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 FAITH

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FAITH

her during her successive trials. She declares, through the organ of her representatives, that she re- mains faithful to her principles of faith and freedom on which she was founded. With her fathers and her martjTs in the Confession of Rochelle, and with all the Churches of the Reformation in their respective creeds, she proclaims the sovereign authority of the Holy- Scriptures in matters of faith, and salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God, who died for our sins, and was raised again for our justifi- cation. She preserves and maintains, as the basis of her teaching, of her worship and her discipline, the grand Christian facts represented in her religious solemnities, and set forth in her liturgies, especially in the Confession of sins, the Apostles' Creed, and in the order for the administration of the Lord's Supper."

The Heidelberg Catechism, published in 1563 by order of the Elector Palatine, Frederick III, was gen- erally accepted by Calvinists throughout the world as a faithful and authoritative exposition of the faith of the Reformed Churches. It was written by two pro- fessors at the Heidelberg university, Zacharj' Bar (commonly known as Ursinus) and Caspar Olewig (Olevianus). It was drawn up with the twofold pur- pose of furnisliing a manual of Christian doctrine and ser\'ing as a public profession of faith. In 129 ques- tions and answers, it treats of man's sin and misery (3-11), the redemption by Christ (12-8.5), and the gratitude of the redeemed (86-129). The second part is the largest, as it gives an explanation of the .\pos- tles' Creed and the sacraments. The third part deals with the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer. The general tone of the document is moderate, with the exception of the truculent SOth question, for which the professors are not responsible; for it did not appear in the first edition, and was later inserted by the fanatical Elector. Since it has been in no small measure the source of Protestant anti-CathoUc intolerance, it is worth while to lay it before the reader:

" What difference is there between the Lord's Sup>- per and the Popish Mass? The Lord's Supper testi- fies to us that we have full forgiveness of all our sins by the one sacrifice of Jesus Clu-ist, which he himself has once accomplishefl on the cross; and that by the Holy Ghost we are engrafted into Christ, who wit!> his true body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father, and is to be there worshipped. But the Mass teaches that the living and the dead have not forgiveness of sins through the sufferings of Christ, unless Christ is still daily offered for them by the priests; and that Christ is bodily under the form of bread and wine, and is therefore to be worshipped in them. And thus the Mass, at bottom, is notliing else than a denial of the one sacrifice and passion of Jesus Christ, and an ac- cursed idolatry."

Dr. Schaff doubts the " wisdom of inserting contro- versial matter into a catechism"; but strangely enough pronounces, that " it must be allowed to re- main as a solemn protest against idolatry" (Creeds of Christendom, I, 536). If the central dogma of the Catholic worsliip is really idolatrous, what is the harm in proclaiming it as such in a Confession of Faith? The Heidelberg Catechism was translated into all the languages of Europe, and into several e.xtra- Euro[)ean tongues. It obtained great authority in Scotland and England; but during the following cen- tury it was supplanted by the Westminster Confession. It was introduced into America by the Dutch and German Reformed churches, and is said to be now more highly prized by the American Refonned Churches than by the Germans in the Fatherland.

The Confexsio Belgica is venerated as of symbolic authority, together with the Ilcidclljerg Catechism, by the Reformed Churches in Belgium, Holland and their offshoots throughout the world. This docu- ment, consisting of thirty-seven articles, was written in

French about 1561, by Guy de Bray, assisted by other preachers. The intentions of the authors, we are told by one of themselves, was not to issue a new creed, but to prove the truth of their belief from the canoni- cal writings. They follow closely the Confes.sio Gal- hcana, seeking to support their theses by texts of Scripture. Translations were made into Dutch and Latin, and the flocument was submitted to Calvin and many other Reformed divines. In 1562 a copy was transmitted to Philip II with a letter protesting the innocence of the innovators from crime and rebellion. In the opinion of Calvinists, the wrecking of churches and maltreatment of priests and nuns were not crimes but imperative duties. Art. 36 admonishes magis- trates of their obligation " to remove and prevent all idolatry and false worship; that the kingdom of anti- Christ (i. e. popery) may be destroyed." The Con- fessio Belgica was revised and adopted by the suc- cessive sjTiods in the Netherlands, until finally the Sj-nod of Dort, in its 149th session (29 April, 1619), subscribed to it as the public creed of the Reformed Churches. The SjTiod of Dort, the most representa- tive gathering of the Calvinists, was convened by the authority and at the expense of the States-General. It opened its sessions at Dort, or Dordrecht, 13 Nov., 1618, and concluded its labours after 144 sessions, 9 May, 1619. In adcUtion to the Dutch and Belgians, there were delegates from Cireat Britain, the Palati- nate, Hesse, and Switzerland. The delegates chosen by the French Huguenots were forbidden by the crown to leave France. The occasion of this international gathering was the defection from pure Calvinism of the Remonstrants (see Armixiaxism). Since the members of the sjTiod were orthodox on the subject of predestination absolute, the condemnation of the Re- monstrants was a foregone conclusion. The canons were framed in the most unbending form, and 200 ministers who refused to subscribe were deposed. Although the foreign delegates attached their names to the canons of Dort, yet, outside of the Netherlands, these were never regarded as authoritative. In Eng- land, especially, there was fierce opposition, and from rival pulpits the pros and cons of God's (or Cahan's) eternal decree were thundered into the ears of the be- wildered people.

The numerous Minor Reformed Confessions, such as the Marchica (Brandenburg), the Hungarian, the Bohemian, and the Polish, being of a local and for the most part of an ephemeral nature, need not detain us. For an account of the Thirty-nine Arti- cles of the Anglican Church the reader is referred to the article Anglicanism. When the American colo- nies acliieved tiieir independence, the Anglicans in .\meriea, until then subject to the Bishop of London, formed themsehes into "The Protestant Episcopal Church in the L'nited States of America" and, after lengthy debates, in a General Convention held at Trenton, New Jersey, 8-12 Sept., 1801, adopted the Thirty-Nine Articles, omitting in Art. 8 the Athanasian Creed and making such other alterations as were de- manded by the changed political conditions. They retained the offensive coda to Art. 31, in which "the sacrifices of Masses " (i. e. the public worship of the vast majority of Christians) are denounced as "blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits " ; but in later editions the milder statement is substituted, that Transubstantia- tion "hath given occa.sion to many superstitions". Episcopalians, also, have not yet eliminated from their articles the calumny (.\rt. 22), that the "Romish" doctrine sanctions the " Adoration, as well of Images as of Relics".

The iScottish Confesxion. — By the vear 1560, Protes- tantism in Scotland, through the aid of English gold and troops, had g;iined comjilete ascendency. Losing no time, the Protestant " Lords of the Congregation", convened a revolutionary Parliament of the estates of the realm, at Edinburgh, 1 Aug., whose first act was to