all things, and reduce them unto nothing, must have the same power which originally produced all things out of nothing, and that is infinite. Howsoever the first notion of Almighty necessarily inferreth the second, and the infinity of God's dominion speaketh him infinitely powerful in operation.* Indeed in earthly dominions, the strength of the governor is not in himself, but in those whom he governeth and he is a powerful prince whose subjects are numerous. But the King of kings hath in himself all power of execution, as well as right of dominion. Were all the force and strength of a nation in the person of the king, as the authority is, obedience would not be arbitrary, nor could rebellion be successful: whereas experience teacheth us that the most puissant prince is compelled actually to submit, when the stronger part of his own people hath taken the boldness to put a force upon him. But we must not imagine that the Governor of the world ruleth only over them which are willing to obey, or that any of his creatures may dispute his commands with safety, or cast off his yoke with impunity. And if his dominion be uncontrollable, it is because his power is irresistible. For man is not more inclinable to obey God than man; but God is more powerful to exact subjection, and to vindicate rebellion. In respect of the infinity, and irresistibility of which active power we must acknowledge him Almighty; and so, according to the most vulgar acceptation, give the second explication of his omnipotency.+ But because this word Almighty is twice repeated in the CREED, once in this first Article, and again in the sixth, where Christ is represented sitting at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; and although in our English and the Latin the same words be expressed in both places, yet in the ancient Greek copies there is a manifest distinction; being the word in the first Article may equally comprehend God's power in operation, as well as authority in dominion; whereas that in the sixth speaketh only infinity of power, without relation to authority or dominion: I shall therefore reserve the explication of the latter unto its proper place, designing to ipsum nostræ fidei confessionis initium, # Artic. 1. Πιστεύω εἰς Θεὸν πατέρα παντοκράτορα. Artic. 6. καθεζόμενον ἐν δεξιᾷ θεοῦ πατρὸς παντοδυνάμου : as it is in the ancient copy of the Creed, taken out of the library of Bene't College, and set forth by the Archbishop of Armagh. treat particularly of God's infinite power where it is most peculiarly expressed; and so conclude briefly with two other interpretations which some of the ancients have made of the original word, belonging rather to philosophy than divinity, though true in both. For some have stretched this word Almighty according to the Greek notation,* to signify that God holdeth, encircleth, and containeth all things. "Who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth?" (Prov. xxx. 4.) who but God? "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure?" (Isa. xl. 12.) who but he? Thus then may he be called Almighty, as holding, containing, and comprehending all things. Others extend it farther yet, beyond that of containing or comprehension, to a more immediate influence of sustaining or preservation.+ For the same power which first gave being unto all things, continueth the same being unto all. "God giveth to all, life, and breath, and all things. In him we live, move, and have our being," (Acts xvii. 25. 28.) saith the strangest philosopher that ever entered Athens, the first expositor of that blind inscription, "To the unknown God." "How could any thing have endured, if it had not been thy will? or been preserved, if not called by thee?" (Wisd. xi. 25.) as the wisdom of the Jews confesseth. Thus did the Levites stand and bless: "Thou, even thou, art Lord alone: thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are therein, the sea and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all." (Neh. ix. 6.) Where the continual conservation of the creature is in equal latitude attributed unto God with their first production. Because there is an absolute necessity of preserving us from returning unto nothing by annihilation, as there was for first bestowing an existence on us by creation. And in this sense God is undoubtedly Almighty, in that he doth sustain, uphold, and constantly preserve all things in that being which they have. From whence we may at last declare what is couched under this attribute of God, how far this omnipotency extends As Theophilus bishop of Antioch, giving account of those words which are attributed unto God, as θεός, κύριος, ὕψιστος, tells us he is called παντοκράτωρ, ὅτι αὐτὸς τὰ πάντα κρατεῖ καὶ ἐμπεριέχει· τὰ γὰρ ὕψη τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ τὰ βάθη τῶν ἀβύσσων, καὶ τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ ἐστί. Ad Autol. l. i. p. 71. ed. Colon. 