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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A75723	Fides Apostolica or a discourse asserting the received authors and authority of the Apostles Creed. Together with the grounds and ends of the composing thereof by the Apostles, the sufficiency thereof for the rule of faith, the reasons of the name symbolon in the originall Greeke, and the division or parts of it. Hereunto is added a double appendix, the first touching the Athanasian, the second touching the Nicene Creed. By Geo. Ashwell B.D.	Ashwell, George, 1612-1695.	1653 (1653)	Wing A3997; Thomason E1433_2; ESTC R208502	178,413	343

which it plainly appeares that they esteemed it essentiall to these but pleonasticall unto those The like may be said of some old Latine Copies of the Creed which yet are very few wherein In redounds by the like Hebrew Pleonasme Ob. 2. The Socinians say they doe all acknowledg the Apostles Creed for the matter though they doubt whether it were composed in this Forme by the Apostles wherein they are not the first nor alone Erasmus seems to have first made question of it after him Calvin and most of his followers wholy yet deny not the Authority but acknowledge the matter to be true Nay the Socinians complaine that whereas the Creed containes all Fundamentall Truthes yet other Articles are obtruded as necessary such as be not contained in the Creed how then can the denyall of the Composure of this Creed by the Apostles any way advantage the Socinians Answ The Socinians deny some Articles of the Creed in the Sense which the Ancient Fathers understood them from whom they received the Creed it selfe for words and ought to have done for meaning and the denyall of the Authors makes them in all likelihood the bolder in their mis-interpretations Then although they hold that the Creed containes all Fundamentall Truthes yet they hold not all the Articles thereof Fundamentall On the other side they unjustly complaine of other Articles obtruded on their Beleefe whereas the Church hath only explained some few Articles of the Creed and vindicated them from Hereticall Glosses and Corruptions warranting those her Expositions by old Catholick Tradition upon a due legall search in an Oecumenicall Synod Lastly the denyall of the Composure of this Creed by the Apostles as a Summary of Truthes ordinarily necessary to Salvation which was the maine end of Composing it much advantageth the Socinians who beleeve not all to be necessary and some not true as they are construed in the old received Sense If Erasmus began first to doubt of the received Authors of the Creed he cannot well be excused for questioning so ancient and establish'd a Tradition whereby no Benefit could redound to the Christian Church but the Faith of many might be startled and Heresies awaked as we have seen by the Event and I am sorry that the Socinians should look on him as they doe though I hope amisse as their first Founder or chiefe Patron in this latter Age by reason of this and some other extravagancies of his Pen so that what Posseuine from others saies of him in relation to Luther may be verified in respect of Socinus in some of his Errours Erasmus innuit Socinus irruit And this Nescio of Erasmus which others have since improved to a Nego was presently censured by the Parisian Divines As for Mr Calvin though he saith indeed that he will not contend with any one about the Authors of the Creed as a Thing in his judgment not overmuch materiall yet he produceeth two Arguments in the same place which evince the Apostles and none others to have been the Composers thereof namely the concordant suffrages of Antiquity and the publike receiving or use thereof presently upon the Rise or originall of the Christian Church Instit lib. 12. cap. 16. 6. 18. But of his Testimony more fully hereafter Ob. 3. It seemes that the Creed containes not the whole Body of the Credenda or Christian Beleefe not all Credenda in generall for there are many thousand more which lie scattered in the Scriptures no nor all Fundamentall Points or necessary Doctrinall Truthes E. G. faith in the Trinity the Canon of Scripture that we are to worship God and goe to the Father by the Sonne the doctrine of Repentance good Works Baptisme Imposition of hands which are expresly called a Foundation Heb. 6. 1 2. none of which are in the Creed Adde hereunto the Deity of the Sonne of God which seems not to be proved by those words in the second Article His only begotten Sonne for he is called the Sonne of God in Scripture in respect of his Conception and Resurrection both which relate to his Humane Nature See Luk. 1. 35. Act. 13. 32 33. Rom. 1. 4. Answ The Creed containes all Fundamentall Points purely Doctrinall or Speculative that is necessary Credenda as opposed to the Agenda or Practicalls of Christianity The Canon of Scripture containes these Fundamentalls dispersedly and is delivered downe to us as the Creed is by Tradition but not comprehended in the Creed for when we name Fundamentals we speake of Matters or Points to be beleeved not of the Bookes which containe those Points The Points cited out of Heb. 6. are all Practicall so also is the worship of God and comming to the Father by the Sonne Baptisme is a Sacrament one of the Agenda's in the Church yet referr'd in the Nicene Creed to the 10th Article as the outward ordinary meanes for remission of Sinnes The Mystery of the Trinity is included in the Creed as hath been already shewed And so is the Divinity of our Saviour in those fore-cited words Vnigenitum Patris Filium The only begotten Sonne of the Father For though he be called the Sonne of God in relation to his Humanity in Luk. 1. 