ieve hi the Hdy Ghost; the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints ; the for- gireness of sins ; the resurrec- tion of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen. 1. It is held by many writers of the Church of Rome that this creed was composed by the apostles them- selves, who, during their stay at Jerusalem soon after our Lord's ascension, under ihe g^dance of the Holy Spirit, agreed upon it as a rule of &ith and as a mark of distinction, by which they were to know friends from foes. Rufinus says (about A.D. 400, in his Exposit. Symbdi) : ** There was an ancient tradition that the apostles, being about to depart from Jerusalem, first settled a rule for their foture preaching, lest, after they were separated from each other, they should expound different doctrines to those whom they invited to the Christian fidth. Wherefore, being all assembled to- gether and filled with the Holy Ghost, they composed this short mle of their preaching, each one contributing his sentence, and left it as a mle to be given to all be- lievers" (Harvey, Ecd, Angl Vindex, i, 666; Bing- ham, Orig, Ecd, bk. x, ch. iii).
CREED
560
CREED
2. A writer nnder the name of Augustine pretendB to tell US what article was contributed by each apos- tle. Peter said, '' I believe in God, the Father Al- migbtj." John, " Maker of heaven and earth." James, "And in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord." Andrew, " Who was conceived by ihe Holy Ghost, bom of the Virgin Mary." Philip, *« Suffered nnder Pontius Pilate ; was crucified, dead, and bur- ied.'* Thomas, *' He descended into hell ; the third day he rose again from the dead." Bartholomew, ** He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.'* Matthew, " From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." James, the son of Alphteus, added, **I believe in tlie Holy Ghost ; the holy Catholic Church." Simon Ze- lotes, **The communion of (^^ts, the forgiveness of sins." Jude, the brother of James, *' The resurrection of the body." Matthias, "The life everlasting." And accordingly the creed was called Symbolum ApottoU- cum^ as being made up of sentences jointly contributed after the manner of persons paying each their shot or share of the reckoning. But this derivation obviously confounds the word trvfipoXov with trvfifioki).
8. It is now generally admitted that the creed, in its present form at least, is not of later date than the fourth century, a. Neither Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, nor any ecclesiastical writer before the fifth century, makes mention of an assembly of the apos- tles for the purpose of forming a creed, h. The fothers of the first three centuries, in disputing against here- tics, endeavor to prove that the doctrines contained in this creed were taught by the apostles, but they never pretend that tiie apostles composed it. c. Had the apostles composed it, it would have been the same in all churches and ages. But it is quite otherwise. Many creeds were extant in the fourth century, which differed not only in the terms, but also in the articles ; some omitted in one were inserted in others, such as the "descent into hell," the "communion of saints," and "the life everlasting."
4. It is almost impossible now to ascertain the au- thorship of this creed ; its antiquity may, however, be inferred from the fact that the whole, as it now stands, with the exception of "he descended into hell," may be found in the works of Ambrose and Rufinus, the former of whom flourished in the third century and the latter in the fourth.
5. In early ages it was not admitted into the Lit- urgy, though catechumens were required to sntwcribe it l)efore they were admitted to baptism. The use of it in public worship was first instituted in the Greek Church at Antioch, and introduced into the Roman Church in the eleventh centur}', whence it passed into the service of the Church of England at the Reforma- tion. " The Westminster divines subjoined it, along with the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer, to their catechisms, accompanied with this explana^ tory statement : * It is here annexed, not as though it were composed by the apostles, or ought to be esteem- ed as canonical Scriptures, as the Ten Commandments and Lord's Prayer, but because it is a brief sum of the Christian fiiith, agreeable to the Word of God, and an- ciently received in the churches of Christ' " (Cunning- ham, Historical Theology^ i, chap, iii, 80). It finds its place, with the Decalogue and the Lord's Prayer, in the catechisms of the Methodist Episcopal and Ptesby- terian churches. It is used in the baptismal confes- sion in the Greek, Roman, English, Reformed, Luther- an, Methodist Episcopal, and Protestant Episcopal churches. The phrase "he descended into hell" is omitted in some forms of the creed used in Protestant churches.; in the Protestant Episcopal Church it is op- tional to use it or "he went into the place of departed spirits." It is to be noted that no other creed than the Apostles' is used in baptism by any Church.
6. Many histories and expositions of the Apostles' i have been written ; the most valuable are, King,