[Greek: Kai eis hena Kyrion Iaesoun Christon,
ton uhion tou Theou monogenae, ton ek tou patros gennaethenta, Theon
alaethinon, pro panton ton aionon, di' ohu ta panta egeneto].
I regard this, both from its antiquity and from the peculiar character
of the Church of Jerusalem, so far removed from the influence of the
Pythagoreo-Platonic sects of Paganism, as the most important and
convincing mere fact of evidence in the Trinitarian controversy.
Ib. p. 233.
--true Son of the Father, 'invisible' of invisible, &c.
How is this reconcilable with 'John' i. 18--('no one hath seen God at
any time: the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he
hath declared him',--) or with the 'express image', asserted above.
'Invisible,' I suppose, must be taken in the narrowest sense, that is,
to bodily eyes. But then the one 'invisible' would not mean the same as
the other.
Ib. p. 236.
'Symbola certe Ecclesiae ex ipso Ecclesiae sensu, non ex haereticorum
cerebello, exponenda sunt'.--Bull. Judic. Eccl. v.
The truth of a Creed must be tried by the Holy Scriptures; but the sense
of the Creed by the known sentiments and inferred intention of its
compilers.
Ib. p. 238.
The very name of Father, applied in the Creed to the first Person,
intimates the relation he bears to a Son, &c.
No doubt: but the most probable solution of the apparent want of
distinctness of explication on this article, in my humble judgment,
is--that the so-called Apostles' Creed was at first the preparatory
confession of the catechumens, the admission-ticket, as it were
('symbolum ad Baptismum'), at the gate of the Church, and gradually
augmented as heresies started up.
Pages:
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244