APPENDIX L

ON THE CREED OF POPE PIUS IV.

In the Instruction on the form of receiving converts into the Church, I said that the Profession of Faith used on that, and all other solemn occasions, was the Creed of Pope Pius IV. This Creed was composed at the conclusion of the Council of Trent, and specially puts forward the decrees of faith made to meet the errors of Luther and Calvin and their companions. I think it will be useful to give here a short explanation of it, although most of the important points have been considered in the Course of Instructions

CREED OF POPE PIUS IV.

"I, N. N., with a firm Faith, believe and profess all and every one of those things which are contained in that Creed which the Holy Roman Church maketh use of. To wit: I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker

of Heaven and Earth, of all things visible and invisible And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and born of the Father before all ages: God of God: Light of Light: true God of true God: begotten not made, consubstantial to the Father, by whom ali 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, He suffered and was buried, and the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures: He ascended into heaven: sits at the right hand of the Father, and is to come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, of whose kingdom there shall be no end. And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Lifegiver, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who together with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And I believe One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. I confess one Baptism for the remission of sins and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come

Amen."

The profession of faith begins by reciting the Nicene Creed.

The Nicene Creed was composed at the Council of Nicæa, held against the Arians in the year 325. Almost immediately after the conversion of the Emperor Constantine, as soon as the Pagan persecutions ceased, the Arian heresy arose. Arius denied the Divinity of Our Lord, and the First General Council was summoned to decide what was the Catholic Faith on the subject, and a Creed was drawn up, chiefly to declare unmistakably the Divinity of Our Lord, by defining that He was "Consubstantial" with the Father. This Creed was afterwards added to, at the Second General Council at Constantinople, in order to define the Godhead of the Holy Ghost, that He is "Lord and Life-giver,” and then, with some small modifications, became the great Profession of Faith used in the Church down to the present time. It is now recited at Mass on all Sundays, and on many other days. It has a specia interest from its antiquity, and most Protestants profess to accept it on the authority of the first three General Councils, and use it as a "symbol," or profession of faith. You must remember, however, that its authority does not come from its venerable on quity, but because it is the symbol which the Church still makes use of.

The Creed of Pope Pius continues in these words:

"I most steadfastly admit and embrace Apos tolical and Ecclesiastical Traditions, and all

other observances and constitutions of the same church."

The faith has come down to us in two ways, or, as we may say, by two independent channels, the Scripture, the written Word of God, and Tradition, which is the unwritten Word. It is by tradition that we receive the Scriptures, and by tradition only can we learn the real meaning of much that we read in the Scriptures, and supply many things which they omit. S. Paul says to S. Timothy: "The things which thou hast heard of me by many witnesses, the same commend to faithful men, who shall be fit to teach others also." (2 Tim. ii. 2.) You see, then, that from the beginning, Tradition, or the "handing on" of the faith from one to another, was the way provided for the instruction of mankind.

There are, however, two kinds of Tradition: the tradition of the Church, and traditions in the Church. By the latter we mean certain floating accounts or ideas of things, partly historical, partly legendary, partly doctrinal, current in the Church, to which dif ferent degrees of authority belong. The former, however, the tradition of the Church, is a very different thing. It means the whole mass of authoritative teaching, or the living voice of the Church

When you say you embrace "Apostolic and Ecclesiastical traditions," it does not mean that you undertake to accept all those traditional stories and ideas which make up the traditions in the Church, but that you

will accept all the teaching of the Church, whether it comes in the shape of formal documents, or is conveyed to you by the living voice of the Church, by the teaching of her pastors, by her authorized usages, or in any other way, so long as it is really and undoubtedly enjoined by the Church's authority.

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"I also admit the Holy Scriptures according to that sense which our Holy Mother the Church has held, and does hold, to which it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Scriptures: neither will I ever take and interpret them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers."

This passage again admits of misconstruction. It does not mean that you are to explain particular passages, according to the views of them maintained by the different writers and commentators. There are very few passages the interpretation of which is decided by authority; on all others you may use your own judgment. You undertake, however, not to interpret them, so as to contradict the teaching of the Church. When, however, it appears that the fathers and doctors are unanimous in their interpretation of Scripture in matters of faith and morals, their testimony may, as a rule, be said to represent the faith of the Church, and to command the assent of the faithful.

It is a first principle of the Catholic Church that