^ 
 
 '^z^, 
 
 ^ 
 
 n-l- 
 
 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 1.0 
 
 I.I 
 
 il-25 
 
 ^1^ m 
 
 % 
 
 '•# 
 
 "a 
 
 
 / 
 
 "^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 A 
 
 
 '^# 
 
 
 ■A. 
 
 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14,30 
 
 (716) 872-4S03 
 
 <^ 
 
 4i>^ 
 
 iV 
 
 ^s 
 
 ^9)' 
 
 
 
 > 
 

 
 ^% 
 
 
 % 
 
 
 
 CIHM/ICMH 
 
 Microfiche 
 
 Series. 
 
 CIHIVI/JCMH 
 Collection de 
 microfiches. 
 
 Canadian Institute for l-iistorical IMicroreproductions / institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 
 
Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques 
 
 The Institute has attempted to obtain the best 
 original copy available for filming. Features of this 
 copy which may be bibliographically unique, 
 which may alter any of the images in the 
 reproduction, or which may significantly change 
 the usual method of filming, are checked below. 
 
 Coloured covers/ 
 Couverture da coyieur 
 
 Fyj Covers damaged/ 
 
 Couverture endommagie 
 
 Covers restored and/or 'aminated/ 
 Couverture restaurie et/ou pelliculAe 
 
 Cover title missing/ 
 
 Le titre de couverture manqur 
 
 Coloured maps/ 
 
 Cartes giographiques en coti.aur 
 
 D 
 D 
 D 
 D 
 
 D 
 
 D 
 
 Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ 
 Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) 
 
 Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ 
 Planches et/ou iUustrations en couleur 
 
 Sound with other material/ 
 Relii avec d'autres documents 
 
 Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion 
 along interior margin/ 
 
 La re liure serrie peut causer de I'ombre ou de la 
 distorsion la long da la marge mtirieure 
 
 Blank leaves added during restoration may 
 appear within the text. Whenever possible, these 
 have been omitted from filming/ 
 II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout«es 
 lors dune restauration apparaissent dans le texte, 
 mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont 
 pas it6 film^es. 
 
 Additional comments:/ 
 Commentaires suppldmentaires; 
 
 L'Institut a microfilm* le meilleur exemplaire 
 qu'il lui a *t« possible de se procurer. Les details 
 de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniMues du 
 point de vue bibliographique. qui peuvent modifier 
 une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger una 
 modification dans la m«thode normale de filmage 
 sont indiqu^s ci-dessous. 
 
 □ Coloured pages/ 
 Pages de couleur 
 
 □ Pages damaged/ 
 Pages endommagies 
 
 □ Pages restored and/or laminated/ 
 Pages restaur^es et/ou pellicul^es 
 
 Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ 
 Pages d*color*es, tachet^es ou piquees 
 
 □Pages detached/ 
 Pages d^tachees 
 
 I yl Showthrough/ 
 C^ Transparence 
 
 □ Quality of print varies/ 
 Qualit* inigale de I'impression 
 
 □ Includes supplementary material/ 
 Comprend du materiel supplementaire 
 
 □ Only edition available/ 
 Seuie Edition disponible 
 
 □ Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata 
 slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to 
 ensure the best possible image/ 
 Les pages totalement ou pattiellemenr 
 obscurcies par un feuillet d'srrata, une pelure. 
 etc., ent «t6 fi!m*es i nouveau de facon a 
 obtenir la meiHeure image possible. 
 
 This item is filmed a* the reduction ratio checked below/ 
 Ce document est film* au taux de reduction indiquA cidessous. 
 ^^^ 14X 18X 22X 
 
 12X 
 
 26X 
 
 30X 
 
 16X 
 
 20X 
 
 24X 
 
 28X 
 
 : 
 
 32X 
 
Th« copy fiimad hmrm has b««n raprcducad thanks 
 to tha ganarosity of: 
 
 Department of Rare Books 
 and Special CoUectrans, 
 McGill University, Montreal. 
 
 Tha imagaa appaaring hara ara tha baat quality 
 posaibla considaring tha condition and lagibiiity 
 of tha original copy and in kaaping with tha 
 filming contract spacifieationa. 
 
 Original copias in printad papar eovars ara fllmad 
 baginiiing with tha front covor and anding on 
 tha last paga with a printad or llluatratad impraa- 
 sion, or tha back covar whan appropriata. All 
 othar original copiaa ara fili/iad baginning on tha 
 first paga with a printad or illustratad impraa- 
 sion. and ending on tha laat paga with a printad 
 or llluatratad imprassion. 
 
 Tha laat racordad frama on aach microficha 
 shall contain tha symbol — ^(maaninq "CON- 
 TlfJUED"). or tha symbol V (maaning "END"), 
 whichaver appiiaa. 
 
 Maps, piataa. charts, ate., may ba filmad at 
 diffarant raduction ratioa. Thoao too larga to ba 
 antiraiy includad in ona axpoaura ara filmad 
 baginning in tha uppar iaft hand comar. laft to 
 right and top to bottom, aa many framaa aa 
 raquirad. Tha following dlagrama illuatrata th* 
 mathod: 
 
 L axampiaira filmi fut raproduit grica i la 
 gAn^roaiti da: 
 
 Department of Rare Books 
 
 and Special Collections, 
 
 McGill University, Montreal. 
 
 Lm imagaa suivcntas ont «ti raproduitas avac la 
 plua grand soin. compta tanu da la condition at 
 do 'a nattat« da I'axamplaira fitm*. at en 
 eonformiti avac laa conditions du contrat da 
 flimaga. 
 
 Laa axampiairaa originaux dont la couvartura en 
 papiar est imprimis sont filmte en commenpant 
 par la pramiar plat at en tarminant soit par la 
 ds^iAra paga qui comporta una emprainta 
 d'impraasion ou d'iilustration. soit par la nacond 
 plat, salon la eaa. Tous lea autrea sxamplalras 
 originarix sont filmte en commenpant par la 
 pramiira paga qui comporta una emprainta 
 dimpraaaion ou d'llluatration at en tarminant par 
 la damiAra paga qui comporta una taila 
 emprainta. 
 
 Un daa symboiaa suivants apparaitra sur la 
 damiArr) image da cheque microfiche, selon le 
 caa: la symboia — » signifia "A SUIVRE", la 
 symbola V signifia "FIN". 
 
 Laa cartaa. planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent dtre 
 fiim*o A dee taux da rMuctibn diff«rants. 
 Lorsqua la document est trop grand pour §tre 
 reproduit en un saui clich«. il est fiim« i partir 
 do i'angia sup4riaur gaucha. da gauche i droite, 
 et do haut en baa. en prenant le ncmbre 
 dimagae nAcaesaire. Las diagrammes suivants 
 illustrant la m^thoda. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
6o< ^, 
 
 THE 
 
 ANCIENT CATHOLIC FAITH 
 
 COMTKASTED WITH THE 
 
 MODERN CREED 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHURCH OF HOME, 
 
 L. E C TFRE 
 
 DELIVERED IN 
 
 TIUNITY CHURCH, MONTREAL, 
 
 ON THE Orn SEPTEMUEIl, 1850, )^^ 
 
 BY REV. A. DIGBY CAMPBELL, A. M., 
 
 »> 
 
 INCUATBENT. 
 
 PUBLISHED BIT REi^UEST. 
 
 Montr tsl: 
 
 LOVELL & GIBSON— OHALMERS-DAWSON, 
 
 TOaONTO. LOVELL AND GIBSON — SOOBIK AND BALFOUR; 
 
 QUEBEC. — STANLEY. 
 
 1850. 
 
 =W^W^???????fW??WW^ 
 
Co^phUi , A. "Dtqk 
 
 P«nPH. 
 
 \ 
 
P«nPH. 
 
 R \ 
 
 i 
 
 fh^'jrK)^ 
 
 THE 
 
 ANCIENT CATHOLIC FAITH 
 
 CONTKASTED WITH THE 
 
 MODERN CREED 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHUIICH OF HOME, 
 
 LECTURE 
 
 IiELIVEEED IN 
 
 'IIIINITY CHURCH, MONTREAL, 
 
 ON THE Dwi SEPTEMBER, 1850, 
 
 BY REV. A. DIGBY CAMPBELL, A. M,, 
 
 INCUMBENT. 
 
 PrBLISHED Bf REQUEST. 
 
