THE CREED OR FORMULARY[1] OF FAITH ESTABLISHED.
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only
- ↑ This is usually called the "Symbol," or the "Confession of Faith." It is stated in Baronius, that Hosius drew up and exhibited this symbol, which was approved by the suffrages of the Nicene Synod.—See his Eccl. Annals, vol. iv.
The date of the Nicene formulary, inscribed on the document, was the nineteenth day of June, A. D. 325.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE.
The first Synod at which the books of the Bible were made the subject of a special ordinance was that of Laodicea, but the precise date of this Synod, as well as the integrity of the canon in question, has been warmly debated.—See Wescott on the New Test. Canon.
This Synod of Laodicea in Phrygia, held about 363, enacted sixty Canons, which are still extant in their original Greek.—See Beveridge's Pandecta Canonum.
The 60th Canon is as follows:
These are all the books of the Old Testament, which may be read aloud: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Esther, First and Second Books of Kings, Third and Fourth Books of Kings, First and Second Books of Chronicles, First and Second Books of Ezra, the Book of the one hundred and fifty Psalms, the Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Job, the twelve Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Baruch, the Lamentations and Letters, Ezekiel and Daniel.
The books of the New Testament are these: Four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; the Acts of the Apostles; the Seven Catholic Epistles, namely, one of James, two of Peter, three of John, one of Jude; the fourteen Epistles of Paul, one to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one to the Galatians, one to the Ephesians, one to the Philippians, one to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, one to the Hebrews, two to Timothy, one to Titus, and one to Philemon.
SYNOD AT HIPPO, A. D. 393.
A Full Council of all Africa.
This place, in Africa, was called Hippo Regius. Aurelius, Archbishop of Carthage since 391, presided.
St. Augustine was then a priest at Hippo, and delivered his discourse, "Of the Faith and the Symbol," which is preserved in his writings.
