same, and to call upon the whole creation to join with us Sect. XIII. in thanksgiving. This was one of those which, I have already observed, was first added to King Edward's second Common Prayer. SECT. XIII. Of the Hymns after the second Lessons. cond Les HAVING expressed our thankfulness to God in one Hymns afof the above-mentioned Hymns for the light and in- ter the sestruction we have received from the first Lesson; we are sons. fitly disposed to hear the clearer revelations exhibited to us in the second. or Song of I. As to the second Lesson in the Morning, it is always of the Benedictus, taken out either of the Gospels or the Acts; which contain an historical account of the great work of our re- Zacharias. demption: and therefore as the angel, that first published the glad tidings of salvation, was joined by a multitude of the heavenly host, who all brake forth in praises to God; so when the same tidings are rehearsed by the Priest, both he and the people immediately join their mutual gratulations, praising God, and saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people; and hath raised up a mighty salvation for us in the house of his servant David, &c. being the Hymn that was composed by good old Zacharias, at the circumcision of his son, St. John the Baptist 53, and containing a thanksgiving to God for the incarnation of our Saviour, and for those unspeakable mercies, which (though they were not then fully completed) were quickly afterwards the subject of the whole Church's praises. Psalm. II. For variety the hundredth Psalm was also appointed of the by King Edward's second book, in which all lands and hundredth nations are invited and called upon to serve the Lord with gladness, and come before his presence with a song, for his exceeding grace, mercy, and truth, which are so eminently set forth in the Gospels. mittis. III. After the second Lesson at Evening, which is al- Of the ways out of the Epistles, the Song of Simeon, called Nunc Nunc DiDimittis, is most commonly used. The author of it is supposed to have been he whom the Jews call Simeon the Just, son to the famous Rabbi Hillel 54, a man of eminent integrity, and one who opposed the then common opinion of the Messiah's temporal kingdom. The occasion 53 Lukei. 57. 54 Vid. Scultet. Exercitat. Evang. 1. 1. c. 61. and Lightfoot's Harmony L Chap. III of his composing it, was his meeting Christ in the Temple, when he came to be presented there, wherein God fulfilled his promise to him, that he should not die till he had seen the Lord's Christ 55. Of the six Psalm. And though we cannot see our Saviour with our bodily eyes, as he did, yet he is by the writings of the Apostles daily presented to the eyes of our faith: and therefore if we were much concerned for heaven, and as loose from the love of the world as old Simeon was, and we ought to be; we might, upon the view of Christ in his holy word, be daily ready to sing this Hymn, which is taken into the services of all Christian churches in the world, Greek, Roman, and Reformed, and was formerly very frequently sung by Saints and Martyrs a little before their deaths. IV. Instead of it sometimes the sixty-seventh Psalm is ty-seventh used, (being one of those that was introduced in King Edward's second Liturgy,) which being a prayer of David for the coming of the Gospel, is a proper form wherein to express our desires for the farther propagation of it. The Creed. N. B. It ought to be noted, that both the sixty-seventh and hundredth Psalms, being inserted in the Common Prayer Books in the ordinary version, ought so to be used, and not to be sung in Sternhold and Hopkins, or any other metre, as is now the custom in too many churches, to the jostling out of the Psalms themselves, expressly contrary to the design of the rubric: which, if not prevented, may in time make way for farther innovations and gross irregularities. SECT. XIV. Of the Apostles' Creed. THOUGH the Scriptures be a perfect revelation of all divine truths necessary to salvation; yet the fundamental articles of our faith are so dispersed there, that it was thought necessary to collect out of those sacred writings one plain and short summary of fundamental doctrines, which might easily be understood and remembered by all Christians. §. 2. This summary, from the first word in Latin Credo, Why so called. is commonly called the Creed; though in Latin it is Why called called Symbolum, for which several reasons are given: as, Symbo- first, that it is an allusion to the custom of several persons meeting together to eat of one common supper, whither lum. 55 Luke ii. 26. every one brings something for his share to make up that Sect. XIV. common meal, which from hence was called Symbolum, from the Greek word ouμbáλλew, which signifies to throw or cast together: even so, say some 56, the Apostles met together, and each one put or threw in his article to compose this Symbol. Another signification of the word is fetched from military affairs, where it is used to denote those marks, signs, or watch-words, &c. whereby the soldiers of an army distinguished and knew each other: in like manner, as some think 57, by this Creed the true soldiers of Jesus Christ were distinguished from all others, and discerned from those who were only false and hypocritical pretenders. But the most natural signification of the word seems to be derived from the Pagan Symbols, which were secret marks, words, or tokens communicated at the time of initiation, or a little before, unto those who were consecrated or entered into their reserved or hidden rites, and to none else; by the declaration, manifestation, or pronunciation whereof, those more devout idolaters knew each other, and were with all freedom and liberty of access admitted to their more intimate mysteries, i. e. to the secret worship and rites of that god, whose symbols they had received; from whence the multitude in general were kept out and excluded: which said symbols those, who had received them, were obliged carefully to conceal, and not, on any account whatsoever, to divulge or reveal 58. And for the same reasons the Apostles' Creed is thought by some to have been termed a Symbol, because it was studiously concealed from the Pagan world, and not revealed to the Catechumens themselves, till just before their Baptism or initiation in the Christian mysteries: when it was delivered to them as that secret note, mark, or token, by which the faithful in all parts of the world might, without any danger, make themselves known to one another 59. §. 