 LOVELL & GIBSON— CHALMERS-DAWSON, 
 
 TOEONTO. — LOVELL AND GIBSON — SCOBIE AND BALFOUB ; 
 QUEBEC. — STANLEY. 
 
 1850. 
 
: 
 
 
 ""^^Jittto^iiTHU 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ■ 
 
 I 
 
 
 1 
 
 This Lecture is sent forth to the Christian public, 
 at the earnest request of my Congregation, and 
 many others, who regard it as calculated to throw 
 important light on a subject of great interest to the 
 Church at large; and especially in a section of the 
 Lord's vineyard where much ignorance prevails with 
 Romanists and members of the true Catholic Faith, 
 on the vaunted claim of antiquity, so proudly as- 
 sumed by the Church of Rome. 
 
 I believe that the positions laid down in this 
 Lecture are incontrovertible, and that no ingenuity 
 of the learned Doctors of the mystical Babylon can 
 weaken, much less overthrow, the simple historical 
 facts which it was the design of this Lecture to 
 present, in a brief compass, to the flock committed 
 to my charge. 
 
 The one point aimed at, and to which my argu- 
 ment is solely directed, was the establib.iment of 
 this alleged fact, that the Creed now professed and 
 held by the Church, of which I am an humble 
 Minister, and held by most of the orthodox Churches 
 of the Reformation, was " The Ancient Catholic 
 Faith" of the Church 6f Christ; and that, if this 
 fact was ascertained by incontrovertible testimony, 
 consequently the Creed of the Church of Rome, in 
 our day, is not " The Ancient Catholic Faith," but 
 a mere novelty, and her claims to antiquity not 
 only fallacious, but positively without a shadow of 
 foundation in the records of ecclesiastical history. 
 
IV 
 
 If the dates that I have put forward are incorrect 
 I will cheerfully amend them ; but having examined 
 them carefully, with diflerent authorities, I have no 
 reason to anticipate any error in them. 
 
 My guide in this Lecture has been the rule of 
 Vincentius, believing, with the Ancient Fathers, 
 that to be '* truly and properly Catholic," which was' 
 believed "everywhere, always, and by all." " Jn 
 ipsa Catholica ecclesia magnopere curandum est, ut 
 id teneamus quod ubique, quod semper, quod' ab 
 omnibus creditum est; lioc est etenim vere proprie- 
 que Catholicum."— Fmc^;2^. Lirin. Cont. Ilceres- 
 cap, 3. ' 
 
 The remarks of Archbishop Usher, in a Sermon 
 preached in the year 1624, on the " Universality of 
 the Church of Christ and the Unity of the Catholic 
 Faith," professed therein, will not be out of place 
 heie. In answer to " the question so rife in the 
 mouths of our adversaries : where was your Church 
 before Luther?"— this eminent Prelate replies:— 
 " Wkereunto an answer may be returned, that our 
 Church was even there where it now is. In all places 
 of the world where the ancient foundations were 
 retained, and these coimion principles of faith, upon 
 the profession whereof men have ever been wont to 
 be admitted by baptism into the Church of Christ, 
 there we doubt not but our Lord had His subjects' 
 and we our fellow servants : for ive bring in no new 
 Faith J 7ior no new Church J' 
 
 I would further add, that this Lecture pretends 
 to. -no originality of argument : the positions in it 
 have been ably laid down and maintained by many 
 of the writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 
 
 
turids, and by several devoted Ministers of our 
 Church within the last half century; iut by none 
 with greater power than by my dear brother in 
 Christ, the Kev. Robert McGhee, to whoni the 
 Church is deeply indebted for his unwearied labors 
 in the vineyard of the Lord of hosts. N© less re- 
 markable in all his writings for sound piety, ex- 
 traordinary ability, and luicompromising fidelity, 
 than for the lovely Catholic spirit, the yearning 
 tenderness v/hich flows out in all his writings towards 
 his " beloved Roman Catholic brethren." 
 
 I have endeavored in this Lecture to be influ- 
 enced by this tenderness of regard and of deep 
 anxiety for my fellow subjects of the Romish per- 
 suasion; while faithfulness to God and His truth. 
 must ever oblige me to blow the warning trumpet 
 with no uncertain sound,, consequently the sad 
 errors of this fallen Church must be proclaimed and 
 condemned in no extenuating, but in plain terms. 
 Should this Lecture fall into the bands of any mem- 
 bers of that Church, 1 beseech them, as they value 
 the salvation of their never-dying souls, to examine 
 for themselves as to the foundation for the subject 
 matter herein contained. I implore them to have 
 their minds disabused of all prejudice. I iiflec- 
 tionately v/arn them that they ^vill have each to 
 give an account of himself or herself at the dread 
 Bar of Judgment; and that in that day all pleas of 
 palliation, on the ground of their being misled by 
 their Priests, will avail them nothing; for, as in the 
 teaching of the Apostle Paul to the Ancient Church 
 of Rome, " We shall all stand before the Judgment 
 Seat of Christ— for it is written, as I live, saith the 
 
Lor<l, ovty knee shall bow to me, and every 
 ^n^ue shall confess to God; so, then, every one If 
 us shall give account of himself to God " 
 
 If this Lecture should be the Immbie instrument 
 of leadmg one of my dear Roman Catholic brethren 
 to search for, and walk in the ancient paths-of 
 reclmmmg one poor misguided wanderer from the 
 ancient landmarks_of establishing one halting 
 traveller on the road to Zion, or of confirming the 
 strong m the ancient faith, and strengthening ^heir 
 hands to fight the Lord's battles in these latter day 
 struggles of the Church : " Not unto us, Lord- 
 not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, for Thy 
 mercy and Thy truth's sake.»-PsALM cxv. 1. 
 Trinity Chuech, 
 September 20, 1850. 
 
 
 . . / :... 
 
THE 
 
 jf^ 
 
 ANCIENT CATHOLIC FAITH 
 
 ooMnAsrsD witb tu 
 MODERN CREED OF THE CHURCH OF ROMR 
 
 Thus 8uth ilie Lord, " Stand ye in the vrajB, aod eee and tuk for the old 
 patha, where is the good way and walk tkerein, and ye eball find rest for year 
 '^ifoal&" — Jebemub tL i6. 
 
 The charge brought agaicst the Je^v'3h Ghnrcli, and for 
 which the heaviest wrath of Jehovah wts denounced, and 
 an which, at the same time, their own folly was clearly 
 exhibited, was a departure from the A^icient Fetitk — that 
 which w&sjirst declared when Adam was beiog driven from 
 the Garden of Eden, and which was designed as a perpetual 
 source of support and consolation in the deep sorrows which 
 his sin had entailed upon himself and his posterity. Thus 
 this Prophet, at the xviii. chapter and 13th verse, declares 
 the guilt of the Jewish people. " Thus said the Lord, Ask 
 ye now among the Heathen, who hath heard such things : 
 the Virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible ihing. Will 
 a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the 
 rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come 
 from another place be forsaken ? Because my people hath 
 forgotten me, they have burned incense to van>ty, and tbey 
 have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancieva 
 pathsj to walk in paths, in a way not cast up," or, under 
 the form of exhortation in my text, ** Stand ye in the ways, 
 and see and ask for the old paths, where is the good way f" 
 
 The character of the Covenant given in various parts 
 of the Bible — in the writings of the inspired men under 
 the Jewish and Christian Dispensation, is one and the 
 same — namely, ** An Eveblasting Covenant 'y*^ the nature 
 
i 
 
 and conditions of that Covenant being equally uncliangeaUe. 
 bus the Covenantor Grace is not m\y everUstirw: but 
 ordered in ALL things and SURE." 
 The anti<imty of this Covenant Is most valuable, md so 
 far from the Bible Christian objecting to Scriptural an^eW^y, 
 as a test by which to judge of the soundness of his creed, 
 his appeal invariably will be « to the Law and to the Tes- 
 timony, knowing that if they speak not according to this 
 It is because there is no light in them." That there has 
 been a gradaal unfolding of that Covenant np to the time of 
 the Promised Deliverer, and that that Covenant was exhi- 
 Dited m more glorious characters at its full development in 
 the death and resurrection of Messiah, are undoubted and 
 delightful facts, to whi.^h the true worshipper of the one living 
 and true God is guided gradually in the Revelation of the 
 i^ivme Will, and the gracious purposes of that Will towards 
 man. But with the completion of the Scripture Canon, 
 there is « dose of all development, and man, by express 
 declaration, ,s forbidden to look for or expect any further 
 enunciation of the divine mind. To that wonderful 
 book which completes the Sacred Volume, is appended a 
 solemn warning upon the subject which has, alas I been 
 grievously forgotten by individuals and churches. 
 
