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 L I E) RA RY 
 
 OF THL 
 
 U N IVLR.SITY 
 
 or ILLl NOIS
 
 AUTHORIZED REPORT 
 
 Qgeetings in Defence of t&e atftanasian CreeD 
 
 On JANUARY 31, 1873.
 
 AUTHORIZED REPORT OF THE 
 
 MEETINGS 
 
 IN 
 
 ^Defence of tl)e :SA^Am%im CreeD 
 
 WHICH WERE HELD 
 
 IN ST. /AMES'S HALL AND IN THE 
 HANOVER SQUARE ROOMS 
 
 On JANUARY 31, 1873. 
 213a it J an (Explanatory Ireface. 
 
 lonDon: 
 
 RIVINGTONS, WATERLOO PLACE. 
 
 HIGH STREET i TRINITY STREET 
 
 1873.
 
 ¥ 
 
 » 
 
 » 
 
 FIVE HUNDRED REPRESENTATIVES 
 
 OF VARIOUS TOWNS AND PLACES, 
 
 WHO AT MUCH PERSONAL INCONVENIENCE AND COST 
 
 WERE PRESENT AT THE 
 
 getting in ^tttntt of tje ^t^aua^ian Creed, 
 
 Jan. 31, 1873, 
 
 this report of the proceedings, 
 
 held under the presidency of mr. j. g. hubbard at st. james's hall, 
 
 and of the marquess of bath at the hanover square rooms, 
 
 1$ wspettfuUg JeMtat^ir.

 
 r 
 
 I 
 
 It was announced early in 1872, that the Bishops of the 
 Province of Canterbury would invite the Lower House of 
 that Province to consider what method of dealing with the 
 Athanasian Creed would tend to remove the difficulties which 
 it was alleged were occasioned by its present use in the 
 Service of the Church of England ; a Committee of Clergy 
 and Laity was therefore organized by the exertions of a few 
 Laymen, and the following circular was issued to all the 
 Parochial Clergy of England and Wales. 
 
 " 71, Dean Street, Soho Square, 
 " Eeverend Sir, " London, W.C. 
 
 " We, the undersigned, beg leave to urge upon you very 
 seriously the importance and necessity of obtaining the signatures 
 of your parishioners to a petition, headed by yourself, to the Lower 
 House of the Convocation of Canterbury, or to the Convocation of 
 York (according to your province), in favour of maintaining the 
 Athanasian Creed in its integrity in the Public Service of the 
 Church." 
 
 Beauohamp {Cliairman), 
 
 Salisbury. 
 
 Galloway. 
 
 Glasgow. 
 
 Nelson. 
 
 Limerick. 
 
 EicHARD Cavendish. 
 
 Eliot. 
 
 Walter Farquhar. 
 
 John Taylor Coleridge. 
 
 A. J. B. Beresford Hope, M.P. 
 
 T. Collins, M.P. 
 
 R. Brett. 
 
 W. Butterfield. 
 
 J. D. Chambers. 
 
 W. C. Cocks. 
 
 J. C. Meymott. 
 
 T. Gambier Parry. 
 
 H. E. Pellew. 
 
 Gerald Ponsonby. 
 
 G. Richmond, R.A. 
 
 E. P. Shirley. 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 E. M. Goulburn. 
 
 Edw. Churton (Archdeacon). 
 
 G. A. Denison „ 
 
 Philip Freeman „ 
 
 G. Prevost „ 
 
 W. Bright, D.D.
 
 viii Form of Petition in 
 
 J. S. Brewer. Robert Ltddell. 
 
 W. Butler. H. P. Liddon, D.D. 
 
 W. R. Churton. p. G. Medd. 
 
 B. CoMPTON. T. W. Perry. 
 Alwyne Compton. W. Pulling. 
 
 c. l. courtenay. w. e. scudamore. 
 
 C. B. Dalton. R. Seymour. 
 W. Denton. B. Webb. 
 
 J. Ditcher. R. T. West. 
 
 F. R. Grey. G. Williams. 
 E. King. 
 
 The following forms of petition are in circulation. 
 
 THE humble Petition of the undersigned Communicants of the 
 Church of England showeth, that your Petitioners being per- 
 suaded that the Doctrines of the Holy Trinity, of the Incar- 
 nation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, of Eternal 
 Punishment, and of the necessity of accepting God's revelation 
 of Himself in the Christian dispensation, are thoroughly to be 
 received and believed by all Christians, "for they may be 
 proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture," and 
 being further of opinion that the controversies of the present 
 day require members of the Church to be duly reminded of 
 these truths as set forth in the Confession of our Christian 
 faith commonly called the Creed of S. Athanasius, earnestly 
 pray your Venerable House to maintain the said Creed in its 
 integrity, and not to consent to any proposal for its disuse. 
 And your Petitioners will ever pray, &c. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE humble Petition of the undersigned Communicants of the 
 Church of England showeth, that your Petitioners, being per- 
 suaded that the Doctrines of the Holy Trinity, and of the 
 Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as set forth 
 in the Confession of our Christian faith, commonly called the 
 Creed of S. Athanasius, are thoroughly to be received and 
 believed, earnestly pray your Venerable House to maintain
 
 Defence of Athanasian Creed. ix 
 
 the said Creed as it now stands in the Book of Common 
 Prayer, and not to consent to any proposal for its disuse. 
 And your Petitioners will ever pray, &c. 
 
 III. 
 
 THE humble Petition of the undersigned Members of the Church 
 of England showeth, that your Petitioners, believing that the 
 Doctrines set forth in the Athanasian Creed may be proved 
 by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture, earnestly pray 
 your Venerable House to maintain the said Creed in its 
 integrity, and not to consent to any proposal for its disuse. 
 And your Petitioners will ever pray, &c. 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE humble Petition of the undersigned Communicants of the 
 Church of England showeth, that your Petitioners have learnt 
 with much regret and alarm that proposals have been sub- 
 mitted to your Reverend House for removing the Athanasian 
 Creed from the Public Service of the Church of England, or 
 for cutting out or abolishing certain Clauses of the said Creed. 
 
