no metropolitan. 2. A stronger objection is, that the Canon we are concerned with cannot be proved to belong to the Council held under Leodegarius. It is not found among the Canons of that Council published by Sirmondus from the manuscripts of the library of the Church of Angers, but it is from another collection, out of the library of the monastery of St. Benignus of Dijon, with this title only; Canones Augustodunenses: so that one cannot be certain whether it belongs to the Synod under St. Leger, or to some other Synod of Autun much later. It must be owned that the evidence can amount to no more than probable presumption, or conjecture. Wherefore Dupino, Tentzelius P, Muratorius, and Oudin', do not scruple to throw it aside as of too suspected credit to build any thing certain upon and even Quesnels expresses some dissatisfaction about it; only in respect to some great names, such as Sirmondus, Peter le Lande, Godfr. Hermantius, &c. he is willing to acquiesce in it. To whom we may add, Labbet, Le Coint", Cabassutius *, Pagiy, Tillemont 2, Montfaucona, Fabriciusb, Harduin, and our learned antiquary Mr. Bingham: who all accept it as genuine, but upon probable persuasion, rather than certain conviction. Neither do I pretend to propose it as clear and undoubted evidence, but probable only, and such as will be much confirmed by other evidences to be mentioned hereafter. • Dupin, Eccl. Hist. vol. ii. p. 35. P Tentzel. Judic. Erud. p. 61, &c. 9 Murator. Anecdot. Ambros. tom. ii. p. 223. Casim. Oudin. vol. i. p. 348. s Quesnel, Dissert. xiv. p. 731. t Labb. Dissert. de Script. Eccles. tom. ii. p. 478. Le Coint, Annal. Franc. ad ann. 663. n. 22. * Cabassut. Notit. Eccl. Dissert. xix. p. 54. y Pagi Crit. in Baron. ann. 340. n. 6. Tillemont, Mémoires, vol. viii. p. 668. a Montfauc. Diatrib. p. 720. Fabric. Bibl. Græc. vol. v. p. 316. Harduin. Concil. tom. iii. p. 1016. d Bingham, Origin. Eccl. vol. iv. p. 120. Regino, abbot of Prom in Germany, an author of the 760. ninth and tenth century, has, among other collections, some Articles of Inquiry, supposed by Baluzius the editor to be as old, or very nearly, as the age of Boniface, Bishop of Mentz, who died in the year 754. In those Articles, there is one to this purpose: "Whether the clergy "have by heart Athanasius's Tract upon the Faith of the "Trinity, beginning with Whosoever will be saved, &c." This testimony I may venture to place about 760, a little after the death of Boniface. The Council of Frankfort, in Germany, in their thirty- 794. third Canon give orders, that "the Catholic Faith of "the holy Trinity, and Lord's Prayer, and Creed, be set "forth and delivered to allf." Vossiuss understands the Canon of the two Creeds, Nicene and Apostolical. But I know not why the Apostolical, or Roman Creed, should be emphatically called Symbolum Fidei, The Creed, in opposition to the Nicene; nor why the Nicene should not be called a Creed, as well as the other, after the usual way. Besides, that Fides Catholica, &c. has been more peculiarly the title of the Athanasian Creed: and it was no uncommon thing, either before or after this time, to recommend it in this manner together with the Lord's Prayer and Apostles' Creed, just as we find here. And nothing could be at that time of greater service against the heresy of Felix and Elipandus, (which occasioned the calling of the Council,) than the Athanasian Creed. For which reasons, till I see better reasons to the contrary, I must be of opinion that the Council of Frankfort in their thirty-third Canon intended the Athanasian Creed, which Charles the Great had a particular respect for, and had presented in form • Si Sermonem Athanasii Episcopi de Fide Sanctæ Trinitatis, cujus initium est, Quicunque vult salvus esse, memoriter teneat. Regin. de Discipl. Eccles. 1. 1. f Ut Fides Catholica Sanctæ Trinitatis, et Oratio Dominica, atque Symbolum Fidei omnibus prædicetur, et tradatur. Concil. Francf. Can. 33. ■ Vossius de tribus Symb. Dissert. iii. c. 52. p. 528. 809. 809. 809. to Pope Adrian I. above twenty years before; as we shall see in another chapter. Theodulphus, Bishop of Orleans in France, has a Treatise of the Holy Ghost, with a preface to Charles the Great, written at a time when the dispute about the procession began to make disturbance. He brings several testimonies in favour of the procession from the Son, out of Athanasius; and, among others, a pretty large part of the Athanasian Creed, from the words, "The Father is "made of none, &c." to "He therefore that will be "saved must thus think of the Trinity h," inclusive. An anonymous writer of the same time, and in the same cause, and directing himself to the same Prince, makes the like use of the Athanasian Creed, in the following words; "St. Athanasius, in the Exposition of the "Catholic Faith, which that great master wrote himself, "and which the universal Church professes, declares the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and Son, "thus saying; The Father is