 I testify," says the Great Head of the Church Catholic 
 unto every man that heareth the words of the Prophecy of 
 this Book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall 
 add unto him the plagues that are written in this Book • 
 and If any man shxill take away from the words of the Book 
 of this Prophecy God shall take away his part out of the 
 Book of Life, and out of the Holy City, and from the things 
 which are written in this Book." " 
 
 A departure from this Scriptural Guide has been the 
 grand source from which have arisen those foul streams of 
 Doctrinal error, and of corrupt practice which have inun- 
 dated the ark of God. The Jewish Church in its day, a , 
 the Spiritual Israel in this dispensation, have been equally 
 warned against this apostacy, but hoth by their addin-s L 
 
 
9 
 
 and takings from the Divine Wonl, have too often made 
 void and broken the everlasting Covenant. Swerving f"om 
 " the ancient paths''' — '' the good old ways''' — they liave di- 
 verged into the unknown ways, and mazy windings of 
 Human tradition. 
 
 The ReprooJ of Jesus to the Jewfsh Teachers is equally 
 applicable to the false guides of the Christian Church. 
 " Thus have ye made the Commandments of God of none 
 effect hy your tradition ;" and then as exhibiting the vanity 
 of all such worship — " Ye Hypocrites ! well did Esaias pro- 
 phesy of you, saying, this people draweth nigh unto me 
 with their mouth, and honourcth me with their lips, but 
 their heart is for from me. But in vain they do worship 
 me, teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of men." 
 
 Thus also, the inspired Apostle warns the Coliossian 
 Church against this attractive and fatal error. " If ye be dead 
 with Christ from the rudiments of the world — that is, if ye 
 are freed, by the liberty wherewith ye are made free in Christ, 
 from the foolish elements of human wisdom and teaching — 
 why, as though living in the world — as if this was your 
 eternal home in which all your hopes and prospects are 
 centred — why are ye subject to ordinances after the Com- 
 mandments and Doctrines of men f The connection in which 
 wc find this warning and exhortation is very striking. After 
 speak'ng of the glorious triumph of Christ over every prin- 
 cipality and power, he then adds, "Let no man, therefore, 
 judge ye in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holyday. 
 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humi- 
 lity and worshipping of Angels, intruding unto those things 
 which he hath not seen — vainly puffed up by his fleshly 
 mind, and not holding the headJ*'* 
 
 These and similar things are thus classed by the Apostle 
 under the condemned Category. The Commandments and 
 Doctrines of men — a departure from the ancient paths to 
 walk in paths, in a icay not cast upy 
 
 The inspired word — or as we commonly understand it — 
 the Scriptures or v»rittcn v/ord contained in the Bihh, is 
 
Ti 
 
 10 
 
 ttm, cle^Iy ^rM out-n, the ce Supreme authority of 
 Faith and practice to which all others must bow and give 
 
 it Jn™ """'f '" ^^'"^ "' ^^""^ ''»' *''°' g!"'" ««« Ba,!e 
 us proper place-assigning to a^y &r,>^.._„„divided 
 and^^^ authonty-courting an investigatf.n as .o all 
 she teaches h, m one eta^d, and asserting the right and 
 d^ of every man to examine for himself, as to thos! great 
 things which bear upon his eternal welfare. 
 
 Tl 0/ tU mfficU^ of ,4, a.iy Mptura /„ mhatim 
 
 I have thus, briefly, drawn your minds to the value 
 
 To poini ouT . " r' "'"'"'' """ '"'™ endeavoured 
 
 "isen lut of ^7 """ "' ''"" '" «'«' Church has 
 arisen out of « ^paj-fe^e from fti« a,„^^ vaiy-th^ 
 
 that' « r Tr ?"^P'''^™' enquiry, I would further say, 
 that Gathol>c anttiuit;,," UgvUmatdy mi rightly used is 
 also of ™„ense value to theChnrchof Christ; and I would 
 
 Era Hes onenl ^""^ ^^"^ "^^ "^ ''" Christian 
 tra, lies open to many grave suspicions-if not positive 
 
 dou s as ,0 its truth and genuineness. It is .her f^" my' 
 less and with a view to your guidance in that treat 
 Hastening to its grand climax, that I have, after much con- 
 
 Chntl ft' "".'J'™""' "'"' *•" Modern Creed of the 
 Church of Kome." In pursuing this deeply momenta,,* 
 
 
11 
 
 enquiry, permit me to enforce upon you two Apostolic 
 maxims, which embody the duty of every sincere enquirer 
 after Heavenly Truth : first, " Ye should earnestly contend 
 for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints." — 
 JuDE, 5 V. — and next, in order to this — " Prove all things^ 
 hold fast that which is good."~l Thess. v. 21. 
 
 Our subject naturally leads us to examine into the origin 
 and use of Creeds, or formularies of Faith, and in connection 
 with this, what confessions of belief have been received and 
 retained by the Catholic Church ? Ecclesiastical History 
 furnishes us with no account of the origin of Creeds, nor 
 have we any clear or satisfactory account of the origin of 
 that Creed which we all profess to believe, and which is 
 called "The Apostles' Creed." 
 
 Some writers have supposed that it was compiled by the 
 Apostles themselves, or under their immediate sanction and 
 approval. This opinion has, however, been rejected by all 
 who have studied Early Church History with an impartial 
 mind, and no Church has pretended to account authoritativelv 
 for ita origin. The necessity, however, for some formulary 
 or confession of Faith or Creed, as we generally call such, 
 appears from the very nature of things^ absolutely indispen- 
 sable. 
 
 Indeed we can hardly conceive the formation of any 
 Church, much less its existence for any length of time, 
 without the adoption of some common standard of funda- 
 mental principles, in which the members of that Church 
 were agreed, and which would answer a double purpose, 
 viz. : as a summary of the Principles on which that Church 
 was founded, as well as a test of their own adherence to 
 them, and also of their receiving others into communion 
 with them. The adoption of this summary of great common 
 principles constituting the ground of admission into the 
 Church— or its rejection, excluding from membership with 
 it. The necessity for such an embodiment of common prin- 
 ciples in the constitution of any society is evident from the 
 Invariable practice of all associated institutlGus — the mein- 
 
12 
 
 bcrs of such insmuticms beinj supposed to agree in tl.o 
 adoption ofthera. Such being usually called the Gener^ 
 Laws or Fundamental Principle,; „r, according to the 
 Ancients, the "Precognita" or Commclprinclpl J. 
 
 The commissions given by our Blessed Lord to His Apos- 
 tles woul, appear to have originated this Creed at an early 
 period, while (as we shall examine presently) other circun^ 
 stances, which subsequently arose in the Churcli, demanded 
 an expamion of the earliest Creed. ""-raanaea 
 
 The first express commission given is to be found in 
 Matthew 28th 19, 20 v. " Go ye therefore and tell all 
 nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of 
 the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe 
 
 with you always, even unto the end of the world " 
 
 given. First,-" Go and teach all nations," or, as in the 
 
 S ih"'^ '';■"""" "' •'"' "^"»-" s4ondly,_ 
 Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and ho 
 
 Holy Ghost," and after their reception iilto the Church a 
 
 believers in Christ, "Teach them to ohserve all thing" 
 
 whatsoever I Jiave commmded you" 
 Annexed to the faithful discharge of this command, is the 
 
 Gracious Promise of the Divine Presence: "Lo I I am with 
 
 you always, even unto the end of the world " 
 