 That your Petitioners are unable to reconcile either of these pro- 
 ceedings with a loyal interpretation of the meaning and inten- 
 tion of the Eighth Article of the Church of England. 
 
 That your Petitioners cannot doubt that the effect of either of 
 these proposed changes would be to weaken the strength of 
 our Church's witness to the necessity of a right faith in the 
 Doctrines of the Holy Trinity and of the Divine Incarnation 
 in order to Eternal Salvation, and to cast a public slight and 
 disparagement on these fundamental Doctrines. 
 
 That your Petitioners apprehend the danger of serious schism if 
 such revolutionary changes should be adopted. 
 
 Your Petitioners therefore pray your Venerable House to maintain 
 this Creed in its integrity in that position which it has held 
 since the last revision of the Book of Common Prayer in the 
 Public Service of the Church of England. 
 
 And your Petitioners will ever pray, &c. 
 
 V. 
 
 THE humble Petition of the undersigned Clergy and Communi- 
 cants of the Church of England showeth, that your Petitioners
 
 X The Petition presented to 
 
 have learnt with much regret and alarm that proposals have 
 been submitted to your Keverend House for removing the 
 Athauasian Creed from the Public Services of the Church of 
 England, or for altering or abolishing certain Clauses of the 
 said Creed. 
 
 That your Petitioners cannot doubt that the effect of either of the 
 proposed changes would be to weaken the strength of our 
 Church's witness to the necessity of a right faith in the 
 Doctrines of the Holy Trinity and of the Divine Incarnation 
 in order to Eternal Salvation, and to cast a public slight and 
 disparagement on those fundamental Doctrines. 
 
 That your Petitioners apprehend serious danger to the Established 
 Church if such revolutionary changes should be adopted. 
 
 Your Petitioners therefore pray your Eeverend House to maintain 
 this Creed in its integrity in that position which it has held 
 since the last revision of the Book of Common Prayer in the 
 Public Services of the Church of England. 
 
 And your Petitioners will ever pray, &c. 
 
 VI. 
 
 THE humble Petition of the undersigned Clergy and Communi- 
 cants of the Church of England showeth, that your Petitioners 
 desire your Reverend House, in the exercise of your office and 
 privilege, " to deliberate of and to do all such things as shall 
 concern the settled continuance of the Doctrine and Discipline 
 of the Church of England," not to consent to " any varying 
 or departing in the least degree from that Doctrine and 
 Discipline, and pray that you will firmly uphold the Order of 
 the Church concerning the authority and use of ' the Three 
 Creeds,' which the Eighth Article declares ought thoroughly 
 to be received and believed." 
 
 And your Petitioners will ever pray, &c. 
 
 When the Lower House of the Convocation of Canterbury 
 proceeded to the consideration of the question remitted 
 to it by the Bishops, nearly eight hundred petitions, couched 
 in terms similar to the forms printed above, were presented 
 in favour of the present use of the Athauasian Creed in its 
 integrity. The signatures attached to these petitions, amount- 
 ing in the aggregate to more than 38,000 honcijide Members of
 
 the House of Convocation. 
 
 XI 
 
 the Church of England,* were obtained without any pressure. 
 Those Clergy, who thought the danger sufficiently imminent 
 to call for active efforts in defence of the Creed, invited their 
 Churchwardens and flocks to petition Convocation. 
 
 The Lower House of the Convocation of Canterbury, 
 when dealing with the subject, enjoyed the advantage of 
 possessing authentic materials to guide them as to the 
 opinion of the bulk of the laity, and all propositions which 
 tended to impair the status of the Creed and its prescribed 
 use in the Church of England having been rejected, it was 
 ultimately resolved that his Grace the President be requested 
 to appoint a Joint Committee to consider the question of a 
 Synodical Declaration. 
 
 The Joint Committee consisted of the following: — Upper 
 House — The Bishops of London, Winchester, St. David's, 
 Llandafif, Gloucester and Bristol, Ely, Norwich, Eochester, 
 Lichfield, Peterborough, Hereford, Lincoln, Salisbury, Bath 
 and Wells, Exeter, Oxford, Chichester, and St. Asaph. 
 
 Lower House — The Prolocutor, the Dean of Canterbury, 
 the Dean of Westminster, the Dean of St. Paul's, the Dean 
 
 * The following is the authorized digest of the Petitions presented to the 
 Lower House of the Convocation of Canterbury in the year 1872 up to the 
 end of the May Session. 
 
 Prayer of Petition. 
 
 No. of 
 Petitions. 
 
 No. of Signatures. 
 
 
 Clergy. 
 
 Laity. | Undefined. 
 
 For the retention of the three Creeds 
 
 Athanasian Creed — 
 
 For its maintenance as now used 
 
 „ investigating its text 
 
 „ relief in its use 
 
 „ its omission from the Prayer Book 
 
 „ delay in dealing with it 
 
 „ omitting the Condemnatory Clauses . . 
 
