The Catechism Explained Pt. I Faith X. THE APOSTLES' CREED/THE EXISTENCE OF A SUPREME BEING


PART I - FAITH. 
X. THE APOSTLES' CREED. 
Besides the Apostles Creed, which is repeated at Baptism, there is 
also the Nicene Creed (composed at the Council of Nicæa, 325), 
and enlarged at the Council of Constantinople. Also the Creed of 
Pope Pius IV., which contains the teaching of the Council of Trent, 
and was published by the authority of Pope Pius IV. in 1564. Some 
additions have been made to it by the Vatican Council (1870). The 
Nicene Creed is repeated on certain days by the priest in holy Mass, 
and the Creed of Pope Pius IV. has to be repeated by a convert 
when he is received into the Church, and also by parish priests when 
they enter on their benefices. 
1. The Apostles Creed contains in brief all that a Catholic 
must know and believe. 
In its few words are contained all the mysteries of the faith. 
It is like the body of a child which contains the limbs of a full- 
grown man, or like a seed that contains the tree with all its branches. 
It is called in Latin the symbolum, or distinguishing mark, because 
in early days the recital of it was the mark by which a man was 
recognized as a Christian. No one was admitted to be present at holy 
Mass unless he knew it by heart. It could not be divulged to any un- 
baptized person. It is called the symbolum, as being the watchword
 of the Christian warfare. 
The Apostles Creed is so called because it originated with 
the apostles. 
The holy apostles, before they separated from one another, estab- 
lished a certain and fixed rule of their teaching, so that it might be 
the same in all the different countries where they preached. Yet it 
is only the outlines of the Apostles Creed that date from the apostles 
themselves. Between their time and the year 600 a number of new 
clauses were added, in order to meet various heresies. Thus the 
words " Creator of heaven and earth " were added to meet the Mani- 
chean doctrine that the world was created by the principle of evil; 
the word Catholic was added to distinguish the Church from the sects 
around her, etc. The influence of St. Peter in drawing up the 
Creed appears from the fact that the principles which are developed 
in his speeches as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, are those 
which are found in the Creed. It was required before Baptism as 
an evidence of fitness for the reception of that sacrament. 
2. The Apostles Creed may be divided into three several 
parts. 
The first part treats of God the Father and of creation. 
The second part treats of God the Son and of our redemp- 
tion. 
The third part treats of God the Holy Ghost and of our 
sanctification. 
3. The Apostles Creed may also be divided into twelve articles. 
An article is a member belonging to the whole, as a limb belongs 
to the whole body. The articles of the Creed are so called because 
of their inseparable connection with one another. As you cannot 
take away one of the links of a chain without the chain being 
broken, so you cannot take away one of the articles of the Creed 
without faith being destroyed. There are various images in the Old 
Testament of the twelve articles of the Creed, e.g., the twelve precious 
stones on the breastplate of the high priest (Exod. xxviii. 17-21), 
and the twelve loaves of proposition (Lev. xxiv. 6). The articles 
of the Creed which we should wear on our breast, i.e., should believe 
and confess, should be like the stones in the high priest s breastplate : 
shining and spreading light around. 
The number of the articles of the Creed is the same as that 
of the apostles of Our Lord, and is intended to remind us that 
they contain the doctrine taught by the twelve apostles. 
Every Christian should know the Creed by heart. It should be 
repeated every day at our prayers, by way of renewing and strength- 
ening our faith, and of confirming the covenant we entered on with 
God at our Baptism. It is the shield of faith, by the repetition of 
which we can extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one 
(Eph. vi. 16). 
FIRST ARTICLE OF THE CREED: "I BELIEVE IN GOD, 
THE FATHER ALMIGHTY." 
1. THE EXISTENCE OF A SUPREME BEING. 
1. We can infer from the created world around us that there 
exists a supreme Being. 
We cannot see the souls of men, but we can infer their existence 
by a process of reasoning; so it is with the existence of God. 
The heavens and the earth could not have come into existence of
 themselves; nor could the heavenly bodies move through space by 
their own power. 
We infer, when we see footprints in the snow, that some one has 
passed that way; so we infer from the things around us that there 
exists a supreme Being. The planets could no more have come into 
existence of themselves than a town could be built of itself. The 
astronomer Kirchner had a friend who doubted the existence of 
God. He had a globe made and placed in his study. His friend 
came to see him one day and asked where the globe came from. 
Kirchner answered that it made itself. When his friend laughed at 
such an answer, Kirchner replied, " It would be much easier for a 
little globe like that to make itself than the great one on which we 
