Contained in the Apostles’ Creed. The Seventh Sermon
In my two last sermons I entreated of true faith and the effects thereof; and among the rest in one place I said, that the articles of the christian faith are, as it were, a brief summary of true faith: now therefore I think it to be not beside the purpose, and part of my duty, to lay before you those twelve articles of our belief. For they are the substance and matter of true faith, wherein faith is exercised: which because it is the ground! of things hoped for, here is plainly and briefly declared in these articles what things those are that are to be hoped for. But let no man at this present look for at my hand the busy? and full disccurse of the articles of our faith: I will but briefly go through them, touching only the most necessary points. They are in another place handled more at large by several parts. Pray ye with me to the Lord, that he will vouchsafe to shew to us his ways, to guide and preserve us in them, to the glory of his own name, and the everlasting salvation of our souls.
First, I have to say somewhat touching the common name, whereby the articles of our faith are usually called the Symbol or Creed of the Apostles. A symbol is as much to say as a conferring together, or else a badge. The articles are called a conferring together, because, by the laying together of the apostles’ doctrine, they were made and a el δξιθετά σε ον ἐμὰ preached by the apostles, and received of the—catholic or universal hare Ἐπὶ what he was that first did thus dispose and write these articles, it is not known, nor left in writing of the holy scriptures. Some there are that do attribute it to the apostles themselves, and therefore do call it by the name of the Apostles’ Creed. St Cyprian, the martyr, in his exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, saith: “Our ancestors have a saying, that after the Lord’s ascension, when by the coming of the Holy Ghost the fiery tongues sat upon every one of the apostles, so [1 substantia, Lat.] [2 operosam, Lat.]
[3 et collatio, et indicium, Lat.]
that they spake both divers and sundry languages, whereby there was no foreign nation nor barbarous tongue to which they seemed not sufficiently prepared to pass by the way; they had a commandment from the Lord, to go unto all nations to preach the word of God. When therefore they were in a readiness to depart, they laid down among themselves a platform of preaching for them all to follow, lest peradventure, being severed one from another, they should preach divers things to them that were converted to the faith of Christ. Wherefore being there all together, and replenished with the Holy Ghost, they gathered one every one’s several sentence, and made that breviary (as I said) to be a pattern for all their preachings to be framed by, appointing it for a rule to be given to them that should believe.” This saith Cyprian. But whether they were of the apostles’ own making or no, or else that other, the apostles’ disciples, made them, yet this is very well known, that the very doctrine of the apostles is purely contained and taught in them. These twelve articles are called -also-a-badge, becadse by that sign, as it were by a badge, true Christians are discerned from false.
Now I will declare what order I will use in expounding them unto you. This whole breviary, or abridgement of faith, may be divided into four parts; so that the three first parts may make manifest the mysteries of the three Persons in one Godhead; and that the fourth may lay forth the fruits of faith, that is to say, what good things we look for by faith, and what good things God bestoweth on them that put their trust in him. And yet, this notwithstanding, I will proceed
[4 Tradunt majores nostri, quod post ascensionem Domini, cum]
[per adventum sancti Spiritus super singulos quosque apostolos ig-]
[nex linguse sedissent, ut loquelis diversis variisque loquerentur, per]
[quod eis nulla gens extera, nulla linguse barbaries inaccessa videretur]
[et invia, preeceptum eis a Domino datum, ob preedicandum Dei ver-]
[bum, ad singulas quemque proficisci nationes. Discessuri itaque ab]
[invicem normam prius futurze sibi preedicationis in commune consti-]
[tuunt, ne forte alius ab alio abducti diversum aliquid his, qui ad fidem]
[Christi invitabantur, exponerent. Omnes ergo in uno positi, et]
[Spiritu sancto repleti, breve istud futurse sibi (ut diximus) preedica-]
[tionis indicium, conferendo in unum quod sentiebat unusquisque, com-]
[ponunt, atque hanc credentibus dandam esse regulam statuunt.—]
[Cypr. Expos. in Symb. Apost. in init. ed. Oxon. 1682. This tract is]
[not Cyprian’s, but was written by Ruffinus.]]
herein even orderly so as the twelve articles are placed or set down.
