Service, because the spread of the Gospel has been called to mind by the Second Lesson.
{88}
Deus Misereatur.
Ps. lxvii., styled by Dr Kay The Spiritual Harvest-Home Song of Israel, is to be applied by us to the Harvesting of Missionaries, when set before our minds in the Second Lesson. It especially refers to the gathering-in of the Gentiles ('all nations'), and extends the threefold blessing of Num. vi. 24-26 to them; seevv.1, 6, 7. Cf. the description which is placed at the head of this Psalm in the Bible,A prayer for the enlargement of God's kingdom—to the joy of the people—and the increase of God's blessings.
In the Sarum Use it was a special Sunday Psalm at Lauds (see p. 44); together with Psalm 63, it followedJubilate Deoand precededBenedicite.
[1] Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet, Vetus Testamentum in Novo patet.
[2] Bishop Barry.
{89}
VI. The Creeds.
The discussions which arose upon the Revelation of Himself, which God gave in His Son Jesus Christ, were carried on between people who lived far apart round the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
The Nature of Almighty God could not possibly be easily understood by man. We might as well expect a horse to understand the nature of man. When a man tries to make a horse understand kindness, he is often disappointed with the lower nature which seems unable to appreciate it: but he perseveres, and expects some response to his efforts.
In like manner we may believe that God expects us to respond when He reveals something of His own Nature to us.
Assuming that He is perfectly Wise, we must own that what He tells us about Himself it is good for us to believe, and to try to understand. The Revelation is itself a claim upon our Worship. We start with a grain of Faith: that is, we believe that there is a Revelation—an unveiling of the mystery of God's Being.
{90}
It was necessary that argument should just fail to prove this; because it is God's Will that men should be equal before Him: the man who can argue very cleverly was not designed to have an advantage over the stupid or ignorant man in their dealings with God. The meaning of our Lord's words,The poor have the Gospel preached to them, is not to be confined to poverty in money and clothes: the man who is poor in opportunities, learning, intellect, canbelieveif he makes the needful effort: the intellectual man who is poor in humility has also to make an effort, and to endeavour to believe. They and all others are made equal when God makes His Claim upon them. Moreover, the difficulties of Faith are in proportion to the Aids to Faith. There is no compulsion of Reason, any more than there is compulsion of Authority, or of Imprisonment. We are all free; we all have difficulties; and we all have the call of God to Believe in Him.
Reason is one of God's best gifts. Reason shows nothingcontraryto Faith, when the balance comes to be struck. The Intellectual argument is with us all, and is slightly in favour of Belief. But Faith is the atmosphere in which we must move, if we are to see the Invisible God.
Revelation, then, appeals to Faith, and is not opposed to Reason. The Summary of Revelation which is found in the Christian Creeds is compiled from the Bible. Reason is incapable of assuring us that God has a Son, and equally incapable of assuring us that He has not a Son. The Revelation assures us that He has a Son: and Reason cannot, in the {91} nature of things, contradict that assurance. Reasoning can tell us, and does tell us, that the Epistles (say) of St Paul to the Galatians, Romans, and Corinthians were written, as they claim, by St Paul; that the Gospels and other New Testament books are compositions of the first century; that Christianity was accepted as true by multitudes of the people of that century, and so on. But the acceptance of the Faith was then, and still is, left to your choice—a choice whether you will listen to God's Call to be His faithful son, or reject it.
The Apostles' Creed.
The Apostles' Creed is a summary of those things which the Bible tells us of God's Being. There can be no higher act of the soul of man than to dwell Upon the Being and Attributes of God. It is a great step upwards, to purify one'slifefrom evil. But plainly it is a further and higher step, to purify thesoul: for the man who refuses todoevil is not so far on as the man who refuses tofeelandthinkevil. It is however possible for him to reject evil only because it is bad for himself. A life of selfishness may be wonderfully free from the doing of evil. The Revelation in Jesus Christ is the Revelation of God as the highest Aim, and of the Unselfish Life as the path to God.
A summary of what God has told us of His Being is most perfect for use in Worship, when it is most free from discussion. A courtier is most courtly when he is freest from doubts and suspicions of his king. {92} The presence of discussion in a creed implies that there has been a doubt.
The Apostles' Creed has no discussion in its clauses, and has been called "The loving outburst of a loyal heart." (Harvey Goodwin.) It is therefore the Creed of Worship and Praise.
The Nicene Creed is the Creed of Self-Examination. Discussion is implied in some of its clauses.
The Athanasian Creed is a Guide to Thought concerning the nature of God. It appeared on the scene at the close of many controversies—when the Church had debated the various explanations of Revelation which had been proposed, and was prepared to declare what God's children may reverently say and think of their Father in Heaven. [See Chapter on the Athanasian Creed.]
"I will worship toward thy holy temple and praise thy Name because of thy lovingkindness and truth: for thou hast magnified thy Name and thy Word above all things" (Ps. cxxxviii. 2). When used in Church Services a Creed must always be regarded mainly as an Act of Praise to God.
The most evident characteristic of a Creed is that it says what we know of God by His Revelation of Himself in the Bible.
Now, that which speaks of God must of necessity be a declaration of HisWorthiness—an Act of Worship.
We have already defined Praise as that kind of Worship wherein we think of God, and not of ourselves.
Forasmuch as a Creed contains, chiefly or entirely, {93} the proclamation of God's Nature and Being, it is the form in Worship which is most entirely Praise.
The Apostles' Creed is so placed in the Morning and Evening Prayer as to be the highest of several kinds of Praise.
The Psalms have a considerable mixture of thoughts of man, and of human dependence on God.
The Old Testament Lesson, with its Respond, draws from Man's History the joyful thoughts of God's mercy.
