Chapter VII: Preface: To the Seventh Edition (6)

The place of the temple where the ark stood, was the innermost and most sacred part, called the _Holy of Holies_, and sometimes _the most holy place_; which was made on purpose for its reception. This place, or room, was of an exact cubic form, being thirty feet square, and thirty feet high. In the centre of it, the ark was placed upon a stone (say the Rabbins) rising three fingers’ breadth above the floor. On the two sides of it stood two cherubims, fifteen feet high, at equal distance between the centre of the ark and each side of the wall; where, having their wings expanded, with two of them they touched the side walls, whilst the other two met and touched each other exactly over the middle of the ark.—_Yoma_, cap. v. § 2.

The ark, while it was ambulatory, with the tabernacle, was carried on the shoulders of the Levites, by the means of staves, overlaid with gold, and put through golden rings. Exod. xxv. 13, 14; xxvii. 6; Num. iv. 4–6; 1 Chron. xv. 15.

What became of the old ark, on the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar, is a dispute among the Rabbins. Had it been carried to Babylon with the other vessels of the temple, it would have been brought back again with them, at the end of the captivity. But that it was not so, is agreed on all hands; whence it is probable it was destroyed with the temple. The Jews contend, that it was hid and preserved by Jeremiah. Some of them will have it, that King Josiah, being foretold by Huldah the prophetess that the temple, soon after his death, would be destroyed, caused the ark to be deposited in a vault, which Solomon, foreseeing this destruction, had built on purpose for the preservation of it.—_Buxtorf, de Arca_, cap. xxi., xxii.

ARMENIANS. The Christians of Armenia, the first country in which Christianity was recognised as the national religion, in consequence of the preaching of Gregory, called _The Illuminator_, in the beginning of the fourth century. At a later time the Armenians adopted the Eutychian or Monophysite heresy, asserting that the human nature of CHRIST is swallowed up of the Divine; or is no more properly human than a drop of vinegar put into the sea can afterwards be reckoned vinegar. They do not deny the real presence in the eucharist, they do not mix water with their wine, nor do they consecrate unleavened bread. They abstain from eating blood and things strangled. They scrupulously observe fasting; and fasts so frequently occur, that their whole religion seems to consist in fasting. They admit infants to the sacrament of the eucharist: they reject purgatory and prayers for the dead: they fast on Christmas day, and they allow marriage in their priests. The Armenians were anciently subject to the patriarchs of Constantinople, but they now have their own patriarchs.

ARMINIANS. A powerful party of Christians, so called from Arminius, professor of divinity at Leyden, who was the first that opposed the then received doctrines in Holland, of an absolute predestination. They took the name of Remonstrants, from a writing called a Remonstrance, which was presented by them to the states of Holland, 1609, wherein they reduced their peculiar doctrines to these five articles:—

1. That GOD, from all eternity, determined to bestow salvation on those who, as he foresaw, would persevere unto the end in their faith in JESUS CHRIST; and to inflict everlasting punishment on those who should continue in their unbelief, and resist, to the end of life, his Divine assistance; so that election was conditional; and reprobation, in like manner, the result of foreseen infidelity and persevering wickedness.

2. On the second point, they taught, That JESUS CHRIST, by his suffering and death, made an atonement for the sins of mankind in general, and of every individual in particular; that, however, none but those who believe in him can be partakers of that Divine benefit.

3. On the third article they held, That true faith cannot proceed from the exercise of our natural faculties and powers, nor from the force and operation of free will; since man, in consequence of his natural corruption, is incapable either of thinking or doing any good thing; and that, therefore, it is necessary to his conversion and salvation, that he be regenerated and renewed by the operation of the HOLY GHOST, which is the gift of GOD, through JESUS CHRIST.

4. On the fourth they believed, That this Divine grace, or energy of the HOLY GHOST, begins, advances, and perfects everything that can be called _good_ in man; and that, consequently, all good works are to be attributed to GOD alone; that nevertheless, this grace, which is offered to all, does not force men to act against their inclinations, but may be resisted and rendered ineffectual by the perverse will of the impenitent sinner.

5. And on the fifth, That GOD gives to the truly faithful, who are regenerated by his grace, the means of preserving themselves in this state; and, though the first Arminians entertained some doubt with respect to the closing part of this article, their followers uniformly maintain, That the regenerate may lose true justifying faith, fall from a state of grace, and die in their sins.

The synod of Dort, consisting of Dutch, French, German, and Swiss divines, and held in 1618, condemned their opinions.

ARMS. Armorial bearings, whether borne by individuals or by corporate bodies and corporations sole: among which are reckoned bishops, colleges, and other ecclesiastical persons and bodies. A bishop empales his family coat with the arms of his see, to denote his spiritual marriage with his Church; but the arms of the see occupy the _dexter side_ of the escutcheon, or _the side of greater honour_. When a bishop is married, he empales the arms of his wife with his own family coat, on a separate escutcheon; and this escutcheon is placed by the sinister side of the shield, empaling his own coat with the arms of the see. Many of the arms of bishoprics contain allusions to the spiritual character of the person who bears them. Thus the archbishops of Canterbury, Armagh, and Dublin, each bear a pall, in right of their sees; as did the archbishop of York till his arms were changed about the beginning of the sixteenth century to two keys crossed saltierwise, and a crown royal in chief. Colleges often assume the family coat of their founder as their arms.