The first article of christian faith is this: “1 believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” And this first article of the Creed containeth two especial points: for first we say generally, I believe in God; then we descend particularly to the distinction of the Persons, and add, the Father Almighty. For God is one in substance, in and three in Persons. Wherefore, understanding the unity the substance, we say plainly, I believe in God: and again, keeping and not confounding the Persons, we add, In the Father Almighty, In Jesus Christ his only Son, and in the Holy Ghost. Let us therefore believe that God is one, not many, and pure in substance; but three in Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. For in the law it is written: Hearken, Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.” And again, in the gospel we read that the Lord saith: “Baptize them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost2.” ἘΞ By the way, this is singularly to be marked of us; that, when we pray, we say, “Our Father which art in heaven, give us this day our daily bread;” but that, when we make confession of our belief, we say not, We believe, but, “1 believe.” For faith is required of every one of us, for every particular man to have without dissimulation in his heart, and without double meaning to profess it with his mouth. It was not enough for Abraham to have faith for all his seed; neither will it avail thee any thing for another to believe, if thou thyself art without faith: for the Lord requireth faith of every particular man for himself. Wherefore, so oft as we confess ~~ our faith, every one of us by himself doth say, “I believe.” But what it is to believe, I have declared already in my fourth sermon.
It followeth in the confession, “I believe in God.” God is the object and foundation of our faith, as he that is the everlasting and chief goodness, never weary, but alway ready at our need. We therefore believe in God; that is to say, we put our whole hope, all our safety, and ourselves wholly into his hands, as unto him that is able to preserve and bestow on us all things that are requisite for our behoof.
[1 Deut. 4.] [3 Matt. xxviii. 19.]
Now it followeth that that God, in whom we rest, and unto whose tuition we do all commit ourselves, is “the Father Almighty.” Our God is therefore called Father, because from before all beginning he begat the Son like to himself. For the scripture calleth God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” “He,” saith the apostle, “is the brightness of the glory of God, and the lively image? of the substance of the Father: to whom he said, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” And again: “I will be his Father, and he shall be my Son%” Also God is called Father in respect of the likeness that he hath with our earthly father; to wit, because of our creation, the favour, love, good-will, and carefulness wherewith he is affected towards us. For God hath created us, God loveth us, God regardeth our affairs, and is careful for us; yea, and that more exceedingly too than any earthly father is. For saith David: “Even as the father pitieth his children, so doth the Lord pity them that fear him: for he knoweth our estate, remembering that we are but dust.” Esaias also in his 49th chapter saith: “Can a woman forget her own infant, and not pity and be fain over the son of her own womb? But admit she do forget; yet will not I forget thee.” In this is declared God’s good-will to us-ward: and we, confessing that God is our Father, do also profess that God to us is both gentle, liberal, and merciful, who wisheth us all things that are available to our health, and purposeth nothing to us-ward but that which is good and wholesome; and, last of all, that at his hand we receive what good soever we have, either bodily or ghostly.
God is called Almighty, because by his might he can do all things; because he is Lord of all things, and hath all things subject to his commandment. For the same cause also is he called the Lord of hosts. Heaven, earth, and whatsoever is therein, stars, all elements, men, angels, devils, all living creatures, all things created, are in the power of the most high and everlasting God. Whatsoever he commandeth, that they do: nothing is able to withstand his will. What he
[[ expressa imago, Lat.; Erasmus’ rendering. The Vulgate has]
[only figura.) [4 Heb. i. 3, 5.] [> Psal. ciii. 13, 14.] [6 eximie afficiatur erga, Lat.]]
will, that must of necessity be done: and also these things he useth even as his own will and pleasure is, and as his justice and man’s salvation do require. First we confessed, that God doth will us well; and now we acknowledge, that whatsoever he will, that he is able to bring to pass. For we say that God is Almighty, that is, that there is nothing but he can do it, which is profitable and necessary for us men, as he that is Lord of all, and our strong helper.
But that God is our good Father, liberal, gentle, merciful, strong, almighty, Lord of all, and our defender and deliverer, it is to be seen by his wonderful works. For he is the “maker of heaven and earth.” And in the making of heaven and earth he hath declared the great love that he beareth to mankind. For when as yet they were not, neither were able with deserts and good turns to provoke God to do them any good; then God first of his own mere and natural goodness made heaven and earth, a most excellent and beautiful palace, and gave it them to dwell in, putting under man’s dominion all the creatures of this whole world. But how great power he shewed in the making of all these things, it is evident by this, that “he spake the word, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created.” Which if thou bring into parts, and severally examine what he made in those six days, in what order, with what beauty, to how great commodity of mankind, and finally how almost with no labour at all he brought them all forth, as it is at large written by Moses in the first of Genesis, thou shalt be compelled to be amazed at the goodwill and power of God. And yet, by the way, we must think the Creator of all things to be such an one, as by his Son, that is, by his eternal Wisdom, hath created all things both visible and invisible; yea, and that of nothing too: and doth moreover at this very present sustain, nourish, rule, and preserve all things by his everlasting Spirit, without which every thing would presently fall to ruin, and come to nought. We do herein therefore confess also the providence of our eternal God, and his exceeding wise government.
