The Creed of Creeds: Short Expositions of the Apostles' Creed

The noble and venerable formulary known as the Apostles’ Creed, though presenting the essence of their Belief and Testimony, cannot be positively credited to the Apostolic Age. Indeed, whatever may have been the practice of individual churches, there 1s no trace in Christian Literature of any definite summaries of Christian Belief till a much later age — the age of Ireneus and Tertullian.

“It 1s sufficiently evident,’ writes Principal Tulloch, ‘‘ that ‘Confessions of Faith, or ‘ Rules and Standards of Truth’ existed in the Ante-Nicene Church from the last quarter of the second century

. but tt ts equally evident that there was no Rule of Faith universally accepted by the Church, or authoritatively imposed by any Catholic body up to the time of the Nicene Council.”

The earliest form of this Creed ts contained in the Confessions of Faith, presented to Julius, Bishop of Rome, by Marcellus, the Bishop of Ancyra, about the year A.D. 336. He describes it as the faith, which he “learnt and was taught from the Holy Scriptures.”

Vv
wil. THE PROLOGUE

Substantially then the Apostles’ Creed was in existence probably from the end of the Fourth Century, though there ts no evidence of tts general reception, in tts completed form, till about the middle of the Eighth Century.

It has always captivated the Christian Imagination and Heart, because of tts simplicity, tts brevity, tts freedom from elaborate theological phraseology; and probably a larger number of Christian people, of all churches and sects, could unite in reciting tt, than any other statement of Christianity tn existence. For this reason I venture to term tt the CREED OF CREEDS.

Probably tt is the one Creed in which all Christendom could unite. A striking evidence of this was given in the recent World-Baptist Congress, when at the request of the venerable Dr. Maclaren, the entire assembly of three thousand delegates, from all parts of the earth, stood and repeated, with impressive emphasis, these well-known clauses. The episode was the more remarkable, as the Baptist denomination has always shown itself very conservative in the adoption of forms or liturgies of any kind. It is recognised, however, among all branches of the Church of Christ, that no one communion can claim any exclusive proprietorship in this great Creed. All schools of theology may meet in its ancient precincts, piled by builders who have long since passed from faith to sight.

In preparing these brief expositions of tts several clauses, I have made use of notes gathered long since, in one or two of the earlier of which are traces of the Boston Lectures. JI cannot recall any others to whom I should make acknowledgment. This little treatise ts placed at the service of the One Church, in the underlying Unity of which we all believe, and when the time arrives for the outward manifestation of that Unity, surely the Apostles’ Creed will take a foremost place in the expression of the common and universal Faith.

The Uncertainty of Natural Religion

It cannot be denied that races which lie outside the sphere of Revealed Religion have possessed materials of arriving at the knowledge of God. The creation of the world has made known His power and Godhead; sunshine or rain, fruitful seasons and fertile soils have told of His daily care; great prophets and teachers, rearing themselves aloft above their fellows, have caught the beams of His glory, and reflected them; the Light that lighteth every man coming into the world has illumined conscience and heart; the geographical situation and location in the world’s development have been so contrived as to induce men to seek after God and fumble about the latch of his Glorious Temple, if haply they might find Him; and thus many have attained to very wise and true conceptions of the Divine Nature. We have only to quote some of the expressions in the ancient Vedic Hymns, or paragraphs from

the writings of Seneca, to establish this. And it is in reference to such conclusions of the human mind, apart from the clear teachings of Revelation that the last of the prophets cries: ‘“‘ From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord, and in every place incense is offered unto my name and a pure offering.”

But at the best there was deep uncertainty mingled with all these conclusions, however wise and good. In Athens, an altar was erected to the unknown God, whom this very religious people worshipped in ignorance. In Egypt one of the most famous Temples bore on its portico the legend, “I am He that was, and is, and shall be, but no mortal hath lifted my vail.” Granted that the summer spoke of God’s love, what of winter with her storms. Was not the message of the Pleiades cancelled by that of Orion? Did not the brightest and longest days descend at last into the dark tomb of the night? The mind of man hovered between the two extremes, but on the whole yielded to the darkest suspicions and fears. Hence the awful rites with which Priests, on behalf of their fellows, sought to propitiate and soothe the Divine Nature. The conclusions of Natural Religion find an apt expression in the Book of Job: ‘“Touching the mighty, we cannot find Him out... .« Oh that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat!”

Equally uncertain were men in their conclusions about Forgiveness and the Future Life. They hoped that their sins might be pardoned, but they were never sure how much was required for the Divine satisfaction. Should they give their first-born for their transgressions, the fruit of their bodies for the sins of their souls? And as to the existence of the soul beyond death, — it passed, so the wisest said, to a land of darkness and of the shadow of death, a land of thick dark- - ness, as darkness itself; a land of the shadow of death, without. any order, and where the light was as darkness. The bewildering uncertainty of the wisest and best of men was very pitiful. They peered into the thick curtain of black night which surrounded their lives, and said that they were reminded of the flights of a sparrow through a brilliantly lit hall, coming out of the wintry blasts on the one hand, and after a brief space of warmth and colour, returning to them again, but no one knew whence or whither.

We can hardly realise the intensity with which the mariners of those days, as they heard the surf beating on the rocks, longed for day to break on the spiritual horizon. Agitated by conscience, driven by fear, conscious of a Presence they could not comprehend, approaching the infinite mystery of an impenetrable secret, the heart of man cried aloud for light, that it might live in hope and die in peace.

There is something of this in our own age also. To many amongst us black gulfs of doubt open on every side, and in desperation multitudes are flying for refuge either in positivism which leaves out of account the yearnings, the instincts, the peremptory facts of the soul, or in the assumed infallibility of the Roman Church, which rules the spirit through the confessional and strives to silence it by papal edicts or interdicts. Amid these false harbours, and misleading lights, how great a relief it is to turn to the calm certainty of Christian truth.

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