ARTICLES, THE THIRTY-NINE. The Thirty-nine Articles, based on the Forty-two Articles framed by Archbishop Cranmer and Bishop Ridley in the reign of Edward VI., were presented by his Grace the archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Parker, to the convocation of the province of Canterbury which was convened with the parliament in January, 1562, and by the convocation they were unanimously approved. In 1566 a bill was brought into parliament to confirm them. The bill passed the Commons, but by the queen’s command was dropped in the Lords. In 1571 the convocation revised the articles of 1562, and made some alterations in them. In the same year an act was passed, “to provide that the ministers of the Church should be of sound religion.” It enacted that all ecclesiastical persons should subscribe to “all the articles of religion which only contained the confession of the true faith and of the sacraments, comprised in a book imprinted, entitled ‘Articles,’ whereupon it was agreed by the archbishops and bishops, and the whole clergy in convocation holden at London, in the year of our LORD GOD 1562, according to the computation of the Church of England, for the avoiding of diversities of opinions, and for the establishing of consent touching true religion, put forth by the queen’s authority.” In 1628 an English edition was published by royal authority, to which is prefixed the declaration of Charles I. The English Articles were adopted by the Irish convocation in 1615.

Some have thought that they are only articles of union and peace; that they are a standard of doctrine, not to be contradicted or disputed; that the sons of the Church are only bound to acquiesce silently in them; and that the subscription binds only to a general compromise upon those articles, that so there may be no disputing or wrangling about them. By this means they reckon, that though a man should differ in his opinion from that which appears to be the clear sense of any of the articles; yet he may with a good conscience subscribe them, if the article appears to him to be of such a nature, that though he thinks it wrong, yet it seems not to be of that consequence, but that it may be borne with and not contradicted.

Now as to the laity, and the whole body of the people, certainly to them these are only the articles of Church communion: so that every person, who does not think that there is some proposition in them that is erroneous to so high a degree that he cannot hold communion with such as hold it, may, and is obliged to, continue in our communion; for certainly there may be many opinions held in matters of religion, which a man may believe to be false, and yet may esteem them to be of so little importance to the chief design of religion, that he may well hold communion with those whom he thinks to be so mistaken.

But what the clergy are bound to by their subscriptions is much more than this. The meaning of every subscription is to be taken from the design of the imposer, and from the words of the subscription itself. The title of the Articles bears, that they were agreed upon in convocation, “for the avoiding of diversities of opinions, and for the establishing of consent touching true religion.” Where it is evident that “a consent in opinion” is designed. If we in the next place consider the declarations that the Church has made in the canons, we shall find, that though by the fifth canon, which relates to the whole body of people, such only are declared to be excommunicated _ipso facto_, who shall affirm any of the articles to be erroneous, or such as he may not with a good conscience subscribe to; yet the thirty-sixth canon is express for the clergy, requiring them to subscribe “willingly and _ex animo_,” and “acknowledge all and every article to be agreeable to the word of GOD:” upon which canon it is, that the form of the subscription runs in these words, which seem expressly to declare a man’s own opinion, and not a bare assent to an article of peace, or an engagement to silence and submission. The statute of the 13th of Queen Elizabeth, chap. 12, which gives the legal authority to our requiring subscriptions, in order to a man’s being capable of a benefice, requires that every clergyman should read the Articles in the Church, with a declaration of his unfeigned assent to them. These things make it appear very plain, that the subscriptions of the clergy must be considered as a declaration of their own opinion, and not as a bare obligation to silence.—_Bishop Burnet._

We learn from the New Testament, that those who first embraced the gospel declared their faith in JESUS, as the promised Messiah, in simple and general terms (Acts viii. 37); and there is no ground for supposing that the apostles required this declaration to be made in any one particular form of words. No such formulary is transmitted to us; and, had any ever existed, it would probably have been cited or alluded to in the New Testament, or in the early apologies for Christianity. Every bishop was authorized to prescribe a formulary for the use of his own church; and there are still extant in writers who lived near to the apostolic age, several abstracts of Christian faith, which, though they agree in substance, vary in expression. But, when heresies gained ground, and destroyed uniformity of belief among Christians, it became necessary to have a public standard of faith; and to this cause we are to attribute the origin of creeds. The design of these creeds was to establish the genuine doctrines of the gospel, in opposition to the errors which then prevailed; and to exclude from communion with the orthodox Church of CHRIST all who held heretical opinions. New dissensions and controversies continually arose; and we have to lament that, in process of time, “the faith, which was once delivered unto the saints,” became corrupted in the highest degree; and that those very councils, which were convened according to the practice of the apostolic age, for the purpose of declaring “the truth as it is in JESUS,” gave their sanction and authority to the grossest absurdities and most palpable errors. These corruptions, supported by secular power, and favoured by the darkness and ignorance of the times, were almost universally received through a succession of many ages, till at last the glorious light of the Reformation dispelled the clouds which had so long obscured the Christian world.