 The Brst commai ' being to make Disciples of them • a 
 question naturally arises, hoto u,as this to ^efeetedTibl 
 direction is explicit, as to the form and mode of Baptism 
 a,jd subsequent ,0 this, they were to be taught a?/ 1 ig,' 
 which Christ had commanded. By looking to the state 
 ment of the Evangelist Mark, we learn the pfocess of a m 
 8.on, or the manner in which they u,ere ,Je DMpl^^L 
 command as we read it, in Mark xvi. 15, 16, Cf " Go ye 
 mto all the world and preach the Gospel t ev'ery' creatu^ 
 H thai believeth and is Baptized, shall be saved ; but he' 
 that beheveth not, shall be damned." The belief/the" of 
 what our Lord calls in His - • - - "") men, oi 
 
 com 
 
 . ^1 .T 
 
 iiiaiiUf 
 
 , tne irospel, must ne- 
 
18 
 
 cessarilybe (vvbatever was comprehended under that name) 
 the terms of admission into the Church, or the way in which 
 they were made Disciples. If, then, we can clearly ascer- 
 tain what was that Gospel— di. belief in which was essential 
 to Discipleship with Christ, and consequently to member- 
 ship with His body, the Church, and on which depended 
 the salvation of the Immortal Soul— we shall at once discover 
 the fiindamental articles of the faith of the Disciples of 
 Christ, or of Christians. AVhat the Gospel emphatically is, 
 may be gathered from innumerable passages in the Scrip- 
 tures, but one passage consm'tiveli/ hys down the distinctive 
 principles or articles of faith which are comprehended in the 
 Gospel. An attentive consideration of this passage in a 
 very simple manner explains what the Gospel is :— In 
 1 Corinthians xv. 1, 2, the Apostle says, "Moreover, 
 Brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel, which I preached 
 unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye 
 stand. By which, also, ye are saved, if ye keep in memory 
 what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 
 The language here is explicit : " / declare unto you the 
 GospeV That same Gospel, which the Apostles and sub- 
 sequent Ministers of the Church were commissioned to 
 preach — a belief in which was essential — absolutely neces- 
 sary to Salvation. 
 
 If we look a little further into this chapter, we ^shall find 
 that the Apostle tells us what this Gospel is. He says, in 
 the third Verse, as a confirmation of his statement, that he 
 had preached the Gospel. " For I delivered unto you, first 
 of all, that which I also received. How that Christ died 
 for our sins, accordmg to the Scriptures ; and that He was 
 buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to 
 the Scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas, theii of the 
 
 twelve." 
 
 The fact, that Christ died far our sins, is here expressly 
 
 stated to be the Gospel. 
 
 Going from this back to another commission given in St. 
 Luke s uospei, wc uuu luat uymg jvr oui ox,na uivt.iiu., vs..-.v 
 
u 
 
 He died in order to procure Remtasion of our atns. In xxiv 
 Chap, of that Gospel, and at the 47 v., we read, « And that 
 Repentance and Remission of sins should be preached in His 
 name among ail nations." 
 
 This was the Gospel or good news which was to be 
 preached in His name, viz. : Remission, complete and entire 
 Remission of sins, through the all-sufficient merits of ffia 
 precious Bhod-shedding. Blessed be God, innumerable are 
 the passages of Scripture which guarantee this blessed 
 result to every poor sinner who simply casts himself 
 upon this all-sufficiency of Christ's atonement. If, then, my 
 dear Brethren, this be the good news, or the Gospel, which 
 St. Paul tells the Corinthians he preached unto them— if 
 this is, in truth, that by whkh they were to be saved, as we 
 learn from the happy experience of those who embraced it— 
 ihm have we, in small compass, enumerated i\\Q fundamental 
 articles which form the Ancient Catholic Faith— the vital 
 Faith of the Christian Church. 
 
 They were to be Baptized in the name of the Father, Son 
 
 and Holy Ghost— of course— as being a seal of DisciplesMp, 
 
 they must believe in these persons— that is in the Glorious 
 
 Triune God, in whose name they were to be Baptized. 
 
 Thus, belief in the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost' 
 
 must be articles of Faith essential to Salvation. ' 
 
 They must have the Gospel, by a belief of which their 
 
 souls should be saved, and we have seen what that Gospel 
 
 was, viz : That Jesus, the Son of the Living God, died 
 
 for our sins, in accordance with the express declarations of 
 
 the Old Testament Scripture— that He was Buried— rose 
 
 again, and ascended into Heaven. 
 
 These, then, must be articles— vital articles of the Faith 
 of the Disciples of Jesus. Further— th&t Jesus was cruci- 
 fied for our sins, and that we are saved thereby, necessarily 
 includes a belief in the Resurrection to Eternal Life of those 
 who are saved— of a future state— of Eternal Life or Eternal 
 Death— and such, consequently, must be articles of the 
 Christian Faith. T/ien the participation or equal CRJO"- 
 
15 
 
 ment of this Salvation by all who believe these truths, in 
 common constitutes the blessed fact of the union and com- 
 munion of all who are Disciples of the Saviour, and as a 
 plain induction, those who believe in or hold these common 
 principles, are members of that Church we profess to believe 
 in, and which is an article of the Creed, viz. : The Holy 
 Catholic Church. 
 
 I have thus, from Apostolic teaching, established one 
 main point in our enquiry— that is, the essential principles^ 
 which make up at once the summary of a Christian's faith, 
 and the test of his reception into the Church of Christ. 
 
 This, my dear Brethren, is the use of a Creed, and all 
 who profess this Creed in its Scriptural seme should be re- 
 garded as Christians, and all who reject it, in its Scriptural 
 smscj cannot be looked on as Christians. 
 
 It is most important that you should mark this distinction 
 in a Scriptural sense^ for it Is to be feared that very many, 
 when they learn the articles of the belief, are satisfied with 
 this mere statement of them generally, while they are, at the 
 same time, entirely ignorant of their meaning and nature. 
 In order to this, the Scriptures themselves must be searched 
 into and examined. For example, you have repeated, in the 
 services of this evening, as part of your Creed or belief—" I 
 believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and 
 Earth." Now, unless this article is believed in a Scriptural 
 sense— that is, unless the character of God, as unfolded in 
 the Book of God, is comprehended in the mind of the person 
 who says, " I believe in Him," it is manifest he cannot be 
 a believer in the God of the Bible, consequently cannot 
 believe in the God of the Christian Churoh. To illustrate this 
 further, if a man were to say, *' It is well to commit sin in 
 the dark, because then God is not conscious of it, and can- 
 not see me,"— could that man be a believer in God the 
 Father Almighty? Would he truly profess the first article 
 of the Christian Faith? 
 
 You will at once say, undoubtedly not— that man knows 
 «A mni-o nf fho T jvincr and True God than a Pagan. But 
 
16 
 
 wlicrc, my doar nrcllircii, do wc know or learn this glorious 
 t'HH(Mi('(! of the. Almvjhty God? It is in that Blessed word 
 vvliirli Icdirt lis, "Tlicn^ is no durknoss nor sliadow of death 
 wlieru the woiki^rs of iiii(iiiiry may hide themselves," for 
 "darkness hideth not from Thee; but the m'ght shineth as 
 fjif. (/n7(-~i\w darkness and tlio lifjht are both alike to Thee, 
 'i'lioii (iod knovvest my down-sittings, and my up-risings— 
 Thou nmhrtitiwdi'Ht my thoughts aHir off— whither shall I go 
 from Thy presence, or whither shall I flee from Thy Spirit?" 
 
 Thus again— if the lip professor of this first article were 
 to take, iumji one attribute of Jehovah — His Justice^ His 
 I/o(in(\^!s, or to alter His glorious eharaeter as revealed in 
 His own word, that man could not be a believer in the Fun- 
 damental rrineiples of Christianity, although the language of 
 this Creed was continually in his mouth— the God in whom 
 ho professed to believe would be an idol of his own creation, 
 but not the Cuul Almighty of the Bible, a belief in whom is 
 necessary to constitute him a Christian. 
 
 If, then, my dear Brethren, a confession of Faith could 
 have been constructed, either by the Apostles or under 
 Apostolic Sanction, or very early after them— so carli/j that 
 tlio date is unknown to us. If such a confession had been 
 promulgated, which icaa not a clear tntnvmrn/ of the Faith of 
 the Disciples in the days of the Apostles, then it must have 
 been grossly doticitnt as a Confession, but it must have been 
 imWwT cninmaUt/ defectice if it was not so! On the con- 
 trary—if it included all the articles of the Christian Faith, 
 which, wlion believed in their Si-riptiind sense, constituted 
 a man a Christian Disciple, and gave him a title to be re- 
 co'tvod into the Christian Church, then it roust have been a 
 true and genuine summary of the Christian Faith ; or, in 
 other words—'- The Ancient Catholic Faith." This brings 
 us to the most Ancient Creed of the Church Catholic, or the 
 Apostles' Creed, as in onr Book of Common Prayer, and ia 
 the Catechism of the Chuah. In this Creed, then, if a 
 *vwm? ene, we must expect to find all the fundamental ar- 
 ticles that constituted the Cbristian Faith, or was compre- 
 
 "f 
 
17 
 
 hendotl in that Gospel which the Apostles were commis- 
 sioned to preach to every creature, in order to the forgive- 
 ness of sins and the salvation of souls. 
 
