J- on the most solid foundation of apostolic teaching,
A TREATISE ON FAITH AND THE CEEED.
IN ONE BOOK.
Chap. i.—Of the origin and object of the composition.
1. TNASMUCH as it is a position, written and established Jon the most solid foundation of apostolic teaching,
" that the just lives of faith ;"^ and inasmuch also as this faith demands of us the duty at once of heart and tongue,—for an apostle says, " With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation,"
—it becomes us to be mindful both of righteousness and of salvation. Tor, destined as we are to reign hereafter in everlasting righteousness, we certainly cannot secure our salvation from the present evil world, unless at the same time, while labouring for the salvation of our neighbours, we likewise with the mouth make our own profession of the faith which we carry in our heart. And it must be our aim, by pious and careful watchfulness, to provide against the possibility of the said faith sustaining any injury in us, on any side, through the fraudulent artifices of the heretics. We have, however, the catholic faith in the Creed, known to the faithful and committed to memory, contained in a form of expression as concise as has been rendered admissible by the circumstances of the case ; the purpose of which [compilation] was, that individuals who are but beginners and sucklinojs amoncj those who have been born again in Christ, and who have not yet been strengthened by most diligent and spiritual handling and understanding of the divine Scriptures, should be furnished with a summary, expressed in few words, of those matters of
' Hab. ii. 4 ; Eom. i. 17 ; Gul. iii. 11 ; Heb. x. 33. ' Ptom. x. 10.
S43