At that interesting period the several Churches, which had separated themselves from the Roman communion, found it expedient to publish confessions of their faith; and, in conformity to this practice, Edward the Sixth, the first Protestant king of England, caused to be published by his royal authority forty-two “Articles, agreed upon by the bishops and other learned and good men, in the convocation held at London in the year 1552, to root out the discord of opinions, and establish the agreement of true religion.” These Articles were repealed by Queen Mary, soon after her accession to the throne. But Queen Elizabeth, in the beginning of her reign, gave her royal assent to thirty-nine [or rather thirty-eight] “Articles, agreed upon by the archbishops and bishops of both provinces, and the whole clergy, in the convocation holden at London in the year 1562, for avoiding diversities of opinion, and for the establishing of consent touching true religion.” These Articles were revised, and some small alterations made in them, in the year 1571; since which time they have continued to be the criterion of the faith of the members of the Church of England on the subjects to which they relate. The Articles of 1562 were drawn up in Latin only [in reality the Articles both of 1552 and of 1562 were set forth in our authorized English version, as well as in Latin]; but, in 1571, they were subscribed by the members of the two houses of convocation, both in Latin and English; and, therefore, the Latin and English copies are to be considered as equally authentic. The original manuscripts, subscribed by the Houses of Convocation, were burnt in the Fire of London; but Dr. Bennet has collated the oldest copies now extant, and it appears that there are no variations of any importance.

It is generally believed that Cranmer and Ridley were chiefly concerned in framing the forty-two Articles, upon which our thirty-nine are founded. But Bishop Burnet says, that “questions relating to them were given about to many bishops and divines, who gave in their several answers, which were collated and examined very maturely; all sides had a free and fair hearing before conclusions were made.” Indeed, caution and moderation are no less conspicuous in them than a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, and of the early opinions and practice of Christians.

These Thirty-nine Articles are arranged with great judgment and perspicuity, and may be considered under four general divisions: the first five contain the Christian doctrines concerning the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; in the sixth, seventh, and eighth, the rule of faith is established; the ten next relate to Christians, as individuals; and the remaining twenty-one relate to them, as they are members of a religious society. But, as all confessions of faith have had a reference to existing heresies, we shall here find, not only the positive doctrines of the gospel asserted; but also the principal errors and corruptions of the Church of Rome, and most of the extravagances into which certain Protestant sects fell at the time of the Reformation, rejected and condemned.—_Bp. Tomline._

The various forms through which the Articles have passed, may be seen in _Cardwell’s Synodalia_, and in _Hardwick’s History of the Articles_. In 1615, a set of Articles of a Calvinistic nature were compiled by the Irish convocation; but it does not appear that they ever received the sanction of parliament. These, however, were superseded in 1635 by the English Articles, which were then adopted by the Irish Convocation. (See Introduction to _Stephens’ Book of Common Prayer_, from the Dublin MS., vol. i., xxxvii.–xxxix.) The old Articles are given at length. In general, these perfectly agree with the English Articles; but the doctrines of the Lambeth Articles are introduced.

ARTS. One of the faculties in which degrees are conferred in the universities. In the English and Irish universities there are two degrees in arts, that of Bachelor and that of Master. The whole circle of the arts was formerly reduced to seven sciences, grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy; and these again were divided into the _trivium_, including the first three, and the _quadrivium_, including the remaining four. Music is now considered as a separate faculty at Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin; as the degrees of Doctor and Bachelor of Music are given. Grammar was a separate but subordinate faculty at Oxford and Cambridge, in which there were three degrees, Doctor, Master, and Bachelor. There is an instance in Wood’s Athenæ Oxon., of a _Doctor_ in Grammar and Rhetoric (Robt. Whityndon, 1513). The last record of grammatical degrees at Oxford is in 1568; at Cambridge in 1539. The faculty of arts is called that of philosophy in some foreign and more modern universities, there the degrees are Doctor and Candidate.

ASAPH, _Psalms of_. One of the three Temple Choirs bore the designation of the _Sons of Asaph_: from Asaph, their leader, in the time of David. They were descendants of Gershom, the eldest son of Levi. Twelve Psalms are entitled Psalms of Asaph: viz. the 50th, 73rd, 74th, 75th, 76th, 77th, 78th, 79th, 80th, 81st, 82nd, and 83rd. Critics are divided in opinion, as to whether these were composed or adopted by the above-named Asaph, or by one of the same name, but of later date, or were appropriated to the peculiar use of the _Sons of Asaph_, in the courses of attendance at the temple.

ASCENSION DAY. This holy day has been kept in the Christian Church from the earliest times. It is reckoned by the compiler of the Apostolic Constitutions among the other great festivals, Christmas day, the Epiphany, Easter, and Whitsunday; and St. Augustine speaks of it as either instituted by the apostles, or by some early and numerously attended councils of the primitive bishops, whose authority he considered most beneficial in the Church. “On this day,” says St. Chrysostom, “the reconciliation between GOD and mankind was completed, the long enmity was dissolved, the blasting war brought to an end.” “On this day, we, who had been shown to be unworthy of earth, were raised to the hope of heaven; we, who were not fit to receive dominion even on earth below, were exalted to the kingdom which is above; and our nature, kept out by cherubim from an earthly paradise, may now sit above the cherubim on high.” CHRIST, the first-fruits of our nature, having obtained this perfection, we that are his members may hope to partake the same glory. This hope the returning day of his ascension should ever bring into our minds, and we should keep it for the sustaining of our hope, and in thankfulness for the grace it brought. It is one of the days which the Church especially recommends for the receiving of the holy communion. (See _the_ _Special Preface in the Communion Office_.) It is difficult to account for the too prevalent neglect of this high festival of our Church, on any other ground than the encroachment of worldly principles upon the minds of men, to the displacing of the principles of the Church. Ascension day is one of the six holy days for which special psalms are appointed. The three Rogation days are appointed to prepare us for its right celebration, and yet, because it is not marked by worldly festivities, many neglect and pass it by. It is observed as a scarlet day at Oxford and Cambridge. It is popularly called Holy Thursday. By 27 Henry VI. cap. 5, the holding of fairs or markets was prohibited on _Ascension day_, as well as on other high holidays, and on Sundays, &c.; making an exception however of the four Sundays in harvest: and it was enacted that the fair should be held on some other day preceding or following. That part of the act which related to Sundays in harvest was repealed by 13 and 14 Vict. cap. 23. The rest of the act remains unrepealed.