And thus in this first part I have declared unto you that which is proper to the Father. For he is a Father; yea, he is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Father also,
[1 Psal. xxxiii. 9, and exlviii. 5.]]
being Lord of all things, maker of heaven and earth, governor and preserver of all things, by whom all things are, and in whom all things consist; who from before all beginning begot the eternal Son, equal with the Father, being of one substance, power, and glory with the Father, by whom also he made the world. From both them proceedeth the Holy Ghost, as David witnesseth, and saith: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all the host thereof 2”
Now followeth the second part, wherein are contained all the mysteries of Jesus Christ, our Lord, the Son of God. For the second article of the christian faith is thus word for word: “And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.” This article also comprehendeth two things: the first is, that we believe in the Son of God; the second, what the Son of God is. For we confess that we believe, that is, that we put our whole hope and confidence of life and salvation, as well in the Son as in the Father. And therefore we say plainly, “1 believe in Jesus Christ,” even as before we said, “1 believe in God,” &c. For the Lord Jesus himself, in the fourteenth chapter of John, saith: Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” Again: “This is the work of God, that ye believe in him whom he hath sent3.” And again: “This is eternal life, to know thee, the true God only, and him whom thou hast sent, Christ Jesus” Moreover, in the gospel after St John we read, that the Lord, speaking to the blind whose eyes he opened, said: “” Dost thou believe in the Son of God?” and that the blind, having received his sight, answered: Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?” Whereunto the Lord replied: “Thou hast seen him, and he it is that talketh with thee.” And that then again the blind said, “I believe, Lord;” and therewithal he worshipped himS5, Therefore let us also believe and worship; let us believe that Jesus is the very Son of God the Father, being of one power with the Father, although in Person he differ from the Father: which David testifying saith, “The Lorp said to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand,” &c.6
But if we declare at large, who that Son of God is, in
[2 Psal. xxxiii. 6.] [3 John 29.]
[+ John xvii. 3.] [> John ix. 35—38.]
+ =. [6 Psal. cx. 1.]
whom we believe, then must we note three things especially. The first is, that he is called the only Son. If he be the Son, yea, and that too the Son of God, then is his nature and substance a divine nature and substance. For in this signification doth the apostle call him the brightness of the glory of the Father, and the lively image of his substance.” Very well therefore do the holy fathers say, that the Son is of the same substance and being with! the Father. Whereunto belongeth that, that he is called the only Son; and in another place, the only-begotten and first-begotten Son. For we also are called sons, not by participation of nature, or likeness of substance, or naturally, but by adoption. And therefore the Jews were not offended, because he called himself the Son of God, in that sense that all the faithful are called, and are, the sons of God; but because they did perceive, that he did more extol himself in saying that he is the natural Son of God, equal to God, and God himself. For thus we read in the fifth of John: “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Jesus; not only because he had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, and made himself equal with God.” Again, where the Lord in the tenth chapter said, “I and my Father are one; then the Jews took up stones to stone him withal: but Jesus answered, Many good works have I done unto you; for which of them do ye stone me Ὁ To which the Jews replied: “For thy good works’ sake we stone thee not, but for thy blasphemy, and because thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” These are most evident testimonies of the natural Godhead of Christ, which whosoever believeth not, he hath not the Father? For he that honoureth the Son, honoureth the Father; and he that is without the Son hath not the Father: and unless the Son were God by nature, he could not be the Saviour of the world.
Now the second thing that is to be marked is, that the name of the only-begotten Son of God is opened, and he is called “Jesus Christ.” The name is expressly set down, that we may know who it is in whom we believe, lest peradventure we might be deceived in the person. It is Jesus: which name was given unto him by God’s appointment from heaven, even
[1 consubstantialis et coessentialis, Lat.] [2 1 John ii. 23.]]
as also it was prefigured in duke Josue and in Jesus the high priest. The angel, in the gospel after St Matthew, instructing Joseph, saith: Mary shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins3.”
