The Prayer Book Explained Part 14

PRAISE.

VI. The Creeds.

The discussions which arose upon the Revelation of Himself, which G.o.d gave in His Son Jesus Christ, were carried on between people who lived far apart round the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Nature of Almighty G.o.d could not possibly be easily understood by man. We might as well expect a horse to understand the nature of man.

When a man tries to make a horse understand kindness, he is often disappointed with the lower nature which seems unable to appreciate it: but he perseveres, and expects some response to his efforts.

In like manner we may believe that G.o.d expects us to respond when He reveals something of His own Nature to us.

a.s.suming that He is perfectly Wise, we must own that what He tells us about Himself it is good for us to believe, and to try to understand.

The Revelation is itself a claim upon our Wors.h.i.+p. We start with a grain of Faith: that is, we believe that there is a Revelation--an unveiling of the mystery of G.o.d's Being.

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It was necessary that argument should just fail to prove this; because it is G.o.d's Will that men should be equal before Him: the man who can argue very cleverly was not designed to have an advantage over the stupid or ignorant man in their dealings with G.o.d. The meaning of our Lord's words, _The poor have the Gospel preached to them_, is not to be confined to poverty in money and clothes: the man who is poor in opportunities, learning, intellect, can _believe_ if he makes the needful effort: the intellectual man who is poor in humility has also to make an effort, and to endeavour to believe. They and all others are made equal when G.o.d makes His Claim upon them. Moreover, the difficulties of Faith are in proportion to the Aids to Faith. There is no compulsion of Reason, any more than there is compulsion of Authority, or of Imprisonment. We are all free; we all have difficulties; and we all have the call of G.o.d to Believe in Him.

Reason is one of G.o.d's best gifts. Reason shows nothing _contrary_ to Faith, when the balance comes to be struck. The Intellectual argument is with us all, and is slightly in favour of Belief. But Faith is the atmosphere in which we must move, if we are to see the Invisible G.o.d.

Revelation, then, appeals to Faith, and is not opposed to Reason. The Summary of Revelation which is found in the Christian Creeds is compiled from the Bible. Reason is incapable of a.s.suring us that G.o.d has a Son, and equally incapable of a.s.suring us that He has not a Son.

The Revelation a.s.sures us that He has a Son: and Reason cannot, in the {91} nature of things, contradict that a.s.surance. Reasoning can tell us, and does tell us, that the Epistles (say) of St Paul to the Galatians, Romans, and Corinthians were written, as they claim, by St Paul; that the Gospels and other New Testament books are compositions of the first century; that Christianity was accepted as true by mult.i.tudes of the people of that century, and so on. But the acceptance of the Faith was then, and still is, left to your choice--a choice whether you will listen to G.o.d's Call to be His faithful son, or reject it.

The Apostles' Creed.

The Apostles' Creed is a summary of those things which the Bible tells us of G.o.d's Being. There can be no higher act of the soul of man than to dwell Upon the Being and Attributes of G.o.d. It is a great step upwards, to purify one's _life_ from evil. But plainly it is a further and higher step, to purify the _soul_: for the man who refuses to _do_ evil is not so far on as the man who refuses to _feel_ and _think_ evil. It is however possible for him to reject evil only because it is bad for himself. A life of selfishness may be wonderfully free from the doing of evil. The Revelation in Jesus Christ is the Revelation of G.o.d as the highest Aim, and of the Unselfish Life as the path to G.o.d.

A summary of what G.o.d has told us of His Being is most perfect for use in Wors.h.i.+p, when it is most free from discussion. A courtier is most courtly when he is freest from doubts and suspicions of his king. {92} The presence of discussion in a creed implies that there has been a doubt.

The Apostles' Creed has no discussion in its clauses, and has been called "The loving outburst of a loyal heart." (Harvey Goodwin.) It is therefore the Creed of Wors.h.i.+p and Praise.

The Nicene Creed is the Creed of Self-Examination. Discussion is implied in some of its clauses.

The Athanasian Creed is a Guide to Thought concerning the nature of G.o.d. It appeared on the scene at the close of many controversies--when the Church had debated the various explanations of Revelation which had been proposed, and was prepared to declare what G.o.d's children may reverently say and think of their Father in Heaven. [See Chapter on the Athanasian Creed.]

"I will wors.h.i.+p toward thy holy temple and praise thy Name because of thy lovingkindness and truth: for thou hast magnified thy Name and thy Word above all things" (Ps. cx.x.xviii. 2). When used in Church Services a Creed must always be regarded mainly as an Act of Praise to G.o.d.

