Before leaving the ancient formulas of Christian doc trine, it may be stated, that both in the Council of Ephe sus against the Nestorians, held A. I). 431, and in that of Chalcedon against the Eutychians in 451, it was so lemnl• declared and decreed, that " Christ was one di vine person, in whom two natures, the human and the divine, were most closely united, but without being mix ed or confounded together." Amid the variance and opposition of council to coun cil, and pope to pope, which prevailed for centuries in the Romish church, it would be no easy task to ascer tain the real articles of its confession. The decrees of the council of Trent, however, together with the creed of Pope Pius IV. are now commonly understood to be the authoritative standards of its faith and worship. These, besides recognising the authority of the apostles' and the Nicene creeds, embrace a multitude of dogmas which it is unnecessary partiettkrly to specify, relating to tra ditions, the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, eucha rist, penance, extreme unction, order, and matrimony, transu'istantiation, the sacrifice of the mass, worshipping of images, purgatory, indulgencies. ;:ec. &c.
The Greek church has no public or established con fession ; but its creed, so far as can be gathered from its authorised catechisms, admits the doctrines of the Ni cene and Athanasian creeds, with the exception of the article in each concerning the procession of the Holy Spirit, which it affirms to be " from the the Father only, and not from the Father and the Son." It disowns the supremacy and infallibility of the pope, purgatory by fire, graven images, and the restriction of the sacrament to one kind ; but acknowledges the seven sacraments of the Catholics, the use of pictures, invocation of saints, transubstantiation, and masses and prayers for the dead.
Though the Romish church early appropriated to it self the exclusive title of catholic, or universal, and though for many centuries its unscriptural tenets per vaded the far greater part of Europe, not only were there always some individuals who adhered to the doctrines of genuine Christianity, but, long before the Protestant reformation, there appear to have been whole congre gations who maintained, in considerable purity, the sub stance of the faith contained in Scripture. Such were the churches of the Waldenses in the wallies of Pied mont, whose confession of so early a date as the begin ning of the 12th century, is still preserved. It consists of 14 articles, in which the authority of the apostle's creed, and of the canonical books of Scripture alone, and the doctrines of the Trinity, the fall, original sin, the atonement of Christ, and free unmerited salvation by him as the only mediator, are distinctly asserted ; and the popish tenets of human tradition, purgatory, seven sacraments, invocation of saints, mass, and other 44 anti christiau inventions," are declared to be " an abomina tion." The first Protestant confession was that presented in 1530, to the diet of Augsburg, by the suggestion, and under the direction, of John, Elector of Saxony. This
wise and prudent prince, with the view of having the principal grounds on which the Protestants had sepa rated from the Romish communion, distinctly submitted to that assembly, intrusted the duty of preparing a sum mary of them to the divines of \Vittemberg. Nor was that task a difficult one ; for the reformed doctrines had already been digested into 17 articles, which had been proposed at the conferences both at Sultzbach and Smal caul, as the confession of faith to be adopted by the Pro testant confederates. These, accordingly, were deliver ed to the elector by Luther, and served as the basis of the celebrated Augsburg confession, written " by the elegant and accurate pen of Melancthon ; a work which has been admired by many even of its enemies, for its perspicuity, piety, and erudition. It contains 28 chap ters, the leading topics of which are, the true and essen tial divinity of Christ ; his substitution and vicarious sa crifice; original sin ; human inability ; the necessity, freedom, and efficacy of divine grace ; consubstantiation, and particularly justification by faith, to establish the truth and importance of which was one of its chief ob jects. The last seven articles condemn and confute the popish tenets of communion in one kind, clerical celibacy, private masses, auricular confession, legendary traditions, monastic vows, and the exorbitant power of the church. This is the universal standard of orthodox doctrine among those who profess to be Lutherans, on which no autho ritative alteration has ever been made.
The confession of Basil, originally presented like the preceding to the diet of Augsburg, but not published till 1534, consists of only 12 articles, which, in every essen tial point, agree with those of the Augsburg confession, except that it rejects the doctrine of consubstantiation, affirming that Christ is only spiritually present in the Lord's supper, aacramentaliter ct per menzora tionem fidei ; and that it asserts the doctrine of predes tination and infant baptism. But the more detailed creed of the whole Swiss Protestant churches, is contained in the former and latter Helvetic confessions. The first was drawn up in 1536, by Bullinger, Myconius and Gry nxus, in behalf of the chui chcs of Ilelvetia, and present ed to an assembly of divines at Wittemberg, by whom it was cordially approved. But being deemed too concise, a second was prepared in 1566, by the pastors of Zurich, which was subscribed not only by all the Swiss Protes tants, but by the Churches of Geneva and Savoy, and by many of those in Hungary and Poland. They fully har monise with each other, with only this difference, that the doctrine of predestination, and an approbation of the observance of such religious festivals as the nativity, &c. are to be found in the latter confession only.