ASCETICS. Men in the second century, who made profession of uncommon degrees of sanctity and virtue, and declared their resolution of obeying all the counsels of CHRIST, in order to their enjoying communion with GOD here; and also, in expectation that, after the dissolution of their mortal bodies, they might ascend to him with the greater facility, and find nothing to retard their approach to the supreme centre of happiness and perfection. They looked upon themselves as prohibited the use of things which it was lawful for other Christians to enjoy, such as _wine_, _flesh_, _matrimony_, and _commerce_. They thought it their indispensable duty to attenuate the body by watchings, abstinence, labour, and hunger. They looked for felicity in solitary retreats, in desert places, where, by severe and assiduous efforts of sublime meditation, they thought to raise their souls above all external objects and all sensual pleasures. Both men and women imposed upon themselves the most severe tasks, the most austere discipline; all which, however it might be the fruit of pious intention, was in the issue extremely detrimental to Christianity, and tended to introduce the doctrine of justification by inherent righteousness. These persons were called _ascetics_ (from ἀσκησις, exercise or discipline) and _philosophers_; nor were they only distinguished by their title from other Christians, but also by their garb. In the second century, indeed, such as embraced this austere kind of life submitted themselves to all these mortifications in private, without breaking asunder their social bonds, or withdrawing themselves from the concourse of men. But in process of time, they retired into deserts; and, after the example of the Essenes and Therapeutæ, they formed themselves into certain companies.—See _Origen, contr. Cels._ lib. v.; _Can. Apostol._ cap. 51; _Cyril, Catech._ 10, n. 9; _Bingham, Antiq. Chr. Ch._

ASCETICISM. The practice of the Ascetics. We do not consider neglect of the body—meaning by the term our present material organization—a rule of Christianity. The abnegation of sin is, of course, the root of all religion, and the body of sin is a scriptural phrase for our nature in its unredeemed and antagonistic state; but it ceases to be a body of sin, in this sense, when it becomes a member of CHRIST: it becomes in baptism a temple of the HOLY GHOST. But how are we to judge that the spirit within is indeed regenerated? Principally by the works of the body. The existence of good works manifests the operation of the spirit of good, and the Christian character therefore takes for its physical development—labour, activity, perseverance, energy, fortitude, courage; to all of which qualities self-denial is the preliminary. Christianity, therefore, does not eradicate the powers of the body any more than it does the feelings of the heart, or the faculties of the mind; it eradicates their misdevotion. What it aims at effecting is, to assign to each in its sanctified character its proper place and province. It defines legitimate objects for the passions, legitimate ambitions for the mind, legitimate aspirations for the soul. Simply, Christianity is human nature in rectitude, not lethargy, of action. Nature in every instance tells us that we possess such and such powers; the gospel directs their application, and reveals the important results dependent on their use or abuse. The right discipline, therefore, not the destruction, of human capabilities, is inculcated by the Scriptures. GOD has for the wisest reasons placed the extirpation of these internal organs of action beyond our power, but within our power the regulating them for good or evil, happiness or misery. The choice is ours; the consequences attendant on the choice are not ours: these have been fixed from, and will extend into, eternity.—_Morgan._

ASCODRUTES, or ASCODROUTES. An heretical sect of the Marcosians. They rejected the sacraments, alleging that things spiritual cannot be conveyed in corporeal symbols.—_Bingham, Antiq. Chr. Ch._

ASHES. Several religious ceremonies depend upon the use of _ashes_. St. Jerome relates, that the Jews, in his time, rolled themselves in ashes, as a sign of mourning. To _repent in sackcloth and ashes_ is a frequent expression in Scripture, for mourning and being afflicted for our sins. Numb. xix. 17. There was a sort of lustral water, made with the ashes of an heifer, sacrificed on the great day of atonement, the ashes whereof were distributed among the people. In the Romish Church, ashes are given among the people on Ash-Wednesday: they must be made from branches of olive, or some other trees, that have been blessed the foregoing year. (_Pescara Cerem. Eccles. Rom._) The sacristan, or vestry-keeper, prepares these ashes, and lays them in a small vessel on the altar: after which the officiating priest blesses the ashes, which are strewed by the deacons, and assistants, on the heads of all that are present, accompanied with these words, _Memento, homo, quod pulvis es_, &c.; _Remember, man, that thou art dust_, &c.—_Religious Ceremonies of all Nations_, vol. iii. (See _Ash-Wednesday_.)

