The Symbol or Creed of Athanasius, called Quicunque vult.
WHat man soever he be that
salvation will attain,
The Catholick belief he must
before all things retain.
Which faith unless he wholly keep,
and undefiledly,
Without all doubt eternally
he shall be sure to die.
The Catholick belles is this,
that God we worship one
In Trinity, and Trinity
in Unity alone:
So as we neither do confound
the persons of the three,
Nor yet the substance whole of one
in sunder parted be,
One Person of the father is,
another of the Son,
Another Person proper of
the holy Ghost alone.
Of Father, Son, and holy Ghost,
but one the Godhead is:
Like Glory, coeternal eke
The Majesty likewise.
Such as the Father is, such is
the Son in each degree:
And such also we do beleeve
the holy Ghost to be.
Uncreate is the father, and
uncreate is the Son,
The holy Ghost uncreate, so
uncreate is each one.
Incomprehensible Father is,
incomprehensible Son,
And comprehensible also is
the holy Ghost of none.
The Father is eternal, and
the Son eternal so,
And in like sort eternal is
the holy Ghost also,
And yet though we beleeve that each
of th••se eternal be:
Yet there but one Eternal is,
and not Eternals three.
As ne incomprehensible we,
he yet uncreate three,
But one incomprehensible, one
uncreate hold to be.
Almighty so the Father is,
the Son Almighty so,
And in like sort Almighty is
the holy Ghost also.
And albeit that every one
of these Almighty be;
Yet there but one Almighty is,
And not Almighties three.
The Father God is, God the Son,
God holy Ghost also:
Yet are there not three Gods in all,
but one God, and no mo.
So likewise Lord the Father is,
and Lord also the Son,
And Lord the holy Ghost: yet are
there not three Lords, but one.
For as we are compell'd to grant
by Christian verity,
Each of the persons by himself
both God and Lord to be:
So Catholick religion
forbiddeth us alway,
That either Gods be three, or that
there Lords be three, to say.
Of none the Father is, ne made,
ne create, nor begot:
The Son is of the Father, not
create, ne made, but got:
The holy Ghost is of them both,
the Father and the Son;
Ne made, ne create, nor begot,
but doth proceed alone.
So we one Father hold, not three,
one Son also, not three,
One holy Ghost alone, and not
three holy Ghosts to be.
None in this Trinity before
nor after other is:
Ne greater any then the rest,
ne lesser be likewise.
But every one among themselves
of all the Persons three,
Together coeternal all,
and all coequal be,
So Unity in Trinity,
as said it is before,
And Trinity in Unity
in all things we adore.
Therefore what man soever that
salvation will attain,
This faith touching the Trinity
of force he must retain.
And needful to eternal life
it is, that every wight
Of the incarnating of Christ
our Lord beleeve aright.
For this the right faith is, that we
beleeve and eke do know,
That Christ our Lord the Son of God
is God and man also:
God of his Fathers substance got
before the world began,
And of his Mothers substance born
in world a very man.
Both perfect God and perfect Man
in one, one Jesus Christ:
That doth of reasonable soul
and humane flesh subsist.
Touching his Godhead, equal with
his Father God is he:
Touching his Manhood, lower then
his father in degree.
Who though he be both very God
and very man also,
Yet is he but one Christ alone,
and is not persons two.
One, not by turning of Godhead
into the flesh of man;
But by taking manhood to God,
this being one began.
All one, not by confounding of
the substance into one;
But onely by the Unity
that is of one Person.
For as the reasonable soul
and flesh but one man is:
So in one Person God and Man
is but one Christ likewise.
Who suffered for to save us all,
to hell he did descend:
The third day rose again from death,
to heaven he did ascend.
He sits at the right hand of God
th'Almighty Father there:
From thence to judge the quick and dead
again he shall appear.
At whose return all men shall rise
with bodies new restor'd,
And of their own works they shall give
account unto the Lord.
And they into eternal life
shall go that have done well:
Who have done ill, shall go into
eternal fire to dwell.
This is the Catholick belief:
who doth not faithfully
Beleeve the same, without all doubt
he saved cannot be.
To Father, Son, and holy Ghost,
all glory be therefore:
As in beginning was, is now,
and shall be evermore.