The New Testament Lesson, with its Respond, carries our Praise a degree nearer to Perfect Peace and Joy in the Goodness of God through Christ.
The Apostles' Creed entirely omits the human element that we may rejoice in God's Existence.
Other uses of Creeds. Creeds have been used for various purposes, which may be classed as follows:
(a) Symbolum, or Examination. (b) Self-Examination. (c) Guide to Thought and Basis of Argument. (d) Praise or Worship.
(a) In order to understand the wordSymbolum, from which a Creed is often called a Symbol, we must go back to the days when, for persecution's sake, and lest they should unnecessarily cause their own deaths, Christians met in secret, and required pass-words that they might know one another.
To be admitted freely to the Christian assemblies a man had to know theCreed as his pass-word (symbolum); which at Milan, and in otherChurches, was taught to the Catechumens, some three weeks beforeEaster, and not written down. They recited it a {94} week later, andthen were taught the Lord's Prayer, in the time of S. Augustine. OnEaster Eve they recited it again, and were baptized. This use of theCreed survives in the Baptism Services.
(b) Whereas we believe most firmly those things which we most frequently remember, it is needful that we remember frequently the Articles of the Creed. Hence Self-Examination requires not only the consideration of our Conduct, but also the examination of our Faith. In the Visitation of the Sick, and in Holy Communion, the Creeds are used for Self-Examination.
(c) Since other thoughts are built up on those which we have about God, it is usual amongst Christians to use the Articles of the Creed as a Guide to what they are to think about themselves, and about the World, and about the Evil and Good which are in the World. Their arguments with one another rest upon the Creeds which are acknowledged amongst them.
(d) But apart from all inferences and arguments, the facts about God's Existence call forth from the heart of man joyful praise and adoring worship.
The name by which God is declared to His People in Exodus is I AM. The thoughts by which we too come nearest to Him are thoughts which declare what HE IS. Thus the Apostles' Creed in Morning and Evening Prayer is a Hymn of Praise.
History of the Apostles' Creed.
The similarity of the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, as they stand in the Prayer Book, {95} suggests the reflection that disputes about the Human and Divine Natures of Jesus caused the enlargement of those parts which refer to Him: and that similar enlargements were caused by disputes about the Holy Spirit, and even about the Father. We cannot certainly say that the Apostles' Creedas it now standsis older than the Nicene Creed. But we know that Eusebius brought to the Nicene Council (A.D. 325) a form simpler than the Nicene Creed; and that briefer forms were used in the second century by Tertullian (A.D. 200) and Irenaeus (A.D. 170).
Having already considered the various uses of a Creed, we are prepared to acknowledge that something of the sort was a necessity from the beginning. Justin Martyr's writings, about the middle of the 2nd century, record the arguments about the Existence of God, and of Jesus Christ, which had influenced him and others for many years, inducing them to live and die for the Faith. (See Just. M.Apol.andDial. Trypho, passim.)
The death of S. John the Apostle must have occurred during Justin's lifetime. We are led therefore to examine the Bible for traces of a Creed. The following are some of the passages which supply an answer to our examination.
Eph. iv. 1-6:
One Body—One SPIRIT—one Hope of our calling.
One Faith—One LORD—one Baptism.
One God and FATHER of all,—above all, through all, in all.
Col. i. 4-22 is an exposition of Faith in God through Christ, with a reference to the Holy Spirit: {96} but especially concerning the Being of Christ, who is declared to be
v.15. The Son fully and perfectly.
v.16. By whom all things were made.
v.17. Before all things.
v.18. Begotten before all worlds.
v.19. In whom by the will of the Father all the fulness dwelleth.
v.20-22. Who died for our Redemption and Reconciliation.
1 Cor. xv. 3-8. References by a preacher to what he has taught to any whole congregation must, almost of necessity, be references to what he was in the habit of teaching. The articlesmentionedhere are part of S. Paul's Creed, viz. the articles which he is about to use as the basis of an argument about Resurrection.
Acts xix. 2, 3. The ignorance about the Holy Spirit displayed by the 12 men at Ephesus revealed to S. Paul that they had not been baptized as Christians; for (S. Matth. xxviii. 19) that would have involved Teaching about the Holy Trinity.
Acts viii. 37. This verse, though not now believed to be part of the original text, was so believed by Irenaeus (A.D. 170).
It therefore shows us that a confession of faith at Baptism was (1) expected in Irenaeus' time, (2) expected by someone much earlier, who being accustomed to it, wrote it in the margin, or between the lines of a copy of the Acts.
2 Tim. i. 13, 14. The form of sound words was a good deposit which Timothy was to hold fast.
{97}
There are other passages which contain references to the Holy Trinity: suggesting that the earliest Christians, when thinking of the Godhead, were prone to include the Three Persons, as we by reason of our Creeds are also disposed to do. Thus our investigation leads us to suppose that a Creed was early used as a Basis of Teaching, and as a Password at Baptism: that it soon settled down into a form very like the Apostles' Creed: that in A.D. 325 the controversy about our Lord's Divine Nature led to the expansion of those Articles which referred to Him.
To these we may add that in 381 the Council of Chalcedon expanded the ArticleI believe in the Holy Ghost, or formally adopted an expansion which had become usual: and so gave to the Nicene Creed the form which it now has.
It is difficult to say exactly where the Apostles' Creed is most likely to have come as a link in the historic chain.