ASH-WEDNESDAY. (See _Lent_ and _Commination_.) This day seems to have been observed as the first day of Lent in the time of Gregory the Great. It is supposed by some, that Gregory added three days at the beginning of Lent, to make the number forty, in more exact imitation of the number of days in our blessed SAVIOUR’S fast; and that before his time there were only thirty-six days, the Sundays being always kept as festivals. It was called, in his time, _Dies cinerum_, the day of sprinkling ashes, or _Caput jejunii_, the beginning of the fast. The custom of open penance, which the name of the day reminds us of, is one of those things which the Church of England, at the time of the Reformation, wished to see restored; but on account of the prejudices of the time, she could not carry out her wishes. (See _the_ _Commination Service in the Prayer Book_.)

ASPERGILLUM. An instrument resembling a brush, used in the Roman Catholic Church for the purpose of sprinkling holy water over objects to be blessed.

ASPERSION. (See _Affusion_.) The sprinkling with water in the sacrament of baptism. This our rubric permits.

_Then the priest shall take the child into his hands, and say to the
godfathers and godmothers_,

Name this child.

_And then naming it after them (if they shall certify him that the
child may well endure it) he shall dip it in the water discreetly
and warily, saying_,

_N._ I baptize thee in the name of the FATHER, and of the SON, and of the HOLY GHOST. Amen.

_But if they certify that the child is weak, it shall suffice to pour
water upon it, saying the aforesaid words._

_N._ I baptize thee in the name of the FATHER, and of the SON, and of the HOLY GHOST. Amen.

It is said by the Anabaptists that there is no authority in Scripture for thus administering the sacrament of baptism. But we find in the primitive Church, that although baptism was regularly administered by immersion, yet in cases of sickness, where clinic baptism was administered, aspersion was used. We conclude, then, that immersion is not essential to the sacrament; and if sickness were an excuse for not immersing under certain circumstances, it is still a sufficient excuse, if in our cold climate to immerse our children would be attended with danger.—See _Bingham’s Origines Ecclesiasticæ_.

ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES. The title given to a notable assembly held at Westminster, 1st July, 1643, convoked by an ordinance of the Lords and Commons, but forbidden to be held by the king, to take the liturgy, government, and doctrines of the Church under consideration. The members were elected by the knights and burgesses, two being returned for each county. According to Clarendon, they were most of them men of mean learning, and some of them of scandalous morals. Among the exceptions to this condemnatory sentence were Lightfoot and Selden. Usher was nominated, but with the few Episcopalians elected did not serve. The Scottish covenant was taken by this assembly: the confession of faith still received in the Scottish Presbyterian establishment, and the larger and shorter catechisms, were drawn up. But the opinions of the members differed so widely on many points, that the assembly broke up without accomplishing the principal end for which it was convened. (See _Confessions of Faith_.)

ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY. A festival of the Romish Church, instituted in the seventh century, and fixed to the 15th of August, in honour of the imaginary ascension of the Virgin Mary into heaven, which, without any authority from Scripture or tradition, some sects in that corrupt Church teach to have occurred in a miraculous manner, some years after her death. Such is the corrupt practice of the Romanists, that in many places higher honour is paid to this legendary festival than even to the anniversary of the crucifixion of our Lord. (See _Virgin Mary_.)

ASYLUM. A place of refuge. This began to be a privilege of churches in the time of Constantine. No persons could be arrested in churches. In the middle ages this was a great advantage, to prevent the excesses of private revenge. In times of great civilization it became an abuse, and the privilege was taken away. (See _Sanctuary_.)

ATHANASIAN CREED. The learned, at this day, however they may differ in their opinions about the age, or author, make no question but that the composition was originally in Latin. The style and phraseology—its early acceptance with the Latins, while unknown to the Greeks—the antiquity and number of the Latin MSS., and their general agreement with each other, compared with the lateness, the scarceness, and the disagreement of the Greek copies—all seem to demonstrate this.

As to the antiquity of the Athanasian Creed, it was certainly become so famous in the sixth century as to be commented upon, together with the LORD’S Prayer and Apostles’ Creed, about the year 570, by Venantius Fortunatus, bishop of Poitiers, in France. This is certain evidence for the time specified, and presumptive for much greater antiquity. For who can imagine that it should grow into such repute of a sudden?

From the doctrines contained in the Creed, and from its manner of expressing them, it is probable that it is earlier than the times of Nestorius, or the Ephesine council, in 431; the Creed not condemning the heresy of the Nestorians in such full, direct, critical terms as the Catholics found to be necessary against the wiles and subtleties of those men.

From the doctrine of the incarnation, as expressed therein, we may be confident that it is not earlier than the rise of the Apollinarian heresy, which appeared at first about the year 360, and grew to a head about 370, or a little later. And this consideration is against the opinion that Athanasius made it, either during his banishment at Treves, which ended in the year 338, or during his stay at Rome, in the year 343; or that he presented it to either Pope Julius, or Liberius, who were both dead before the year 367. And Dr. Waterland, whose researches were so extensive, infers that the Athanasian Creed is not earlier than the year 420.