 „ making its use optional 
 
 „ modifying it 
 
 „ its disuse in public 
 
 „ affixing a note to it 
 
 3 
 
 766 
 8 
 4 
 2 
 6 
 5 
 4 
 1 
 5 
 2 
 
 1,661 
 
 467 
 
 19 
 
 3 
 
 221 
 
 24 
 
 80 
 
 178 
 4 
 
 4,192 
 
 64 
 
 243 
 3 
 
 96 
 
 32,607 
 
 94 
 
 10 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 58 
 
 9 
 
 17
 
 xii The Joint Committee of Convocation. 
 
 of Norwich, the Dean of Wells, the Dean of Kochester, the 
 Dean of Lincohi (designate), the Archdeacon of Canterbury, 
 the Archdeacon of Maidstone, the Archdeacon of London, 
 the Archdeacon of Nottingham, the Archdeacon of Stafford, 
 the Archdeacon of Taunton, the Archdeacon of Gloucester, 
 the Archdeacon of Huntingdon, the Archdeacon of Exeter, 
 the Archdeacon of Kochester and St. Alban's, the Archdeacon 
 of Leicester, the Archdeacon of Surrey, the Archdeacon of 
 Colchester, the Archdeacon of Coventry, Archdeacon Kandall, 
 Chancellor Massingberd, Canons Swainson, Selwyn, Seymour, 
 Harvey, Gregory, Morley, Dr. Kay, Dr. Fraser, Dr. Jebb, 
 Lord A. Compton, Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Kempe, Mr. Perry, Mr. 
 Hopkins, Mr. Sumner, Mr. Puckle, Mr. How, Mr. Fagan, 
 Mr. Bathurst. 
 
 The Joint Committee was appointed to meet in December, 
 but in the meantime the opponents of the Creed were not 
 idle, and more than one memorial was presented to the 
 Archbishop against the use of the Creed. 
 
 It was therefore determined to hold a meeting at Leeds 
 during the week of the Church Congress to consider w^hat 
 further steps should be taken in defence of the Creed. At 
 this Meeting a new Committee* was formed to carry still 
 further the work commenced in the previous spring. 
 
 * The following is a complete list of the members of the Committee : — The 
 Duke of Marlborough, K.Gr. ; the Marquess of Salisbury ; the Marquess of 
 Bath ; the Earl of Devon ; the Earl of Eldon ; the Earl of Haddington ; 
 the Earl of Glasgow ; the Earl of Limerick ; the Earl Nelson : the Earl 
 Beauchamp ; Earl of Kinnoul ; the Lord Kichard Cavendish ; the Lord Henry 
 Scott, M.P. ; the Lord Eliot ; Bishop Claughton, Archdeacon of London ; the 
 Eev. Lord A. Compton, M.A. ; the Hon. C. L. Wood ; the Hon. and Rev. C. L. 
 Courtenay, M.A. ; the Hon. and Rev. H. Douglas, M.A. ; the Hon. A. Gerald 
 Ponsonby, M.A. ; the Hon. and Rev. J. Grey, M.A. ; the Hon. and Rev. F. R. 
 Grey, M.A. ; the Hon. and Rev. R. Liddell, M.A. ; the Hon. and Very Rev. 
 the Dean of York ; the Hon. P. C. Glyn ; Sir Stephen R. Glynne, Bart. ; Sir 
 Walter R. Farquhar, Bart. ; the Ven. Sir George Pre vest, Bart., Archdeacon, 
 Gloucester; the Rev. Sir J. H. Culme Seymour, Bart., MA., Canon of 
 Gloucester ; Sir Edmund Lechmere, Bart. ; the Very Rev. the Dean of Chi- 
 chester; the Very l\ev. tljo Dean of Norwich; the Very Rev. the Dean of
 
 The Athanasian Greed Defence Committee, xiii 
 
 The following circular was accordingly issued at the end 
 of November. 
 
 " Athanasian Creed Defence Committee. 
 
 " 3, Wateeloo Place, Pall Mall, 
 "London, S.W. 
 
 " In compliance with a wide-spread and weighty opinion among 
 various classes of Churchmen that it is desirable that an influential 
 Meeting of men should be held in London, to express the solemn 
 conviction that the Athanasian Creed should be retained and be in 
 use within the Church of England in its integrity as heretofore, 
 the Athanasian Creed Defence Committee (of which we enclose the 
 list) have taken steps to hold such Meeting on the evening of 
 Friday, January 31st, at St. James's Hall, at 8 o'clock, at which 
 the Duke of Marlborough will preside. 
 
 Kipon; the Very Kev. the Dean of Manchester ; the Ven. Edward Churton,M.A., 
 Archdeacon of York ; the Ven. G. A. Denison, M.A., Archdeacon of Taunton ; 
 the Vea. P. Freeman, M.A., Archdeacon and Canon of Exeter ; the Ven. G. H, 
 Hamilton, M.A., Archdeacon of Lindisfarne ; the Rev. A. R. Ash well, Canon 
 of Chichester ; H. Barnett, Esq., M.P. ; Rev. H. W. Beadon, M.A. ; R. Brett, 
 Esq. ; the Rev. Professor Brewer, M.A. ; the Rev. W. Bright, D.D., Canon of 
 Christ Church, Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Oxford ; the Rev. J. 
 W. Burgon, M.A. ; W. Butterfield, Esq. ; the Rev. W. J. Butler, M.A., Honorary 
 Canon of Christ Church, Oxford ; the Rev. T. T. Carter, M.A., Honorary 
 Canon of Oxford ; Rev. J. C. Chambers, M.A. ; J. D. Chambers, Esq. ; T. 
 Collins, Esq., M.P. ; the Rev. J. D. Collis, D.D., Honorary Canon of Worcester ; 
 the Rev. Berdmore Compton, M.A. ; the Rev. William Cooke, M.A., Honorary 
 Canon of Chester ; Rev. W. Denton, M.A. ; the Rev. J. Ditcher, M.A. ; the 
 Rev. T. Simpson Evans, M.A. ; the Rev. C. Wellington Furse, Vicar of Staines, 
 and Chaplain to the Bishop of Oxford ; H. H. Gibbs, Esq. ; the Rev. Stephen 
 E. Gladstone, M.A. ; W. H. Gladstone, Esq., M.P. ; the Rev. R. Gregory, 
 M.A., Canon of St. Paul's ; the Rev. W. Gresley ; the Rev. J. Hannah, D.C.L., 
 Vicar of Brighton; E. Herford, Esq.; C. L. Higgius, Esq.; the Rev. G. H. 
 Hodson, M.A. ; A. J. B. Beresford-Hope, Esq., M.P., Treasurer ; the Rev. H. 
 J. Hotham, M.A., Vice-Master of Trinity College, Cambridge ; J. G. Hubbard, 
 Esq. ; the Rev. W. J. Irons, D.D., Prebendary of St. Paul's ; the Rev. John 
 Jebb, D.D., Prebendary and Canon of Hereford ; S. T. Kekewich, Esq., M.P. ; 
 the Rev. E. King, M.A., Regius Professor of Pastoral Theology, Oxford ; the 
 Rev. C. Kingsley, M.A., Canon of Chester; Rev. Francis Lear, M.A., Precentor 
 of Salisbury ; the Rev. F. G. Lee, D.C.L. ; the Rev. H. P. Liddou, D.D., Canon of 
 St. Paul's ; the Rev. H. R. Luard, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, 
 and Registrar of the University ; the Rev. Malcolm MacColl, M.A., Secretaiy ; 
 the Rev. G. R. Mackarness, M.A. ; L. A. Majendie, Esq. ; Rev. M. W. Mayow, 
 M.A., Rector of Southam, and Rural Dean ; the Rev. P. G. Medd, M.A. ;
 