A comparison may be usefully made between:
I believe in God the Father I believe in one GodAlmighty, the Father Almighty,Maker of heaven and earth: Who made heaven and earth:And in Jesus Christ his only And in one Jesus Christ theSon our Lord, Son of God,Who was conceived by the Who was made flesh.Holy Ghost,Born of the Virgin Mary,Suffered under Pontius Pilate, And (I believe) in His Suffering,
{98}
Was crucified, dead, andburied:He descended into hell;
The Third day he rose again And in His Rising from thefrom the dead; dead,
He ascended into heaven, and And in His Ascension in theflesh,Sitteth on the right hand ofGod the Father Almighty;From thence he shall come to And in His Coming fromjudge the quick and the heaven that he may executedead. just judgment on all.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; And in the Holy Ghost.The Holy Catholic Church;The Communion of Saints;The Forgiveness of Sins;
The Resurrection of the Body, And that Christ shall comefrom heaven to raise up allflesh . . . and to adjudge theimpious and unjust . . . toEternal fire and to give tothe just and holy immortalityAnd the life everlasting. and eternal life.
The Articles of the Creed rest upon the proper understanding of whatGod has revealed to us of Himself. The Bible is the record of HisRevelation. The references in Chapter xi. are amongst the vast numberof such passages which might be adduced.
The days mentioned in the rubric as days on which theConfession of our Christian Faith, commonly {99} called The Creed of Saint Athanasius, is to besung or said at Morning Prayer, instead of the Apostles' Creed, are 13. Four of these days are in the Easter and Ascension groups of days; when the doctrine of our Lord's Divine and Human Natures is most taught. The other nine days are chosen so as to fall, one in each of the nine months, between June and February. So the Praise Service ends, with the Highest Thoughts of God and His Being.
The Lord be with you.
Answer. And with thy spirit.] This may be taken as the mutual salutation of Minister and People at the close of the Praise Service. It is therefore to be said before they kneel. In the Confirmation Service, the Laying-on of Hands is concluded with the same words. Compare the close of our Lord's words to the Apostles, S. Matth. xxviii. 20: S. John xiv. 27: and the close of S. Paul's Epistles without exception; also, close of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 1 Peter, 3 John, and Rev. In the Old English Services (Sarum Use), it closed the Preces. In 1549 it was entirely omitted there, but replaced as it now stands, when, in 1552, the Creed was taken out of the Prayers, and placed immediately after the Canticles.
Let us pray.] This is the signal for kneeling, and commencing the prayers.
{100}
It may be said with truth that the Bible is a book which reads History, and the perplexities of Man, in the light of one great postulate, viz. that there is a God. The natural sequences, which are now partially explained by scientific discoveries, are in the Bible attributed to God's guidance: and of course there is no contradiction between the two. Science explains something of the ways of God's working: from it we learn something of His principles, and also of His methods: when we are surest of scientific laws, we are then confronted with the assumption that there is, or that there is not, a God. The Bible is the Book of Faith—Faith that there is a God. But, since it interprets History, it plainly recognises History, as one of God's Lesson Books. Also, since it appeals to Reason, and is consistent with Reason, it recognises Reason, as another of the Lesson Books. In the present chapter we indicate some of the Lessons to be learnt in these three Books of God.
Much has been written, especially in recent times, showing the marvellous working of what we call, at one time, the Laws of Nature, and at another time, Laws of God. There is infinite interest, to a thoughtful {101} mind, in the reading of BellOn the Hand, Argyll'sReign of Law, Maury'sPhysical Geography of the Sea, even when further discovery has improved upon their explanations. It must always be remembered that God has given us Reason and Knowledge, as well as Faith. Reason leads us to the threshold of Heaven, and Faith admits us to the Presence. History assures us that Jesus Christ lived in Judaea, founded Christianity as a Kingdom not of this world, and transformed the Kingdoms of this world: Faith admits us to Personal Communion with Him through the Holy Spirit.
I. (a) What Reason has to say about God.
The Athanasian Creed distinguishes between the teaching of the Catholick Religion and the teaching of the Christian Verity. A moment's thought shows that many who do not hold the Christian Verity, i.e. the Truth as revealed in Christ, do nevertheless hold the Truth as to the Unity of God. For amongst those who believe in The One God are Jews, Turks and many Hereticks, besides those Agnostics whose hesitation, about accepting the Revelation in Christ, is united to a readiness to believe in God. The Belief in One God therefore is more Universal than the Belief in the Holy Trinity. The word Catholick is usedwithinthe Church of those who hold the doctrine of the Church. But it may be also used in a more general sense of those who hold the supreme Truth of Godhead.
In order to illustrate the evidence which has been used concerning this prime article of the Christian Faith, we might refer to many interesting books. The {102} following argument is attributed to Socrates by Xenophon (Mem. 1. iv.).
"We admire great poets—great dramatists—great sculptors and painters: which is more worthy of admiration—he who makes images without mind and motion, or he who makes things which live and move and act?
"The latter, if he makes them of purpose. Then purpose is shown by the obvious usefulness of things: men from the beginning have had the benefit of senses suited to their environment—eyes to see what is visible, ears to hear what is audible. Smells are of use because we have noses; things that we eat are sweet or bitter or agreeable in the mouth, because we have palates. Then again the eye is a delicate organ, but is fitted with an eyelid to keep guard over it, eye-lashes to strain off small particles, eyebrows to carry the sweat away from it. Further, the ear receives sounds but is never overfull of them: front teeth are adapted to cutting, back teeth to grinding: the mouth is near the eyes and nose, which watch over what goes in: these and other arrangements indicate a Maker, who adapts the organs to their uses, and has a wise and loving design. Parents love their children naturally, and naturally people want to live, and dislike death. Hence the Maker shows that He has a design, and that His design is that His Creatures shall live.
"Moreover, we have a certain amount of matter, a certain amount of moisture, while there is a vast amount of those things elsewhere: similarly we have a certain amount of intelligence. Why then should we suppose that intelligence is the only thing which {103} is an exception—the only thing of which we have the whole? why suppose that all these adaptations have been made, so wonderfully, without a controlling mind?