 What that Gospel was we have already seen from Scrip- 
 ture testimony — but this Creed embraces all this — therefore, 
 this Creed is a true summary of Christian Faith, and as the 
 Scriptural Reception of this Creed constituted a true Dis- 
 ciple of Jesus in the Primitive Church, it must contain the 
 true profession of Faith to the present time, and to the end 
 of the world. It must be evident to all, that what was true 
 Christianity in the Apostles' day, must be true Christianity 
 now. 
 
 I can now only refei you to this Creed, (as read in our Ser- 
 vice this evening,) for it requires very little discrimination 
 to discover its exact agreement with the fundamental, 
 though simple truths which comprise the Gospel of Salva- 
 tion. 
 
 I hasten now to draw your attention to two other Creeds 
 we receive as confessions of the Faith of the Catholic 
 Church. 
 
 Let me entreat your earnest hearing, while I endeavour 
 to trace the origin of these Creeds, and to exhibit to you the 
 circumstances which c?(3wm/jc?e6? their adoption at the time : — 
 In the beginning of the 4th Century, there arose a Heretic 
 who denied a fundamental article of the first or Apostles' 
 Creed, viz., the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ — and thus 
 destroyed the only foundation of the sinner's hope ; for, as 
 has been said with powerful eloquence, " If the arm that is 
 stretched out to Redeem and Save the Guilty he not the arm of 
 God, there is no Salvation for lost and guilty men.'''' 
 
 This fatal Heresy spread so extensively in the Churches, 
 that it became necessary to call for a Council of the Bishops 
 of the Church at large, to deliberate on this Heresy, and 
 decide as to the steps it would be expedient to adopt, in 
 order to check its further progress. This first General 
 Council assembled in the year 325, at Nice, and after a 
 careful consideration of this Heresy, the Creed, which we 
 
 c 
 
(■ 
 
 I 
 
 f 
 
 18 
 
 call the Nicene Creed, was adopted and engrafted on the 
 Christian Church. This, liovvever, my dear Brethren, wa» 
 Rot setting up a new or modern Creed, for the Nicene Creed 
 in no wise differs from fli great principles contained in the 
 Ancient Creed— for this latter formulary of Faith does not 
 contain an article of Faith which did not exist before 'n the 
 Apostles^ Creed. Whence, then, it may be said, the neces- 
 sity for this? You will remen:ber, my Brethren, what 
 I have already stated, that these articles can only really be 
 believed {when believed) in a ScripturalsQuse. Thus, to say 
 that you believe " in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord," 
 and at the same time to deny that Jesus Christ is Godj is 
 to undermine the very foundation of the Christian Religion, 
 and to deny the whole testimony of Divine Revelation on 
 the subject. But to add to the Creed, that Jesus Christ is 
 God, or to take out of the Bible any attribute of Deity, 
 whether for the Son or the Holy Ghost, and to add them to 
 that Creed, does not add a single new article to the Faith of 
 the Creed, or to the Faith of those who receive it in a Scrip- 
 tural sense. It is, Ia fact, only an expansion of the Creed 
 into its Scriptural dimensions, and if any single Truth in 
 the Bible, concerning God the Father, and God the Son, 
 and God the Holy Ghost, were added to the Creed, they 
 would not add a single new article to it, or to the faith of 
 the man who receives that Creed in a Christian sense / the 
 only sense in which it can be believed as the True Faith of 
 a Christian. I shall not at pre'ient go through all the 
 arti Jes of this second formulary of faith, as I shall have to 
 refer to it in another place. Let us take the one which was 
 designed at this Council by its Scriptural eocpansion to meet 
 the falsehood of the Arian Heresy which denied the Divinity 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ. The article is in these words : 
 « And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of 
 God, begotten of His Father before all worlds— God of God 
 —Light of Light— very God of very God, begotten not 
 made, being of one substance of the Father, by whom all 
 things were made." But in this there is no additimal ar^ 
 
19 
 
 tirJe, but simply a statement of the Scriptural sense, in 
 which the article of the first Creed was received by the 
 Primitive Church. If this Council had added one single 
 article to the previous Creed, it would have condemned the 
 Christian (Jhurch in its earlier days, as having had an im- 
 perfect and erroneous Creed. 
 
 But this is not the case, and if, therefore, the profession 
 of Faith in the Apostles' Creed, in its Scriptural sense, con- 
 stitutes a Christian, the man who so believes cannot be a 
 Heretic, for what constitutes Heresy ? It is the denial of 
 some article of Faith necessary to Salvation, and the man 
 who denies a fundamental principle of the Christian Faith is 
 consequently a Heretic. To explain, however, and expand 
 into its full Scriptural dimensions an article denied by 
 another, does not add a new article to the Creed, but only 
 defends and vindicates from error the article contained in 
 that Creed. But to add, as an article of Faith, any Doc- 
 trine, or any principle, or any object, that is not compre- 
 hended among the articles of the Creed in their true and 
 Scriptural sense — that is to alter the Creed, to corrupt the 
 Christian Church, to impeach the faith of those who went 
 before, and to corrupt the faith of those who are to come 
 after. 
 
 There is one other Creed to which I must briefly advert, 
 namely — the Creed of Athanasius. I would simply remark, 
 now, about this Creed, that although longer and more ex- 
 panded than the Nicene Creed, there is not, in the 
 whole, a single new article added. Its peculiar feature is 
 its distinct testimony to the glorious persons of the Eternal 
 Trinity, and the Incarnation of our Blessed Lord, but this 
 is only an expansion of the previous Creed, to meet the 
 subtleties and falsehoods of the Arian Heretics. The sub- 
 tlety of this Heresy is remarkable in one single word in the 
 Nicene Creed. The words of the Creed are, " Being of one 
 substance with the Father." The Arians stated they would 
 have no objection to receive it, if were — " Being of like 
 substance with the Father." lu the Greek, the difference in 
 
90 
 
 the worth, which signify respectively, "owe" and "///te" is 
 that there is u single vowel in the second syllable of the 
 one ; but a dipthong in the other. This led the Infldel 
 Boileau to say of the Christians, who contended on this sub- 
 ject, that . ey were Martyrs >• a Dipthong. Yet, dear Breth^ 
 ren, notwithstanding this Infidel witticism, that Dipthong 
 embraced this % stone of Christianity, the Divinity of the 
 Lord Jesus, and was therefore a ft and becondng object, 
 if need be, to undergo Martyrdom for. I think I have now 
 shown to you what the Aticicnt Catholic Faith of the Primi- 
 tive Church was, and that the two latter Creeds, which we 
 embrace, are no new Creeds, but simply Scriptural expan- 
 sions of the articles of that which is admitted to be the 
 oldest. One step more in this enquiry is of vast moment— 
 the testimony to these Creeds, in the General Councils— 
 I shall give you the dates and documents of the first four 
 General Councils. 
 
 The Nicene Creed was first proposed and adopted 
 
 at the Coancil of Nice, ...a. D. 325 
 
 Recapitulated and amended by the Council of 
 
 Constantinople, u goj 
 
 Recapitulated and confirmed by the Council of 
 
 Ephesus, « ^31 
 
 Subsequently by the Council of Chalcedon, " 451 
 
 These Councils bring us down to the middle of the fifth 
 Century. The Council of Nice asserts in her establishment 
 of that Creed :-" This is the Faith which the Fathers have 
 expounded— /rs#, indeed, against Arius, blaspheming, and 
 saying that the Son of God was created, and afterwarda 
 against every Heresy that extols and lifts itself up against 
 the Catholic Faith and Apostolic Church, which Heresy, 
 -with its authors, 318 Bishops assembled together, have 
 condemned at the aforesaid City of Nice, whose names, with 
 their respective i ?. yinces and States, are subjoined." 
 
 We have here Ihcn the Bishops of the eastern and wes- 
 tern Cnurcies, subscribing that Creed of the Christian 
 
21 
 
 Church in the year 325— this Creed, identical as we have 
 seen with the Apostles' Creed, and only expanding the 
 articles of the faith \\ liich it pruitonnds to be believed. A 
 note from an acknowledged authority on the subject is im- 
 portant. Binius says : " To those suspected of Heresy, that 
 the Dei - of the Council of Nice were to be proposed on 
 this account, truly that by this means. Heretics may, by a 
 most sure mark, be distinguished from Catholics, and tho 
 iiiith of each accurately discovered." 
 
