The following Creeds and Rule of Faith contain the fundamental principles of the Latin or Roman church.

Apostles' Creed.

"I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body; and life everlasting. AMEN."

It is doubtful who composed the above Creed. It was not in common use in the church until the end of the fifth century. See King's History of the Apostles' Creed.

The Symbol, Or Creed Of St. Athanasius.

"Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith;

"Which faith except every one do keep entire and inviolate, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

"Now, 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 one is the person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost.

"But the Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal.

"Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.

"The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, and the Holy Ghost uncreated.

"The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.

"The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.

"And yet they are not three Eternals, but one Eternal.

"As also they are not three Uncreated, nor three
Incomprehensibles; but one Uncreated, and one Incomprehensible.

"In like manner, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Ghost almighty.

"And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.

"So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God.

"And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.

"So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Ghost is Lord.

"And yet they are not three Lords, but one Lord,

"For, as we are compelled by the Christian truth to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord,

"So we are forbidden by the Catholic religion to say there are three Gods or three Lords.

"The Father is made of no one, neither created nor begotten.

"The Son is from the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten.

"The Holy Ghost is from the Father and the Son, not made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

"So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.

"And in this Trinity there is nothing before or after, nothing greater or less; but the whole three Persons are co-eternal to one another, and coequal.

"So that in all things, as has been already said above, the Unity is to be worshipped in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity.

"He, therefore, that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity.

"Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation, that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Now, the right faith is, that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is both God and Man.

"He is God of the substance of his Father, begotten before the world; and he is 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 according to his Godhead, and less than the Father according to his Manhood.

"Who, although he be both God and Man, yet he is not two, but one Christ.

"One, not by the conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by the taking of the Manhood unto God.

"One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.

"For as the rational soul and the 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 sitteth at the right hand of God the Father almighty; thence he shall come to judge the living and dead.

"At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give an account of 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 and steadfastly, he cannot be saved.

"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, one God, world without end. AMEN."

This Creed is said to have been drawn up in the fourth century. "It obtained in France about A. D.850, and was received in Spain and Germany about one hundred and eighty years later. We have clear proofs of its being sung alternately in the English churches in the tenth century. It was in common use in some parts of Italy in 960, and was received at Rome about A. D.1014." This Creed is retained by the church of England, but the Protestant Episcopal churches in the United States have rejected it.

The Nicene Creed.

"Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, Factorem coeli et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium. Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum. Et ex Patre natum, ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo, Lumen de Lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero, genitum, non factum; consubstantialem Patri, per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem, descendit de coelis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine; ET HOMO FACTUS EST: crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, passus, et sepultus est. Et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas. Et ascendit in coelum, sedet ad dexteram Patris. Et iterum venturus est cum gloria judicare vivos et mortuos: cujus regni non erit finis. Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et Vivificantem; qui ex Patre Filioque procedit. Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur; qui locutus est per Prophetas. Et unam Sanctam, Catholicam, et Apostolicam Ecclesiam. Confiteor unum Baptisma, in remissionem peccatorum. Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum. Et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen."

Translation.

"I believe in one God, the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God. And born of the Father, before all ages. God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, not made; consubstantial to the Father, by whom all things were made. Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven. And was incarnated by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary; AND HE WAS MADE MAN: was crucified also under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, and was buried. And the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. And he ascended into heaven. Sits at the right hand of the Father. And he is to come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; of whose kingdom there shall be no end. And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who, together with the Father and the Son, is adored and glorified; who spoke by the Prophets. And One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolical Church. I confess one Baptism, for the remission of sins. And I look for the resurrection of the dead; and the life of the world to come. Amen."

This Creed was adopted at Constantinople, A. D.381. It is used in the Protestant Episcopal churches in England, and occasionally in those of the United States.

The foregoing Creeds are copied from Catholic books.

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The Catholics, both in Europe and America, acknowledge the following Rule is "all that, and only that, belongs to Catholic belief, which is revealed in the word of God, and which is proposed by the Catholic church to all its members to be believed with divine faith."

"Guided by this certain criterion," they say, "we profess to believe,

1. "That Christ has established a church upon earth, and that this church is that which holds communion with the see of Rome, being one, holy, Catholic, and apostolical.

2. "That we are obliged to hear this church; and, therefore, that she is infallible, by the guidance of Almighty God, in her decisions regarding faith.

3. "That St. Peter, by divine commission, was appointed the head of this church, under Christ, its Founder; and that the pope, or bishop of Rome, as successor to St. Peter, has always been, and is, at present, by divine right, head of this church.

4. "That the canon of the Old and New Testament, as proposed to us by this church, is the word of God; as also such traditions, belonging to faith and morals, which, being originally delivered by Christ to his apostles, have been preserved by constant succession.

5. "That honor and veneration are due to the angels of God and his saints; that they offer up prayers to God for us; that it is good and profitable to have recourse to their intercession; and that the relics, or earthly remains, of God's particular servants, are to be held in respect.

6. "That no sins ever were, or can be, remitted, unless by the mercy of God, through Jesus Christ; and, therefore, that man's justification is the work of divine grace.

7. "That the good works which we do, receive their whole value from the grace of God; and that, by such works, we not only comply with the precepts of the divine law, but that we thereby likewise merit eternal life.

8. "That, by works done in the spirit of penance, we can make satisfaction to God for the temporal punishment which often remains due, after our sins, by the divine goodness, have been forgiven us.

9. "That Christ has left to his church a power of granting indulgences, that is, a relaxation from such temporal chastisement only, as remains due after the divine pardon of sin; and that the use of such indulgences is profitable to sinners.

10. "That there is a purgatory, or middle state; and that the souls of imperfect Christians, therein detained, are helped by the prayers of the faithful.

11. "That there are seven sacraments, all instituted by Christ -- baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, extreme unction, holy order, matrimony.

12. "That, in the most holy sacrament of the eucharist, there is truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ.

13. "That, in this sacrament, there is, by the omnipotence of God, a conversion, or change, of the whole substance of the bread into the body of Christ, and of the whole substance of the wine into his blood, which change we call TRANSUBSTANTIATION.

14. "That, under either kind, Christ is received whole and entire.

15. "That, in the mass, or sacrifice of the altar, is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory, sacrifice for the living and the dead.

16. "That, in the sacrament of penance, the sins we fall into after baptism are, by the divine mercy, forgiven us.

"These are the great points of Catholic belief, by which we are distinguished from other Christian societies; and these, only, are the real and essential tenets of our religion. We admit, also, the other grand articles of revealed and natural religion, which the gospel and the light of reason have manifested to us. To these we submit, as men and as Christians, and to the former as obedient children of the Catholic church."