"You say you would believe it if you could see the controlling Creator? But you believe in the existence of your own mind without seeing it: on that principle, you ought to say that all you do yourself is done by chance.
"The next question is whether God is too great to require our service? The answer is that God has shown a special kindness to men, as compared with other animals. Their upright walk, their possession of hands, their articulate voices, their superior minds, their powers of self-protection—and the adaptation of these powers and qualities to one another, constituting an altogether higher existence—all these show a special kindness in a wise Creator who has all the qualities and powers in a far higher degree. By serving one another we learn to know our friends; by asking advice we find who are wise: so if we make trial of God, we shall find that He is All-seeing, All-present, and Watchful over all." This argument does not enter upon the question whether there is one God or more; but it deals with the previous question of Godhead; and with all that is implied in 'Maker of Heaven and Earth'.
It must also be observed that (assuming the notion of many Gods to be excluded, and that our Belief is to be either in One God, or in no God), the argument of Socrates has gone far towards the Bible conception of God's Being. Cf. Article 1.
{104}
(b) What the Bible Revelation says about God.
Reasoning of the kind which Socrates used comes near to proof. But it can never actually prove the existence of God. The mind of man is so constituted that it dislikes the notion of Laws without a Lawgiver. Evolution is a law which is found to hold in many cases, and is often assumed, with much probability, to hold in other cases. And it is a Law which exhibits the most beautiful adjustments in its working. We naturally are impelled to ask further back for the maker of this Law. The Revelation which is written in the Bible, and which has been held true from distant ages by good men, is a Revelation which appeals to a higher quality in man than even his intellect. It appeals to hisfaith. The Bible evidence of God's existence is consistent with reason, and grounded onfaith.
We should be able to find many texts which state God's existence, His Unity, His Omnipotence, His Omniscience. We prefer however to refer the student to whole Books and long passages: such, for instance, as the training of Israel to worship God—the awe and reverence which appear in all the language about God—the consistent Holiness of His character as presented in all the Books. From the first words of the Bible,In the beginning God created, to its last chapter (Rev. xxi. 5),Behold I make all things new, it is a Revelation of the Creator.
The following may be remembered:
Deut. iv. (35) 39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thy heart, that the LORD he is God in {105} heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. 1 Kings viii. (Solomon's Prayer). Isaiah xl. 12-31, xlv. Job xxxviii-xli.
The argument of Socrates pointed to a Creator who loves men. The Bible declares God to be a Loving Father. Deut. xxxii. 6. Is not he thy father that bought thee? Deut. i. 31. The LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went. Acts xvii. 22-31. S. Paul at Athens.vv.24-28. The God that made the world . . . made of one every nation . . . that they should seek God . . .: for in him we live, and move, and have our being; . . . as certain even of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Further He is revealed as the Father of Jesus. S. John xx. 17. I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. S. John xiv. 12, 13 . . . I go unto the Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. S. Matth. xi. 27. All things have been delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
The Love of the Father towards men is shown by His tenderness towards them. Rom. viii. 39, (nothing) shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. v. 8, God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Psalm ciii. describes this tenderness, showing (v.6) that God's judgments against oppression are a kindness to the weak. So in {106} many other places. Note also that vice and crime are an injury to the wicked, and a burden to others. Hence God's hatred of sin is a sign of His Love.
Thus the first paragraph of this Creed is an Act of Worship, from children towards their Father, as well as from the creatures of God's hand towards their God.
II. (a) What the outside world said of Christ.
The foundation of Christianity was not laid with outward marks, but in the hearts of those who, by one, and by two, united themselves together to serve the Lord Christ. As He had said,The Kingdom of God came not with observation. Not with notice from the rulers and the mighty of this world, but in the quietness of homes, and the darkness of prisons, the Church became so wide as to take a foremost place, without much record in the chronicles of kingdoms. We must therefore look to Christian books for the history of early Christianity. At the close of the first century after the Saviour's Birth there were living three great writers who were united in close friendship, viz. the younger Pliny, and the historians Tacitus and Suetonius. Suetonius wrote lives of the first twelve Caesars, and, in his history of Nero (A.D. 54-68), mentions the punishment of Christians, "a set of men of a new and mischievous superstition." Tacitus, describing the same reign[1], and the burning of Rome (A.D. 64), {107} shows that Nero tried to throw the blame from himself, by accusing and punishing the Christians. He adds a few words about them. "The founder of that name was Christ, who was put to death, in the reign of Tiberius, under Pontius Pilate: which temporarily crushed the pernicious superstition, but it broke out again, not only in Judaea, where the evil originated, but in Rome also." Tacitus has the idea that Christians were guilty of many crimes: but their tortures and Nero's cruelty caused them to be pitied. Pliny, on the other hand, made careful enquiries; and gives a very different account of their personal character[2].
Thus we see that almost silently—'without observation'—the ChristianLife grew into its great place in outside history.
(b) What the Bible says of Jesus.
S. Matth. i. 21. Thou shalt call his name Jesus. xvi. 16 Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. S. John i. 14 the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, 1 Cor. xvi. 23 our Lord Jesus Christ. S. Matth. i. 18 his mother Mary was found with child of the Holy Ghost. S. Luke i. 35 that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. S. Matth. xxvi. 39 O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. S. Mark xv. 15 Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified. 25 and they crucified him. 37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up {108} the ghost. 44 And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead. 45 And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. 46 And he . . . took him down . . . and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. xvi. 1-6 And when the sabbath was past . . . very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of sun . . . the stone was rolled away . . . entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side . . . And he saith unto them . . . Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here. S. John xx. 20 he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Acts i. 10, 11 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. 1 Pet. iii. 22 (Jesus Christ) is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. S. Mark viii. 38 when the Son of Man cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels, S. Matth. xxv. 32 before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another. Rom. ii. 16 God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. Acts x. 42 it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead. Rom. xiv. 10 we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
{109}
Notei. Quick=living. Cf. S. John vi. 63, it is the spirit that quickeneth, A.-S. cwic.
