It seems almost incredible that any one seriously believed the following amazing statements:
“Whoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith, which faith, except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic faith is this: that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all one; the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal. As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Ghost almighty. And yet there are not three almighties, but one almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet there are not three Gods, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords, but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every person by Himself to be God and Lord, so are we forbidden by the Catholic religion to say there be three Gods and three Lords. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is afore or after other; none is greater or less than another. But the whole three persons are co-eternal together, and co-equal. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
“He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity. Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that [pg 110]he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man of the substance of His mother, born in the world. Perfect God and perfect man, or a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood. Who, although He be God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into Heaven; He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty. From whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again in their bodies, and shall account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire. This is the Catholic faith which, except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.”
This put an end to the business of creed making, Satan's powers of concocting gibberish to take the place of the Bible having been temporarily quite exhausted. But a thousand years later the “Creed of Pope Pius IV” was issued in the form of a bull in December, 1564. “All bishops, ecclesiastics, and teachers in the Romish church, as well as all converts from Protestantism, publicly profess assent to it.” It follows:
“I, A. B., believe and profess with a firm faith all and every one of the things which are contained in the symbol of faith which is used in the Holy Roman Church; namely, I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, consubstantial to the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, and will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, of whose kingdom there will be no end; and in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Life-giver, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who, together with the Father and the Son, is adored and glorified, who spake by the holy prophets; and one holy catholic and apostolic church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins; and I expect the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen. I most firmly admit and embrace apostolical and ecclesiastical traditions, and all other constitutions and observances of the same church. I also admit the sacred Scriptures according to the sense which the holy mother church has held and does hold, to whom it belongs to judge of [pg 111]the true sense and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures; nor will I ever take or interpret them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the fathers.
“I profess, also, that there are truly and properly seven sacraments of the new law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and for the salvation of mankind, though all are not necessary for every one—namely, baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, extreme unction, orders, and matrimony, and that they confer grace; and of these, baptism, confirmation, and order cannot be reiterated without sacrilege. I do also receive and admit the ceremonies of the Catholic Church, received and approved in the solemn administration of all the above-said sacraments. I receive and embrace all and every one of the things which have been defined and declared in the holy Council of Trent concerning sin and justification. I profess likewise that in the mass is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead; and that in the most holy sacrament of the eucharist there is truly, really and substantially the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that there is made a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood, which conversion the Catholic Church calls Transubstantiation. I confess, also, that under either kind alone, whole and entire, Christ and a true sacrament is received. I constantly hold that there is a purgatory, and that the souls detained therein are helped by the suffrages of the faithful. Likewise that the saints reigning together with Christ are to be honored and invocated, that they offer prayers to God for us, and that their relics are to be venerated.
“I most firmly assert that the images of Christ, and of the Mother of God, ever Virgin, and also of the other saints, are to be had and retained, and that due honor and veneration are to be given to them. I also affirm that the power of indulgences was left by Christ in the Church, and that the use of them is most wholesome to Christian people. I acknowledge the holy catholic and apostolic Roman Church, the mother and mistress of all churches; and I promise and swear true obedience to the Roman bishop, the successor of St. Peter, prince of the apostles and vicar of Jesus Christ. I also profess and undoubtedly receive all other things delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred canons and general councils, and particularly by the holy Council of Trent; and likewise I also condemn, reject, and anathematize all things contrary thereto, and all heresies whatsoever condemned, rejected, and anathematized by the Church. This true catholic faith, out of which none can be saved, which I now freely profess and truly hold, I, A. B., promise, vow, and swear most constantly to hold, and profess the same whole and entire, with God's assistance to the end of my life; and to procure, as far as lies in my power, that the same shall be held, taught, and preached by all who are under me, or are intrusted to my care, by virtue of my office. So help me God, and these holy Gospels of God. Amen.”
The less Bible, the more Creed, and the thicker and blacker the darkness! Bible students will not fail to notice the progressive darkness of these creeds. Incarnation is first mentioned in the third creed, mariolatry in the fourth, and trinity and purgatory in the fifth.
In the Millennial Age the creed-formers will feel like adding a postscript to their work, reading about as follows:
“P. S.—We have had our eyes opened and now see that Jesus was the Alpha, the Beginning of the creation of God, and the Omega, the Last of the Father's direct creation (Rev. 22:13; 1:8); that as the Logos, or Representative of the Father, He was a God (mighty one) but not the God, Jehovah (John 1:1); that all things were made by Him (John 1:3); that Jehovah sent His Son to save mankind (1 John 4:10); that the Logos was made flesh (John 1:14) and in the days of His flesh (Heb. 5:7) became poor (2 Cor. 8:9), lower than the angels (Heb. 2:9), a servant (Phil. 2:7), a man (Phil. 2:8); that while a man He did not have all wisdom (Luke 2:52) but admitted the Father's greater power (John 14:28) and knowledge (Matt. 24:36); that as the Father had previously said that He would give His own personal glory to no one (Isa. 42:8), so Jesus admitted He and the Father were two separate persons (John 8:17, 18); that He admitted He had not the glory of the Father (John 17:5) and expected the same unity between the Church and the Father as existed between Himself and the Father (John 17:21-23); that when He died He was really, truly, completely dead, as dead as though He had never previously existed (1 Cor. 15:3; Rev. 1:18); that God raised Him from the dead (Acts 2:24; Gal. 1:1); highly exalted Him (Phil. 2:9) to Divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4); making Him the express image of Himself (Heb. 1:3); but that even since His resurrection our Father is still Jesus' Father and our God is still His God (John 20:17); that a thousand years hence Jesus will still be subject to the Father (1 Cor. 15:28); that to us there is but one God (1 Cor. 8:6) and that every doctrine that confesseth that Jesus Christ when He came in the flesh came as anything more or less than a fleshly being is the spirit of Antichrist which dictated every one of the creeds aforementioned (1 John 4:3).”