It is observable that, about the year 426, St. Augustine, then bishop of Hippo, in Africa, held a close and intimate correspondence with the Gallican Churches. For one Leporius, a presbyter, having spread false doctrine in Gaul, chiefly relating to the incarnation, and being censured for it, fled to Africa, and was there brought to a sense of his errors by St. Augustine and some other African bishops. The lives and characters suiting extremely well with place, time, occasion, and other circumstances, all these concur to persuade that the Creed was composed in Gaul, between the years 426 and 430. And as Honoratus of Marseilles tells us that Hilary, archbishop of Arles, from 429, composed an admirable “Exposition of the Creed,” and as among the ancient titles given to this Creed are, “An Exposition of the Catholic Faith,” or, yet nearer, “An Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed,” Hilary was probably the author of this work: or else his Creed is lost.

As to the name of Athanasius, now generally prefixed to it, it may be remarked, that upon the revival of the Arian controversy in Gaul, under the influence of the Burgundian kings, it was natural to call one side Athanasians, and the other side Arians; and so also to name the orthodox faith the Athanasian faith, as the other, the Arian. This Creed, therefore, being an excellent summary of the Catholic faith, as maintained by Athanasius, might in process of time acquire the name of the Athanasian faith, and so in a little while occasion the mistake of ascribing it to him as his composition.

His name, together with the intrinsic worth and value of the form itself, gave it credit enough to be received in France as an orthodox formulary, or system of belief, about the middle of the sixth century, and into the public offices of the Gallican Church about the year 670. In Spain it was known and approved as a rule of faith about the year 633, and was soon after taken into the offices of the Church in that kingdom. In Germany it was received at lowest about 787. As to our own country, we have proof of the Creed’s being sung alternately in our churches in the tenth century, when Abbo of Fleury, an ear-witness of it, was here; and when the Saxon versions, still extant, were of standing use, for the instruction and benefit both of clergy and people. These evidences alone will prove the reception of this Creed in England to have been as early as 950, or 930, or the time of Athelstan, whose Latin Psalter has the Creed in it. But other circumstances make it probable it was used as early as 880. About fourscore years after this, it was received in Italy. And in Rome itself (which was always more desirous of imposing her own offices upon other churches, than of receiving any from them) it was received in the tenth century, and probably about the year 930. From which time forwards this Creed has been publicly recited in the Church offices all over the West; and it seems in some parts of the Greek Church also.—_Waterland’s Critical History of the Athanasian Creed_, &c.

Its reception has been both general and ancient. It has been received by Greeks and Latins all over Europe; and if it has been little known among the African and Asian Churches, the like may be said of the Apostles’ Creed, which has not been admitted, scarce known, in Africa, and but little in Asia, except among the Armenians, who are said to receive it. So that, for generality of reception, the Athanasian Creed may vie with any, except the Nicene, or Constantinopolitan, the only general Creed common to all the Churches.

As to the antiquity of its reception into the sacred offices, it was received in several countries, France, Germany, England, Italy, and Rome itself, as soon as the Nicene, or sooner; which is a high commendation of it, as gaining ground by its own intrinsic worth, and without the authority of any general council to enforce it. And there is this further to be observed, that while the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds were growing up to their present perfection, in a course of years, or centuries of years, and not completed till about the year 600, this Creed was made and perfected at once, and is more ancient, if considered as an entire form, than either of the others, having received its full perfection while the others wanted theirs.—_Waterland._

In the Greek and Roman Churches it survived in the midst of all the corruptions that arose: upon the Reformation there was not a Protestant Church but what received it in its fullest extent: Luther, Calvin, Beza, and all the wisest and best reformers, acknowledged the Athanasian Creed, and made it their profession of faith: the Puritans, in our own country, the parent stock of all our modern dissenters, embraced it as readily as the Church of England herself.—_Dean Vincent._

This admirable summary of the Christian faith, as to the great doctrines of the Trinity and the incarnation, has met with the esteem it deserves among all that have at heart the welfare of Christianity. The faith into which Christians are baptized is this,—there is but one GOD, yet there are three persons,—the FATHER, the SON, and the HOLY SPIRIT, who are equally Divine, and must be together the one GOD, since GOD is but one. This is the faith which has been received in the Christian Churches from the beginning; and this faith, I doubt not, will continue universally to prevail, till all the chosen people are gathered in, and united in one general assembly and church, in the pure realms of blessedness above. In that happy country, the noise of controversies will cease. All who are brought to stand in the presence of GOD, dressed in the unblemished robes of innocence and immortality, will know, that all the three Divine persons were concerned in bringing them thither; and as they owe their happiness to the sacred three, they will join in directing the same songs of praise to GOD, the Father of mercies, who chose them to himself before the foundation of the world; to GOD the Son, who redeemed them from wrath, by shedding his own precious blood; and to GOD the Holy Spirit, who renewed and sanctified them, and conducted them safe through the wilderness of this world, into the land of uprightness, the country of rest and pure delight.—_Taylor on the Trinity._

On the clauses called damnatory, we may offer the following observations from several of our standard writers. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” (Mark xvi. 16.) These are the words of him who is ordained of GOD to be the judge of quick and dead; of him who himself shall pronounce the final doom of all men; spoken by him at the time when he was taking his solemn leave of his apostles, giving them his last and final charge, and in which the fate of all the world is determined. The meek and humble JESUS makes use of very sharp expressions, when he warns his disciples against those who should oppose or dispute those truths: “Beware (saith he) of false prophets;” beware of false teachers, such as corrupt sound doctrine in the essential and fundamental articles of faith.—_Wheatly._