 xiv Circular of the Committee. 
 
 " It is intended that the Meeting should not be one mainly 
 composed of Clergymen, or of Londoners, but that it should repre- 
 sent the feelings of that vast multitude of Churchmen throughout 
 the country who would regard with the deepest regret any attempt 
 to tamper with the Creed, or its use. 
 
 " It would not meet to deliberate, to threaten, or to treat of any 
 compromise, but simply to affirm that feeling with all earnestness, 
 and all sobriety ; consequently it would not invite the presence of 
 those who, while favourable to the retention, in some shape, of 
 more or less of the Athanasian Creed, are yet desirous of some 
 alteration. At the same time the Committee do not wish to pledge 
 you on the question of an explanatory note. 
 
 " The Committee, believing you to be favourable to their views, 
 earnestly entreat you to take counsel with your friends in your 
 County and neighbourhood who may be of the same opinion, and 
 to hold such local meeting or meetings, of a more or less public or 
 private character, as you and they may think expedient for the 
 purpose of choosing representatives from your County and neigh- 
 bourhood, to take part in the Meeting. 
 
 " You will doubtless be able to enlist influential helpers, lay 
 and clerical, and for this purpose we shall gladly send you as many 
 circulars as you require. 
 
 " It would be desirable that the representatives invited to take 
 part in the London Meeting should, as far as possible, include not 
 only Churchmen of all opinions favourable to the retention of the 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel E. Neville ; the Rev. F. Neville, M.A., Prebendary of Wells ; 
 Rev. J. W. Perry ; the Rev. N. Pocock ; tbe Rev. E. B. Pusey, D.D., Canon of 
 Christ Church, Regius Professor of Hebrew, Oxford ; the Rev. G. Rawlinson, 
 M.A., Canon of Canterbury, and Camden Professor of Ancient History, Ox- 
 ford ; the Rev. W. Upton Richards, M.A.; G. Richmond, Esq., R.A.; Joseph 
 Ridgway, Esq.; the Rev. J. Fuller Russell, B.C.L. ; Vice-Admiral A. P. 
 Ryder; the Rev. M. F. Sadler, M.A., Prebendary of Wells; the Rev. R. 
 Seymour, M.A. ; the;.Rev. J. Sharp, M.A. ; C. B. Skinner, Esq. ; the Rev. J. 
 Skinner, M.A.; J. A. Shaw Stewart, Esq.; George E. Street, Esq., R.A., 
 Treasurer ; the Rev. W. Stubbs, M.A., Regius Professor of Modern History, 
 Oxford ; the Rev. F. Sutton, M.A. ; J. G. Talbot, Esq., M.P. ; the Rev. E. 
 Talbot, M.A., Principal of Keble College, Oxford ; the Rev. Henry Temple, 
 M.A., Secretary; the Rev. George Trevor, M.A., Prebendary and Canon of 
 York ; the Rev. Mackenzie E. C. Walcott, B.D., Precentor of Chichester ; the 
 Rev. P. Webb, M.A. ; the Rev. R. T. West, M.A. ; the Rev. G. C. White, 
 M.A. ; the Rev. G. Williams, B.D. ; the Rev. R. F. Wilson, M.A. ; the Rev. N. 
 Woodard, M.A., Canon of Mancliesttr ; the Rev. Cecil Wray, M.A., Prebendary 
 of Lichfield.
 
 List of Towns sendiny Delegates. xv 
 
 Athanasian Creed, but members of all classes of society, including, 
 besides Clergymen, landholders, professional men, farmers, and 
 substantial tradesmen, and in particular Churchwardens. 
 
 " N.B. — You are particularly requested to answer (Address, 
 Honorary Secretary, Athanasian Creed Defence Committee, at 
 Messrs. Eivingtons', Waterloo Place, London, S.W.), at your earliest 
 convenience, whether you are willing to act, and if so, when you 
 propose to hold your local meeting, and in what form ; and also 
 to write again after that meeting has been held, stating what took 
 place, and whom you have named as representatives. 
 
 " The Committee will then be able to take steps to see that the 
 representatives are accommodated at the London Meeting, to which 
 admission will be given by ticket, and which will be exclusively 
 composed of men. 
 
 " This circular has been sent to the subjoined persons* in your 
 County, and it is suggested that you and they should, as far as 
 possible, concert your action together. The list having been drawn 
 up so hastily is necessarily imperfect. 
 
 Malcolm MacColl, 
 
 Rector of St. George, Botolph 
 Lane, London. 
 
 " Henry Temple, 
 
 Vicar of St. Johi's, Leeds. 
 