 From this testimony, when a person was accused of 
 Heresy, tliis Creed was proposed to him : " Do you cm- 
 brace these articles of the Faith ?" if he did, then he was 
 admitted as a member of the Christian Church. 
 
 We now come to the Second General Council, which was 
 assembled fifty-six years afterwards at Constantinople. 
 This Council approved of this confession as " Most Ancient 
 and agreeable to Baptism," enlarging it in the article 
 concerning the Holy Ghost to meet the false tenets of the 
 Macedonian Heretics. The Fathers of this Council made up 
 this Creed by adding that which was commonly believed 
 concerning the Catholic Church, and Epiphanius repeating 
 this Creed at large, declares it to have been delivered unto 
 the Church by the Apostles. This Creed, with one exception 
 has come down to us ; that exception is contained in these 
 words : " Proceeding from the Father and the Son." This 
 was added by the Roman Church after the days of Charles 
 the Great. But this is no new article of Faith ; it is simp- 
 ly a testimony to the Scriptural account of the Iloly Ghost, 
 as drawn from the word of the Living God, and when we 
 say, " I believe in the Holy Ghost," our faith, according 
 to the Book which alone can teach us the Christian Faith^ is, 
 that the Holy Ghost procecdeth from Him who said, " I 
 will send the Comforter unto you." But w^e hasten to the 
 Council of Ephesus held fifty years after, namely, in 431, 
 A. D. In this Council there is a Decree to which I wish 
 particulnrly to draw your attention^ The Tiarticulars whicli 
 led to the Decree are too long to be now brought before 
 

 22 
 
 yon ; it will suffice to say, that it is stated some Presbyters 
 had come from Constantinople proposing another symbol 
 of Faith tiian this Creel to certain Lydians, who desired 
 to present themselves as converts from Heresy to the True 
 Faith. This was denounced by this Council in these re- 
 markable words : — 
 
 " These things having been read, the Holy Synod decreed, 
 '' that it should be lawful for no ore to profess or to offer 
 " any other form of Faith than that defined by the Holy 
 " Fathers, who, with the Holy Ghost, had been assembled 
 " at Nice. But those who shall have dared to compose, or 
 " to profess, or to offer any other form of Faith, to those 
 " wishing to be converted from Paganism, or from Judaism, 
 " or from any sort of Teresy — that these, if they were 
 "Bishops or Clergym.i — that the Bishops should be de- 
 " posed from their Episcopacy, and the Clergy from their 
 " Clerical office ; but thr.t if they were laymen, they should 
 " be subjected to an Anathema." 
 
 We thus see, my Brethren, with what vigilance the 
 Bishops of the Christian Church guarded against the slight- 
 est alteration in the articles of Faith in their day. They 
 expressly declare that if any man should dare to change the 
 form, or make any addition to them, or present any other 
 to a man to be subscribed who was a candidate for recep- 
 tion into the Church — that if he were a Bishop or a Clergy- 
 man, he should be deposed from his office : if a layman, 
 subjected to an anathema, or sentence of excommunication. 
 
 We arrive, now, at the 4th General Council — the Coun- 
 cil of Chalcedon. After the recapitulation of this same 
 Creed in this Council, the Council says : " We greatly 
 " desire that all amhiguity shall be taken away by the con- 
 '* cord and consent^ and consonant exhibition and Doctrine 
 " of all the Holy Fathers." This points out the object 
 they had in view in their Decree. It is then added : " The 
 " Catholic Faith delivered by the Holy (150) Fathers, (at 
 " Constantinople,) also by the other Most Holy and Glorious 
 ** Fathers (at Ephesus) ?rc guard and according to wliat we 
 
23 
 
 ''^ believe." It Is then declared, "The most Reverend 
 ^'' Bishops exclain .J— no person makes any other exposition 
 *'■ of fiiith ; we nvjither attempt nor dare to do so, for the 
 ^' Fathers have taught us, and in writings are preserved 
 ^' those things which have been set forth by them, and 
 " other than these we cannot spealc. Those principles which 
 " have been set forth are sufficient ; it is not lawful to make 
 " any other exposition." Again, " this is the rule which 
 ^' affirms that those things which have been set forth are 
 " sufficient. The rule commands that no other exposition 
 " be made ; let those principles be adhered to, which are 
 *< of the Fathers." 
 
 We thus, my denr Brethren, find, that up to this year 
 451, of the Christian Era, this, the Nicene Creed, was the 
 only Creed known or admitted into the Christian ChurcL 
 But I hasten on, passing by the rest of the Councils, and if 
 there are any Roman Catholics here to-night, I invite their 
 special attention to the next exhibition of a Creed or formu- 
 lary of faith that is promulged in Christendom. I would 
 affectionately ask their candid attention and solemn consi- 
 deration of the subject. 
 
 In the beginning of the 16th Century, all Europe had so 
 far departed from the great purity of the Christian Faith, 
 and as a natural consequence, such a fearful corruption of 
 morals pervaded the professing Church, that there was an 
 universal cry throughout Christendom for a Reformation of 
 Faith and Morale. 
 
 This pressure from without compelled the Ecclesiastical 
 authorities to assemble the celebrated Council of Trent. That 
 took place in Decemher, 1545. Its second session was held 
 in January, 1546, and its third session in the February of 
 the same year. On that day, the 4th February, 1546, they 
 had received no communication from Rome ; and, in conse 
 qucnce, the Historian tells us, they were at a loss what to do. 
 Some of them, however, proposed that they should recite the 
 Creed o/?/<c Christian- Church; and tho whole of this ses- 
 sion was, bj a remarkable Providence, exclusively occupied 
 
24 
 
 -M 
 
 in the recitation of the Christian Creed, as cleclarecl in the 
 several preceding Councils. Mark, my Brethren, the im- 
 portant conclusion to which this famous Council of Trent 
 came at its third Session in the year 1546 : 
 
 "This Holy Ecumenical and General Synod of Trent 
 " lawfully assembled in the Holy Ghost, the same three 
 " Legates of the Apostolic See, presiding in it, considering 
 " the magnitude of the subjects to be treated, especially of 
 " those which are contained under these two heads, the ex- 
 " tirpation of Heresies and the Reformation of Morals, on 
 " account of wMchchiejly it hasheen assemhled; but acknow- 
 " ledging with the Apostle, that it has not to wrestle with 
 " flesh and blood, but with Spiritual wickedness in Heaven- 
 t' ly places. With this same Apostle, it exhorts all and 
 " every one iti the j^i^s^ place, that they should be strong in 
 " the Lord and the Power of His might ; in all things taking 
 " the shield of faith, by which they can quench all the fiery 
 " darts of the most wicked, and that they should take the 
 " Helmet of the Hope of Salvation, with the sword of the 
 " Spirit — which is the Word of God" I give you the words 
 of this Decree literally. It proceeds :— " Therefore that 
 " this, its pious solicitude, may have its beginning and 
 " continuance by the Grace of God, it determines andDecreeSy 
 " that before all things, the confession of Faith is to be 
 " \}XQVi)\^QA^ following in thisiho, example of the Fathers, who, 
 " in their Sacred Councils, were accustomed to oppose this 
 " Shiela against all Heresies in the beginning of their actions, 
 " by which alone they both sometimes drew Infidels to the 
 " Faith, vanquished Heretics, and confirmed the Faithful. 
 " Wherefore, it, (the Council) commands that this Creed, 
 " which the Holy Roman Church uses, as that Summary in 
 " lohich all who profess the Faith of Christ necessarily agree, 
 " and that firm and &tdy foundation against lohich the gates 
 " of Hell shall never j^revail, shall be read in those words 
 " in which it is read in all the ChurcheSj which is as fo!- 
 « lows :"— 
 
25 
 
 " I believe in one God the Fatlier Almighty, Maker of heaven and eadh, 
 " and of all tliinga visible and invisible : 
 
 " And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten 
 " of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of light, very God of 
 " very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by 
 " whom all things were made : Who for us men, and for our salvation, came 
 " down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin 
 " Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius 
 *■ Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day He rose again, ac- 
 " cording to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sittoth on the 
 '■ right hand of the Father. And Ho shall come again with glory to judge 
 " both the quick and the dead ; Whose kingdom shall have no end. 
 
