ment of an Index, fo we hope it may it felf be admitted for an Index to the larger Work; or be allow'd to resemble thofe Glaffes which by contracting a great and beautiful Object, prefent it with more Clearnefs to weaker Eyes, fuch as cannot view it in its full Compass and Proportion. The Apostles Creed. Believe in God the Fa ther Almighty, Maker of heaven and Earth: And in Jesus Chrift his only Son our Lozd, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Bon of the Wirgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried, He descended into Hell; The third day he rose again from the dead, he ascended into heaven, and " A 4 and fitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty ; From thence he thall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghoft; The holy Catholick Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of Sins; The Resurrection of the Body. And the life everlasting. Amen. The Opinion which ascribes the framing of this Creed to the Apostles in Perfon, tho' as antient as the firft Account we have of the Creed it felf from Ruffinus*, is yet render'd highly improbable, as by many collateral Reafons, fo efpecially by this Argument, That it is not appeal'd to in elder Times as the Sacred and unalterable Stan * Clar. Anno CCCXC.. dard. ހ dard. And therefore our Excellent Church with due Caution. ftiles it, that which is commonly cal· led the Apoftles Creed t. But tho' it feems not to have been compil'd, or formally drawn up by the Apostles themselves, yet is its Authority of fufficient Strength, fince it may ftill be demonftrated to be the Apostles, or rather the Apoftolic Creed, in three feveral refpects: First, As it is drawn from the Fountains of Apoftolical Scripture. Secondly, As it agrees in Substance with the Confeffions of all Orthodox Churches, which make up the Apoftolic Church, in the extended meaning of the Word. Thirdly, As it was the Creed of an Apoftolic Church, in the reftrain'd fenfe of that Term, denoting a Church founded by the Apostles, as was † Article VIII. that |