 I Hon. Secretaries. 
 
 ) 
 
 In consequence of this circular, Meetings of various 
 degrees of importance were held all over England, at which 
 representatives were chosen to attend the London Meeting. 
 Thirty-six counties of England and Wales, and upwards 
 of 120 towns and populous places, sent up representatives, 
 exceeding in number 500, not only of all ranks and classes, 
 but also representing various schools of theological opinion. 
 
 The names of the towns and places are here subjoined. 
 
 Berks. — Eeading, Chilton, Newbury, Wallingford. 
 Bucks. — Fenny Stratford, Slough, Windsor. 
 Cambridgeshire. — Cambridge. 
 Cornwall. — Hayle. 
 
 * The names of leading persons in the neighbourhood were subjoined.
 
 xvi List of Towns sending Delegates. 
 
 Cumberland. — Carlisle, Penrith. 
 
 Derbyshire. — Derby. 
 
 Devonshire. — Exeter, Barnstaple, Devonport, Ilfracombe, Ply- 
 mouth, Torquay. 
 
 Dorsetshire. — Wimborne, Yetminster. 
 
 Durham. — Durham, Middleton S. George. 
 
 Essex. — Eural Deanery of Hedingham. 
 
 Gloucestershire. — Gloucester, Bristol, Cheltenham, Chipping 
 Sodbury. 
 
 Hants. — Winchester, Basingstoke, Broughton - in - Romsey, 
 Hursley, Ryde, Southampton. 
 
 Herefordshire. — Hereford. 
 
 Hertfordshire. — Hertford, Buntingford, Hitchin. 
 
 Hunts. — S. Ives. 
 
 Kent. — Canterbury, Bexley, Brompton, Chatham, Dartford, 
 Deptford, Folkestone, Gillingham, Greenhithe, Hawkhurst, Lee, 
 Lewisham, Maidstone, Northfleet, Rochester, Strood, Sydenham, 
 Tunbridge Wells, Woolwich, Woolwich Dockyard. 
 
 Lancashire. — Manchester, Accrington, Barrow-in-Furness, 
 Liverpool, Preston, Warrington, Wigan. 
 
 Leicestershire. — Leicester. 
 
 Lincolnshire. — Lincoln, Gainsborough,Glandford Brigg, Sleaford. 
 
 Middlesex. — City of London, Bow Common, Barnes, Brompton, 
 Clapton, Finsbury, Fulham, Hackney, Hammersmith, Kensington, 
 West Kensington, Kilburn, SS. j^Marylebone and Pancras, Pad- 
 dington, Stoke Newington, Westminster. 
 
 Norfolk. — Norwich, Lynn, West Norfolk. 
 
 Northamptonshire. — Northampton, Daventry. 
 
 Northumberland. — Newcastle-on-Tyne, Alnwick, Morpeth. 
 
 Notts. — Nottingham, East Retford, Newark. 
 
 Oxfordshire. — Banbury, Chipping Norton, Oxford, Witney. 
 
 Shropshire. — Shrewsbury, Ludlow. 
 
 Somersetshire. — Bath, Taunton, Wells, Weston-super-Mare. 
 
 Staffordshire. — Wolverhampton, Wombourne. 
 
 Suffolk. — Beccles. 
 
 Surrey. — Lambeth, Dorking. 
 
 Sussex. — Chichester, Brighton, S. Leonards-on-Sea. 
 
 Warwickshire. — Birmingham, Coventry, Rugby, Stratford-on 
 Avon. 
 
 Wilts. — Salisbury, Malmesbury, Warminster. 
 
 Worcestershire. — Worcester, Malvern.
 
 Letter from a Worhing Man. xvii 
 
 Yorkshire. — York, Barnsley, Bradford, Bridlington, Halifax, 
 Harrogate, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Rotherham, Scarborough, 
 Sheffield, Wakefield. 
 
 Wales. — Bangor, Cardigan, Cyfeiliog, S. Asaph, Swansea, Tenby. 
 
 The Athanasian Creed is supposed by many to be a 
 stumbling-block in the way of the unlearned especially. 
 The Committee have received numerous proofs during the 
 last few months that this objection has been hazarded some- 
 what hastily. The following is one of several letters which 
 have been sent to the Committee. It was written and 
 printed in answer to a request that the writer, a genuine 
 working man, would sign Lord Shaftesbury's petition against 
 the Creed, and the Committee publish it here by way of 
 evidence that, if the Athanasian Creed were tampered with, 
 the working classes would not be the least aggrieved portion 
 of the community. In a note, enclosing the subjoined letter 
 to the Committee, the writer expresses his indignation that 
 " a few dissatisfied members of the Church should demand 
 an alteration in our ancient Creed, without consulting the 
 wishes of the whole ; " and adds, — " I am a poor man ; but 
 I have as much right to defend my Creed as a rich one has 
 to attack it, and had I the means I would rouse Churchmen 
 from their sleeping." 
 
 The letter shows that the writer of it is unlearned ; but it 
 also shows that he takes an intelligent interest in questions 
 in respect to which his class is supposed to be ignorantly 
 indifferent. The following is a verbatim reprint of it. 
 
 A Letter to the Members of the National Church on the 
 Athanasian Creed, 
 
 " Brethren, — A petition against an ancient Creed of our National 
 Church, commonly called the Athanasian Creed, has been signed by 
 several persons, and signed, I think, without a due consideration of 
 what they were doing. 
 
 " I beg your kind attention to the following few remarks on the 
 Creed, the doctrine of the Trinity, and on the Petition. 
 
 I
 
 xviii Letter from a Working Man 
 
 " I divide tlae Creed into two parts, whether rightly or not I leave 
 to those who are wiser than myself. The first part contains the 
 first sixteen verses, to He, therefore, &c. ; the second part, the 
 remainder. 
 