 " And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life. Who pro- 
 " ceedeth from the Father and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son 
 •' together is worshipped and glorified. Who spake by the Prophets. And I 
 " believe one Catholic and Apostolic Church ; I acknowledge one Baptism 
 " for the remission of sins ; and I look for the resuirection of the dead, and 
 " the life of the world to come. Amen," 
 
 Would to God the facts contained in this Decree were 
 fastened upon the minds of every member of the Church of 
 Rome now. I will just recapitulate them : 
 
 In 1546, the Council of Trent recites this Creed, and it 
 declares that in this it follows the example of all preceding 
 Fathers and Councils. But what was this ? we have the 
 Council of Chalcedon in 451, then the Council of Trent in 
 1546, testifying that all the intervening Councils between 
 those of Chalcedon aud Trent— all the Councils that had 
 been convene 1 during 1095 years, that is, all the Councils 
 which the Church of Rome hold? and professes to call Infal- 
 lible, all these recite this Creed, and that when this was 
 so recited, on the 4th February, 1546, it was then the 
 Creed professed by all the Christian Churches. 
 
 Let us again repeat the wore' of this Council with regard 
 to this Creed : — " That Summary in which all who profess 
 the Faith of Christ necessarily agree, ind that firm and only 
 foundation against which the gates of Hell should never 
 prevail." Let me offer a passing remark, not immediately 
 bearing upon the subject — Trent avers that on this confes- 
 sion of faith, and not on Peter, the Church is founded. 
 
26 
 
 Now, as to the Creed professed by England and England's 
 Clmrclies, it is further important to observe, that after the 
 Reformation was concluded in 1562, she retained, as the 
 profession of her Faith, that Creed, which, up to that very 
 date, the Council of Trent declared to be " The Summary 
 of Faith in which all necessarily a/;ree." Yet, while we bless 
 God for this Creed and for the Christian Church, which has 
 handed down to us that Scriptural and simple Summary of 
 Faith, be it ever remembered we do not take the Decrees 
 of these Councils as our authority for the Doctrines contained 
 in them. These Councils are not our authority— are not 
 our standard of truth ; we do not take the authority of the 
 Creed from the Councils— we do not believe any article of 
 the Apostles' Creed, because it was adopted at a very early 
 ajre of the Church. But we receive them, as I have endea- 
 voured to show you at the beginning of this Lecture, be- 
 cause each of these are in accordance with, and ratified by, 
 the revealed word of God— the Scriptures of Truth ; there- 
 fore, to all who hold this Creed and profess it in its Scrip- 
 tural sense, we cordially hold out the right hand of fellowship, 
 and can say with such, as Peter did to the dispersed Chris- 
 tian Jews :— " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, who, according to His abundant mercy, hath 
 begotten us again unto a lively hope, etc.''— 1 Peter, 1, 
 3,4. 
 
 But, my dear Brethren, little more remains to be said on 
 this point. You have seen what the Creed of the Church 
 Catholic was up to the year 1563— that Creed you profess 
 and can trace down through all the Churches to Apostolic 
 (Jays— this is " The Ancient Catholic Faith.'' 
 
 Is this, however, the faith of the Church of Rome ? This 
 was her Creed, as a Church, until the 9th December, 1564, 
 when the Bishop of Rome put forth anew Creed, which, from 
 that date, has been the Creed of the Church of Rome. 
 
 When Trent had concluded her work of Reformation in 
 the year 1563- in the next year, on the 9th December, 
 15e4_thc Bishop of Rome sent forth a new Creed, con- 
 
27 
 
 taming twelve new articles, wliidi were then for the first 
 time added to the Ancient Catholic Creed. Let me not be 
 misunderstood here, as if I desired to convey the impression 
 that the Doctrines embodied in this Creed were not known 
 or heard of before. Alas ! like other Heresies, they had their 
 existence at an earlier period— some at one, and some at 
 another ; but though maintained by some individuals and 
 Councils, and strongly condemned by others, they were 
 never engrafted on the Creed of the Church Catholic, until 
 the 9th December, 1564. I will give you the dates at 
 which some of those Doctrines first were put forward- 
 Invocation of Saints, at the beginning of the eighth Century, 
 about 700— and subsequently declared by a Council held 
 at Laodicea to be " a Secret kind of Idolatry ;" Image wor- 
 ship, 787, A. D. ; Purgatory, 1438 ; Transubstantiation, 
 1215 ; Sacrifice of the Mass, 1563 ; Indulgences introduced 
 in the fifteenth Century, but not sanctioned by a Council 
 
 until 1563. 
 
 I will now, for the information of my Protestant Breth- 
 ren, repeat these twelve new Articles, and I beg the earnest 
 attention of all, especially of any of my Roman Catholic 
 Brethren who may be here to-night, and ask them to com- 
 pare this Greed, only promulged and engrafted on the Creed 
 of the Roman Catholic Church in the year 1564, with that 
 Creed which was held by Churches and Councils, Bishops 
 and Martyrs, up to the year 1563, and then say on which 
 side Scriptural and Catholic Antiquity is, whether on the 
 side of that church or churches which hold and profess the 
 summary of Faith, which the various Councils down to the 
 year 1563, including the Council of Trent declared as that 
 Summary of faith in which all Christians necessarily agree; or 
 on the side of that Church whose Creed is only dated from 
 the 9th of December, 1564, in other words whose Creed is 
 only of 286 years date. Before reading the Creed I would 
 only add that I am not going to enter into the articles of 
 this creed, or to speak controversially, or enlarge on any of 
 them. 1 have one simple object in view, and to this one 
 
m 
 
 28 
 
 grand point I wish to draw all your attention at present. 
 It is the fact of the date of that Creed held by the Churches 
 of Rome, and the fact of the date of that Creed held by the 
 orthodox Churches of the reformation. 
 
 " I. I most steadfastly admit and embrace Apostolical and Ecclesiastical 
 traditions, and other observances and constitutions of the same Church. 
 
 " II. I also admit the Holy Scriptures, according to that sense -which our 
 Holy Mother, the Church, has held and does hold, to -which it belongs to 
 judge of the true sense and intcipretation of the Scriptures : nor will I ever 
 take and interpret them otherwise than according to the unanunous consent 
 of the fathers. 
 
 " III. I also profess, that there are truly and properly seven Sacraments 
 of the new law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and necessary for the 
 salvation of mankind, though not all for every one ; to -wit : Baptism, Confir- 
 mation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Orders, and Matrimony ; and 
 that they confer grace ; and that of these. Baptism, Confirmation, and Orders, 
 cannot be reiterated without sacrilege ; and I also receive and admit tlie re- 
 ceived and approved ceremonies of the Catholic Church, used in the solemn 
 administration of all the aforesaid Sacraments. 
 
 " IV. I embrace and receive all and every one of the things -which have 
 been defined and declared in the holy Council of Tient, concerning original 
 ein and justification. 
 
 " V. I profess, likewise, that in the mass, there is offered to God a true, 
 proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead; and that in the 
 most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, there are truly, really, and substan- 
 tially the body and blood, together -vs-ith the soul and divinity, of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ ; and that there is made a conversion of the "wliole substance 
 of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the 
 blood ; which conversion the Catholic Church calls Transubstantiation. I also 
 confess, that under either kmd alone, Christ is received -whole and entire, and 
 a true Sacrament. 
 
 " VI. I constantly hold that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls there- 
 in detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful. 
 
 •' VII. Likewise, that the saints, reigning together with Christ, are to be 
 honoured and invocated ; and that they offer prayers to God for us, and that 
 tlieir relics are to be held in veneration. 
 
 " VIII. I most firmly assert that the images of Christ, of the mother of 
 God, ever virgin, and also of other saints, may be had and retair^ed ; and 
 tliat due honour and veneration are to be given them. 
 
 " IX. I also afiirm that the power of Indulgences was loft by Christ in 
 the Church, and that the use of them is most wholesome to Christian people. 
 " X. I acknowledge the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church for the 
 Mother and Mistress of all Churches ; and I promise true obedience to the 
 Bishop of Romej Successor to St, Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and Vioar of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
29 
 
 " XI. TlikowlsG iindcvibtcdiy receive and profess nil otlicr tilings delivered, 
 defineil, and declared by the Sacred Canona and General Councils, and 
 particularly. by the holy Council of Trent; and I condemn, reject, and ana- 
 thematize all things contrary thereto, and all heresies which the Church has 
 condemned, rejected, and anathematized. 
 