1686. + As Greg. Nyssenus: Οὐκοῦν, ὅταν τῆς Παντοκράτως φωνῆς ἀκούσωμεν, τοῦτο νοοῦμεν, τὸ πάντα τὸν θεὸν ἐν τῷ εἶναι συνέχειν, contr. Eunom. Or. ii. p. 467. ed. Par. 1638. itself, and what every Christian is thought to profess, when he addeth this part of the first Article of his CREED, I believe in God the Father ALMIGHTY. As I am persuaded of an infinite and independent Essence, which I term a God, and of the mystery of an eternal generation by which that God is a Father: so I assure myself that Father is not subject to infirmities of age, nor is there any weakness attending on the "Ancient of days;" (Dan. vii. 9. 13. 22.) but, on the contrary, I believe omnipotency to be an essential attribute of his Deity, and that not only in respect of operative and active power (concerning which I shall have occasion to express my faith hereafter), but also in regard of power authoritative, in which I must acknowledge his antecedent and eternal right of making what, and when, and how he pleased, of possessing whatsoever he maketh by direct do minion, of using and disposing as he pleaseth all things which he so possesseth. This dominion I believe most absolute in respect of its independency, both in the original, and the use or exercise thereof: this I acknowledge infinite for amplitude or extension, as being a power over all things without exception; for plenitude or perfection, as being all power over every thing without limitation; for continuance or duration, as being eternal without end or conclusion. Thus I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY. Maker of Heaven and Earth. ALTHOUGH this last part of the first Article were not expressed in the ancient CREEDS,* yet the sense thereof was delivered in the first rules of faith,+ and at last these particular For we find it not mentioned by St. Augustin de Fide et Symbolo; neither hath Ruffinus expounded it in the Aquileian, or noted it to be found in the Roman or oriental Creeds. Leo, reciting the three first articles in his epistle to Flavianus, maketh no mention of it. Epist. 10. Maximus Taurinensis hath it not in Traditione Symbol, nor Petrus Chrysologus in his Sermons, amongst six several expositions. It is not in the Homilies of Eusebius Gallicanus, or the exposition of Venantius Fortunatus. Marcellus bishop of Ancyra left it not at Rome with Julius; nor did Arius in his catholic confession unto Constantine acknowledge it. Neither are the words to be found in the Latin or Greek copy of the Creed, written about the beginning of the eighth century, and published out of the MSS. by the most reverend and learned Archbishop of Armagh; or in that which Etherius and Beatus produced against Elipandus archbishop of Toledo, towards the end of the seventh century. + As in that delivered by Irenæus : Εἰς ἕνα θεὸν πατέρα παντοκράτορα, τὸν πεποιηκότα τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὰς θαλάσσας, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς. Adver. Har. l. i. c. 2. And that by Tertullian: Unum omnino Deum esse, nec alium præter mundi conditorem, qui universa de nihilo produxerit.' De præser. adv. Hær. c. 13. And that under the name of Novatian, not in formal words, but with an (id est) by way of explication : Regula exigit, veritatis ut primo omnium credamus in Deum Patrem et Dominum Omnipotentem, id est, rerum omnium perfectissimum conditorem, qui cœlum alta sublimitate suspenderit, terram dejecta mole solidavit, maria soluto liquore diffudit, et hæc omnia propriis et condignis instrumentis et ornata et plena digessit.' De Trin. c. i. It was also observed by Origen, that the Christians were wont most frequently to mention God under that as the most common words inserted both in the Greek and Latin confessions. And indeed the work of creation most properly followeth the attribute of omnipotency, as being the foundation of the first, and the demonstration of the second explication of it. As then we believe there is a God, and that God Almighty; as we acknowledge that same God to be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in him of us: so we also confess, that the same God the Father mude both heaven and earth. For the full explication of which operation, it will be sufficient, first to declare the latitude of the object, what is comprehended under the terms of heaven and earth; secondly, to express the nature of the action, the true notion of creation, by which they were made; and thirdly, to demonstrate the Person to whom this operation is ascribed. For the first, I suppose it cannot be denied as the sense of that CREED, that under the terms of heaven and earth are comprehended all things: because the first rules of faith did so express it; and the most ancient Creeds had, either instead of these words, or together with them, the Maker of all things visible and invisible, which being terms of immediate contradiction, must consequently be of universal