 " The Creed, I think, was used in the time of St. John and his 
 disciples, and taught by word of mouth to those who were about to 
 be baptized. 
 
 " Whosoever will be saved. Who — in like manner — ever will be 
 saved. In what manner ? According to the Christian form. 
 
 " In my humble opinion the Creed in the first three verses thus 
 speaks : — Thou art about to be Christianized, and first of all thou 
 must believe in the true Faith taught by all true disciples of Christ 
 in all His churches, throughout all lands, and thou must steadily 
 keep in this faith. 
 
 " Thou must not be uncertain, or waver in thy mind whether 
 thou must hold to thine own religion or to the religion of Christ ; 
 for, if thou art unsteadfast in thy faith thou wilt, without doubt, 
 perish (decay) from that eternal life which is given through Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 '•■ Thou must be baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; and the Catholick Faith is this, thou 
 shalt worship One Name in three Names, Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost, and the Three Names in One Name, the great I AM. 
 
 " I consider that the definition of the Trinity as given from these 
 words. Neither confounding the Persons, &c., to the words. But the 
 whole Three Persons are co- eternal, &c., was used to keep the con- 
 verts from idolatry, and to guard them against thinking that there 
 were three Gods or three Lords, and is such a kind of teaching as 
 a disciple of Christ would use to one wishing to be instructed in 
 the Catholick Faith. 
 
 " The words — thus think — refer to the worshipping of the Unity 
 in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity, and though many persons 
 prate about these words — thus think — yet are there but very few 
 who speak of these words — thus act — and if any man ridicule the 
 definition of the Trinity given by the Creed, let him produce a 
 better one. 
 
 " The second part beginning at the words. Furthermore, &c., to 
 the latter part of the twenty-fifth verse, So God and Man is one 
 Christ, is a declaration of the Church's belief in the Incarnation of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, and a similar kind of teaching is used as is 
 used in the first part ; and the two parts, in the early age of the 
 Church, were drawn up in the form, or written Creed, as now used, 
 and for centuries it has been received as the Creed of the Holy 
 Catholick Church ; and, in sj^ite of the mockery of the scornful, it 
 is a joyful truth for all mankind, that Christ is God of the Substance 
 of the Father begotten before the world, and Man of the Substance 
 of our Sister born in the world ; and if any man ridicule the truth 
 of the immaculate conception, I shall feel obliged if he will answer
 
 defending the Athanasian Creed. 
 
 XIX 
 
 the following questions : — First, give in the English language a 
 correct definition of the word Substance used in the Creed ; second, 
 tell by what Law of Nature were our common ancestors brought 
 into life ? 
 
 " Of the Holy Trinity, 
 
 "St. Peter says — God's holy men spake, taught by the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 " The Holy Ghost taught the prophets of the Old and the disciples 
 of the New Testament, and He strengthened them in their labours, 
 and He comforted them in their sufferings. He taught the writer 
 of the Book of Genesis that — in the beginning God created the 
 heaven and the earth. St. John — that all things were made by 
 Jesus. Isaiah— a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and his 
 name shall be Immanuel, God with (joined to) us, St. Paul — God 
 was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. St. John — This 
 is the true God and eternal life. And St. Peter bears this testi- 
 mony to all the world — That God's holy men spake, not according 
 to their own will, but that they wrote according to His inspiration, 
 who is the Sanctifying Teacher of all God's elect. 
 
 " Op the Petition [op Lord Shaptesbury]. 
 
 " All persons who are rightly baptized must, according to the 
 command of Christ, be baptized in the name of the Father, of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; and our Lord added these words, ' He 
 that believeth and is baptized shall he saved, and he that believeth 
 not shall he damned. * 
 
 "I think that the Petitioners ought to petition that this con- 
 demnatory clause should be first struck out of the New Testament, 
 ere they petition that it should be erased from the Creed, for should 
 it be taken from the Creed, this solemn declaration of our Lord, 
 that the cursed shall depart from Him into everlasting fire (and 
 which is repeated in verse 29 of the Creed) will still remain in the 
 Scriptures, and, with the other, will be read in our National 
 Church, unless man become so wise as to have a Bible of reason 
 read to the congregation instead of the Bible of God. 
 
 " Whether these words of Our Saviour are to be interpreted 
 according to the letter, or not, I leave unto Him, ' in whose hand 
 is the soul of every living thing and the spirit of all mankind.' 
 
 " We profess to believe in the Trinity, and we were baptized in 
 these three names, Father, Son, Holy Ghost ; and the Creed teaches 
 that He who, in like manner, ever will be saved, must keep in this 
 Faith. 
 
 " We are told by St. John that in Jesus is the life, that we must 
 honoiu: the Son even as we honour the Father ; and if we have not 
 the Son we have not the life ; then, if we have not this life, which
 
 XX Letter from a Worhing Man. 
 
 is the light of man, mugt we not have the death and the darknesiS* 
 Quarrel not with your Creed for speaking as the Scriptures speak ; 
 neither mutilate your Creed because some men, in their conceit^ 
 would have you think as they think ; for should you do so, be 
 mindful of this — In rejecting your Creed you will reject your 
 Church also. 
 
 " We are taught to worship One God in Trinity and the Trinity 
 in One God — The Lord God Almighty, The Father uncreate. 
 Almighty, The Son incomprehensible, God the Holy Ghost, 
 eternal, Lord ; also, to believe rightly the Incarnation of Our 
 Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. i. 18-25 ; St. Luke i. 30-80) ; and in my 
 humble opinion, the Creed, in language both elegant and simple, 
 endeavours to explain those mysteries ; and if words cannot be 
 found to define them, yet an excellent attempt is made to convey 
 the ideas of the writers ; and if a simpleton mock at the words 
 used, a wise man will receive them with respect. 
 