 " XII. This true Catholic faith, out of -whioli none can be saved, which I 
 now freely profess, and truly hold I, N., promise, vow, and swear, most con- 
 stantly to hold and profess the same whole and entire, with God's assistance, 
 to the end of my life; and to procure, d.s far as it lies in nnj jioioer, that the 
 same f<haU he hchl, tan'jht, ami jircach'jd hi/ all who are under mc or arc in- 
 trusted to mi/ care, b;/ virtue of my office. So help me Ood, and these holy 
 Gospels of God." 
 
 Does the creed of tiie Aneient Catholic Church, hehl as 
 the Summary of Faith, up to 1563, contain one of these 
 articles ? — no — my dear Brethren, not one of those novel 
 articles were ever embodied in a Creed until the year 1564, 
 and I hesitate not to say, here to-night, in the most deliber- 
 ate and solemn way, that I will adopt this Creed, and con- 
 form to the Church of Rome if it can be proved that it was 
 ever published, or heard of, as the Ancient Creed, or Pro- 
 fession of Faith of the Catholic Church, before the year 1564. 
 On the other hand, I earnestly intreat my dear Roman 
 Catholic fellow subjects, to consider the shallowness of the 
 plea of antiquity set up In the present day for that Creed, 
 they are called on to profess as the true Catholic Faith " out 
 of which none can be saved." 
 
 Let me affectionately exhort you to take the Old Creed 
 of the Council of Nice, and the New Creed of Rome, and 
 mark how wide the difference is : — 
 
 Is this truly Ancient Creed the same as that Creed pro- 
 mulged in 1564? 
 
 In this Ancient Creed there is not one word about em- 
 bracing or holding ecclesiastical traditions, about receiving 
 the Bible in the sense of jMother Church, no. one word 
 about Purgatory, the Invocation of Saints, the Seven Sa- 
 craments, or the Power of Indulgences. But all these things 
 are to be found, for the first time, in the Creed of Pius IV. 
 as a part of the Summary, yea, the essential part of the 
 Summary of the True Catholic Faith, " out of which none can 
 be saved," 
 
30 
 
 No (louW,, tlicse things arc strange to your ears ; but I 
 ask you, allliough strange, yet are not the facts (if they 
 are facts which I have brought before you to-n.ght worthy 
 of examination into. If you have been deceived, wttnigly, 
 or unwittingly on your own parts ; deliberately or through 
 self-ignorance on the part of your priests, I again ash you, 
 is it not the part of prudent and wise men to loolc at the 
 faoU, and to ask your consciences and your understandmgs, 
 
 are these things so? i ,i r.i . i. „f 
 
 I et me then ask any impartial man, when the Church of 
 Rome admits that this was the Faith of the Christian Church 
 TtThe Council of Nice, and that this was the Fa.th of the 
 Ch istian Church up to the year 1546, to use the words of 
 « Council of Trent, that this was " the fum and only 
 fo,mdat°on a-ainst which the gates of Hell should never 
 reva" " "n ° hat the mere recital of this Creed had fre- 
 Sleut ; conquered heretics. I ask you ou a simple evidence 
 «. facts, can that be Heresy which was held as the 
 faith of Christendom for nearly sixteen hundred years, or 
 can those be Heretics, who profess this Faith ? 
 
 The Churches of Great Britain, and indeed most of the 
 Continental Reformed Christian Churches of the world, so 
 far from denying any articles of this Ancient Faith contend 
 for its vuritv, uphold it in its integrity 1 
 
 This Creed is recited every Sunday in the public services 
 
 .f the Church of England, we thus embrace or profess to 
 
 niSh a etrine'which the Council of Trent declared 
 
 to hive U the only doctrine of the Church up to the year 
 
 1 nia th^ mm year in which Luther died^— 
 
 n'eiuSn is often asked by the advocates of this (as 
 I trust you are now persuaded it is,) this novel Creed, m 
 the language of scornful triumph, " where was your religion 
 
 before Luther ?" . xt • • 
 
 I think, dear Protestant Brethren, your answer to this is 
 now easy and simple, « Our Creed is the same as that held 
 by the Catholic Church up to the year 1564. 
 
 Bnt. while vou can thus hf induhitahh facts answer ili^s 
 
31 
 
 s 
 
 i 
 r 
 
 s 
 n 
 n 
 
 is 
 d 
 
 is 
 
 - 
 
 question, and can tnith meekness and in love reply to it, 
 " wlicre was your Crcetl before the 9tli Decern jer 1564?" 
 the date of tliis novel Creed set forth by Pope Pius the 
 Fourth,— at the same time, let us be prepared to say with an 
 eminent servant of God, " I care not one farthing for what 
 Luther or Calvin, or any other man or men, that ever trod 
 the earth, say or have said, or have written upon the sub- 
 ject of the Christian Faith, I honor them as far as they 
 honor God, and stated the Truth of God, and maintained 
 the Truth of God. But it is not Creeds, it is not Missals, 
 it is not Prayer Books, it is not any composition that ever 
 came from the pen of man, but it is the Word of the living 
 God, by which our souls shall be judged in the day that 
 Christ shall come. Let us remember this, and as we value 
 the Eternity that is at stake upon the sentence which 
 Christ shall then pronounce, ' let us turn to the word of 
 God and cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils, 
 for wherein is be to be accounted of/ " 
 
 I think, my dear Brethren, 1 have now established two 
 things as facts, that cannot be controverted, the one is that 
 the Creed of the Church of England is the Creed of the 
 Anciept Catholic Church from the days of the Apostles, to 
 the Council of Nice, and from the Council of Nice, to the 
 Council of Trent, and from the Council of Trent to this very 
 hour. This is the Creed of the Church of England— the 
 Creed of the Protestant Church at large, and yet we are told 
 often, and too often,— Protestants in ignorance either admit 
 or at' all events cannot reply to it— I say yet we are often 
 told, Protestantism is a new religion. 
 
 The other fact I have also established is this, that the 
 Creed of the Church of Rome, which our dear Roman 
 Catholic fellow subjects profess to believe as the Creed of ihe 
 Ancient Catholic Church, is a mere novelty, never known or 
 heard of in Christendom before it was published by the 
 Bishop of Rome, Pope Pius IV, on the 9th December, 1564. 
 Oh! that my Roman Catholic hearers would indeed ob- 
 serve these things, that they would look into them and no 
 
32 
 
 longer be kept back from the enquiry. Once more, remem- 
 ber the Crcctl you profess is in reality the new Creed, while 
 owrs, viz. the Nicene Creed is the old, consequently yours, 
 even on your own i)lm of antiquity, because it is not 300 
 years old, is but a mass of fond conceits of foolish novel- 
 ties, or to use the language of the Apostle, is but " wood, 
 bay and stubble," well, then, may Bishop Hall say in his 
 " Serious Dissuasiveti from Popery," "let your authors gloze 
 it as they list, Popery is but a young faction, corruptly raised 
 out of Ancient grounds ; and if it have, as we grant, some 
 Ancient errors, fiilsehood cannot be bettered by age. 
 There is no prescription against God and Truth ; what we 
 can prove to be erroneous, v\e need not prove new. Some 
 hundreds of years is an idle plea against the Ancient of 
 days." I fear, dear Brethren, I have almost exhausted your 
 patience, as I have completely my own strength. One word 
 more in conclusion. It is a word of exhortation, and of 
 peace— /or yourselves. " Stand ye in the way and see and 
 ask for the old paths where is the good way," having found 
 this by prayerful, diligent study of the precious Bible, the 
 beacon light to guard from the rocks of errors and super- 
 stition, and to guide you to the haven of Eternal joy, 
 remember that it is only as " ye walk therein," that ye 
 shall find rest unto your souls." For your lioman Catholic 
 brethren, — I would speak a word of 2>eace ; teach them by 
 your Holy walk the excellency of your Religion, —in every 
 way cultivate their friendly feeling by kindness of manner 
 and by acts of Love ; and, in all your efforts to set them 
 free from the Bondage in which they arc fast held, with 
 faithfulness speak God's Truth, but let this faithfulness be 
 ever accompanied with that meekness of wisdom and ten- 
 derness of compassion which characterized the teaching of 
 Him " who came not to destroy men's lives, but to save 
 them," " not to condemn the World, but that the World 
 through Him might be saved." 
 
 'A