Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1890-10-16
THE APOSTLES CREED.
When and by Whom 1t Was Written ant
tho Churches That Use 1t.


the Churches That Use 1t.
1t was held by many early writers
that this creed was composed by the
apostles themselves, who, during their
stay at Jerusalem soon after our Lords
ascension, agreed upon thunder tho
guidance and direction of the Holy
Spirit-to be adopted as rule of faith
and as mark by which they could
know friends from foes. Rufnus, his
torian of the fifth century, gives the
traditional history of the creed as fol-
lows: "There was an ancient tradition
that the apostles, being about to depart
from Jerusalem, first settled rule for
their future preaching, lest, after they
were separated from each other, they
should eXpound different doctrines to
the persons whom they invited to tho
Christian faith. Wherefore being all
assembled together and filled with the
Holy Ghost, they composed this
short rule of their preaching,
each one contributing his sem
tence, and left it as rule to be
given by all believers" Another writ
er pretends to tell what article of the
creed was contributed by each apostle.
Peter began with the words: 81 believe
in God the Father Almighty" to which
John added maker of Heaven and
earth" James said "and in Jesus
Christ, His only Son our Lord" and
Andrew gave the words "Who was con-
ceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the
Virgin Mary" Philips words were
suffered under Pontius PLATE; was
crucified, dead and buried' Thomas
said "He descended into hell; the third
day He rose again from the dead;"
Bartholomew, "He ascended into
Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of
God the Father Almighty" to which
Matthew added from thence He shall
come to Judge tho quick and the dead"
James, the son of Alpheus, said: 81 be-
lieve in the Holy Ghost; the holy Cath
olic church," to which Simon Zelotes
added "the communion of saints, tho
forgiveness Of SINS" judo, tho brother
OF James, 'the resurrection of the
body" Matthias, 'the life everlasting"
This writer takes it as proof of his
theory that the creed was called sym
bolum apostolicum," taking the word
symbolum as derived from the Greek
''symbolai," meaning contributions
brought together to make up common
whole, whereas it is more correctly de-
rived from an altogether different word,
symbolon, meaning token or sign by
which person or thing is known. 1t is,
in truth, however, quite impossible now
to ascertain tho actual authorship of
the apostles creed. There is no doubt
that it is very ancient, for it is given as
whole, essentially as we now have it,
/ by Ambrose an historical writer of the
third century. But there is no mention
in the book of the Acts OF the Apostles,
or in the writings Of those who i'm
mediately followed them, of any gather
ing of these holy men for the purpose Of
formulating a creed, and had there been
such meeting 1t most probably would
have been recorded. But the creed has
been accepted, by orthodox churches as
entitled to the name given to it, be-
cause, as the learned DIR. Schaff says:
Though it is not in form the produc-
tion of the Apostles, it is a faithful COM
pend OF their doctrines, and compre-
hends the leading articles of the faith
in the triune God and His revelation
from the creation to the life everlasting,
in sublime simplicity, in insurpassable
brevity. in the most beautiful order, and
with liturgical solemnity; and to this
day it is the common bond of Greek,
Roman and Evangelical Christendom. y
AS to its use in the churches of the
world, it was not introduced into
liturgies at first, but all admitted
into the church by baptism were re-
quired to subscribe to it About the
tenth century the Greek church in An
tioch was the first to use it in public
worship; the Roman church then intro
duced it. whence it was adopted by the
the Church of England at the reforma
ton. The Westminster divines at
tached it to their catechisn. 1t find
place, also, with the decalogue and th'
Lords prayer, in the catechisms Of th'
Methodist Episcopal and Presbyterian
churches. 1t is used in the baptisma
confession in the Greek. Roman, En-
glish, Reformed Lutheran, Methods
Episcopal and Protestant Episcopal an
other churches. In fact no othor cree
but this IL used in baptism by an,
church. One phrase only, "He de
scended into hell" is omitted in SOM
OF the forms used---chiCsgo Intel
Ocean