 " Many persons have prattled concerning these two words — 
 perish everlastingly — and have spoken of the Ci'eed in a manner 
 that has plainly showed their zealous wisdom. If you will 
 examine the original and true meaning of these two words, I 
 think you will find it to be — to ruin, ener continuing the road. 
 Believe the Gospel of Christ and be saved ; reject it, and remain 
 in the way to be lost. 
 
 « " I do not expect you to think as I think ; but I sincerely 
 hope thar you will twice think ere you once sign a petition 
 against our Gospel Creed. 
 
 " There is a struggle commenced, and you will shortly bo 
 compelled to take a part, not only in the Babel of opinions, 
 whether the whole or a part of the Creed shall be rejected ; 
 whether the Church of our forefathers must stand or fall; but 
 in other things also, when your faith and zeal will be tested by 
 the incidents surrounding you. 
 
 " Being unskilful in language, I respectfully trust you will 
 not censure my plain manner of speaking; also, that you will 
 kindly pardon the liberty taken in addressing you ; and in 
 conclusion, 
 
 " I humbly pray that He who said to the turbulent waves of the 
 sea. Peace, be still, will grant unto you and to all Christians that 
 peace which this world has not the power to give, and in the world 
 to come, life everlasting."
 
 Letter from the Dean of Bi])on. xxi 
 
 The Dean of Ripon, being unable to attend tbe meeting in 
 St. James's Hall, published the following letter in ' The Times ' 
 of January 30 : — 
 
 "To THE Editor of 'The Times.' 
 
 "The Deanery, Ripon, 
 "January 28. 
 
 " Sir, — Some months ago your columns were opened to a discussion of 
 the Athanasian Creed question, and your own sentiments upon the subject 
 were freely expressed. A renewal of that discussion is imminent; and 
 although my convictions are not in accordance with the course you 
 advocated, yet, as I am no longer able to encounter the fatigue of Synodical 
 debate, I venture to hope you will do me the favour to publish my plea 
 for the Creed. 
 
 " The real question at issue is not one of authorship, or antiquity, or trans- 
 lation. We have the Creed ; we have long used it ; we have solemnly 
 declared our conviction of its Scriptural truth (Art. VIIL). The questions 
 now agitated are — Shall we continue to use it as heretofore ? or shall we 
 cease to use it in public worship altogether ? or shall we leave it optional 
 with every officiating minister to use it or not, as he thinks best ? or shall 
 we modify it in some way that will render it at once more unequivocal and 
 less offensive ? 
 
 " The chief objections to its Liturgical use, which have been so powerfully 
 and influentially urged, even by those who are fully persuaded of its truth, 
 are the obnoxious character of its damnatory clauses, and the bewildering 
 mysteriousness of its definitions. With all these fully before me, sincerely 
 sympathizing with much that has been feelingly said, and earnestly de- 
 siring to persuade and in no wise to wound, I am constrained to advocate 
 the continued use of the Creed for the following reasons : — 
 " 1. Because it supplies a want. 
 
 " There are indications around us, neither few nor obscure, of a disposition 
 to get rid of all Creeds and of all distinctive religious truth. Into that wider 
 question I do not now enter ; but if we are to have a ' form of sound 
 words ' at all, it ought, I think, to be comprehensive of fundamental truth. 
 In this direction the Athanasian Creed is valuable, recognizing as it does, 
 and resting upon, important portions of Eevelation to which no testimony 
 is borne by the other Creeds of the Church. 
 
 " The first of these 1 would specify is the revelation of a righteous judg- 
 ment of every man * according to his works.' It is impossible for language 
 to reveal anything more unequivocally than this is revealed. Its importance 
 will not be denied. And yet there is no confession of it, or reference to it 
 with any distinctness, in either the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed. 
 This want is supplied by the Athanasian Creed. 
 
 " Again, and to approach the heart and core of the controversy where it 
 presses most keenly upon sensitive minds, a vital portion of Eevelation, on 
 which the Church of England at least is emphatic (Art. IX.) is this : — That 
 by the transgression of the first man — the parent stock of all men — the 
 whole human race come into this world in such a state of alienation from, 
 and enmity against, the Creator, as amounts to misery when brought face 
 to face with Him. To this truth and its tremendous consequences there is 
 no reference in the other Creeds. To the denial of this truth may be traced 
 many, if not all, of the heresies which have rejected or corrupted Chris- 
 tianity. And most naturally ; for as with a disease so with its remedy. If
 
 xxii Letter from the Dean of Bij)on. 
 
 the disease be partial or superficial, a remedy of the same character will be 
 sufficient. Such are all the remedies prescribed by man's wisdom. 
 
 " The damnatory clauses of the Athanasian Creed are based, as I read 
 them, on this truth — To ' periSh everlastingly ' is to remain in our natural 
 state unreconciled to God. It does not of necessity involve any further 
 infliction, whether for unbelief, or misbelief, but simply to remain in the 
 estrangement of the fall ; the misery endured varying in degree with the 
 antecedent opportunities, cultivation, and consequent sensitiveness of the 
 sufferer; the same state of things around them being 'more tolerable' 
 {av€KTOT€pov) for one than for another. 
 
 " In the teaching of Christ, to have heard and known and rejected the way, 
 the only way, of deliverance, is imaged by a servant who ' knew his Lord's 
 will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to His will.' He shall 
 'perish everlastingly,' with aggravation of self-reproach. 'He shall be 
 beaten with many stripes.' To have lived and died in ignorance of the 
 way is imaged by a servant who 'knew not his Lord's will, and did 
 commit things worthy of stripes.' Ignorant of his Lord's revealed law, he 
 had a law of conscience within himself, by the violation of which he did 
 commit things worthy of stripes. He shall 'perish everlastingly' with 
 comparative mitigations. 'He shall be beaten with few stripes.' There 
 is no deliverance from stripes for either ; but it is ' more tolerable ' for 
 Tyre and Sidon than for Chorazin and Bethsaida — more tolerable, that is 
 all, for Sodom than for Capernaum. 
 