So then this Son of God, Jesus, is the Saviour of the world, who forgiveth sins, and setteth us free from all the power of our adversary the devil: which verily he could not do, unless he were very God. He is also called Christ, which is all one as if you say, Anointed. The Jews call him Messias; which word is a title proper to a kingdom or priesthood. For they of old were wont to anoint their kings and priests: they were anointed with external or figurative ointment or oil. But very Christ was anointed with the very true ointment, that is, with the fulness of the Holy Ghost: as is to be seen in the first and third chapters after St John. Most properly therefore is this name Christ attributed to our Lord. For, first, he is both King and Priest of the people of God. Then the Holy Ghost is poured fully by all means and abundantly into Jesus, from whom, as it were by a lively fountain, it floweth into all the members of Christ. For this is that Aaron, upon whose head the oil was poured, “which ran down to his beard, and the nethermost skirts of his garment:” for “of his fulness we have all received.”
The last thing that is to be noted now in this second article is, that we call the Son of God “our Lord.” The Son of God verily is for two causes properly called our Lord: first, in respect of the mystery of our redemption. For Christ is the Lord of all the elect, whom he hath delivered from the power and dominion of Satan, sin, and death, and hath made them a people of his own getting for himself”. This similitude is taken of lords, which with their money buy slaves for their use, or else which in wars reserve captives, whom they might have slain, or which deliver men condemned from present death. So then by this, lords are, as it were, deliverers, redeemers, or saviours, Hereunto verily alludeth [3 ch. i. 21.] [+ tam regni, quam sacerdotii, Lat, ]
[5 Psal. exxxiii. 2.] [6 John i. 16.]
[7 populum acquisitionis, Lat. 1 Pet. ii. 9.]
[8 Dominus redemptoris et assertoris vocabulum est.—Erasm. Colloq. Inquisit. de Fide. Opp. Lugd. Bat. 1703. Tom. 1. col. 729.]
[Bullinger
Paul, where he saith: “Ye are bought with a price: become not (therefore) the servants of men.” And St Peter saith: “Ye are redeemed, not with geld and silver, but with the precious blood of the unspotted Lamb?” Moreover, Christ is called Lord in respect of his divine power and nature, by which all things are in subjection to the Son of God. And for because this word “Lord” is of a very ample signification, as that which containeth both the divine nature and majesty, we see that the apostles in their writings use it very willingly. Paul to the Corinthians saith: Although there be many lords, yet have we but one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom all things are, and we by him?3.”
Now the third article of christian faith is this: “Which was conceived by the Holy Ghost; born of the virgin Mary.” In the second article we have confessed, that we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Lord: wherein we have, as it were in a shadow, confessed, that we believe assuredly, that God, the Father, hath for us and our salvation given to the world his Son, to be a Saviour and Redeemer; for hitherto belong those names, Jesus, and Lord. Now therefore in this third article I have to declare the manner and order how he came into the world; to wit, by incarnation. This article containeth two things; the conception of Christ, and his nativity: of both which I will orderly speak, after that I have briefly declared unto you the causes of the Lord his incarnation.
Men were in a miserable taking, and all mankind should utterly have perished for sin, which we have all drawn from the first man Adam: for the reward of sin is death. And for that cause we, that were to be cast into hell, could not enter into heaven, unless the Son of God had descended unto US, and, becoming God with us%, had with himself drawn us into heaven. Therefore the chief cause of his incarnation is, to be a Mediator betwixt God and men, and by intercession to join, or bring into one, them that were severed. For Where a mediator is, there also must needs be discord and parties. The parties are God and men: the cause of discord is sin. Now the office of the mediator is to bring to
[11 Cor. vii. 23.] [2 1 Pet. i. 15, 19.] [3 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6.] [4 Immanuel, Lat.]]