Jesus=God the Saviour; or God is my Saviour: the same word as Joshua.S. Matth. i. 21.
Christ=Anointed. Ps. ii. 2; cf. Acts iv. 26.
Noteii. Death is the separation of soul and body: the body returns to earth as it was (Eccl. xii. 7), and the spirit, or soul, returns to God who gave it. Resurrection is when the soul and body are reunited. While we are alive there is a continual change of particles which form the body; yet it is the same body. Similarly after death the particles decay, but the body of the Resurrection will be in that sense the same body (1 Cor. xv. 38). When we say that Christ was buried, we mean that His Body was buried, and in this Creed we add that He descended into hell: and we mean that His Soul went to the place of departed spirits, which are waiting for the Judgment. The word, Hell, has no meaning here of punishment. In Anglo-Saxon, helan=to cover, and hell=a covered place. In some parts of England we stillhele(=cover)overroots to keep off the frost. Thus hell is used to translate Gehenna in S. Matt. v. 22, and also Hades in Acts ii. 27, 31, which last is the meaning here. This Creed should be compared in parallel lines with the Nicene Creed, in order to see what phrases are here which are omitted there. We shall notice the following: conceived, born, dead. He descended into hell, from the dead. It is clear that the Nicene Creed was framed to express more clearly theGodheadof Jesus, which had been denied {110} by Arius. The Apostles' Creed, on the other hand, expresses more clearly the true human nature of our Lord: His Birth and Death are more definitely stated—either because His Resurrection from the dead had been doubted, or because the verity of His human nature was not well understood. The words,He descended into hell, complete the statement that he died as truly and completely as other men die.
The passage, 1 Peter iii. 19, 20 has often been quoted as indicating that, in His death, He had a work to do amongst those who had died before He came on earth—viz. to carry to the blessed dead the glad tidings of His Conquest of Sin, whereby they, as well as others after them, are saved.
Noteiii. Among early heretics were some who thought that Jesus, being truly God, could not have died except by a substitute—that heseemedto die. They were thence called Docetae (fromdokeinto appear). In like manner, many people have since attributed His Perfect Holiness to His Godhead only, and not to His human victory over real temptations. This Creed sets forth the Bible doctrine of His Manhood more particularly. But it also declares His Godhead—partly because the words,I believe in God, belong to all three paragraphs of it; and partly by the words,his only Son. See S. John i. 1-4, 14, 18; 1 S. John i. 3; S. Matth. xvi. 16. The Nicene Creed was prepared at a time when His Perfect Manhood was universally believed, but some thought that He was not God. It is therefore much fuller in the statement of His Godhead.
{111}
III. What the Bible says of the Holy Ghost.
The third paragraph of this Creed is a summary of the teaching of the Bible concerning Him whom we often call the third Person of the Godhead—whom Jesus described as the Comforter (S. John xiv.-xvi.). He there promised to His disciples the presence with them of One, who should be closer to them than He had Himself been, xvi. 7: xiv. 16, 17: who should unite them more closely to Himself, xiv. 18, 23: who should teach them, and help them to remember His words, xiv. 26: who should testify of Him, xv. 26: and guide them into all truth, xvi. 13: when they should be accused and persecuted, the Holy Ghost would guide their speech, S. Matth. x. 19, 20: S. Mark xiii. 11: S. Luke xii. 11, 12: xxi. 14, 15.
Consistently with these promises we find all good impulses, thoughts, and actions, in man, ascribed to the Holy Ghost—Comfort, Acts ix. 31: Joy, Rom. xiv. 17: Baptism, S. Matth. iii. 11: 1 Cor. xii. 13: Fellowship, Phil. ii. 1: Power, Acts i. 8: Sanctification, Rom. xv. 16: Teaching, 1 Cor. ii. 13: xii. 3: Resolution, S. Luke iv. 1: Acts xv. 28: Vocation, xiii. 2, 4: xx. 28: He is ranked with the Father and the Son, S. Matth. xxviii. 19: Eph. iv. 4-6: 2 Cor. xiii. 14.
His Presence is imparted through the Laying on of Hands, Acts viii. 15, 17: xix. 6: ix. 17: and before it, x. 44, in the exceptional case of Cornelius. Thus, individually we are temples of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. vi. 19.
{112}
But further, the Holy Ghost unites us in one Body—the Church, Eph. iv. 2-4: wherein the work of each is allotted by Him who in 1 Cor. xii. 28 is called God, and invv.4-11 is called the Spirit, and inv.3, the Holy Ghost. By virtue of this, the Church is Holy, 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17, even though individual members are unworthy. And this Church was to be One for all the world, Acts i. 8, S. Matth. xxviii. 19, 20: 1 Cor. i. 2: Eph. i. 22, 23: iii. 9, 10: S. John xvii. 20, 21. Thus it is the Holy Catholick Church. Catholick=Universal, for-the-whole. Also the Holy Catholick Church is the Society of Saints, the Communion or Fellowship of Saints. S. Paul writing to the Corinthians (1 Cor. i. 2) addresses them as the Church, called to be Saints, and (after referring to the distribution of various duties amongst the members by the Holy Spirit) he says (xii. 25-27) that there should be no schism in the body, but all the members should care for one another, suffer with one another, and rejoice with one another: indeed his argument is that the Church is a body, and that this sharing of joy and sorrow is an existing fact. So in 2 Cor. i. his whole argument turns upon this thought of a society, wherein the comfort of one is the comforting of the rest, and the prayers of the rest a help to the one, the gift bestowed upon one, a cause of the others' thankfulness; and all stablished together by God. In Heb. xii. 22 mount Zion is taken as the symbol of Christ's Church; and the readers are addressed as members thereof, together with the spirits of just men made perfect, who are enrolled in heaven as the general assembly and church of the firstborn. Thus the {113} Church, or Society of Saints includes the imperfect, and those who are made perfect; those who are alive there, and those who are alive here. The condition of membership is briefly described in Acts ii. 38, 42 Repentant, Baptized, having the Gift of the Holy Ghost, Apostolic Doctrine and Fellowship, Communicant, Stedfast in Prayers.