3. That the whole Creed, as we now use it, was drawn The antiup by the Apostles themselves, can hardly be proved: but quity of it. that the greatest part of it was derived from the very days of the Apostles, is evident from the testimonies of the 56 Ruffin. Expos. in Symb. Apost. ad calcem Cyprian. Oper. pag. 17. Cassian, de Incarn. Dom. 1. 6. c. 3. pag. 1046. Atrebat. 1628. 57 Ruffin. ut supra. Maxim. Taurinens. Homil. in Symbol. ap. Biblioth. Vet. Patr. Colon. Agrippin. 1618. tom. v. pag. 39. 58 See instances of these Symbols in the Lord Chief Justice King's Critical History of the Creed, chap. 1. p. 11, &c. 59 See this proved by the same Author, p. 20, &c. Chap. III. most ancient writers; particularly of St. Ignatius, in whose Epistles most of its articles are to be found: though there are some reasons to believe, that some few of them, viz. that of the descent into hell, the communion of saints, and the life everlasting, were not added till some time after, in opposition to some gross errors and heresies that sprang up in the Church. But the whole form, as it now stands in our Liturgy, is to be found in the works of St. Ambrose and Ruffinus 61. When first recited publicly. The place of the Creed in To be re peated by the whole congregation. §. 4. It is true indeed the primitive Christians, by reason they always concealed this and their other mysteries, did not in their assemblies publicly recite the Creed, except at the times of Baptism; which, unless in cases of necessity, were only at Easter and Whitsuntide. From whence it came to pass, that the constant repeating of the Creed in the Church was not introduced till five hundred years after Christ; about which time Petrus Gnapheus, Bishop of Antioch, prescribed the constant recital of the Creed at the public administration of divine service 2. §. 5. The place of it in our Liturgy may be considered with respect both to what goes before, and what comes after it. That which goes before it, are the Lessons taken out of the word of God: for faith comes by hearing 63; and therefore when we have heard God's word, it is fit we should profess our belief of it, thereby setting our seals (as it were) to the truth of God, especially to such articles as the chapters now read to us have confirmed. What follows the Creed are the Prayers which are grounded upon it: for we cannot call on him, in whom we have not be lieved s. And therefore since we are to pray to God the Father, in the name of the Son, by the assistance of the Holy Ghost, for remission of sins, and a joyful resurrection; we first declare that we believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that there is remission here, and a resurrection to life hereafter, for all true members of the Catholic Church; and then we may be said to pray in faith. §. 6. Both Minister and People are appointed to repeat this Creed; because it is the profession of every person present, and ought for that reason to be made by every one in his own person; the more expressly to declare 60 Vid. Irenæum, contr. Hæres. 1. 1. c. 2. p. 44. Tertull. de Virg. veland. c. 1. p. 175. A. De Præscript. Hæreticor. c. 13. p. 206. D. 61 In their Expositions upon it. 62 Theodor. Lector. Histor. Eccles. p. 563. C. 63 Rom. x. 17. 65 Rom. x. 14. their belief of it to each other, and consequently to the Sect. XIV. whole Christian world, with whom they maintain com munion. §. 7. It is to be repeated standing, to signify our reso-Standing. lution to stand up stoutly in the defence of it. And in Poland and Lithuania the nobles used formerly to draw their swords, in token that, if need were, they would defend and seal the truth of it with their blood". wards the §. 8. When we repeat it, it is customary to turn towards with their the East, that so whilst we are making profession of our faces tofaith in the blessed Trinity, we may look towards that East. quarter of the heavens, where God is supposed to have his peculiar residence of glory67. §. 9. When we come to the second article in this Reverence Creed, in which the name of JESUS is mentioned, the to be made whole congregation makes obeisance, which the Church at the name (in regard to that passage of St. Paul, That at the name of of Jesus. JESUS every knee should bow68) expressly enjoins in her eighteenth canon: ordering, that when in time of divine service the Lord JESUS shall be mentioned, due and lowly reverence shall be done by all persons present, as it has been accustomed; testifying by these outward ceremonies and gestures their inward humility, Christian resolution, and due acknowledgment, that the Lord JESUS CHRIST, the true eternal Son of God, is the only Saviour of the world, in whom alone all the mercies, graces, and promises of God to mankind for this life, and the life to come, are fully and wholly comprised. SECT. XV. Of St. Athanasius's Creed. nasius. WHETHER this Creed was composed by Athana- The Creed sius or not, is matter of dispute: in the rubric before of St. Athait, as enlarged at the review, it is only said to be commonly called the Creed of St. Athanasius: but we are certain that it has been received as a treasure of inestimable price both by the Greek and Latin churches for almost a thousand years. §. 2. As to the matter of it, it condemns all ancient The scruple and modern heresies, and is the sum of all orthodox divi- which some nity. And therefore if any scruple at the denying Salva- make tion to such as do not believe these articles; let them remember, that such as hold any of those fundamental he 66 See Durell's View, &c. Sect. 1. §. 24. page 37. 67 See Mr. Gregory, as quoted in note 61, in page 87. against it. |
