Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/645

* CBEEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 555 CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. back, therefore, to 175. But it must go still earlier, because of the lack of 'maker of heaven and earth,' etc., which were directed against the heresiarchs who began to come to Rome as early a3 140. Hence, we must put the date at least as early as aboul IS.'i. That the creed was brought to Rome from the Orient is probable, but not capable of proof. ^ Consult: Harnack. in Her- zeg. Aposlulischcs Si/inholii iii : also his flcschiclite der alfchristlic]ten Littcnitiir (Leipzig. 1803). The Xirriie, or rather the Niceno-Constantino- politan creed, is the next great expression of doc- trinal truth that we meet in the history of the Church. It sprang out of the conflict, which had begun even in the second century, as to the dignity and character of Christ. From the begin- ning. Ebionitism had looked upon Christ as merely a .Tcwish teaclier of distinction : Theodotus and Artemon openly taught such a doctrine in Rome toward (he close of the second century. Others, on the contrary, taught a doctrine which identified Christ with God absolutely in such a manner as to destroy all distinction of persons in the Godhead. Jtonarchianism, as it was called, which held rigorously and formally to the unity of God, was the ruling principle of both doctrines, opposite as were the expressions it assumed in the two cases. The controversy thus begun in the second, per- petuated itself in the third century, under various modifications. Paul of Samosata carried out the Unitarian tendency, which reduced Christ to the level of a mere man; Sabellius carried out the same tendency in the opposite direction, which made Christ not merely divine, of the same sub- stance with the Father, but looked upon Him as merely a manifestation of the Father, without any distinct personality. Sabellianism recog- nized a Trinity of manifestations, but not a Trinity of essences. God was one and all-compre- hending, and the Son and the Spirit were merely names or expressions for the different modes in which He successively reveals Himself. Sabel- lius flourished about the middle of the third cen- tury, and Paul of Samosata somewhat later. Arius, who was a presbyter of Alexandria, grew up in the midst of these influences, and soon dis- tinguished liiniself in the Alexandrian Church by his advocacy of the doctrine that Christ, although in a true sense divine, or the Son of God. was yet not the very God. He denied that He was 'of the substance of God,' or 'without beginning" ; He was only the highest created being, 'promoted' to divinity, but not the same in substance with the Father, nor equal with Him in power and glory. Athanasius eame forward as the opponent of Arius, and the contest between them raged keen and wide throughout the Church. The Council of Nictea was summoned in 325 by Constantine, with the view of settling this controversy; and the Nicene Creed was the result. There were thus three parties in the council — the Athanasians, or extreme orthodox party; the Eusebians, or middle party : and the Arians, or heretical party. The heretics were few in number, and possessed but little influence; but the Eusebians were a strong party, and for some lime resisted certain expressions of the orthodox or Athanasians. which seemed to them extreme and unwarranted ; but at length the Homoiiusians. as they were called, carried the day; and Christ was declared not merely to be of like substance Vol. v.— 36. (homoiousios), but of the same substance {homo- iiusios) with the Father. The creed was formed by extending the Apos- tles' Creed to include the new definitions. The essential parts are: ".Vnd [I believe] in one Lord Jesus Clirist, the only-begotten Son of God ; be- gotten of the Father before all worlds. Light of Light, very tJod of very (!od, begotten not made, consubstantial [of one substance, hoiiiooiisios] with the Father." The Council of Constantinople (3S1) simply rcanirmed this creed. Later the so-called Kicenc-Constantinopolitan Creed arose by the incorporation of the Xicenc Creed in the baptismal confession of the Church at .Jerusalem, and was erroneously recognized by the Council of Chalcedon as the creed of Constantinople. It adds definitions as to the Holy Spirit. "Lord and C4iver of Life, proceeding from the Father [Latin form adds "and the Son" (see FlLlOQTE)], who with the Father and Son together is worshiped and glorified, who si)ake by the pro|)liets." It also adds the word 'one' to the definitions of the Church and of baptism, putting the latter, "We confess one baptism for remission of sins." The Christological controversies produced the council and creed of Chalcedon in 451. (See CiiRiSTOLOGY. ) This creed pronounced in the most decided, and elaborate way for the full and unchanged divinity and humanity of our Lord, these two natui'es being comprised in the unity of one person. It thus defined the elements of the doctrine of the person of Christ, and became one of the great doctrinal councils of Christian his- tory, if not the greatest after Nice. The next remarkable monument of doctrinal truth in the Ciiurch is what is called the.lf/iOHO- sian Creed, a product of the fifth century, much later than Athanasius himself, but representing, with great formal minuteness and fidelity, his doctrine of the Trinity, as apprehended and elabo- rated by the Western Church. See Athanasian Creed. The Apostles', the Nicene, the Chalcedonian,and the Athanasian may be said to form the great Catholic creeds of the Church. After the time of the last-mentioned formula, there is no general symbol of faith that claims our attention till the period of the Reformation. Theology continued to be cultivated during the Middle Ages, and especially during the twelfth and thirteenth cen- turies, with great assiduity. Scholasticism is nothing else than the vast expression of the in- tellectual labor bestowed upon this subject during these ages, when scarcely any other subject can be said to have engaged men's minds. It was characteristic of scholasticism, however, to work mainly upon the doctrinal data already adopted and authorized by the Church, developing these data in endless sentences and commentaries. There was, withal, no real freedom of inquiry, nor life of speculation. But as soon as the eye of free criticism and argument was turned upon Scripture with the Reformation, new creeds and confessions began to spring up. On the one hand, Protestantism had to defend its position and its scriptural authority by appeal to its system of belief; and, on the other hand, the Church of Rome, after many delays, gave forth at the Council of Trent (1545-G3) a more ex- tended and detailed statement of its doctrine than was to be found in any previous creed. The decrees of Trent, with the additions made in