agreement the parties disagreeing: which verily cannot be done, unless that sin, the cause of this variance, be taken clean away. But sin is neither cleansed nor taken away, except that blood be shed, and death do follow. This witnesseth Paul in his ninth chapter to the Hebrews. The mediator ought therefore to take on him our flesh and blood, that he might both die and shed his blood. Furthermore it is needful, that this advocate, or mediator, be indifferently common to both the parties, whom he hath to reconcile: wherefore our Lord Christ ought to be very God and very man. If he had been God alone, then should he have been terrible to men, and have stood them in little stead: if he had been mere man, then could he not have had access to God, which is a consuming fire. Wherefore our Lord Jesus Christ, being both God and man, was a fit Mediator for both the parties. Which thing the apostle witnessing saith: “One God, and one Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself the price of redemption for alls.” The same apostle, in the second and ninth chapters to the Hebrews, speaketh many things belonging to this place. And in the second chapter, rehearsing another cause of Christ his incarnation, he saith: It became him in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be merciful and a faithful High Priest in things concerning God, for to purge the people’s sins. For in that he himself was tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” Another cause, wherefore our Lord was incarnate, was, that he might instruct us men in all godliness and righteousness; and finally, that he might be the light of the world, and an ensample of holy life. For Paul saith: “The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto us, teaching us to renounce ungodliness, and to live holily%” To conclude: he therefore became one with us by the participation of nature, that is to say, it pleased him to be incarnate for this cause, that he might join us again to God, who for sin were separated from God; and receive us into the fellowship of himself, and all other his goodness beside.
The next is for us to declare the manner of his incarnation. This article of faith standeth on two members. The first is,
[5 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6.] [6 Tit. il. 11, 12.]]
“He was conceived by the Holy Ghost.” All we men, Christ excepted, are conceived by the seed of man, which of itself is unclean; and therefore we are born sinners; and Paul saith, “We are born the sons of wrath.” But the body of Christ, I say, our Lord, was not conceived in the virgin Mary by Joseph, or by any seed of man, but by the Holy Ghost: not that the Holy Ghost was in place of the seed; for nothing is begotten of the Spirit, but what is spiritual. Neither hath our Lord a phantastical?, but a very true body, and of the same substance with us. So then our Lord was conceived in the womb of the virgin by the Holy Ghost. For the Holy Ghost by his eternal power did bring to pass, that, the virginity of the mother being uncorrupted, she, I say, being made with child, conceived of her blood, and gave a pure and very human body to the Son of God; as is declared at large by the angel Gabriel in the first chapter of St Luke: of which place I mean to speak elsewhere more largely: I do now pass it over untouched.
God himself straightways after the beginning of the world did foretell, that such should be the manner of that conception. For he said not, The seed of the man shall tread down the serpent’s head, but “the seed of the woman?” Moreover the Lord by the prophets saith: “I will raise up seed to David.” But Moses’ law for the raising up of seed to the brother departed is well known: for if the brother died without issue of children, his brother remaining alive was compelled to marry the deceased brother’s wife, and of her to beget children, which were called and counted, not by the name of him that was living, but of the dead brother? Wherefore, when there was not to be found a man of David’s line, that was sufficiently meet to beget on the virgin the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, God himself raiseth up seed to David, and by his Holy Spirit maketh the virgin with child; who, although she were not with child by a man of
[1 Ephes. ii. 3.] [2 The Docete, an early heretical sect, maintained, that the incar-]
[nation and sufferings of our Lord were not real, but phantastical. —]
[See Routh’s Reliq. Sacer. Tom. 1. p. 461. ed. Oxon. 1846; also Calvin.]
[Instit. Lib. 11. cap. 13.] [3 Gen. iii. 15.] [ Deut. xxv. 5, 6.]]
David’s line, yet because she was a daughter of Davids stock, and because, God so working, she of her own substance gave substance to the Son of God, this her child Christ both is, and is called, the Son of David. What doth that argue moreover, that David in the 110th Psalm saith, “In the mighty power of holiness the dew of thy birth is to thee of the womb of the morning;” or, “The dew of thy birth is to thee of the womb of the morning in the mighty power of holiness?” That is to say, By a certain mighty power of holiness, and marvellous means, shalt thou be born. For thy birth shall be like unto the engendering of the dew, which cometh of the pure morning, as it were a child born of the womb. For as in the day-time the sun draweth out of the earth a vapour, which, by reason of the smallness of the heat which draweth it upward, is by the coldness of the temperate night-evenings drawn down again, and resolved into water; so God, that is the Sun of righteousness, took blood of the earth, that is, of the body of the untouched virgin Mary, and by a wonderful means did holily and purely bring to pass, that of her unspotted womb should be born and conceived the most holy Son of God.
