Whosoever will be saved,
before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith. Which
faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall
perish everlastingly. And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one
God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the persons, nor
dividing the substance.
For there is one Person of
the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. But the
godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is all one, the
glory equal, the majesty co-eternal.
Such as the Father is, such
is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father uncreated, the Son
uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated. The Father incomprehensible,
the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.
The Father eternal, the Son
eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet they are not three
eternals, but one Eternal.
As also there are not three
incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one Uncreated, and one
Incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty,
and the Holy Spirit Almighty. And yet they are not three almighties, but
one Almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son
is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. And yet they are not three gods, but
one God.
So likewise the Father is
Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord. And yet not three lords,
but one Lord.
For as we are compelled by
the Christian verity to acknowledge each Person by Himself to be both God and
Lord, so we are also forbidden by the catholic religion to say that there are
three gods or three lords.
The Father is made of none,
neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made,
nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father, neither
made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
So there is one Father, not
three fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three holy
spirits.
And in the Trinity none is
before or after another; none is greater or less than another, but all three
Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal. So that in all things, as is
aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
He therefore that will be
saved must think thus of the Trinity.
Furthermore, it is necessary
to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our
Lord Jesus Christ. For the right faith is, that we believe and confess,
that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man; God, of the
substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man of the substance
of his mother, born in the world; perfect God and perfect man, of a rational
soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father, as touching His godhead;
and inferior to the Father, as touching His manhood; who, although He is God
and man, yet he is not two, but one Christ; one, not by conversion of the
godhead into flesh but by taking of the manhood into God; one altogether; not
by confusion of substance, but by unity of person. For as the rational
soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ; who suffered for our
salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead.
He ascended into heaven, He sits at the right hand of the Father, God
Almighty, from whence He will come to judge the quick and the dead. At
His coming all men will rise again with their bodies and shall give account for
their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life
everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
This is the catholic faith,
which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.
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