“Of god, the creator of all things.—­The Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church believes that there is one true and living God, Creator and Lord of Heaven and Earth, Almighty, Eternal, Immense, Incomprehensible, Infinite in understanding and will, and in all perfection.  He is distinct from the world.  Of his own most free counsel he made alike out of nothing two created creatures, a spiritual and a temporal, angelic and earthly.  Afterward be made the human nature, composed of both.  Moreover, God by his providence protects and governs all things, reaching from end to end mightily, and ordering all things harmoniously.  Every thing is open to his eyes, even things that come to pass by the free action of his creatures.”

“Of revelation.—­The Holy Mother Church holds that God can be known with certainty by the natural light of human reason, but that it has also pleased him to reveal himself and the eternal decrees of his will in a supernatural way.  This supernatural revelation, as declared by the Holy Council of Trent, is contained in the books of the Old and New Testament, as enumerated in the decrees of that Council, and as are to be had in the old Vulgate Latin edition.  These are sacred because they were written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.  They have God for their author, and as such have been delivered to the Church.

“And, in order to restrain restless spirits, who may give erroneous explanations, it is decreed—­renewing the decision of the Council of Trent—­that no one may interpret the sacred Scriptures contrary to the sense in which they are interpreted by Holy Mother Church, to whom such interpretation belongs.”

“Of faith.—­Inasmuch as man depends on God as his Lord, and created reason is wholly subject to uncreated truth, he is bound when God makes a revelation to obey it by faith.  This faith is a supernatural virtue, and the beginning of man’s salvation who believes revealed things to be true, not for their intrinsic truth as seen by the natural light of reason, but for the authority of God in revealing them.  But, nevertheless that faith might be agreeable to reason, God willed to join miracles and prophecies, which, showing forth his omnipotence and knowledge, are proofs suited to the understanding of all.  Such we have in Moses and the prophets, and above all in Christ.  Now, all those things are to be believed which are written in the word of God, or handed down by tradition, which the Church by her teaching has proposed for belief.

“No one can be justified without this faith, nor shall any one, unless he persevere therein to the end, attain everlasting life.  Hence God, through his only-begotten Son, has established the Church as the guardian and teacher of his revealed word.  For only to the Catholic Church do all those signs belong which make evident the credibility of the Christian faith.  Nay, more, the very Church