comprehension; nor is there any thing imaginable which is not visible, or invisible. Being then these were the words of the Nicene Creed; being the addition of heaven and earth in the Constantinopolitan could be no diminution to the former, which they still retained together with them, saying, I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; it followeth, that they which in the Latin Church made use only of this last addition, could not choose but take it in the full latitude of the first expression. And well may this be taken as the undoubted sense of the CREED, because it is the known language of the sacred Scriptures. "In six days (saith Moses) the Lord made heaven and earth" (Exod. xxxi. 17.) in the same time, saith God himself, "the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is." (Exod. xx. 11.) So that all things by those two must be understood which are contained in them; and we know no being which is made or placed without them. When God would call a general rendezvous, and make up a universal auditory, the title : Η γὰρ ἀορίστως ὁμολογοῦσι τὸ, κοινὸν ὄνομα, ὁ Θεὸς, ἢ καὶ μετὰ προσθήκης τῆς, ὁ δημιουργὸς τῶν ὅλων, ὁ ποιητὴς οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς. Adv. Celsum, 1. i. §. 25. Eusebius delivered the first Article thus in his Confession to the Nicene Council, Socrat. I. i. c. 8. Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα θεὸν πατέρα παντοκράτορα, τὸν τῶν ἁπάντων ὁρατῶν τε καὶ ἀοράτων TOT and that Council expressed the same without alteration in their Creed. But after the Nicene Council we find added ποιητὴν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, by St. Cyril of Jerusalem, in his Catechism, cat. 9. and St. Epiphanius in Ancorato, §. 120. : which addition was received, confirmed, and transmitted to us by the Council of Constantinople. By which means at last we find this article thus expressed in the western Confessions: Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem, creatorem cæli et terræ. prophet cries out, "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth." (Isa. i. 2.) When he would express the full splendour of his majesty, and utmost extent of his actual dominion, "Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool." (Isa. lxvi. 1.) When he would challenge unto himself those glorious attributes of immensity and omnipresence, "Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord." (Jer. xxiii. 24.) These two then taken together signify the Universe, or that which is called the World. St. Paul hath given a clear exposition of these words in his explication of the Athenian altar: "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands." (Acts xvii. 24.) For being God is necessarily the Lord of all things which he made (the right of his direct dominion being clearly grounded upon the first creation), except we should conceive the apostle to exempt some creature from the authoritative power of God, and so take some work of his hand out of the reach of his arm; we must confess that heaven and earth are of as large extent and ample signification as the world and all things therein. Where it is yet farther observable, that the apostle hath conjoined the speech of both Testaments together. For the ancient Hebrews seem to have had no word in use among them which singly of itself did signify the world, as the Greeks had, in whose language St. Paul did speak; and therefore they used in conjunction the heaven and earth, as the grand extremities within which all things are contained. * Nay, if we take the exposition of the later writers in that language, those two words will not only as extremities comprehend between them, but in the extension of their own significations contain all things in them. For when they divide the Universe into three worlds,+ the inferior, the superior, and the middle world; the lower is wholly contained in the name of earth, the other two under the name of heaven. Nor do the Hebrews Καλῶς δὲ πάντες σχεδὸν ἐξεδέξαντο τοῖς ἄκροις, οὐρανῷ τε καὶ γῇ, τὰ μέσα συμπερι ειληφέναι στοιχεῖα. πῶς δὲ ἄκρα φημί; ὅτι γῆ μὲν τὸ κέντρον παντὸς ἐμπεριείληφε· καὶ ἔστι κάτωθεν μὲν ἀρχὴ πάντων ἡ γῆ, πέρας δὲ τούτων ὁ πάντα περιέχων οὐρανός· τούμπαλιν δὲ ἄνωθεν, ἀχρὴ μὲν ὁ οὐρανὸς, πέρας δὲ πάντων ἡ γῆ· μετὰ δὲ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς τὰ λοιπὰ τρία περιεί ANTTAL STOXEĩa. Jo. Philop. de Mundi Creat. l. i. c. 5. Τῷ μὲν οὐρανίῳ σώματι (ή φύσις) τὸ πέριξ τοῦ παντὸς ἀπένειμε, τῷ δὲ περιγείῳ τὸ κέντρον· ἐν δὲ σφαίρα ἄλλως μὲν τὸ κέντρον ἀρχὴ, ἄλλως δὲ ὁ τοῦ περιέχοντος ὅρος. Hieroel. in Aur. Carm. v. 52. p. 245. For the Rabbins usually divide the שלש עולמות whole fraine of things into three worlds: the first, non obw the inferior, or boum oby the depressed and lowest world; by that is this world, say they, to wit, this globe of earth on this is the world of angels, dbx of God, world. Now being these three compre |