35. because in his Conception or Incarnation the Holy Ghost did supplere vicem Patris by a miraculous overshadowing or rather not simply as man but as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and man in one Person in respect of that strange Vnion of the Humane Nature in one Hypostasis with the Divine by the supernaturall operation of the Holy Ghost as also in relation to his Raising againe whereby he was chiefly demonstrated to be the true Messiah or Sonne of God the first begotten of the Dead Act. 13. 32 33. Rom. 1. 4. Col. 1. 18. and Revel 1. 5. comp Col. 1. 15. Rom. 8. 29. Yet in the second Article of the Creed he is called the Only begotten Sonne of God with relation to God the Father and in respect of his Divinity which he received of the Father by an ineffable Generation from all Eternity for this Article is placed before his Conception by the Holy Ghost and his Nativity of the Virgin Mary much more before his Resurrection which manifested not made him the Sonne of God and therefore cannot relate to his Manhood but to his Godhead not to his Conception or Resurrection in time but to his Generation from Everlasting CAP. II. The History of the Apostles Composing the Creed out of Ruffinus Five Reasons why the Apostles delivered it to the Church not in Writing but by an Orall Tradition An objection against the preserving of it by Tradition Answered TOuching the Composing of the Creed by the Apostles which is my first Head Ruffinus Presbiter of Aquileia St Jeromes Contemporary and great Emulatour gives us this Relation in the beginning of his Exposition on the Creed Tradunt majores nostri quod post Ascensionem Domini cum per adventum Sancti Spiritus super singulos quosque Apostolos igneae

may not we justly referre that custome to the Age of the Apostles whereof we can find no beginning in the Church But to give you a more Positive and Expresse proofe that place in the First Epistle to Timothy cap. 6. v. 12. where he is said to have made a good Profession before many witnesses is understood of the Profession of the Creed at his Baptisme by S. Jerome and Occumenius And that other passage in Heb. 6. 1 2. of Faith towards God and the doctrine of Baptismes which are there joyned together is understood in the same sense by Chrysostome Augustine Oecumenius Theophylact and of latter times by Calvin and Panaeus as hath been shewed before Then for the instance of S. Peters 3000 cōverts it is not said that they were Baptized all in one day which can hardly be judged probable at that time for want of hands enough to the worke want of water about Jerusalem and the danger of making so publique a Baptisme but added to the Church that is dederunt nomina Christo they put themselves in the list of Disciples or Catechumeni and so became Candidates of Baptisme a custome anciently used in the Church as appears by Tertullian De Baptismo But if by Adding we must needs understand Initiating into the Church by Baptisme we must interpret The same day thus About the same time Day being put for Time by an usuall Hebraisme for which see Deut 27. 2. compared with Ios 8. 30. c. and Luk. 19. 42. As for their Confession of Faith whether the same Day or afterwards I readily grant that it could not be then framed in the words of the Apostles Creed which was not so early composed but instead of that they publiquely attested to the Truth of Saint Peters Sermon which contained the fundamentalls of Christianity that were after succinctly gathered into one Body in the Summary of the Creed which was thence forward the sole forme of Confession or Beliefe used at the time of Baptisme for none other we finde then used Besides some of the first conversions were miraculous and so not to be drawn into example as ordinary set Patternes of the Churches succeeding Practise the Apostles had the gift of discerning faith in the heart and so needed not alwaies expect an open Profession whereas others in following Times who had not the same Gift were tied to the ordinary Rule and method of proceeding thus the same Apostle caused Cornelius and his friends to be Baptized without any formall Profession of their Faith that we read of because he perceived that the Holy Ghost was powred on them Act. 10. 