The Prayer Book Explained Part 15

_v._ 16. By whom all things were made.

_v._ 17. Before all things.

_v._ 18. Begotten before all worlds.

_v._ 19. In whom by the will of the Father all the fulness dwelleth.

_v._ 20-22. Who died for our Redemption and Reconciliation.

1 Cor. xv. 3-8. References by a preacher to what he has taught to any whole congregation must, almost of necessity, be references to what he was in the habit of teaching. The articles _mentioned_ here are part of S. Paul's Creed, viz. the articles which he is about to use as the basis of an argument about Resurrection.

Acts xix. 2, 3. The ignorance about the Holy Spirit displayed by the 12 men at Ephesus revealed to S. Paul that they had not been baptized as Christians; for (S. Matth. xxviii. 19) that would have involved Teaching about the Holy Trinity.

Acts viii. 37. This verse, though not now believed to be part of the original text, was so believed by Irenaeus (A.D. 170).

It therefore shows us that a confession of faith at Baptism was (1) expected in Irenaeus' time, (2) expected by someone much earlier, who being accustomed to it, wrote it in the margin, or between the lines of a copy of the Acts.

2 Tim. i. 13, 14. The form of sound words was a good deposit which Timothy was to hold fast.

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There are other pa.s.sages which contain references to the Holy Trinity: suggesting that the earliest Christians, when thinking of the G.o.dhead, were p.r.o.ne to include the Three Persons, as we by reason of our Creeds are also disposed to do. Thus our investigation leads us to suppose that a Creed was early used as a Basis of Teaching, and as a Pa.s.sword at Baptism: that it soon settled down into a form very like the Apostles' Creed: that in A.D. 325 the controversy about our Lord's Divine Nature led to the expansion of those Articles which referred to Him.

To these we may add that in 381 the Council of Chalcedon expanded the Article _I believe in the Holy Ghost_, or formally adopted an expansion which had become usual: and so gave to the Nicene Creed the form which it now has.

It is difficult to say exactly where the Apostles' Creed is most likely to have come as a link in the historic chain.

A comparison may be usefully made between:

THE APOSTLES' CREED AND THE CREED OF IRENAEUS (A.D. 170).

I believe in G.o.d the Father I believe in one G.o.d Almighty, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: Who made heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ his only And in one Jesus Christ the Son our Lord, Son of G.o.d, Who was conceived by the Who was made flesh.

Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, And (I believe) in His Suffering,

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Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into h.e.l.l;

The Third day he rose again And in His Rising from the from the dead; dead,

He ascended into heaven, and And in His Ascension in the flesh, Sitteth on the right hand of G.o.d the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to And in His Coming from judge the quick and the heaven that he may execute dead. just judgment on all.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; And in the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of Sins;

The Resurrection of the Body, And that Christ shall come from heaven to raise up all flesh ... and to adjudge the impious and unjust ... to Eternal fire and to give to the just and holy immortality And the life everlasting. and eternal life.

The Articles of the Creed rest upon the proper understanding of what G.o.d has revealed to us of Himself. The Bible is the record of His Revelation. The references in Chapter xi. are amongst the vast number of such pa.s.sages which might be adduced.

The days mentioned in the rubric as days on which the _Confession of our Christian Faith, commonly {99} called The Creed of Saint Athanasius_, is to be _sung or said at Morning Prayer, instead of the Apostles' Creed_, are 13. Four of these days are in the Easter and Ascension groups of days; when the doctrine of our Lord's Divine and Human Natures is most taught. The other nine days are chosen so as to fall, one in each of the nine months, between June and February. So the Praise Service ends, with the Highest Thoughts of G.o.d and His Being.

The Lord be with you.

_Answer_. And with thy spirit.] This may be taken as the mutual salutation of Minister and People at the close of the Praise Service.

It is therefore to be said before they kneel. In the Confirmation Service, the Laying-on of Hands is concluded with the same words.

Compare the close of our Lord's words to the Apostles, S. Matth.

xxviii. 20: S. John xiv. 27: and the close of S. Paul's Epistles without exception; also, close of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 1 Peter, 3 John, and Rev. In the Old English Services (Sarum Use), it closed the Preces. In 1549 it was entirely omitted there, but replaced as it now stands, when, in 1552, the Creed was taken out of the Prayers, and placed immediately after the Canticles.

Let us pray.] This is the signal for kneeling, and commencing the prayers.

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CHAPTER XI.

REASON, HISTORY, AND REVELATION.