The causes, why this conception of the Son of God in the womb of the holy virgin is most pure, are these. He that is conceived in the womb of a virgin is God; but God is a consuming fire, which cannot take or suffer any uncleanness in itself. Another cause is this: God came to cleanse our uncleanness, that is, the uncleanness of us men. He himself verily ought to be exempt from all original spots, and in all points most holy, to the end that, being the only unspotted sacrifice offered up for the sins of all the world, he might clean take away all the sins of the world. For that which is itself defiled cannot cleanse the thing that is defiled; but rather the spot or filthiness doth double his uncleanness by the coming to of that other unclean thing.
The second member of this third article is: He was “” born of the virgin Mary.” The Lord was born of Mary his mother, yet she a virgin still. He is therefore very man, which is born of woman. Moreover his birth is pure: for he was born of the virgin, so that together she was a mother, and yet a virgin too. For Esaias saith: Behold, a virgin shall
conceive, and bring forth a sonl.” A virgin, saith he, shall do both, conceive and bring forth; so that nevertheless she may remain a virgin still. The birth, therefore, of the Son of God is most pure. Also his birth is a true birth, verily and indeed. For he taketh flesh of the substance and womb of the virgin: in which signification also our Lord Jesus Christ is called the Son of David. He could not be called David’s son, unless he had taken very human substance of Mary, a maid or daughter of the stock of David. Which that the apostle John might most properly signify and express, he saith: “The Word was made flesh?” And the apostle Paul saith: “He doth nowhere take on him the angels, but the seed of Abraham?” And in the same place again he affirmeth, that the Lord was made like to his brethren in all things, sin excepted.” To the Philippians he saith: “When he was equal with God, he made himself of no reputation, taking on him the form of a servant, and made in the likeness of men, and found in figure as a man%” Again, the apostle John beareth witness, and saith: “Every spirit, that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God; and every spirit, which confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God” Luke, in his second chapter, hath at large set forth the manner of his nativity; and I do mean elsewhere to speak of it at the full. Let us therefore confess, that Jesus Christ was ‘ conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the virgin Mary.”
The fourth article of christian faith is this: “He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried: he descended into hell.” In this fourth article is declared the end, use, and chiefest commodity of the Lord his incarnation. For he became man, that he might suffer and die, and, by dying and suffering, might redeem us from eternal death and the torments of hell, and make us (being once cleansed) heirs of life everlasting. For this is the end of the Lord his death, as I will by and by shew you, and as Paul doth at large declare in the ninth chapter to the Hebrews.
[[} Tsai. vii. 14.] [2 John i. 14.] [83 Heb. ii. 16, 17. assumit, Lat.; Erasmus’ rendering. The Vul-]
[gate has apprehendit.] [ ch. ii. 6—8.] [5 1 John iv. 2, 3.]]
This article also is divided into his parts. First, we confess that our Lord suffered in very deed, and not phantastically to the appearance only’; and that he suffered verily the calamities and miseries of this world, and after that again the torments of the slaughter-men, and death itself in most bitter pangs. He suffered therefore both in soul and body; yea, and that too in many fashions. For Esaias saith: “He is a man of sorrows, and hath felt calamities. He beareth our infirmities, and hath carried our sorrows”.” For the Lord himself also in the gospel said: “My soul is heavy, even unto the death” But verily he suffered all this for us; for in him was neither sin, nor any cause else why he should suffer.
Secondarily, in this article is noted the time, and Pontius Pilate the judge under whom the Lord died, and redeemed the world from sin, death, the devil, and hell. He suffered therefore in the monarchy of the Romans, under the emperor Tiberius, when as now, according to the prophecy of Jacob, father of Israel, the Jewish people obeyed foreign kings, because there were no more kings or captains of the stock of Judah to have the rule over them: for he foretold, that then the Messias should come!. What may be thought of that moreover, that the Lord himself, oftener than once in the gospel, did foreshew that he should be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles, and by them be put to death?
