The Book of Religions Part 10

"He is G.o.d of the substance of his Father, begotten before the world; and he is Man of the substance of his mother, born in the world.

"Perfect G.o.d and perfect Man; of a rational soul, and human flesh subsisting.

"Equal to the Father according to his G.o.dhead, and less than the Father according to his Manhood.

"Who, although he be both G.o.d and Man, yet he is not two, but one Christ.

"One, not by the conversion of the G.o.dhead into flesh, but by the taking of the Manhood unto G.o.d.

"One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.

"For as the rational soul and the flesh is one man, so G.o.d and Man is one Christ.

"Who suffered for our salvation, descended into h.e.l.l, rose again the third day from the dead.

"He ascended into heaven: he sitteth at the right hand of G.o.d the Father almighty; thence he shall come to judge the living and dead.

"At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give an account of their own works.

"And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.

"This is the Catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully and steadfastly, he cannot be saved.

"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, one G.o.d, world without end. AMEN."

This Creed is said to have been drawn up in the fourth century. "It obtained in France about A. D. 850, and was received in Spain and Germany about one hundred and eighty years later. We have clear proofs of its being sung alternately in the English churches in the tenth century. It was in common use in some parts of Italy in 960, and was received at Rome about A. D. 1014." This Creed is retained by the church of England, but the Protestant Episcopal churches in the United States have rejected it.

The Nicene Creed.

"Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, Factorem cli et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium. Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum. Et ex Patre natum, ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo, Lumen de Lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero, genitum, non factum; consubstantialem Patri, per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem, descendit de clis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine; ET h.o.m.o FACTUS EST: crucifixus etiam pro n.o.bis sub Pontio Pilato, pa.s.sus, et sepultus est. Et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas. Et ascendit in clum, sedet ad dexteram Patris.

Et iterum venturus est c.u.m gloria judicare vivos et mortuos: cujus regni non erit finis. Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et Vivificantem; qui ex Patre Filioque procedit. Qui c.u.m Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur; qui locutus est per Prophetas. Et unam Sanctam, Catholicam, et Apostolicam Ecclesiam. Confiteor unum Baptisma, in remissionem peccatorum. Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum. Et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen."

Translation.

"I believe in one G.o.d, the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of G.o.d. And born of the Father, before all ages. G.o.d of G.o.d, Light of Light, true G.o.d of true G.o.d, begotten, not made; consubstantial to the Father, by whom all things were made. Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven. And was incarnated by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary; AND HE WAS MADE MAN: was crucified also under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, and was buried. And the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. And he ascended into heaven.

Sits at the right hand of the Father. And he is to come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; of whose kingdom there shall be no end. And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who, together with the Father and the Son, is adored and glorified; who spoke by the Prophets. And One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolical Church. I confess one Baptism, for the remission of sins. And I look for the resurrection of the dead; and the life of the world to come.

Amen."

This Creed was adopted at Constantinople, A. D. 381. It is used in the Protestant Episcopal churches in England, and occasionally in those of the United States.

The foregoing Creeds are copied from Catholic books.

The Catholics, both in Europe and America, acknowledge the following Rule is "all that, and only that, belongs to Catholic belief, which is revealed in the word of G.o.d, and which is proposed by the Catholic church to all its members to be believed with divine faith."

"Guided by this certain criterion," they say, "we profess to believe,

1. "That Christ has established a church upon earth, and that this church is that which holds communion with the see of Rome, being one, holy, Catholic, and apostolical.

2. "That we are obliged to hear this church; and, therefore, that she is infallible, by the guidance of Almighty G.o.d, in her decisions regarding faith.

3. "That St. Peter, by divine commission, was appointed the head of this church, under Christ, its Founder; and that the pope, or bishop of Rome, as successor to St. Peter, has always been, and is, at present, by divine right, head of this church.

4. "That the canon of the Old and New Testament, as proposed to us by this church, is the word of G.o.d; as also such traditions, belonging to faith and morals, which, being originally delivered by Christ to his apostles, have been preserved by constant succession.

5. "That honor and veneration are due to the angels of G.o.d and his saints; that they offer up prayers to G.o.d for us; that it is good and profitable to have recourse to their intercession; and that the relics, or earthly remains, of G.o.d's particular servants, are to be held in respect.

6. "That no sins ever were, or can be, remitted, unless by the mercy of G.o.d, through Jesus Christ; and, therefore, that man's justification is the work of divine grace.

7. "That the good works which we do, receive their whole value from the grace of G.o.d; and that, by such works, we not only comply with the precepts of the divine law, but that we thereby likewise merit eternal life.

8. "That, by works done in the spirit of penance, we can make satisfaction to G.o.d for the temporal punishment which often remains due, after our sins, by the divine goodness, have been forgiven us.

9. "That Christ has left to his church a power of granting indulgences, that is, a relaxation from such temporal chastis.e.m.e.nt only, as remains due after the divine pardon of sin; and that the use of such indulgences is profitable to sinners.

10. "That there is a purgatory, or middle state; and that the souls of imperfect Christians, therein detained, are helped by the prayers of the faithful.

11. "That there are seven sacraments, all inst.i.tuted by Christ-baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, extreme unction, holy order, matrimony.

12. "That, in the most holy sacrament of the eucharist, there is truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ.

13. "That, in this sacrament, there is, by the omnipotence of G.o.d, a conversion, or change, of the whole substance of the bread into the body of Christ, and of the whole substance of the wine into his blood, which change we call TRANSUBSTANTIATION.

14. "That, under either kind, Christ is received whole and entire.

15. "That, in the ma.s.s, or sacrifice of the altar, is offered to G.o.d a true, proper, and propitiatory, sacrifice for the living and the dead.

16. "That, in the sacrament of penance, the sins we fall into after baptism are, by the divine mercy, forgiven us.

"These are the great points of Catholic belief, by which we are distinguished from other Christian societies; and these, only, are the real and essential tenets of our religion. We admit, also, the other grand articles of revealed and natural religion, which the gospel and the light of reason have manifested to us. To these we submit, as men and as Christians, and to the former as obedient children of the Catholic church."

BEREANS.

The Bereans are a sect of Protestant dissenters from the church of Scotland, who take their t.i.tle from, and profess to follow the example of, the ancient Bereans, in building their system of faith and practice upon the Scriptures alone, without regard to any human authority whatever. The Bereans first a.s.sembled, as a separate society of Christians, in the city of Edinburgh, in the autumn of 1773. Mr. Barclay, a Scotch clergyman, was the founder of this sect.

The Bereans agree with the great majority of Christians respecting the doctrine of the Trinity, which they hold as a fundamental article; and they also agree, in a great measure, with the professed principles of our Orthodox churches, respecting predestination and election, though they allege that these doctrines are not consistently taught. But they differ from the majority of all sects of Christians in various other important particulars, such as,-

1. Respecting our knowledge of the Deity. Upon this subject, they say the majority of professed Christians stumble at the very threshold of revelation; and, by admitting the doctrine of natural religion, natural conscience, natural notices, &c., not founded upon revelation, or derived from it by tradition, they give up the cause of Christianity at once to the infidels, who may justly argue, as Mr. Paine, in fact, does, in his "Age of Reason," that there is no occasion for any revelation or word of G.o.d, if man can discover his nature and perfections from his works alone.

But this, the Bereans argue, is beyond the natural powers of human reason; and, therefore, our knowledge of G.o.d is from revelation alone; and, without revelation, man would never have entertained an idea of his existence.