Ancient Oriental oompoeiie Winged Figures : 1. Egyptian ; 2. Assyrlmn.
mythological representotions of all antiquity. See Cherub.
Credence-table, or Credence, a teble beside the altar, on which the cup, eto., are placed in the cel- ebration of the mass. Du Cange says that the word credentiariui means proffutiator, one that tastes before- hand, and the reference seems to be to an ancient court- practice, performed by cup-bearers and carvers, who were required to taste the wines and meato which they presented (aecuritatia gratia), to insure the safety of the monarch. The Italian word credenziird has the same meaning. Hence also the credentz4eUery cre- dence-plate, on which cup-bearers credenced the wine, and which means generally a plate on which a person oflTers anything to another; credenz-tische, credence- table, a sideboard, a cupboard with a teble for the pur- pose of arranging in order and keeping the drinldng- apparatus therein. Credences were common in an- cient churches. In the Liturgies under the names of Chrysostom and St. James we meet with the words irp69i<rte and vaparpatril^ov. In the Ordo Romanus the names obkUionarium and prothent occur, and one is made the explanation of the other. We meet also with the word paratorium, because when the offerings were received, preparation was made out of them for the Lord's Supper. In many instances the place of the credence-toble was supplied by a shelf across the piscina : this shelf was either of wood or stone, and is
' -^ found in many old churches. The use of cre-
Credenoe-table.
dence4ablet is one of the restorations of obsolete i which have marked the so-called Puseyite in England. — Farrar, Eoclet, Diet. s. v. ; C<demaii, An- cient Christianity,
Creditor (TV^% notheh', a Jend^, 2 Kings iv, 1: Isa. 1, 1; elsewhere ** extortioner," ^'osarer,** etc.: n^ ma$h»heh\ debt, Deut. xv, 2 ; SavutrriiQ^ a lad- er,'Luke vii, 41). See Debt ; Loak .
Credner, Karl Auocst, was bom Jan. lOi, 1797, at Waltershausen, near Gotha. He studied at Jena, Breslau, and Gdttingen. In 1880 he became professor extraordinary of theology at Jena, and in 1832 ob- tained the appointment of ordinary professor at Gies- sen. He died in 1867. Among his nnmeroos writ- ings are, Der Prophet Joel QherteUft tc erUdrt (Halk, 1831) :—Beitrdge z. Einleit, m die UbHacken Sdkr. i :— Die Evangelien cler Petriner oder Juden(Arigf€n (Hslle, 1832, U):— />« altte^, UrevangeHum (Halle, 1838): —Einleit, inda$ N.T, (Halle, 1836) .-^Zur Ge$cL da Kanons (Halle, 1847 ; new edition by Volckmar, with additions, Bed. I860):— 2>cu N. T.fur demhende Lew (Giess. 1841-43, 2 vols.). Credner was one of the chief representetives of the Rationalistic school in Germany. In many of his works his tbeokgicil views are but little apparent, and these, especially bis EwUeitung, are generally valued by theologians <tf all schools for their vast amount of information. In sozae of his later works, however, he shows himself a tot determined Rationalist. Credner took also an actire part in the religious controversies of his time, pnb&b- ing a number of books in defense of the righto of the Rationalistic party to remain in the stete church, and to enjoy liberty of preaching and teaching (Die Bs rechtigung der proteitant. Kirche DetUtddandt, 1846; AsterUhen, 1847 ; Die sittlichen Verimtngeny etc., 18S3). Credner also contributed many articles to German pe- riodicals, and to Kitto's Cgclopcedia of BibHoal UixT' a/iire.>-Herzog, ReaUEncyklop, xix, S66.
Creed (aredere, to believe), a form of words hi which articles of belief are comprehended ; not neo> essarily a complete summary of the faith, but a statement respecting some pointe which are funda- mental, and have bKsen disputed. See CoKFSssioir. For instance, while the doctrine of the atonewtent must be reckoned a fundamental part of the apostle's doc- trine, it is yet not in the Apostles' Creed as a ^bctrxoe. Hence some infer that it was not heUeved, thoa^ the more obvious inference would be that it was not £s- puted (Eden, s. v.)
1. In the early Eastern Church a sunmiary of tiiis sort was called fidOtifjia, the lesson^ because the cate- chumens were required to learn it. Sometimes, from the nature of ito contents, or the uses to which it vas applied, it was called ouufioXov, symbobuny a mark, token, or badge, as a seal-ring — the proof of ortbo* doxy ; sometimes Kaimv, regula Jidei, the rule, or the
CREED
559
CREED
rule of fiuth; iritrrtc, the faith; 8poc or Udomc tri- 9Tiu»Q^ the determination or expotitUm of the faith. The word <rvfjifioXov (watchword^ token), ** whether borrow- ed, as some of tiie fiithers assert, firom mUitary lan- guage, or, as others assert, from the signs of recogni- tion in use among the heathen in their mysteries, de- notes a test and a shibboleth whereby each church may know its own, and is circulated through its mem- bers as a warning against the snares of enemies or false brethren*' (Hinds, Early Chrittiamtyj pt iii, ch.
Ti).
''Many. confessions of faith are to be found, nearly corresponding with the creeds which we now possess, in the writings of the earliest fathers. For example, in Justin liartyr, (rennus, TertuUian, Origen, Cyp- rian, the Apostolic Constitutions (cited in Wall, on Jn- fofU Baptimi, II, pt ii, ch. ix, § 10, p. 489, and in Bingham, bk. x, ch. iv). We have also creeds of several different churches preserved to us, agreeing in substance, but slightly var3dng in form ; as, the creeds of Jerusalem, Cesarea, Alexandria, Antiocb, Aquileia, etc. (see them in Bingham, 1. c). But until the time of the Council of Nice there does not appear to have been any one particular creed which prevailed univer- sally, in exactly the same words, and commended by the same universal authority" (Browne, On the Thirty- mm Articies, art viii).