In the third point of this article we do expressly declare the manner of his death; for we add: “He was crucified,” and died on the cross. But the death of the cross, as it was most reproachful, so also was it most bitter or sharp to be suffered; yet took he that kind of death upon him, that he might make satisfaction for the world, and fulfil that which from the beginning was prefigured, that he should be hanged on the tree. Isaac was laid on the pile of wood to be offered up in sacrifice. Moses also stuck the serpent on the stake of wood, and lift it up to be beheld. And the Lord himself said: “1, when I shall be lift up from the earth, will draw all men unto me!” Finally, he died on the cross, giving up his ghost to God. For he died verily and indeed, as you shall straightway perceive: where I have briefly to declare unto you,
[[ὁ non putative. ] [7 Isai. 1111. 3, 4.] [8 Mark xiv. 34.] [9 Jacobi Israelis, Lat.] [10 Gen. xlix. 10.] [11 John xii 32]]
what the fruit of Christ his death is. First, we were accursed because of sin: he therefore took our curse upon himself, being lift up upon the cross, to the end he might take our curse away, and that we might be blessed in him. Then also, the heritage bequeathed to us by will could not come unto us, unless he which bequeathed it did die. But God bequeathed it: who, that he might die, became man, and died according to his human nature, to the end that we might receive the heritage of life. In another place again Paul saith: “Him that knew not sin did God make sin for us, that we by him might be made the righteousness of God.” Our Lord therefore became man, by the sacrifice of himself to make satisfaction for us; on whom, as it were upon a goat for sinoffering, when all the sins of the whole world were gathered together and laid, he by his death took away and purged them all: so that now the only sacrifice of Christ hath satisfied for the sins of the whole world. And this verily is the greatest commodity of Christ his death taught everywhere by the apostles of Christ. Next after that, also, the death of Christ doth teach us patience and the mortification of our flesh: yea, Christ, by the participation of himself, doth by his Spirit work in us, that sin may not reign in us. Touching which thing the apostle Paul teacheth many things in the sixth chapter to the Romans. The Lord in the gospel saith: “If any man will follow me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me2” These, and a few more, are the fruits of the Lord his passion, or the death of Christ.
Fourthly, in this article 15 added: ‘” He was buried.” For our Lord died verily and indeed upon the cross. The very truth of his death was proved by the soldier, which thrust him through the side. After that, he was taken down from the cross, and laid in a sepulchre. In the gospel are expressed the names of them that buried him, Joseph and Nicodemus. There is also shewed the manner how they buried him. The fruit of this his burial the Saviour himself hath taught in these words: Verily, verily, I say unto you, unless the seed of corn cast into the earth do die, it remaineth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” Whereupon the apostle exhorteth us to be buried with Christ in his
[[1.2 Cor. v. 21.] [2 Matt. xvi. 24.] [3 John xii. 24.]]
death, that we may rise again in the newness of life?; yea, that we may live and reign with him for evermore. If, therefore, our bodies also be buried at any time, let us not therefore be troubled in mind; for the faithful are buried, that they may rise with Christ again.
The fifth part of this fourth article some do put severally by itself, for the fifth article of our faith. I for my part do see no cause why it should be plucked from that that goeth before; nor why it should make by itself a peculiar article of our faith. The words are these: “” He descended into hell.” Touching this there are sundry opinions among the expositors of the holy scriptures. Augustine, in his book De Fide et Symbolo, doth neither place these words in the rule of belief, nor yet expound them. Cyprian saith thus: “It is to be known verily, that in the creed of the Latin church this is not added, He descended into hell;’ nor yet is this clause received in the churches of the east: but yet the sense of that clause seemeth to be all one with that, where it is said, He was buried.’” This saith he. So then Cyprian’s opinion seemeth to be, that to descend into hell is nothing else but to be laid in the grave, according to that saying of Jacob: “Ye will bring my grey hairs with sorrow to hell, or the grave.”
But there are some that think this assertion to be without lawful proof. For it is not likely that they would wrap a thing once already plainly spoken immediately after in a darker kind of speech. Nay rather, so often as two sentences are joined together that signify both one thing, the latter is always an exposition of the first, But in these two [ Rom. vi. 4.]
[> August. Opp. Par. 1531. Tom. mur. p. 31. “The descent into hell is not in the creed expounded by St Augustine, De Fide et Symbolo.” —Pearson on the Creed. Oxf. ed. 1820. Vol. mr. p. 278.]
[6 Sciendum sane est, quod in ecclesiz= Romana symbolo non habetur additum, Descendit ad inferna; sed neque in orientis ecclesiis habetur hic sermo: vis tamen verbi eadem videtur esse in eo quod sepultus dicitur.—Cypr. Expos. in Symb. in loc. p. 22. ed. Oxon. δὴ κάμε, xlii. 38. ad inferos, Lat. and Vulgate. Ainsworth trans- 1682.