Since then, Repentance and Baptism, Acts ii. 38: iii. 19 "for the Remission of sins," "that our sins may be blotted out," are thus associated with the gift of the Holy Ghost—see also S. John xx. 22, 23—this second great privilege of Christians is stated in the Creed; we believe in the Forgiveness of Sins. It is preached unto us through Christ, Acts xiii. 38: it is granted to us for His Name's sake, 1 S. John ii. 12: the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, S. Mark ii. 10: it is especially associated with the Presence of Christ in the assembly of the Church, S. Matth. xviii. 17-20: 1 Cor. v. 4: S. John xx. 22, 23. The union of the Faithful with Him in whom they have Faith brings, through Jesus, Rom. iii. 25, remission of their sins, through the forbearance of God.
The third great privilege, which comes to members of Christ through the Holy Ghost, is the Resurrection of the Body, a most prominent doctrine of the Gospel: as in the case of other articles of the Creeds, so here, we only give representative verses. Acts xvii. 18 S. Paul is stated to have been misunderstood, because he preached at Athens Jesus and the Resurrection, and invv.31, 32 it is shown that he preached the Resurrection of men to be judged. So those who {114} knew Jesus best (S. John xi. 1-3) believed, as of course, in the Resurrection of all menvv.23, 24: in S. John v. 25-29 the Lord states the doctrine: 1 Cor. xv. shows how S. Paul taught it, and,vv.37, 38, declares that the body of the Resurrection will be a nobler and higher body, as the plant is nobler and higher than the seed—see Phil. iii. 21: 1 Cor. xv. 43, 48, 49. Further, it is likened to the gift of Life in Baptism, Rom. vi. 3-5, which is the work of the Holy Spirit, 1 Cor. xii. 13: hence it is expressly stated to be His work, Rom. viii. 10, 11. The fourth great privilege is Life everlasting. S. John i. 12 to those who received Jesus, He gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name: S. John xvii. 2, 3 and this is life eternal: S. John v. 24 which begins here on earth: but, S. Mark x. 30, is, in a higher sense, the promise of the world to come, where, Rev. xxi. 4, 1 Cor. xv. 26, 54, there shall be no more death.
In connection with this Creed we should read the Nicene Creed, the first Four Commandments, Articles I. to V., XI. and XV.,Gloria in excelsisin the Communion Service, and the Proper Prefaces in the Holy Communion for Christmas, Easter, Ascensiontide and Whitsuntide. Also, note thatGloria Patri, andThe grace of our Lord, are founded upon the Faith which is expressed in the Creed: and that the Collects not unfrequently have endings similarly founded.
[1] Annals xv. 44.
[2] See Appendix D.
{115}
A learned Professor once attacked the use of Creeds in Worship with the bitter words, that "they combine the maximum of offence with the minimum of worship." This utterance might be discussed by comparing the use of a Creed in the worship of God, with the statement of the merits and action of a great man.
I have often heard people praise the Professor whose words we have just quoted. Suppose that a number of people were assembled together, and one in the name of the rest were to speak to the Professor of his great talents, his immense usefulness, his upright life, his loveable character, his services to education, we should not be offended, even if we were not fully aware of all that he had done for humanity. We should not say that there was any minimum of praise, nor any maximum of offence. It would not be an act chargeable with these faults, unless we did it in the midst of those who disputed his eminence.
{116}
The House of God is a place where we ought to assume that the revelation of God is the foundation of worship. Hence a Creed which recites the substance of that revelation should fairly be assumed to express the convictions of all present.
The two Creeds, known to us asThe Apostles' CreedandThe Nicene Creed, are evidently free from the charge of offence or lack of worship. They take so little account of matters of opinion,—they deal so entirely with the facts of Revelation, that it is hard to conceive any other kind of words so free from the kind of charge which the Professor brought against Creeds in Worship.
But it will be necessary to examine more at length the position of the Creed which is called Athanasian, and to enquire what defence may fairly be made, if it is the form against which the Professor really brought this charge. For it must be acknowledged that many thoughtful men do stumble at this Creed. To them it is an offence, because it is often assumed that it is the expression of opinion about those who do not accept the doctrines which it contains.
1. Now in reciting the Athanasian Creed, a congregation is not attempting to deliver its opinion: we are reciting the assertions which are implied in the Bible, concerning the Being of God, and the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.
Let us emphasize this point. The Athanasian Creed has a different form from the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. You could not fairly describe it as "a loving outburst of a loyal heart," as Bp Harvey Goodwin described the Apostles' Creed.Gloria {117} Patriis indeed added at the close, thereby marking it as a Psalm or Hymn in its use in Church[1].
