of eucharist to our God, he would see that his former favours had a good effect upon us, and thereby be moved to give many more. This would cause him to grant the world plentiful years, and abundance of the fruits of the earth; this would engage him to send infinite blessings on his own people, and be a means to invite all nations to fear and serve him, when they 131 should see how good he is to those that be his servants. Therefore let us praise him ourselves, let us also pray and endeavour that all others may do so also, for we find what incomparable returns we shall have for it. It will engage the whole Trinity for us, which some gather from ver. 6 and 7, where God is thrice named; and in the second place our own God, that is, God the Son, who took our own nature, and is most particularly our own God; and further, these universal praises will bring down all kinds of blessings both for body and soul; finally, as we began, ver. 2, to pray that all the earth might be brought to know and fear God, we conclude, ver. 7, full of hope, that by our blessing God, and his rewarding us, that prayer shall prevail, and all the ends of the world shall fear him, wherefore we sing, Glory be to the Father, &c. The Paraphrase of the LXVIIth Psalm. 1. When we remember how oft we have offended against this word we have heard, we had need to say, O God be merCIFUL UNTO US and forgive us, and since we are thy people, do thou also prosper AND BLESS us; the Lord be pleased to grant us his favour, AND SHEW Us evidently the same by the smiles and THE LIGHT OF HIS COUNTENANCE, of which though we be unworthy, yet again we say, Pity us, AND BE MERCIFUL UNTO US, O our God. 2. THAT by our obedience to thee, and thy bounty to us, THY WAY, and the rules both of thy word and thy providence, MAY BE KNOWN by all men UPON EARTH, So that thy gospel may be propagated, AND the good news of THY SAVING HEALTH and our redemption may be discovered AMONG ALL, even heathen NATIONS. 3. We are not sufficient alone to bless thee as thou deservest: wherefore LET THE PEOPLE of thy pasture PRAISE THEE every where, O God, for thy mercies, YEA, let all the PEOPLE of the whole world be converted by these apostolic doctrines, that when they know thee, they may all PRAISE THEE with one heart. 4. O LET THE very heathen NATIONS REJOICE in holy anthems AND BE GLAD, by making them to know thee, and bringing them to submit to thy happy government; FOR THOU art the best of all governors, thou SHALT JUDGE THE FOLK most justly and RIGHTEOUSLY, AND with all sweetness and equity shalt thou GOVERN THE NATIONS that dwell UPON all the EARTH, when they are once subject to thy laws. 5. Therefore we must say again with a fresh devotion, LET THE Christian PEOPLE PRAISE THEE for thy mercies, O GOD, in every place, YEA, LET ALL THE PEOPLE of the whole world be converted, that they may all know and PRAISE THEE with united hearts and voices. 6. And when we make these just acknowledgments for former mercies, THEN SHALL THE EARTH be comforted with seasonable showers, and BRING FORTH abundance of HER INCREASE of all sorts of fruits, AND as to spiritual favours, GOD, EVEN he whom we call OUR OWN GOD, and who is the Author of every good gift, he SHALL GIVE US HIS BLESSING and his grace. 7. O let us but be truly thankful, and GOD SHALL so eminently BLESS US both in soul and body, that all people shall observe it, and all men even to THE ENDS OF THE WORLD shall see it is good to serve so blessed a Master, and then they also SHALL FEAR HIM, and become obedient to this his holy word. Glory be to the Father, &c. SECTION XVIII. OF THE APOSTLES' CREED. §. I. THE holy scriptures being a perfect revelation of all Divine truth, may in a larger sense be called our 132 Creed; yet since the fundamental doctrines contained therein are dispersed, and not easily distinguished from those of lesser moment by all such as ought to understand them; it was very fit, if not necessary, for the blessed apostles to leave us one brief compendium of what was to be believed in order to our salvation, which might be soon learned, easily understood, and unanimously retained by all true Christians; and accordingly they did compose this venerable form, which still bears their name, and is called the Apostles' Creed. Which universal tradition was never questioned till this last unhappy age, wherein some have been so bold as to dispute the articles of this apostolic faith, and therefore no wonder if there be found others who deny the apostles to have been the authors thereof; for the articles will more easily be rejected, when they are destitute of the illustrious names of their sacred authors; wherefore I shall endeavour to prove, that the twelve apostles were