Many unbelievers, and some Christians, suppose opinions to be involuntary, and therefore harmless. But let them consider how far this will carry them. Nothing is more expressly revealed in Holy Scripture, than that he who does not believe the Christian religion shall be condemned. If it be said, that unbelief may arise from a disorder or from a defect in the understanding, every such case is, by implication, excepted. This sentence is deemed by us declaratory of the general will of GOD, and does not imply an absolute exclusion of every culpable individual from his mercy.—_Croft._

The denial of our LORD’S Divinity, as it stands condemned by the laws both of our Church and State, so it has, from the very beginning, been esteemed a “damnable heresy;” and all impugners of it have been always excluded from the communion of the Church. Primitive writers call it an “abominable heresy,” “a God-denying apostasy,” and, in those ages, those who broached such doctrines were constantly deposed and excommunicated.—_Randolph on the Trinity._

One sometimes finds in persons a wonderful inattention and a strange indifference with regard to the first and most fundamental doctrines of their religion. It might possibly be with some view to this kind of conduct, that the compiler of the Creed inserted what are called the damnatory clauses. He was desirous to excite their attention, and to rouse them from this unmeaning slumber; to convince them that something is to be believed, as well as practised; and that in matters of this importance men should not trifle with GOD and their own consciences, and halt between two opinions.—HORBERY.

These clauses have occasioned much needless uneasiness. When such men, I say not as Chillingworth, for we have judged him weak in religious reasoning, but as Clarke, Tillotson, Secker, could be uneasy under them, I can ascribe it to nothing but the influence of religious terror; a sentiment which operates in all possible degrees; which makes us scruple to admit in religion what would occasion no difficulty in common affairs, lest our acquiescence should be owing to some corrupt or indirect motive. Scruples of this kind are owing to not freely admitting those limitations which common sense suggests in the application of every general proposition. Heresies are very numerous; defiling the purity of the faith, making men act on wrong principles, affording handles to infidelity, and dividing Christians amongst themselves, so as to defeat the ends of religious society, and probably lose some degree of future happiness; it seems needful, therefore, to draw the erroneous notions, which are so pernicious, into a small compass, and solemnly reject them; that the unwary may be cautioned, and the bold and busy innovator discouraged. And lest the unstable, who are tossed about with every wind of doctrine, should continue to indulge their childish fondness for novelty, and live on without any regular and permanent principles, it seems also needful to remind them of the last solemn declaration of our blessed LORD, not surely with a view to bias the judgment, but only to enforce the duty of a sober and serious attention to sacred truth, uninfluenced by passion or caprice.—_Hey’s Lectures._

These clauses were inserted in this Creed, and in most of the ancient Creeds, the Arian as well as others, by no means to intimate the condemnation, for want of faith, of such as had no opportunity of receiving the Christian religion; but of such only as, having it duly preached to them, should receive it in an evil heart of unbelief, and, holding it in unrighteousness, should mutilate or corrupt its essentials. There is, surely, a wide difference between condemning with severity, and believing with sorrow and compassion that another is condemned. A man who pronounces this sentence, because he sees it pronounced in the word of GOD, might die for the conversion and retrieval of those on whom he is forced, by the conviction of his faith, to pronounce it.—_Skelton._

Damnatory clauses, or anathemas, as they are angrily called, deriving their authority from Scripture, should be considered as awful admonitions, which it hath seemed good to Divine wisdom to announce generally, in order to condemn an indifference of mind in matters of religious principle; to correct a fond admiration of change or novelty; and to intimidate, under the severest penalties of GOD’S displeasure, the vain or interested from broaching their wild and pernicious heresies.—_Bishop Cleaver._

Many have argued against the use of this Creed; and some, with strange vehemence, partly from the doctrines which it teaches, but chiefly from the condemnation which it pronounces on all who disbelieve them. Now the doctrines are undeniably the same with those that are contained in the Articles of our Church, in the beginning of our litany, in the conclusions of many of our collects, in the Nicene Creed, and, as we conceive, in that of the Apostles; in the doxology, in the form of baptism, and in numerous passages of both Testaments; only here they are somewhat more distinctly set forth, to prevent equivocation.—_Archbishop Secker._

Whenever we go contrary to a stream, which has run in one channel for seventeen centuries, we ought to doubt our own opinions, and at least treat the general and concurring testimony of mankind with respect. If any one has his doubts on the intricacies of this question, let him first search the Scripture, and settle his principles from thence; if he afterwards wishes to pursue his researches, let him not recur to the crude and hasty publications of the present day, in which assertions are rashly made, without foundation in Scripture, antiquity, or the principles of any Church, but to those learned writers who managed this controversy fifty years ago in our own country; or, if he has learning and leisure sufficient, to the primitive fathers themselves.—_Dean Vincent._

Whoever wrote this Creed, he meant nothing more than to collect things said in various Catholic writers, against the various heresies subsisting, and to simplify and arrange the expressions, so as to form a confession of faith the most concise, orderly, and comprehensive, possible. Not with any view of explaining any mysterious truths, but with the sole design of rejecting hurtful or heretical errors. And it may have been adopted on account of its excellence, in bringing the errors which were to be shunned into a small compass, in exposing them in a kind of poetic numbers, which strike and possess the ear; and may have been called “Athanasian,” only on account of its containing doctrines which have been defended with peculiar force and brilliancy by the great prelate of Alexandria.—_Hey’s Lectures._

