CONFESSION OF FAITH, simply considered, is the. same with creed, and signifies a summary of the prin cipal articles 01 belief adopted by any individual or society. In its more common acceptation, it is restrict ed to the summaries of doctrine published by particular Christian churches ; with the view of preventing their religious sentiments from being misunderstood or mis represented ; or, by requiring subscription to them, of securing uniformity of opinion among those who join their communion. Of the lawfulness or expediency of confessions for the latter of these purposes, it is not our intention to treat in the present article; but shall content ourselves with giving a short account of the most dis ...
tinguished formulas of Christian faith, both an .icnt and modern ; noticing as we go along the chief points in which they agree or differ.
Except a single sentence in one of the lgnatian Epis tles, which relates exclusively to the reality of Christ's personality and sufferings, in opposition to the Docetx, the earliest document of this kind is to he found in writings of Irenxus, who flourished towards the end of the second century of the Christian xra. In his treatise against heresies, (lib. i. cap. 2.) this father affirms, that " the faith of the church planted throughout the whole world," consisted in the belief of " one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth and sea, and all that arc in them ; and one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation ; and one Holy Spirit, who foretold through the prophets, the dispensa tions and advents, and the generation by the virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension in the flesh into heaven, of Christ Jesus our beloved Lord, and his appearing from heaven in the glory of the Father, to unite together all things under one head, and to raise every individual of the human race ; that unto Christ Jesus, our Lord and God, and Saviour and King, every knee may bow and every tongue confess : that he may pronounce just sentence upon all." In various parts of Tertullian's writings similar state ments occur, wliich it is unnecessary particularly to quote. We shall only remark, that in one of them, the
miraculous conception of Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost is distinctly mentioned ; that in another, he declares it to have been the uniform doctrine from the beginning of the gospel, that Christ was born of the virgin, both man and Cod, ex ed natum hominem et Deunr ; and that in each of these, faith in the Father, Son, and Spirit, is recognised as essential to Christianity. The following passage we cite, for the purpose of mark ing its coincidence with the Apostles' Creed, to which we shall have occasion soon to advert. " This," says he, " is the sole, immoveable, irreformable rule of faith, viz. to believe in the only God Almighty, maker of the world, and his son Jesus Christ, born of the virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, the third clay raised from the dead, received into heaven, now sitting at the right hand of the Father, about to conic and judge the quick and the dead, by the resurrection also of the flesh." Tertullian De Virg.vel.
The summaries contained in the works of Origen, nearly resemble the preceding ; any difference between them being easily accounted for, from the tenets of the particular heresies against which they were directed. In his Commentary on John's Gospel he thus writes : " \Vc believe that there is one God, who created all things, and framed and made all things to exist out of nothing : \Vc must also believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in all the truth concerning his Deity and humanity ; and we 'mist likewise believe in the Holy Spirit, and that, being free agents, we shall be punished for the things in which we sin, and rewarded for those in which we do well." According to Cyprian, the formula, to which assent was required from adults at their baptism, was in these terms : " Dost thou believe in God the Father, Christ the Son, the Iloly Spirit, the remission of sins, and eternal life, through the holy church ?" This was called by him Symboli Lex, the Law of the Creed ; and by No yation, Regula Veritatia, the Rule of Truth.