made of none', &c." This I cite upon the credit of Sirmondus in his notes to Theodulphus. It was in the same year that the Latin monks of Mount Olivet wrote their Apologetical Letter to Pope Leo III. justifying their doctrine of the procession from the Son, against one John of Jerusalem, a monk too, of another monastery, and of an opposite persuasion. Among other authorities, they appeal to the Faith of Athanasius, that is, to the Creed, as we now call it. This I have from Le Quien, the learned editor of Damascen, who had the copy of that letter from Baluzius, as he there signifies k. h Item idem-Pater a nullo est factus, &c. usque ad Qui vult ergo salvus esse, k In Regula Sancti Benedicti quam nobis dedit Filius vester Dominus Karolus, quæ habet fidem scriptam de sancta et inseparabili Trinitate; Credo Not long after, Hatto, otherwise called Hetto and 820. Ahyto, Bishop of Basil in France, composed his Capitular, or Book of Constitutions, for the regulation of the clergy of his diocese. Amongst other good rules, this makes the fourth; "That they should have the Faith of "Athanasius by heart, and recite it at the prime (that is, "at seven o'clock in the morning) every Lord's Day!." Agobardus of the same time, Archbishop of Lyons, 820. wrote against Felix Orgelitanus; where he occasionally cites part of the Athanasian Creed. His words are: "St. "Athanasius says, that except a man doth keep the Ca"tholic faith whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall "perish everlastinglym ̧” In the same age flourished the famous Hincmar, Arch- 852. bishop of Rheims; who so often cites or refers to the Creed we are speaking of, as a standing rule of faith, that it may be needless to produce the particular passages. I shall content myself with one only, more considerable than the rest for the use that is to be made of it hereafter. He directs his Presbyters" to learn Athanasius's Treatise "of Faith, (beginning with Whosoever will be saved,) to "commit it to memory, to understand its meaning, and "to be able to give it in common words";" that is, I sup Spiritum Sanctum Deum verum ex Patre procedentem et Filio: et in Dia- 1 IVto. Ut Fides Sancti Athanasii a sacerdotibus discatur, et ex corde, die Dominico ad primam recitetur. Basil. Capitul. apud Harduin. tom. iv. p. 1241. Beatus Athanasius ait; Fidem Catholicam nisi quis integram, inviolatamque servaverit, absque dubio in æternum peribit. Agobard. adv. Felic. cap. 3. ed. Baluz. Unusquisque presbyterorum Expositionem Symboli atque Orationis Dominicæ, juxta traditionem orthodoxorum patrum plenius discat-Psalmorum etiam verba, et distinctiones regulariter, et ex corde, cum canticis consuetudinariis pronuntiare sciat. Necnon et Sermonem Athanasii de Fide, cujus initium est, Quicunque vult salvus esse, memoriæ quisque commendet, sensum illius intelligat, et verbis communibus enuntiare queat. Hincm. Capit. i. tom. i. p. 710. ed. Sirmond. 865. 868. pose, in the vulgar tongue. He at the same time recommends the Lord's Prayer and (Apostles') Creed, as I take it, without mentioning the Nicene: which I particularly remark, for a reason to be seen above. It is farther observable, that though Hincmar here gives the Athanasian formulary the name of a Treatise of Faith; yet he elsewhere P scruples not to call it (Symbolum) a Creed: and he is, probably, as Sirmondus observes, the first writer who gave it the name it bears at this day. Which, I suppose, may have led Oudin into his mistake, that no writer before Hincmar ever made mention of this Creed'; a mistake, which, though taken notice of by Tentzeliuss in the year 1687, he has nevertheless again and again repeated in his last edition. In the same age lived Anscharius, monk also of Corbey, and afterwards Archbishop of Hamburgh and Bremen in Germany. Among his dying instructions to his clergy, he left this for one; that they should be careful to recite the Catholic Faith composed by Athanasius. This is reported by Rembertus, the writer of his Life, and successor to him in the same see; who had been likewise monk of Corbey so that we have here two considerable testimonies in one. Contemporary with these was Æneas Bishop of Paris, who, in his treatise against the Greeks, quotes the Athanasian Creed under the name of Fides Catholica", Catholic Faith, producing the same paragraph of it which Theodulphus had done sixty years before. • Vid. Hincm. Opusc. ad Hincmar. Laudunensem, tom. ii. p. 473. ℗ Athanasius in Symbolo dicens &c. de Prædestin. tom. i. p. 309. Sirmond. Not. in Theodulph. p. 978. Oudin, Commentar. vol. i. p. 345, 1322. • Tentzel. Judic. Eruditor. p. 144. * Cum instaret obitus, præcepit ut fratres canerent Fidem Catholicam a beato Athanasio compositam. Anschar, Vit. apud Petr. Lambec. in Append. lib. i. Rerum Hamburg. p. 237. ■ Sanctus Athanasius, sedis Alexandrinæ Episcopus, &c.-Item, idem in Fide Catholica, quod Spiritus Sanctus a Patre procedat et Filio, Pater a nullo est factus, &c. Eneas Paris. adv. Græc. cap. 19. |