the composers of this Creed (leaving the defence of the several articles to those learned expositors who purposely treat of them). Now this being more suitable to my method and design, I shall evince it, 1. by authority; 2. by reason; 3. by answering the contrary arguments urged by some against this ancient truth. I. By authority, that is, by the concurrent testimony of the catholic church in all ages, which is the most proper witness in a matter of fact as this is; nor have we any better medium to prove the books of Scripture were written by those authors whose names they bear, than the unanimous testimony of antiquity; and by that we can abundantly prove the apostles were authors of this Creed. For Clemens Romanus in his epistle to our Lord's brother, (not to James, as some mistake, but to Simon his successor, bishop of Jerusalem, saith, "That the apostles having received the gift of tongues, while they were yet together, by joint consent composed that Creed which the church of the faithful now holds." Which very thing is largely set down by Ruffinus, in his preface to the Exposition of the Creed, and affirmed, not only by him, but by a cloud of other unexceptionable witnesses, whose words are too long to insert, and their names almost too many to mention. Irenæus also expressly saith, "The church received from the apostles, and their disciples, this faith in one God the Father Almighty," &c. Tertullian calls it," the rule of faith," affirming that "it descended to us from the beginning of the gospel, before any heretic had risen upe." St. Ambrose positively avoucheth, "it was made by the twelve apostles f." St. Hierome styles it, "the symbol of our faith and hope delivered from the apostless." St. Augustine expounds it in several places, especially in that tract (de Fide et Symbolo) mentioned in his Retractationsh. Leo Magnus saith plainly, "This rule of faith we have received from the authority of apostolical institution1, and for the rest they do all agree in this point, as a great author assures usk; so that to dissent from this Creed was a mark of an heretic in the imperial constitutions1. b Origen. Tepi apxwv. Prooem. Ambros. Ser. 83. August. de Temp. Ser. 181. Maximus Turinens. Homil. Leo M. Ep. ad Pulch. Aug. Cassian. de Incarnat. Dom. lib. 6. Isidor. Hispal. de Off. Eccl. cap. 22. c Iren. advers. Hæret. lib. 1. cap. 2. h Augustin. Retract. 1. 1. c. 17. i Leo M. Serm. 11. de Passion. k Omnes orthodoxi Patres affirmant symbolum ab ipsis apostolis conditum. Sixtus Senens. Bibliothec. lib. 2. Verbo Apostol. 1 Hanc legem sequentes Chris d Tertull. de Præscrip. advers. tianorum catholicorum nomen Hæret. lib. I. cap. 13. e Advers. Prax. cap. 2. jubemus amplecti, reliquos vero dementes hæretici dogmatis insaniam sustinent. Theodos. Grat. Augusti. U All which hath prevailed with the sober and learned men of these ages, whether Roman or reformed, Lutheran or Calvinistical, to assent to this truth, as 133 may be seen in the writings of many Roman doctors, and in the works of M. Lutherm, of Calvin", Beza", P. Martyr, and Bullinger 9. As also in the public confessions and articles of the churches of England, Saxonys, Francet, and Bohemia", &c., this Creed is asserted to be the Apostles' own composition; and who can or dare deny or question that which so many and great names in all ages have declared for truth? What shall we believe that history delivers to us, if we be not convinced with these universal and evident proofs ? II. We will prove it by reason; for, 1, It is evident by the writings of the apostles, (most of them being indited after this composure,) that there was some brief form of words taught unto those who were baptized, and committed to their memories by oral tradition, 2 Thess. ii. 15, called the form of doctrine, the rule', the depositum committed to their trust, the form of sound words, the faith once delivered to the saints↳; which the best expositors both ancient and modern do understand of the Creed. 2. And further, it is well known, that from the times of the apostles, there was a Creed taught to all adult Christians, a little before their baptism, to which they were to answer, article in Luther. de tribus Symbol. tom. 7. Colloqu. Mensal. tom. 2. p. 106. n Calvin. Inst, lib. 2. cap. 16. §. 18. o Beza Annot. in Rom. xii. 6. P P. Mart. Loc. Com. Miss. cap. 12. q Bullinger. Decad. r Eccl. Angl. Artic. 8. s Saxonic. Confes. cap. 5. u Confessio Bohemic. * Τύπον διδαχῆς. Rom. vi. 17. y Kavov. Galat. vi. 16. Phil. iii. 16. Κανόνα τὴν πίστιν φησίν. (Ec, Ζ Τὴν παρακαταθήκην. i Tim. vi. 20. Fidei depositum custodi. Hier. Παρακαταθήκη, ἡ πίστις. S. Chrys. in loc. a 2 Tim. i. 13. 'YпоτúжWσl ὑγιαινόντων λόγων. Παραδοθείση πίστις. Jude 3. |