marised, ante p. 98. The doctrines of the Trinity, the Resurrection, Christ's Divinity, and the Atonement, I have admitted to be taught by Christ, but not "required of us to be believed as an Article of the Faith, or be thought necessary to salvation." Article 6 would in itself seem, therefore, to stultify all the Thirty-nine Articles, which "cannot be proved by Holy Scripture." I have in vain searched the New Testament for proof that we must, under penalty of eternal punishment, believe in the Trinity, the Atonement, the Resurrection of Christ, the Holy Ghost, or even Christ's Divinity; but, for the reasons already explained, I fail to see that the belief in these doctrines is required of us as needful to salvation. I therefore, in the words of Article 6, conclude that, inasmuch as the saving efficacy of these doctrines cannot be proved from Christ's words in Holy Scripture, they are not required to be believed as necessary to salvation.

Article 7. The moral commandments of Moses are obligatory on us, but not those touching rites and

ceremonies.

If salvation, as the Apostle Peter says (Acts 4: 12; and as the 18th Article of the Church also admits) is only attainable through Christ and none other, we are only bound to observe Christ's commands, and so far as he certainly did endorse the commands of Moses (see p. 32, ante) we may give heed to them, but, beyond this, it would seem clearly that the Old Testament cannot be of vital import

ance to us.

Article 8. The Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Apostles' Creed, "ought thoroughly to be received and believed."

As this Article virtually incorporates these three creeds, let us see what they contain.

The Apostles' Creed expresses a belief in God, in Christ as his Son, his conception by the Holy Ghost, his resurrection from the dead and ascent into heaven, the Holy Ghost, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.

The Athanasian Creed expresses that unless men believe in the following doctrines, "without doubt they shall perish everlastingly":—Belief in God, the Holy Ghost, the Trinity, the Divinity of Christ, the Atonement, his Resurrection; and finally, that at Christ's second coming "all men shall rise again with their bodies: and shall give an account of their works; and they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire." The Nicene Creed substantially re-echoes the Apostles' Creed; but, after speaking of Christ's Divinity, says of him, "by whom all things were made." The Holy Ghost is also alluded to as the Lord and Giver of life"-" who, with the Father and the Son together, is worshipped and glorified." Lastly, this creed contains, in addition to the Apostles' Creed, "I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins."

Firstly, we find that the first and the third creed do not expressly say that it is necessary to believe these creeds in order to be saved, whereas the Athanasian creed most emphatically does so. Since, however, they are incorporated into the Thirty-nine Articles, the obvious inference is, that this Church thinks them necessary to salvation, since none who disbelieve any of the Thirty-nine Articles can be considered Churchmen, in view of the emphatic declaration that "they are agreeable to God's Word," and that they contain the true doctrine of the Church of England. If it be contended that men can please themselves about accepting any particular doctrine or article of belief, then where are we to

draw the line? Dissenters and Unitarians would be at once admitted as entitled to salvation, and the value of being a Churchman is lost at once. Either the Articles are indispensably necessary to salvation, or they are not. If not, then why not publish the fact? since no greater blessing to mankind could be bestowed on us than the removal of unnecessary barriers to the harmony and unity of our fellow-countrymen. When we consider how emphatically the Church has declared it essential that Churchmen should adhere "literally and grammatically" to these Articles, it is certainly astonishing how many men in the Church-both laymen and priests-diverge from the principles there laid down. They give a nominal adherence to the Church's teachings, but few of the laity have ever read the Thirty-nine Articles, or thought about their meaning. No doubt it is a subject for congratulation -rather than the reverse-to find that so many Churchmen are superior to their creeds, and that they refuse to believe in their hearts that any honest man will "perish everlastingly" for not believing in the doctrines contained in the Athanasian Creed; but, at the same time, it is truly deplorable that these men should be so indifferent to the spread of "peace on earth and goodwill toward men," and of that charity and love to one another which Christ preached, that they will not exert themselves sufficiently to pull down a barrier which keeps out of the Church thousands of fellow-Christians, and thereby promotes jealousy, persecution, and ill-will-the very evils it is their duty as followers of Christ to remove. It is little less than hypocrisy for Churchmen to take credit for the liberality and hospitality of their Church when they persist in retaining over the door of their house a notice threatening with eternal damnation all who do not believe as they do; and yet scores of people, who go regularly to Church every Sunday, will tell you privately that they do not believe in everlasting punishment for Catholics or Dissenters, or, indeed,

for any man who does his duty to his neighbour, and is inwardly a good man. Publicly they sanction and adhere to these principles by standing up for their Church and for a creed which in private they are not ashamed to admit their disbelief in! They know full well that the published creed of their Church-the Athanasian creed especiallyis an offence and an insult to the common sense and religious feelings of thousands of their fellow-countrymen; and notwithstanding that they themselves do not believe the creed in its "literal and grammatical sense," and are aware that the excision of these irrelevant and useless doctrines would produce harmony and unity amongst thousands of men and women both in and out of the Church, they lack the moral courage to take steps for removing the cause of these evils. The boasted liberality of the Church reminds one of the man who offers the hand of friendship with one hand, whilst with the other he clutches a loaded pistol.

The cause of this state of things may be a lack of moral courage, or it may be owing to another cause, which certainly seems the more probable of the two-namely, indifference. Were the majority of church-people really true Christians-eager searchers for the truth, and anxious to promote that charity and goodwill amongst mankind which their great Teacher insisted on-is it likely they would be so indifferent to the continuance of barriers which privately they admit to be needless and valueless? Whichever answer the reader may give to these questions, I fail to see how he can prove that Churchmen are true followers of Christ. If he holds that the Thirty-nine Articles and the Athanasian Creed are necessary to salvation and must not be deviated from, then he must put an interpretation on Salvation according to Christ very different to what I have been able to arrive at, and he must necessarily admit that all Roman Catholics, Unitarians, Jews, and other dissenters from those Articles, will "perish everlastingly" because of their inability to accept these doctrines!

I have in Chapter X., ante p. 134, tried to regard certain doctrinal teachings of Christ as mere statements of fact, which Christ did not insist on our believing as a sine quâ non to salvation, and which, therefore, some may believe-if they find comfort in them—and others may reject, without in the slightest degree affecting the right and duty of each to live the life of a true Christian in obedience to those vital precepts which Christ did require of us, and on which all sects are agreed. If modern Christians only recognised the reasonableness of this, all doctrinal creeds would be abolished henceforth, and mountains of hatred, prejudice, and discord, would be removed from society. Different creeds might still be adhered to by those who had a veneration for them; but if one and all publicly admitted that they were not necessary to salvation we should all agree to differ, and a man would no more think of finding fault with his neighbour because the latter as a matter of taste-preferred to attend a place of worship where doctrines were countenanced rather than one where they were abjured, than he would think of quarrelling with him for furnishing his house in a different style to other men.

If the reader will glance over the three creeds confirmed by Article 3 in the light of the conclusions come to on p. 101, ante, regarding the essentials to Salvation according to Christ, he will see that they bristle with points of doctrine which Christ never insisted on, and virtually ignore entirely almost all that Christ did insist on as necessary to salvation!

Not a word is said about repentance of sins, without which forgiveness is impossible. The Apostles' Creed professes a belief in "the forgiveness of sins," and the Nicene Creed simply says, "I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins," thereby leading us to believe that repent: ance, which Christ emphatically insisted on as a preliminary to the new birth within, is a matter of no importance what