We think that in its form, fairly considered, it is the reflective utterance of a Christian, who is meditating on the Being and Personal Nature of the Godhead. As I read or say it, I am, as it were, balancing the statements which limit my conception of the truth. On this side I may go so far, and no further; on that side I am limited to that expression. Between these two—including these truths—the fact of Godhead is to be considered, and my worship is to be directed. Hence we can see that, like the other Creeds, it deals with therevealed facts of God's existence.
2. Notice that in the Creed it is the existence of GOD which is defined. Faith does, in other forms, enter upon a consideration of doctrines which introduceManto our view.
Predestination and Election,Justification by Faith alone,Sanctification,Assurance and Perseverance,Original Sin,Sacramental Grace,Sin after Baptism,
{118} and other facts and truths, on which Revelation has thrown the only true light, are dealt with, for instance, in the Articles and Homilies. And the Bible is the Court of Appeal in all such perplexities. But it is no disparagement to the importance of those truths, if we acknowledge that they do not appear in our Creeds.
The Creeds are the respectful reply of the Christian to God's disclosure of Himself to His children. One (the Apostles' Creed) is the reply of the Christian as such. Another (the Nicene) is the reply of the Christian after careful self-examination. And this Third is the reply of the Christian Student, as he meditates upon the furthest extent of our knowledge of God.
3. But it will be said, "The Nicene Creed partly, and the Athanasian Creed altogether, are not, in their origin, utterances of peaceful meditation, but, rather, of polemical controversy. Heated contentions and bitter strife are called to our minds by their terms, and not the atmosphere of the heaven of heavens."
It may help us to a right use of the Creeds in worship, if we think of these controversies as the meditations of a very large family. When a deliberation can be held in a room, we can quietly put forward a suggestion, quietly find out what fault there is in it, and as quietly substitute a better statement than the first, guarded from the error into which we were likely to fall. But when the family which deliberates is distributed around such a space as the Mediterranean Sea, the voices are apt to become loud and harsh: instead of tentative suggestions, diffidently put forward, we are likely to hear dogmatic assertions, made with {119} all the energy of the human lungs. The voices which arose from the members of that Parliament of the Faith present a greater variety of languages than the tongues at Pentecost. In the Church's Meditation on the Being of God, and on the Person of Jesus, we hear the Spaniard, the Gaul, the Welshman, Italian, Greek, Syrian, Armenian, Alexandrian; there are voices from Arles, and from Carthage, as well as from Samosata on the Euphrates, and Jerusalem on its holy hill, and Caesarea on the sea-shore. We have to regard the Mediterranean Sea as the Council Table, with chairs at the back for such as could not find places on its shores. Three continents faced one another at an oval table, 13,000 miles in circumference. Even in thoughtful meditation, a voice must be raised to be heard in such a conference. This will to some extent explain how it happened that men, whom we account orthodox, are occasionally found uttering what we will callsuggestions, unorthodox in character.
I.About God's Being.
1.The Jew. There is but One God.
2.The Ebionite. Then Christ is but a Man divinely endowed—the only man so divinely endowed.
3.St John. No! He is the Word. By Him all things were made; the Word was God and was made flesh.
4.The Sabellian. Then perhaps,—God being One and being made flesh,—the Word, and the Holy Ghost, are but manifestations of God.
{120}
5.The Catholick Church. No! They are Persons. A Father and a Son are different persons.
6.The Arian. Then, if the Father is a real father, and the Son a real son, perhaps the Father was before the Son, and the Son was made.
7. The Catholick Church. This will not do; because the Sonship would not be real sonship unless the Godhead were equal. The Godhead of the Son must be the same Godhead as that of the Father.
8.Macedonius. But at any rate the Holy Ghost may be a creature, or a manifestation of God the Father.
9.The Catholick Church. That will not do either; for His Personal Being and Godhead are implied by some verses; and in various passages He is ranked with the Father and the Son.
10.The Semi-Arian. Then you really say that there is an actual equality of the Three Persons, and yet that there is but one God?
11.The Catholick Church. Yes! That is the Catholick Faith.
Of course this is but a rough specimen of the dialogue which was conducted by the Church with the various guessers at great Truths, who debated, disputed, and dogmatized, during the early centuries. I have left out all the other controversies, and some parts of this, in order to present a fairly clear view. But you will observe that the order followed in History has a good deal of the natural course of argument and meditation: and that it is not a very foreign idea that these heresies are the loud thinking {121} of a mighty host, as it outgrows its childhood, and comes to years of discretion.
I will yet more briefly indicate the course of Historical meditation on deep things, by treating similarly one of the other great controversies, viz. that concerning the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
II.About the Two Natures of our Lord.
1.The Jew. We bear witness that Jesus of Nazareth died at Jerusalem.
2.The Catholick Church. And we aver that He rose again from the dead, and was the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
3.The Gnostic. Probably He was one of the Aeons of whom our forefathers have told us—the leading emanation from the Most High.
4.The Catholick Church. He is no Aeon, Manifestation, nor Creature. He is God as truly as He is man.
5.The Manichaean. Then, of course, if He was God, He could have nothing really material about Him. Matter is evil.
6.The Catholick Church. On the contrary He had a body like ours.
7.The Docetae. No! That was only in appearance. You must leave out all about His Baptism, Circumcision, and Crucifixion. They were only pretence.
8.The Catholick Church. Not pretence at all, but real. He derived Very Manhood from the Blessed Virgin Mary, as truly as He derived Very Godhead from God the Father.
{122}
9.The Arians. Perhaps He took a human body, but not a human soul. "The Divine Word was in the place of the soul."
10.Nestorius. Perhaps if these things be so—since He derived the Person of God from God, and the Person of man from Mary—then we must not say that He was one Person, but two.
11.The Catholick Church. These ideas are contrary to the Truth: for (Council of Ephesus 431) Christ was but one Person, in whom two natures are intimately united, but not confounded.
