Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/848

 FAITH

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FAITH

Calling", teaches that "all those whom God hath pre- destined unto life, and those only" are effectually called and saved. " Others, not elected, although they may be called by the ministrj' of the Word, and may have some common operations of the Spirit, yet they never truly come unto Christ, and therefore can- not be saved." Chapter xxi, "Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day", differs from the Continental creeds by adding the injimctiou that the Sabbath is to be kept holy by observing "a holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about tlieir worUUy emploTOients and recreations ", and that a man be " taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy ". Chap, xxii, " Of Lawful Oaths and Vows", gives the divines an opportunity for de- nouncing "popish monastical vows" as "superstitious and sinful snares". Chap, xxiii, "Of the Civil Magis- trate" (one of the chapters expimged by the Parlia- ment), states that "the civil magistrate may not as- sume to himself the administration of the Word and the Sacraments or the power of the keys of the king- dom of heaven; yet he hath authority, and it is his duty to take order, that imity and peace be preserved in the Church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all liUisphemies and heresies be sup- pres.fed". In the American re\'ision, this is made to read that "as nursing fathers, it is the duty of civil magistrates to protect the Church of our common Lord, without giving the preference to any denomina- tion of Christians above the rest" etc. In Chap, xxiv, " Of Marriage and Divorce ", " such as profess the true reformed religion" are admonished that they " should not marry with infidels. Papists, or other idolators ". Divorce is permitted on gromids of "adulterj', or such wilful desertion as can no waj- be remedied by the Church or civil magistrate". Chap, xxv, "Of the Church", speaks in no complimentary terms of the " Pope of Rome ", who is denounced as " that Anti- christ, that man of sin and son of perdition, that ex- alteth himself in the Church against Christ, and all that is called God ". The doctrine of the Sacraments differs in nothing from the earlier Calvinistic creeds. Chap, xxix, "Of the Lord's Supper", proclaims that "the Popish Sacrifice of the mass ", as they call it, " is most abominably injurious to Christ's one only sacri- fice", whilst the doctrine of transubstantiation "is repugnant, not to Scripture alone, but even to com- mon sense and reason ; overthrowing the nature of the sacrament ; and hath been and is the cause of manifold superstitions, yea, of gross idolatries". These are the main features of the "Westminster Confession of Faith " which are of interest to a Catholic. For many generations, the "Westminster Standards", viz., the Confession and the Catechisms, leavened the religious thought and controlled the conduct of the Presby- terians of Scotland, Ulster, and America. They were also accepted, with modifications of various sorts, by the Congregationalists, the Regular Baptists, and other newer sects.

ScHAFF, The Creeds of Christendom (5th ed.. New York, 1890) ; BlTTLER. An Historical and Literary Aceount of the FormularieSt Confe.-^xions of Faith, or Symbolic Books of the R. C. Greek and principal Protestant Churches (London. 1S16); Niemeter. Col- Irctio Confessionum in Eccl. Ref. publicalarum (Leipzig. 1840); Wl.NER, A Comparative View of the Doctrines and Confessions . . . tr. Pope (EdinburEh, 1873); Adgcsti. Corpus libronim siimbolicoritm (Leipzig. 1S46); Guericke. Allfiemeine Christ- Itche Symbolik (I^ipzig, 1S61); Mcller, Die Bekenntnis' schriften d. ref, Kirche (ErKingen, 1903); Moeuler, Symbolism, tr. (.\ew York. 1844, 1894).

J. F. LOUGHLIN.

Faith, Hope and Charity, Saints, the names of two groujis of Roman martyrs around whom a con- siderable amount of legendary lore has gathered; though the extent of sound historical data possessed concerning them is so slight, that vnitil very recent times the most eminent .scholars failed to distinguish between them. However, the extent and antiquity of

their cult and the universalitj' with which their names are found not only in the various early martyrologies of the Western Church, but also in the Menaia and Menologies of the Greeks, render the fact of their ex- istence and martyrdom unquestionable. Setting aside the purely legendarj' accounts that have come down to us (see Migne, P. G. CXV, 497; Mombritius, Vitae Sanctorum, II, 204), we find that in the reign of Hadrian, a Roman matron Sophia (Wisdom), with her three youthful daughters, Pistis. Elpis, and Agape (Faith, Hope and Charity), underwent martyrdom for the Faith and were interred on tlie Aurelian Way, where their tomb in a crj^jt beneath the church after- wards erected to St. Pancratius was long a place of resort for pilgrims, as we learn from various indubi- table documents of the seventh century, such as an Itinerarium (or guide to the holy places of Rome com- piled for the use of pilgrims) still preserved at Salz- burg, the list, preserved in the cathedral archives of Monza, of the oils gathered from the tombs of the martjTS and sent to Queen Theodelinda in the time of Gregorj- the Great, etc.

Later surely than the reign of Hadrian, but at what time is uncertain, another band of martjT^, Sapientia (Wisdom) and her three companions, Spes, Fides and Caritas (Hope, Faith and Charity), suffered death and were buried near the tomb of St. Cecilia in the ceme- tery of St. Callistus on the Appian Way. Despite the meagreness of these authentic details, the explicit references in the documents cited to a band of martyrs, mother and daughters, whose names are always given in Greek, and who are buried on the Aurelian Way, and to another band of four martjTs, interred on the Via Appia, whose relationship is not indicated and whose names, though the same as those of the martyrs of the Aurelian Way, are yet always given in Latin, certainly point to distinct groups. Nor is the coin- cidence in names remarkable, seeing that the early Christians so often (according to De Rossi) took in baptism mystical names indicative of Christian vir- tues, etc. Thus Sophia, Sapientia, Fides and the like are common names in early Christian inscriptions and martyrologies. The Roman martyrologj- names, on 1 Aug., "the holy virgins. Faith, Hope and Charity, who won the crown of martyrdom under the Emperor Hadrian" and, on 30 Sept., "St. Sophia, widow, mother of the holy \-irgins. Faith, Hope and Charity". In some places, on 1 Aug., St. Sapientia is also vener- ated ; but generally, owing to the confusion of the two groups, none of the second group receives special recognition. In the Eastern Church the feast is kept on 17 Sept.

Acta S., XXXV, 16; de Rossi. Roma Sotterranea, I. 182; II, 171 (Rome. 18641; .\llard. Histoire des persecutions pendant les deux premiers siicles (Paris, 18S5), 221.

JnO. F. X. MURPHT.

Faith, The Rtle of. — The word rule (Lat. regula, Gr. Kaviiv) means a standard by which something can be tested, and the rule of faith means something ex- trinsic to our faith, and serving as its norm or measure. Since faith is Divine and infallible, the rule of faith must be also Di\'ine and infallible; and since faith is supernatural assent to Divine truths upon Divine au- thority, the ultimate or remote rule of faith must be the truthfulness of God in revealing Himself. But since Divine revelation is contained in the written books and unwritten traditions (Vatican Council, I, ii), the liible and Divine tradition must be the rule of our faith; since, however, these are only silent witnesses and cannot interpret themselves, they are commonly termed " proximate but inanimate rules of faith ". LTnless, then, the Bible and tradition are to be profit- less, we must look for some proximate rule which shall be animate or living.

I. Pniv,\TE Judgment .\.s the Rule of Faith. — The Reformed Churches were unanimous in declaring the Bible to be the sole rule of faith. "We believe