The most evident characteristic of a Creed is that it says what we know of G.o.d by His Revelation of Himself in the Bible.

Now, that which speaks of G.o.d must of necessity be a declaration of His Worthiness--an Act of Wors.h.i.+p.

We have already defined Praise as that kind of Wors.h.i.+p wherein we think of G.o.d, and not of ourselves.

Forasmuch as a Creed contains, chiefly or entirely, {93} the proclamation of G.o.d's Nature and Being, it is the form in Wors.h.i.+p which is most entirely Praise.

The Apostles' Creed is so placed in the Morning and Evening Prayer as to be the highest of several kinds of Praise.

The Psalms have a considerable mixture of thoughts of man, and of human dependence on G.o.d.

The Old Testament Lesson, with its Respond, draws from Man's History the joyful thoughts of G.o.d's mercy.

The New Testament Lesson, with its Respond, carries our Praise a degree nearer to Perfect Peace and Joy in the Goodness of G.o.d through Christ.

The Apostles' Creed entirely omits the human element that we may rejoice in G.o.d's Existence.

Other uses of Creeds. Creeds have been used for various purposes, which may be cla.s.sed as follows:

(_a_) Symbolum, or Examination.

(_b_) Self-Examination.

(_c_) Guide to Thought and Basis of Argument.

(_d_) Praise or Wors.h.i.+p.

(_a_) In order to understand the word _Symbolum_, from which a Creed is often called a Symbol, we must go back to the days when, for persecution's sake, and lest they should unnecessarily cause their own deaths, Christians met in secret, and required pa.s.s-words that they might know one another.

To be admitted freely to the Christian a.s.semblies a man had to know the Creed as his pa.s.s-word (symbolum); which at Milan, and in other Churches, was taught to the Catechumens, some three weeks before Easter, and not written down. They recited it a {94} week later, and then were taught the Lord's Prayer, in the time of S. Augustine. On Easter Eve they recited it again, and were baptized. This use of the Creed survives in the Baptism Services.

(_b_) Whereas we believe most firmly those things which we most frequently remember, it is needful that we remember frequently the Articles of the Creed. Hence Self-Examination requires not only the consideration of our Conduct, but also the examination of our Faith.

In the Visitation of the Sick, and in Holy Communion, the Creeds are used for Self-Examination.

(_c_) Since other thoughts are built up on those which we have about G.o.d, it is usual amongst Christians to use the Articles of the Creed as a Guide to what they are to think about themselves, and about the World, and about the Evil and Good which are in the World. Their arguments with one another rest upon the Creeds which are acknowledged amongst them.

(_d_) But apart from all inferences and arguments, the facts about G.o.d's Existence call forth from the heart of man joyful praise and adoring wors.h.i.+p.

The name by which G.o.d is declared to His People in Exodus is I AM. The thoughts by which we too come nearest to Him are thoughts which declare what HE IS. Thus the Apostles' Creed in Morning and Evening Prayer is a Hymn of Praise.

History of the Apostles' Creed.

The similarity of the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, as they stand in the Prayer Book, {95} suggests the reflection that disputes about the Human and Divine Natures of Jesus caused the enlargement of those parts which refer to Him: and that similar enlargements were caused by disputes about the Holy Spirit, and even about the Father.

We cannot certainly say that the Apostles' Creed _as it now stands_ is older than the Nicene Creed. But we know that Eusebius brought to the Nicene Council (A.D. 325) a form simpler than the Nicene Creed; and that briefer forms were used in the second century by Tertullian (A.D.

200) and Irenaeus (A.D. 170).

Having already considered the various uses of a Creed, we are prepared to acknowledge that something of the sort was a necessity from the beginning. Justin Martyr's writings, about the middle of the 2nd century, record the arguments about the Existence of G.o.d, and of Jesus Christ, which had influenced him and others for many years, inducing them to live and die for the Faith. (See Just. M. _Apol._ and _Dial.

Trypho, pa.s.sim_.)

The death of S. John the Apostle must have occurred during Justin's lifetime. We are led therefore to examine the Bible for traces of a Creed. The following are some of the pa.s.sages which supply an answer to our examination.

Eph. iv. 1-6:

One Body--One SPIRIT--one Hope of our calling.

One Faith--One LORD--one Baptism.

One G.o.d and FATHER of all,--above all, through all, in all.

Col. i. 4-22 is an exposition of Faith in G.o.d through Christ, with a reference to the Holy Spirit: {96} but especially concerning the Being of Christ, who is declared to be

_v._ 15. The Son fully and perfectly.