47 48. Reason 3d. The Creeds or Confessions of Faith which were framed by the Councells of Nice Constantinople Chalcedon and the rest that followed or which we find in the writings of the Fathers as in Athanasius Ierome and others are no new Creeds but comments on the old explanations of some points not so fully and clearly exprest which were then called in question and misinterpreted by some Hereticks of those times Now this may serve for a third Argument to prove that these Councells and Fathers had still a very carefull Eye on some former Creed derived from the Apostles unto their Times as a Rule or patterne to square their Symboles by To instance in the two most famous the Nicene and Athanasian The Nicene Creed enlargeth it selfe chiefly in the Point of our Saviours Divinity and that of the holy Ghost withall adding here and there some small Particles by way of Explication 1. To the first Article it addes and of all things visible and invisible thus more distinctly setting downe the parts ornaments and inhabitants of Heaven and Earth and withall condemning the opinion of some ancient Hereticks who made the Angels the Creatours of the world and so exempted these invisible Spirits from the ranke of Creatures 2. To the third Article it addes who for us men and our Salvation came downe from Heaven and was incarnate c. thus setting downe the end of our Saviours Incarnation 3. To the fift Article it addes according to the Scriptures thus shewing how our Saviours Resurrection answered to the foregoing Prophecies of the Old Testament 4. To the seventh Article it addes whose Kingdome shall have no end thus setting downe the necessary consequent of the generall Judgment namely the eternity of his heavenly Reigne Christ having then fully vanquisht and trodden all enemies under his feet 5. To the eight Article it addes these two Epithets which are applied unto the Church by way of explication viz. one and Apostolick the first included in the word Church which is of the singular number the second in the word Catholick for as the Apostles Commission was vniversall so also was their doctrine on which the Church was Founded 6. To the tenth Article it addes I acknowledge one Baptisme for c. thus shewing the meanes or Ordinance of Gods appointing whereby he forgives and cleanseth us from sin Then for the Creed of Athanasius If we cut of the Preface and conclusion which to speake properly are no parts but Adjuncts of it as wherin he shewes the necessity of the Catholick Faith to Salvation that is the evident danger of denying opposing or corrupting any Article of the Faith as the Arians and other Hereticks of those dayes did 1. He explaines at large the mystery of the Trinity which lies infolded in the First Second and Eight Articles of the Apostles Creed wherein we professe to believe in God the Father in his Sonne Iesus Christ and in the holy Ghost for this believing or putting our whole trust and confidence in the Sonne and holy Ghost as well as in God the Father shewes their coequality of power Goodnesse Wisedome and All sufficiency with him and consequently their Identity of nature whence the holy Scripture every where forbids us to place our Faith in or rely upon any Creature but to trust in God alone and when the Creed comes to the Article of the Church which is but an assembly of men though of the best and highest rancke it changeth the style saying not as before I believe in the Holy Catholick Church but I believe the Holy Catholick Church 2. He distinctly unfolds illustrates at large the mystery of our Saviours Incarnation especially by the similitude of the Soule and Body Now this is nought but a Paraphrase on the third Article of the Apostles Creed 3. To the tenth Article namely that of the Resurrection he adds these words all men shall give an account for their workes which shew the end of the Resurrection are besides involved in the precedent Article of Christs comming to judgment for there can be no Judging of mens Actions without a previous examination and giving an Account 4. To the last Article namely that of Life eternall for the good he addes and they that have done evill shall goe into everlasting Fire which necessarily followes by way of opposition besides that it

in the former they require an absolute Assent and condemne them all for Hereticks who goe not along with them in the same Path in that they shewed there modesty in this their Piety The Fathers being thus cashired and appealed from as unmeet illegall Judges because obnoxious to errour which hath been laboured to be made good by publishing som few paradoxicall Tenents found in the writings of some one or few of them which they conceive to be Errours though many of them perhaps will not appeare such upon due examination and after all their undutifull malicious Search whereby like Cham they have laid open their Fathers nakednesse they cannot finde one palpable Errour which they can justly lay to the charge of all or a major part of them thus at last missing their aime they proceed farther to call the Creed in question that undoubted Rule and Foundation of the Christian Faith which the Apostles with so much care Composed and left unto the Church as a most pretious Depositum the lydius lapis or Touchstone of the Catholick Beliefe and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Orthodoxe Professours They have called both the Authors and Authority in question first by doubting of and raising scruples against it then absolutely denying and laying down Arguments to disprove those Authours to whom it hath been constantly entitled for they both fall together take away the Authours and the Authority will soone vanish for if the Creed were not framed by the Apostles but collected out of Scripture by some uncertain and obscure Composer or Composers whose names are buried in