live." A light cannot kindle itself, and after it is kindled it will go 
out in a few hours. But the heavens are lighted by the glorious light 
of the sun, which has burned for many thousands of years without 
losing any of its brightness. Look at the millions of the stars. Who 
made them all, and caused them to illumine the night ? The 
Psalmist truly says " The heavens declare the glory of God, and the 
firmament shows forth the work of His hands" (Ps. xviii. 2). 
The great astronomer Newton used always to uncover and bow his 
head when the name of God was mentioned. We may also infer the 
existence of God from the creatures on the earth. Thus Job says 
" Ask now the beasts and they shall teach thee ; and the birds of the 
air, and they shall tell thee. Speak to the earth and it shall 
answer thee; and the fishes of the sea shall tell. Who is igno- 
rant that the hand of the Lord hath made all these things ? " (Job 
xii. 7-9.) If any one were to find a beautiful marble statue on a 
desert island, he would say without any hesitation that men had been 
there. If one were to say that the wind and rain had torn it 
from the mountain side, and given it its form, we should count him 
as a fool. A greater fool is he who asserts that this wondrous world 
had no Creator. 
The wonderful arrangement and order of the world also 
leads us to infer that it has been framed by an Architect of sur- 
passing skill. 
If a ship sails on its way and arrives safely at its destination, 
we conclude that it had a clever pilot. To say that the stars of the 
heaven of themselves direct their course, is as foolish as it would be to 
say that a ship had started from New York, sailed round the world, 
and returned safely without any one to guide it. Cicero said long 
ago, " When we contemplate the heavens, we arrive at the conviction 
that they are all guided by a Being of surpassing skill." In all that 
is upon the earth we see traces of design and of a most wise Designer 
--in the construction of the bodies of animals, and of the bodies of 
men, in the succession of the seasons, in trees and plants. The adap- 
tation of means to ends in the human eye, the ear, and the various 
parts of the body, all imply an adapting intelligence, just as the adap- 
tation of a watch to indicate the time, or the building of a house to 
shelter us, implies an intelligent constructor. As it would be impos- 
sible that the letters of the alphabet should be grouped together by 
mere chance in the order of the " Iliad," so it is impossible that the 
arrangements of the universe could have come about by chance, 
and without the knowledge and direction of a mighty intelligence. 
All the nations of the earth have an inner conviction of the 
existence of a supreme Being. 
Among all nations, even the most degraded, we find invariably the 
worship of some kind of deity. We find towns without walls, without 
a ruler, without laws, without coin, but never without some sort of 
temple, without prayer, without sacrifice. Now, universal consent is a 
mark of truth. The belief in God is an inner conviction, which may 
be said to be inborn, inasmuch as every one can arrive at it with the 
greatest ease. 
Only the fool says in his heart: there is no God (Ps. xiii. 1). 
Those who say that there is no God in spite of the glories of 
creation which they see around them, are those of whom Our Lord 
says that " seeing they perceive not, and hearing they do not under- 
stand " (Mark iv. 12). Such men are called atheists or infidels. 
They are invariably men who either are eaten up with pride or live 
vicious lives, or both. " He who denies the existence of God," says 
St. Augustine, " has some reason for wishing that God did not exist." 
Atheists, for the most part, use language which is at variance with 
their real convictions. Many of them are the first to cry to God for 
help when they are in some imminent danger. Their bold talk means 
very little. They are like boys who whistle in the dark to show that 
they are not afraid. God will take atheists at their word one day 
and will show Himself no loving God for them. So He took at their 
word those of the Israelites who doubted His power to give them 
victory over their enemies and possession of the Promised Land. 
They died before they entered it (Numb. xiv. 28-32). 
2. The existence of God is also proved from revelation.
God has at sundry times and in divers manners spoken to men 
(Heb. i. 1), and has given them a knowledge of Himself. To Moses 
He appeared in the burning bush, and called Himself the God of 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; to distinguish Himself from the false 
gods, He gives to Himself the name of " the self-existent One," or " I 
am Who am " (Exod. iii. 14). So in giving the law on Sinai He says, 
" I am the Lord your God. Thou shalt have none other gods beside 
Me" (Deut. v. 6, 7). God also worked miracles at various times in 
proof of His existence, e.g., by sending down fire from heaven to con- 
sume the sacrifice of Elias on Carmel (3 Kings xviii. 24, seq.), by 
saving Daniel from the lions at Babylon, and the three young men 
from the fiery furnace.
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PART I - FAITH.

PART I - FAITH.

THE CATECHISM EXPLAINED

INTRODUCTION

PART I - FAITH.
