The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1922-03-18
REASON AND REVELATION.

i'm this world, and TO De happy Win
Him forever inNthe next. To attain
TO our final destiny we must then
know Cod. We know God dimly
through reason, more clearly through
revelation i'm which God speaks TO u.s..
As the eye needs light TO see material
things, so human reason. which is the
eve of the soul, needs revelation to
perceive things divine, says ST. Au-
gustine.
Concerning revelation. st. Paul
writes that God, Who, at sundry times
and in divers manners. spoke in times
past To the fathers by the prophets,
last of all, in these days has spoken
10 us by His Son (Hebr. l:l-2).
Now, Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
during His public ministry, called unto
Himself some fishermen of Galilee,
and by very diligent instructions and
formation made them His disciples
After some time in the Galilean min
istry He selected twelve of them,
whom, as st. Luke says. He also
named apostles. The word apostles
from the Greek apostolic" q send
FORTH, means a messenger. delegate
entrusted with a mission, rather a
foreign mission. During the three
years of His public ministry, Jesus
Christ instructed His apostles about
the Kingdom of God, sent them on
preliminary missions to preach the
coming of the Kingdom of God. On
the day of His ascension, Christ sent
h. 4
power is given to Me in heaven and
in earth. Go, therefore, teach We all
nations; baptizing them in the name
OF the Father, and of the Son., and Of
the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever ! have
commanded you; and behold, | am
with you all days, even to the con-
summation of the world Matt. %:
lS-20).
A Divine Commission.
Armed with this divine commission.
equipped also with the gift of tongues
and the power of working miracles,
the apostles, in obedience to the COM
mand of Christ, went forth to. teach
the nations. In our course of instruc-
lions for the next twelvemonth. We
shall explain TO you the summary OF
. the teachings of the apostles. 1t is
contained in a formula called THE
Apostles Creed" This formula is
called creed" from it's first word in
the Latin tongue, "credo.' which
means Il believe" 1t is called Apos-
ties Greed because lit contains. the
tenets of faith believed and proposed
by the apostles to the first Christians,
and for the further reason that, ac,
cording to an apparently wen-feunded
tradition, it was composed by the
apostles.
Holy Writ, in various passages
seems to refer to a formula of faitl
in use at the time of the apostles
Thus st. Paul, in his epistle to the
Romans, writes: you have obeyed
from the heart unto that form of doc
trine unto which you have been deliy,
cred" GID. And in his epistle
to Timothy he admonishes him: HOLD
the form of words which thou hast
heard from me in faith" (2nd Tim
1919. If there was an official for
ties, who would have composed il
but the apostles, the divinely author
lied preachers of that faith?.
one Short Formula Of faith.
There were so many obvious and
cogent reasons for having one short
formula of faith that the apostles
must have felt the need; of one and
composed one. Indeed, the Lord hat
told them that His disciples should
be one, that there should be one folt
and one shepherd. Therefore, there
should be one faith, and one forInulf
of faith, to maintain it. Since the
apostles have been commissioned t
go and teach that faith to the nations
it is natural to suppose that the,
composed that formula of faith.
Again, a short, exact formula O
faith would enable the apostles TO en-
list the cooperation of assistant teach
ers who could either precede. follow
or accompany the apostles and teacl
The new Christians this summary o
Christian doctrine. On the othe
hand, in such a creed the convert:
TO Christianity would have shor
form of faith which they could easil.
learn by heart and repeat with thu
other daily prayers. Such a creed
moreover, would act as touchston'
of the Christian faith and thus pre-
serve the Christians from false teach
ers, who would try to pervert thei
faith. These various reasons taken to
gether give us strong ground to be
lieve that the apostles composed
creed.
Furthermore, there is historical evi
dence to the effect that the creed com
posed by the apostles came down t,
as. and that it is none other than tn
creed which all Christians, for 1,50
wears and more. have called 'Th
Apostles' Creed" In the fourth AM
fifth centuries, several writer's of tn
highest rank for historical learninl
and critical keenness. expressly asser
fhe apostolic origin of The Apostles
Creed" Among them We find st. Am
brose, st. Jerome, Presbyter Rufinu
and st. Leo the Great st. Ambros'
says: Believe the symbol OF tn
apostles which the Roman church eve
has in it's keeping and preserves u
violate" st. Jerome bears witnes
that '.the symbol of cur faith an
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