The Athanasian Creed only tells us what we must believe, if we believe a Trinity in unity, three persons and one GOD: and I challenge any man, who sincerely professes this faith, to tell me, what he can leave out of this exposition, without destroying the Divinity of some of the three persons, or the unity of the Godhead. If each person must be God and Lord, must not each person be uncreated, incomprehensible, eternal, almighty? If there be but one God, and one Lord, can there be three separated, uncreated, incomprehensible, eternal, almighty Gods; which must of necessity be three Gods, and three Lords! This Creed does not pretend to explain _how_ there are three persons, each of which is God, and yet but one God, but only asserts the thing, that thus it is, and thus it must be, if we believe a Trinity in unity; which should make all men, who would be thought neither Arians nor Socinians, more cautious how they express the least dislike of it.—_Sherlock on the Trinity._

Every Divine perfection and substantial attribute of Deity is common to the three: what is peculiar applies only to their relations, order, or office; paternity, filiation, procession—first, second, third persons—creation, redemption, sanctification. The Athanasian Creed is altogether illustrative of this economy; and if it be carefully considered under this point of view, I am persuaded it will appear to be exceedingly reasonable and judicious. There is something in the mere sound of the clauses which I doubt not beguiles it of its just praise. Some have forgotten, perhaps, and some have never known, its proper history. The numerous sects whose different apprehensions of the precise nature of the holy Trinity led men in those distant days into one, at least, of the two great errors, either that of “confounding the persons” or “dividing the substance,” are now perhaps no more. They may indeed subsist under other names; but men have long since ceased to talk of the Sabellians, Noëtians, Patripassians, Praxeans, Eunomians, Apollinarians, Photinians, Cerinthians, and even Arians, Nestorians, and Eutychians; for these latter are the sects chiefly opposed in the Athanasian Creed. But there is not one clause of this ancient formulary that is not directed, in the simplest manner possible, against the different errors of all these several sects; their wild and discordant notions are all met by the constant reiteration of that one great truth, that though the Christian verity compels us to acknowledge every person of the holy Trinity to be God and Lord, yet the Catholic religion equally forbids us to say there be three Gods, or three Lords; though, therefore, each is uncreate, each eternal, each almighty, each God, and each Lord, yet these attributes, as the exclusive attributes of Deity, are common to the three; the omnipotence, the eternity, the Divinity, the power and dominion, the glory and majesty, is one; “such as the FATHER is, such is the SON, and such is the HOLY GHOST.”—_Nares on the Creeds._

Whilst the Apostles’ Creed compendiously sums up and declares the main articles of our Christian faith, and the Nicene Creed explains more fully the articles relating to the SON and the HOLY GHOST, the Athanasian Creed stands as an excellent guard and defence against the subtleties of most kinds of heretics, who, were it once removed, would soon find means to enervate and evade the shorter Creeds, where the Christian faith is more simply declared.—_Wheatly._

The intention of the Creed, as well as of our LORD in the Gospel, is only to say, that whoever rejects the doctrine of it, from presumptuous self-opinion, or wilful negligence, the case of such an one is desperate. But though we pass judgment on his errors without reserve, and, in general, on all who maintain them, yet personally and singly we presume not to judge of his condition in the next world.—_Archbishop Secker._

The use of it is, to be a standing fence and preservative against the wiles and equivocations of most kinds of heretics. This was well understood by Luther when he called it “a bulwark to the Apostles’ Creed;” much to the same purpose with what is cited of Ludolphus Saxo (“tria sunt symbola; primum Apostolicum, secundum Nicenum, tertium Athanasii; primum factum est ad fidei instructionem, secundum ad fidei explanationem, tertium ad fidei defensionem”). And it was this and the like considerations that have all along made it to be of such high esteem among all the Reformed Churches, from the days of their great leader.—_Waterland._

The Church of England proposes no Creeds to be believed upon their own authority, but because they are agreeable to the word of GOD. The articles of the Creed indeed are proposed as articles of faith. But they are only collections of some important truths to which that testimony is given. They are, at the highest, but extracts which are to be believed because there contained; and so to be believed as there delivered. Whatever doctrines are consonant to the Scriptures, she recommends to our faith; but what are contrary to the word of GOD, she pronounces not lawful for the Church to ordain. She expects her members to believe nothing as of Divine revelation, but what the records of that revelation plainly contain. Nor of the truths there discovered, does she impose the belief of any as a necessary term of communion, but what she apprehends the sacred oracles themselves to represent as a necessary term of salvation. These were the creeds of the Western Church before the Reformation; and because, at the Reformation, she withdrew from nothing but what was corrupt, therefore, these being catholic and sound, she still retains them.—_Wheatly._

Why, it is often said, are we so zealous in enforcing doctrines merely speculative? The answer is, we believe them to be inculcated in Scripture, essential to the Christian religion, and _not_ merely speculative. The SON and the HOLY GHOST are each of them said to be sent by the FATHER, each of them contributes to the great work of our salvation. To refuse them Divine honour, is unquestionably to deny their Divine power. We do not presume to fix limits to Divine mercy; but surely we endanger our title to it, when we reject the conditions upon which it is granted. The humble Christian hopes for no benefit from the gospel covenant, but from a firm reliance on the merits of his SAVIOUR, and the aid of the HOLY SPIRIT.—_Croft._