[lates the passage: Ye shall bring down my grey hairs with sorrow]
[unto hell. See also Hutchinson’s Works, p. 57. Parker Soc. ed.] [ Bullinger here, almost word for word, adopts Calvin’s argument,]
speeches, “He was buried,” and “He descended into hell,” the first is the plainer, and the latter the more intricate. Augustine, in his ninety-ninth epistle to Evodius, turmoileth himself pitifully in this matter. To Dardanus, de Dei Preesentia, he writeth, that the Lord went into hell, but that he felt no torment. We shall more agreeably to the truth seem to understand this article, if we shall think that the virtue of Christ his death did flow even to them that were dead, and profited them too: that is to say, that all the patriarchs and holy men, that died before the coming of Christ, were for the death of Christ preserved from death everlasting; as St Peter also maketh mention, “that the Lord went in the Spirit, and preached unto the spirits that were in prison” For verily they by the death of Christ were made to know the sentence of condemnation justly pronounced against them, because, when they lived, they believed not with Noe and them that were with him in the Saviour that was to come. Or else otherwise, by the lower parts, or by hell, we understand not the place of punishment appointed for the wicked, but the faithful that are departed, even as also by the higher parts we understand them that yet are remaining alive. Wherefore the soul of Christ descended into hell, that is to say, it was carried into Abraham’s bosom, wherein all the
[which is: Nam quoties loquutiones duze rem eandem exprimentes]
[simul connectuntur, posteriorem esse prioris exegesin convenit.—]
[Calvin. Instit. Lib. 11. cap. 16. ὁ 8.] [1 Opp. Par. 1531. Tom. 11. fol. 86.] [2 This statement seems to be gathered out of the following pas-]
[sage in the Epistle of Augustine referred to: Non enim facile alicubi]
[scripturarum inferorum nomen positum invenitur pro bono. Unde]
[etiam queeri solet, Si non nisi peenalia recte intelliguntur inferna, quo-]
[modo animam Domini Christi pie credamus fuisse in inferno. Sed]
[bene respondetur, ideo descendisse ut quibus oportuit subveniret.]
[Unde beatus Petrus eum dicit solvisse dolores inferni, in quibus impos-]
[sibile erat teneri ewm. Porro si utraque regis et dolentium et requies-]
[centium in inferno esse credenda est, quis audeat dicere Do-]
[minum Jesum ad peenales inferni partes venisse tantummodo, nec]
[fuisse apud eos qui in Abrahee sinu requiescunt? ubi si fuit, ipse est]
[intelligendus paradisus, quem lationis anime illo die dignatus est]
[polliceri. Quze si ita sunt, generale paradisi nomen est, ubi feliciter]
[vivitur.— August. Epist. 57. Tom. 11. ed. Par. 1531.) [3 1 Pet. iii. 19. inobedientibus ac in carcere detentis, Lat. ] [ per superos, Lat.]]
faithful already departed were gathered together. Therefore, when he said to the thief that was crucified with him, “This day shalt thou be with me in paradise,” he promised him the fellowship of life and of the blessed souls. Touching Abraham’s bosom, our Lord spake at large in the sixteenth chapter of the gospel after St Luke. For whereas the Lord is said to have descended, that cometh to pass by the manner of speaking: for otherwise it is evident by Luke, that Abraham’s bosom is a place severed a great way from hell, and placed up aloft. But to inquire or reason over curiously of these things is rather the point of a curious fool than of a godly-minded man. We confess in this article, that the souls are immortal, and that they immediately after the bodily death do pass to life, and that all the saints from the beginning of the world, being sanctified by faith through Christ, do in Christ and by Christ receive the inheritance of life everlasting.
I would add to these the fifth article, but that the hour is now already spent. We will therefore defer it unto the next sermon. And now let us all together pray to God, our Father which is in heaven, that he will vouchsafe us his Spirit to inspire us with that true and quickening faith which is in the Father and Son: in the Father, as the maker of all things; in the Son, as the Saviour of the whole world, who therefore came down from heaven, and was incarnate in the womb of the most holy virgin Mary, to the end he might be the Mediator betwixt God and men, and reconcile or make them at one again betwixt themselves; and that he might have wherewithal to make an oblation to appease God’s justice, and to purge our sins which he bare on his body, yea, which he took away, and made all the faithful heirs of life everlasting.
Let us now give praise to the grace of God, and thanks to the Son of God: to whom alone all honour and glory is due for ever and ever. Amen.
Of the Latter Articles of Christian Faith Contained in the Apostles’ Creed. The Eighth Sermon
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