University of Virginia Library

A Metricall Paraphrase upon the CREEDE.

Since it befits that I account should give
What way unto salvation I beleeve;
Of my profession here the summe I gather.
First, I confesse a Faith in God the Father:
In God, who (without helper or partaker)
Was of himselfe the worlds Almighty maker,
And first gave time his being: who gave birth
To all the Creatures both of heaven and earth
Our everlasting welfare doth consist
In his great mercies, and in Iesus Christ:
(The second person of that Three in one)
The Fathers equall and his onely Sonne;
That ever blessed and incarnate Word,
Which our Redeemer is, our life, our Lord.
For when by Satans guile we were deceived,
Christ was that meanes of help, which was conceived
Yea (whē we were in dāger to be lost)
Conceived for us, by the Holy Ghost.
And that we might not ever be for-lorne,
For our eternall safety he was Borne;
Born as a Man (that man might not miscarry)
Even of the substance of the Virgin Mary,
And loe, a greater mercy, and a wonder;
He that can make all suffer, suffered under
The Iewish spite (which all the world revile at
And Romish tyrannies of Pontius Pilate.
In him doe I beleeve, who was envied,
Who with extreamest hate was Crucified:
Who being Life it selfe (to make assured
Our soules of safety) was both dead and buried
And that no servile feare in us might dwell,
To conquer, He descended into hell:
Where no infernall Power had power to lay
Command upon him; but on the third day
The force of death and hell he did constraine
And so in Triumph, he arose againe.
Yea the Almighty power advanc'd his head,
Aswel above al things, as from the dead
Then that from thence gifts might to men be given
With glory, He ascended into heaven:
Where that supreme and everlasting throne,
Which was prepard, he climb'd; and sitteth on
That blessed seate where he shall make abode
To plead for us, at the right hand of God.
And no where should he be entroned rather,
Than there: for he is God, as is the Father.
And therefore with an equal love delight I
To praise & serve them both, as one Almighty
Yet in their office there's a difference,
And I beleeve that Iesus Christ, from thence,
Shall in the great and universall doome,
Returne, and that with Angels. He shall come,
To question such as at his Empire grudge;
Even those who have presumed him to judge
And that black day shall be so Catholicke,
As I beleeve not onely that the quick
To that assise shall all be summoned;
But, he will both adjudge them, and the dead.
Moreover, in the God-head I conceive
Another Person, in whom I beleeve:
For all my hope of blessednesse were lost,
If I beleev'd not in the Holy Ghost.
And though vain schismaticks through pride and folly
Contemne her power, I doe beleeve the holy
Chast spouse of Christ for whō so many search
By marks uncertain the true Cath'like Church
I doe beleeve (God keepe us in this union)
That there shall be for ever the Communion
Of Gods elect: and that he still acquaints
His children in the fellowship of Saints.
Though damned be mās nature or condition
By grace in Christ I looke for the remission
Of all my soule misdeeds; for there begins
Deaths end, which is the punishment of sins,
Moreover, I the Sadduces infection
Abhorre and doe beleeve the resurrection:
Yea, though I turn to dust; yet through God I
Expect a glorious rising of the body;
And that, exempted from the cares here rife,
I shall enjoy perfection and the life
That is not subject unto change or wasting;
But ever blessed and for everlasting.
This is my faith, which that it faile not whē
It most should steed me, let God say, Amen.