gratulations, praising God, and saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, &c.

Q. What is the first hymn after the second lesson at evening called?

A. Deus Misereatur, because, in the Latin version, it begins with these words. It is taken from the 67th psalm; and, being a prayer for the coming of the gospel, is a proper form wherein to express our desires for the farther propagation of it; and, therefore, must not barely be repeated, but addressed to our Maker in the most solemn manner. Q. What is the second hymn called?

A. Benedic, Anima mea, because it begins with those words in the Latin version. This hymn is selected from the 103d psalm, and is admirably calculated to express the most ardent love, and devout affections of our souls, for all the inestimable benefits we have received from the bounty of God, both spiritual and temporal.

XIII. Of the Creeds.

Q. What follows the hymns after the second lesson, at daily morning and evening prayers ?

A. The Apostles', or Nicene creed, which are a summary of articles of faith, expressing concisely and comprehensively the doctrines held to be essentially necessary to salvation; and which are to be said by the minister and the people standing.

Q. Why are the creeds appointed to be said by the minister and people?

A. Because they are the profession of every person present, and ought, for that reason, to be personally pronounced by every one of them, the more expressly to declare their belief of the same to each other, and consequently to the whole Christian world, with whom they maintain communion. And accordingly it should be remembered, that our creeds do not, like our prayers, run in the plural

number. The minister does not say in the name of the congregation, We believe; but he for himself, and every individual for himself, is directed to say, I believe, &c.

Q. But if the people hear the minister repeat the creeds, and themselves say Amen, is not this suffi

cient?

A. No; for every member of the congregation is as much concerned in the rehearsal of them as the minister himself. It is true, we may, and in holy scripture we are often admonished to pray for one another; but in matters of faith, every man must believe for himself, and ought to make the profession of his belief with his own mouth, since every one is to be justified, and saved by his own faith, and not by the faith of others.

Q. Why are the creeds to be repeated standing?

A. For the following reasons: First, because this was the attitude in which the catechumens in the ancient church always repeated them. Secondly, because they are not so immediately addressed to God as our prayers are. Thirdly, because they are a solemn declaration reciprocally made by one man to another, by every individual to the whole congregation. Now, whenever one man addresses an assembly of his equals, and in the house of prayer all men must be considered as equal, standing is the attitude which among us decorum naturally suggests. Fourthly, because this attitude implies a determination to defend and maintain the faith which we profess. And upon this principle is to be explained the ancient practice of the churches of Lithuania, Poland, &c. where the nobility repeated the creeds standing, and with their swords drawn, intimating that they would, to the utmost, defend the doctrines of the creeds, and were prepared, if necessity should require, to seal the truth of them. with their blood.*

See Durell's View, &c. sect. i. § xxiv. p. 37.

Q. But is the bare standing at the recital of the ereeds of any use?

A. No; unless our minds are attentive, and we regard what we say when we repeat them. We are to consider, therefore, that we are engaged in a most serious concern. We are owning that faith by which we hope for salvation; and, certainly, this ought to be done with the understanding, with unfeigned devotion, and the most sincere resolution to persevere therein to the end of our days: so that those persons are greatly to blame, who either through sloth do not repeat the creeds at all, or through negligence repeat them after such a manner as too plainly indicates that they are not affected thereby, or concerned about what they are doing. Q. Why are the creeds placed here?

A. The place of them in our liturgy may be considered with respect both to what precede and what follow them.

Q. What precede the creeds?

A. The lessons taken out of the holy scriptures; for "faith cometh by hearing," Rom. x. 17, and we having heard the word of God, profess our be lief of it, thereby setting our seal, as it were, to the truth of those divine records, John iii. 33, espe cially to such articles as the chapters now read to us have confirmed.

Q. What follow the creeds?

A. The prayers which are grounded upon them; for we cannot call upon him in whom we have not believed, Rom. x. 14.* "Faith is the fountain of prayer," says St. Austin. And, therefore, since we are to pray to God the Father, in the name of the Son, by the assistance of the Holy Ghost, for re

* The Apostles' manner of speaking in this passage, is by way of interrogation, which is equivalent to a negation; implying that it is impossible to do it-it would be wicked and impious to do it. None must be the object of our prayers, but he who is the object of our faith and trust; therefore be must be prayed to.

mission of sins, and a joyful resurrection, we first declare that we believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and that there is remission here, and a resurrection hereafter, for all true members of the Christian church: and then we may be said to pray in faith.

Q. What is necessary to be done that the congre gation may repeat the creeds as they ought?

A. Frequently to consider the great importance of them; and the minister ought also to take care that he does not begin them too hastily; for the people must not be hurried, but allowed so much leisure as will enable them to begin all at once, and go through the whole form with a decent delibera-.

tion.

Q. Why are the creeds so called?

A. Because they contain those doctrines, which, as Christians, we profess to believe. Creed is a term derived from Credo, which is the first word that occurs in these professions of faith in the Latin language.

Q. Why is the first called the Apostles' creed?

4. Partly because it consists of the doctrines they taught, and partly because it was composed in or near the time in which they lived.

Q. How is it evident that this creed was composed in or near the time of the Apostles?

A. From the testimonies of the most ancient writers; particularly of St. Ignatius, in whose epistles most of its articles are to be found; though there are reasons to believe that some few of them, viz. that of the descent into hell, the communion of saints, and the life everlasting, were not added till sometime after, in opposition to some gross errors and heresies, which sprang up in the church. But the whole form, as it now stands in our liturgy, is to be found in the works of St. Ambrose and

* Vid. Irenæum, contr. Næres. b. i. cap. ii. p. 45. Tertult, de Virg. veland. cap. i. p. 175. De Præscript. Hæretiur. cap. xiii. p. 206,

who

Ruffinus,
years of Christ.

flourished within four hundred

Q. Why is the other called the Nicene creed?

A. Because the greatest part of it was drawn up by the first general council held at Nice, in Bithynia, in the year 325, consisting of Christians from all parts of the world; it was, however, enlarged by a fuller explication of some articles by the second general council, (held at Constantinople A. D. 381) especially in relation to the divinity and procession of the Holy Ghost, with a view to a more particular confutation and suppression of the Arian and Macedonian heresy.

Q. Why is it customary, at the name of Jesus, for the whole congregation to make obeisance?

A. To testify, by this outward gesture, our inward humility, Christian resolution, and due acknowledgment, that the Lord Jesus Christ, the true eternal Son of God, is the only Saviour of the world, in whom alone all the mercies, graces, and promises of God to mankind, for this life and the life to come, are fully and wholly comprised.

Q. What scripture have we to justify this practice of the church?

A. That passage of St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Philippians, chap. ii. 10, where it is said, "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow."

Q. What provision hath the general convention made with respect to the use of the article, “he descended into hell?"

A. That any churches may omit the words, "he descended into hell;" or may, instead of them, use the words," he went into the place of departed spirits," which are considered as words equivalent to those in the Apostles' creed. The opinion of eminent divines is, that by hell, or hades, is meant the place of departed spirits, where the human soul of Christ rested after his death till his resurrection,

See their expositions of the creed