forgetfulnesse seeing it containes some Articles which are not set down totidem verbis in any determinate Place of Holy Writ 't were possible that some Points might be mistaken not rightly gathered or deducted as by a fallible Hand and so the whole Frame of it of no more Authority then some peice of a Father or the Canon of a Councill if so much For though it be granted that all the Articles of the Creed be either expresse words of Scripture or by an undoubted consequence deducible from it yet the drawing of these Articles forth of Scripture requires an unerring and Divinely-guided Hand First because none else can know which is an Article of Faith that is a Fundamentall or Point necessary to Salvation who is not divinely informed of Gods will and pleasure in this matter Secondly because the Judge of the consequence must be infallible for otherwise it oft fals out that what in one mans judgment is a necessary Deduction is not so in anothers but probable only or perhaps false else we should have had lesse about the Trinity and Incarnation two maine points of our Faith to name no lesser ones Having removed these two Forts out of their way and demolished these Propugnacula fidei thē after they may safely build what new Fabricks they please upon the abused Groundwork of Scripture or rather having digg'd up the Groundwork of the Creed lay Reason for a new Foundation on which to build Castles in the Aire imaginary structures much like the enchanted Fortresses dream't of in the Monkish Romances then they may entertaine whatsoever strange fancies they please Fancies which unconstantly hover up and down in the Braine like so many Cloudes in the middle Region carried hither and thither by the wind and presenting now this now that monstrous shape having removed these two Bounds of Faith they may wander in the large field of Scripture at randome scatter here there what pernicious seeds they please root up what was already sowen confound the furrowes mixe adulterate graines with the pure seed of the word thus making havock of all and turning the field into a Wildernesse And though they seem to honour Scripture and appeale to it as the sole adequate Rule of Theologicall Truth yet in truth they use it but as a colour to set off their new-fangled Inventions the opinions bred within themselves and so wrest it to serve their own Turnes for where ever it seems to oppose them they strait accuse the Copie of Bastardy that such or such a Passage hath crept out of the Margin or Glosse into the Text or the place hath been interlaced by some of the adverse Party some opposite Father they alter at pleasure points letters words yea dash out whole verses and after all torture the poore Remainder till they have forced it to beare witnesse on their side and speak what they would have it take but for instance the beginning of S. Johns Gospell as 't is expounded by Volkelius If they should openly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reject Scripture they would be exploded and expell'd out of Christian Common-wealths and so hindered from doing mischiefe but now the Divels craft makes use of those to undermine and subvert holy Scripture who seem most to stand for it and to perswade the doctrines of men who seem most to decry them In a word the body of Socinianisme to which we may now adde some other new Sects is compounded like some Hydra or Chymera or what other horrid Poeticall monster of the must pestilent poysonous Heresies which the Church hath ever laboured under or cōdemned in all Ages And wheras this Age hath bin much given to Systems and Compendium's least we should want one in any kind these men have furnisht us with an Epitome of Heresies a Breviary of Epiphanius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea which is worse yet they have opened a large Gap for more by making weak depraved Reason without any other light or guide however the Scripture be pretended the sole Judg of Truth by abolishing faith that Reason may be exalted in her Place that Reason which is never the same or constant to it self either in diverse men or the same man at diverse times yet though they so much cry up liberty of Opinion they themselves are unwittingly though willingly Slaves to Socinus else why doe they all follow him so close was he the only unerring Guide the monopolizer of Reason The Socinians indeed outwardly receive the Canon of Scripture much extoll it to keep up their credit with the Christian world but expounding it as they doe in their own Sense contrary to the received Interpretation of the Ancients from by whose hands they received the Canon it selfe they doe as good as not receive it for the Scripture consists in the sense not in the words And whosoever shall take a full survey of their opinions will find that they imbrace no mystery therein revealed but only what is demōstrable by or at least fals within the Sphere of bare Reason the light of nature All the rest which appeare either opposite unto Reason or placed above it as the mysteries of the Trinity the Hypostaticall union Christs satisfaction for the sin of mankind the Resurrection of the same numericall Body the everlasting punishment of the damned for temporall faults c. they cannot away with because they can