It may be said with truth that the Bible is a book which reads History, and the perplexities of Man, in the light of one great postulate, viz.

that there is a G.o.d. The natural sequences, which are now partially explained by scientific discoveries, are in the Bible attributed to G.o.d's guidance: and of course there is no contradiction between the two. Science explains something of the ways of G.o.d's working: from it we learn something of His principles, and also of His methods: when we are surest of scientific laws, we are then confronted with the a.s.sumption that there is, or that there is not, a G.o.d. The Bible is the Book of Faith--Faith that there is a G.o.d. But, since it interprets History, it plainly recognises History, as one of G.o.d's Lesson Books.

Also, since it appeals to Reason, and is consistent with Reason, it recognises Reason, as another of the Lesson Books. In the present chapter we indicate some of the Lessons to be learnt in these three Books of G.o.d.

Much has been written, especially in recent times, showing the marvellous working of what we call, at one time, the Laws of Nature, and at another time, Laws of G.o.d. There is infinite interest, to a thoughtful {101} mind, in the reading of Bell _On the Hand_, Argyll's _Reign of Law_, Maury's _Physical Geography of the Sea_, even when further discovery has improved upon their explanations. It must always be remembered that G.o.d has given us Reason and Knowledge, as well as Faith. Reason leads us to the threshold of Heaven, and Faith admits us to the Presence. History a.s.sures us that Jesus Christ lived in Judaea, founded Christianity as a Kingdom not of this world, and transformed the Kingdoms of this world: Faith admits us to Personal Communion with Him through the Holy Spirit.

I. (a) What Reason has to say about G.o.d.

The Athanasian Creed distinguishes between the teaching of the Catholick Religion and the teaching of the Christian Verity. A moment's thought shows that many who do not hold the Christian Verity, i.e. the Truth as revealed in Christ, do nevertheless hold the Truth as to the Unity of G.o.d. For amongst those who believe in The One G.o.d are Jews, Turks and many Hereticks, besides those Agnostics whose hesitation, about accepting the Revelation in Christ, is united to a readiness to believe in G.o.d. The Belief in One G.o.d therefore is more Universal than the Belief in the Holy Trinity. The word Catholick is used _within_ the Church of those who hold the doctrine of the Church.

But it may be also used in a more general sense of those who hold the supreme Truth of G.o.dhead.

In order to ill.u.s.trate the evidence which has been used concerning this prime article of the Christian Faith, we might refer to many interesting books. The {102} following argument is attributed to Socrates by Xenophon (Mem. 1. iv.).

"We admire great poets--great dramatists--great sculptors and painters: which is more worthy of admiration--he who makes images without mind and motion, or he who makes things which live and move and act?

"The latter, if he makes them of purpose. Then purpose is shown by the obvious usefulness of things: men from the beginning have had the benefit of senses suited to their environment--eyes to see what is visible, ears to hear what is audible. Smells are of use because we have noses; things that we eat are sweet or bitter or agreeable in the mouth, because we have palates. Then again the eye is a delicate organ, but is fitted with an eyelid to keep guard over it, eye-lashes to strain off small particles, eyebrows to carry the sweat away from it. Further, the ear receives sounds but is never overfull of them: front teeth are adapted to cutting, back teeth to grinding: the mouth is near the eyes and nose, which watch over what goes in: these and other arrangements indicate a Maker, who adapts the organs to their uses, and has a wise and loving design. Parents love their children naturally, and naturally people want to live, and dislike death. Hence the Maker shows that He has a design, and that His design is that His Creatures shall live.

"Moreover, we have a certain amount of matter, a certain amount of moisture, while there is a vast amount of those things elsewhere: similarly we have a certain amount of intelligence. Why then should we suppose that intelligence is the only thing which {103} is an exception--the only thing of which we have the whole? why suppose that all these adaptations have been made, so wonderfully, without a controlling mind?

"You say you would believe it if you could see the controlling Creator?

But you believe in the existence of your own mind without seeing it: on that principle, you ought to say that all you do yourself is done by chance.

"The next question is whether G.o.d is too great to require our service?

The answer is that G.o.d has shown a special kindness to men, as compared with other animals. Their upright walk, their possession of hands, their articulate voices, their superior minds, their powers of self-protection--and the adaptation of these powers and qualities to one another, const.i.tuting an altogether higher existence--all these show a special kindness in a wise Creator who has all the qualities and powers in a far higher degree. By serving one another we learn to know our friends; by asking advice we find who are wise: so if we make trial of G.o.d, we shall find that He is All-seeing, All-present, and Watchful over all." This argument does not enter upon the question whether there is one G.o.d or more; but it deals with the previous question of G.o.dhead; and with all that is implied in 'Maker of Heaven and Earth'.