12.The Eutychians. Granting there were not two Persons, we suppose that there were not two Natures. We hold that there was but one Naturemono physite(mono physis)—originally two distinct natures, but, after union, only one: the human nature being transubstantiated into the divine.
13.The Catholick Church. This also is faulty. For (Council of Chalcedon 451) in Christ, two distinct natures are united in one person without any change, mixture, or confusion.
14.Honorius Bishop of Rome and the Monothelites. Then perhaps the human will of Christ was subservient to the Divine Will, so as always to move in unison with it.
15.The Catholick Church. (3rd Council of Constantinople 680—6th General Council.) No! You would destroy the truth of His humanity.
It is obvious that we are here returning to some part of the earlier errors, and that everything possible {123} had been suggested, and settled. Even orthodox people, who incline to hold that Christ's human knowledge was divinely acquired, or His human temptations divinely resisted, are but repeating the errors of old days.
Thus the Controversies, however disfigured by excess of language and temper, &c. are the meditations of the Church on the Nature of Her Lord and Her God.
Some of them are perhaps too much of the disposition of S. Thomas, who must push his hands against the scars of the Lord's Body; but the Lord has ever been patient towards the devout and warm-hearted men, who share with S. Thomas, not only his doubt, but that devotion which destroys intrusive impertinence.
The following interesting argument as to the date of this "Creed" is worthy of study.
The Athanasian Creed appears on the scene at the close of these loud meditations. It is unconscious of the theory that Eutyches started, because it uses phrases which he might have perverted, e.g.
One, not by conversion &c.As the reasonable soul &c.
Thus its date is given by internal evidence as previous to 451.
The same sort of argument may apply to Nestorius, who was condemned431. But this is more doubtful. It insists on "one Son, not threeSons"—but says nothing of "one Son, not two Sons" which was theNestorian error.
{124}
These two points may be summarised.
Monophysites(condemned 451 at Ephesus) insisted onOne Nature, to defend One Person:
opposing
Nestorians(condemned 431 at Chalcedon), who insisted onTwo Naturesalmost, if not quite, to the assertion ofTwo Persons.
[Transcriber's note: refer to Footnote 1 on page 176 referring to an error in the above two paragraphs.]
The date is limited in lateness by the above. It must have been before the middle of 400-500, i.e. before the complete development of the controversy condemned in 451.
And it could not be earlier than 416, because it plainly condemns Apollinarians, who denied a human Soul to Christ, and said the Godhead was in place of a human soul (360-373): and because several of S. Augustine's expressions appear in it, whose books on the Trinity appeared about 416, and later.
Moreover the 'Filioque[1]' appears in it, and S. Augustine was the first to give this prominence.
Thus the date is fixed between 420 and 440.
And it is Latin, in the construction of its Sentences, not Greek; andGallic, in its first reception, and chief, earliest, and most numerous,MSS and commentaries.
The Roman Church did not adopt it till 930, though Charlemagne presented it to the Pope in 722.
Thus Waterland dates it in France between 420 and 431. Within those dates the authors possible are, not Athanasius, for he died about 373, but
Hilary of Arles, Bp. 429-449.Victricius of Rouen.Vincentius of Lérins, 434.
{125}
These arguments apply, however, not to the Creed as it now stands, but to the documents from which it was compounded, and to the language which it has retained.
This Psalm, or Creed, or discussion of the Creeds, appears to be formed by the union of two documents, one of which was a discussion of the nature of God, and the other a discussion of the Person of Christ. An article by Professor Lumby in the S.P.C.K. Prayer Book will be accessible to all our readers. The former document occupies 28, and the latter, 14 verses.
The doctrine that there is a God, and particularly that there is but one God, may be called the Catholic Religion, in a very wide sense: for it is held by Jews, Turks, and many others who are not Christians.
The Christian Verity is the Truth that God was made man, that Jesus is God and Man, yet not two, but one Christ. This involves the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
The Catholic Faith includes both the Catholic Religion and theChristian Verity.
vv.9 and 12: the wordincomprehensibleis the Latin wordimmensus, elsewhere renderedinfinite. (See Article I.)vv.21-23 show that there are statements which can be made of each Person, which cannot be made of the other Persons of the Godhead: 6-18 have been showing that there are statements which can be made of each Person, which can also be made of the other Persons—statements involving Godhead. 24-27 state the inference which is to be drawn from the former verses, an inference previously stated in 3-5.
{126}
v.31. The word Substance occurs frequently in the discussion of the Godhead of our Lord, and also in the debates about the Holy Communion. Substance is the Essential Existence: it has no necessary connection with ideas like 'hard' and 'soft,' 'heavy' and 'light'; if we are thinking of a spirit there is no question of Matter, for the Substance, i.e. the Essential Being, of a spirit is not of the nature of Matter. The phrase in the Nicene CreedBeing-of-one-substance-with(the Father) is a translation of the word Consubstantial.
The nameQuicunque Vult, by which this psalm is sometimes mentioned is from the first words of the Latin originalQuicunque vult salvus esse=Whosoever will be safe. This phrase "be safe" occurs again in verse 28, and again in the last verse of the psalm, wherequam nisi—salvus esse non poteritshould be translatedwhich except a man have believed faithfully and firmly, he cannot be safe. The substitution of another idea—"be saved,"—is of the nature of an addition to the meaning.
The addition is, however, independently stated in verse 2.
These verses are to be understood, like the Bible statements of similar character, as the warning which overhangs all our actions. They say nothing of what allowance God makes for involuntary ignorance, prejudice, difficult perplexities, and other infirmities. They declare our responsibility when we look up to God, and reflect on our own actions, or on God's Being.