 " The way, the only way, of deliverance is inseparable from the Trinity and 
 the Incarnation — the Trinity and the Incarnation as defended against divers 
 specious denials and perversions. There is no attempt in the Athanasian 
 Creed to explain the revealed mystery, but only to define with accuracy 
 what is revealed. I do not say that this is so perfectly done that it cannot 
 be improved. I do not claim infalhbility for the Creed ; but in the face of 
 ancient heresies revived, and modern heresies multii^lied, I plead for the 
 propriety and even the necessity of a defensive description of the truth. 
 
 "A direct statement of truth ought to be sufficient for the Church, as a 
 direct statement of law ought to be sufficient for the nation. But as the 
 ingenuity of crime compels an enlargement of the Statute Book, so the inge- 
 nuity of heresy compelled an enlargement of the Creed. 
 
 " There is a very natural and very amiable repugnance in the human heart 
 to admit the painful feeling of contemplating the state of any of our fellow- 
 creatures as a state of irremediable misery — a state of moral estrangement 
 without hope from Him ' in whose favour is life.' This repugnance lies at 
 the root of much uncertainty of conviction, if not of actual unbelief. Under 
 its secret and unsuspected influence the plainest language of revelation is 
 forced into a non-natural sense. The charitable emotions of philanthro[)y 
 obscure, so as practically to erase, the awful announcements of Divine 
 truth. I dare not take this course, though my flesh trembles at the bearing 
 of those announcements upon our fallen race. I am driven, though on my 
 knees, to a full agreement with Lord Bacon, where he says that as it is our 
 duty to yield the obedience of practice to tlie commandments of God, licet 
 reluctetur voluntas, so it is our duty to yield the faith of assent to the 
 mysteries of God, licet eluctetur ratio, and, I may add, charitas. 
 
 " A Ciiristianity which is only one way of salvation, and not the one only 
 way, is not the Christianity of the Bible, nor of history. As one of many 
 ways, it might have found a peaceable place in the all-tolerating Pantheon. 
 It was its claim to be the only way that raised the storm. The same is 
 true now.
 
 I 
 
 Letter from the Dean of Eipon. xxiii 
 
 " Many who bear the Christian name are not believing Christianity, and 
 many who are believing it, sincerely and tenderly believing, are at the 
 same time shrinking from any open and bold avowal of it. They are not 
 ' valiant for the truth ' of God in that aspect of it which seems unchari- 
 table towards men. This is the secret of the pain and irritation occasioned 
 by the ' damnatory clauses.' 
 
 " If these clauses be expressed with needless harshness or severity, and if 
 the Scriptural truths to which they bear witness can be expressed in words 
 less repugnant to our feelings, it would, indeed, be a work worthy the 
 highest wisdom of the Church to effect the alteration. But, as ' a faithful 
 witness and keeper of Holy Writ,' we dare not remove this ancient land- 
 mark until we are supplied with a better. 
 
 " On this ground I, for one, would respectfully request our brethren who 
 differ from us in this matter to consider that what we ask them to consent 
 to, until some satisfactory alteration can be devised, is only to continue to 
 do what they have been doing all their hves, conscientiously, though pain- 
 fully doing, whereas what they are asking us to do is a new thing, which 
 we have never done : it is to pass our Christian year without the authori- 
 tative use of any symbol of this part of our testimony. What we ask of 
 them would be urgent for some improvement. What they ask of us would 
 be a confession of impotence to improve. And why should we so despair ? 
 
 " Objections to the mysterious definitions in the Creed are not so formid- 
 able, and happily so, for mystery is inevitable. My conviction is that if 
 the Athanasian Creed were silenced, in deference to the dissatisfaction com- 
 plained of on this ground, we should hear of similar dissatisfaction at the 
 public recital of the Nicene Creed ; and if that were removed, the objections 
 would follow to the Apostles' Creed. In point of fact, during a long and 
 somewhat varied experience, the clause most pointedly objected to by the 
 few — the very few — laymen who have ever expressed to me any painful 
 difficulty, has been ' conceived by the Holy Ghost.' 
 
 " Statements concerning the Godhead, being all in matters of thought, and 
 wholly above our reason, are comparatively easy to faith ; but this one, 
 abutting on matter which is within our reach, is felt to be not only a 
 demand on our faith, but an assault on our reason. Yet this is the Divine 
 foundation fact, without which Christianity must dwindle down as one 
 among many human speculations. 
 
 " 2. Further, I value the Athanasian Creed, because it contains an epithet 
 descriptive of our Lord's flesh which is more precisely Scriptural, and more 
 unequivocally intelligible, than the general statements of the other Creeds. 
 The clause I refer to is this : — 
 
 " ' Of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.' 
 
 " The Apostle of the Gentiles, in his sublime discourse on the resurrection 
 of the body, said, 'AH flesh is not the same flesh ; but there is one kind of 
 flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.' 
 There may possibly be others still not enumerated by the Apostle. There 
 may possibly be flesh possessing properties which none of these possess. 
 There may be flesh which can be present without being visible, which can 
 be eaten without being tasted, which may be sacrificed without any 
 shedding of blood, which may be at one and the same time in more places 
 than one. We are not called upon to deny possibilities. We dare not say 
 that anything of the kind is impossible with God. But when we are 
 required to believe anything of the kind we ask for the Divine warrant. 
 Where and what is the announcement ? Show us the inspired Word, and
 
 xxiv Letter from the Bean of Rijpon, 
 
 we veil our faces in profoundest reverence ; but in the absence of such 
 authority we pause and reason. To say that the mystery to be believed is 
 * ineffable ' is to acknowledge that it cannot be expressed in words, and 
 therefore is not revealed. Much that is far above our reason, much that is 
 unintelligible we are willing to believe, and do believe, because it is plainly 
 expressed in words which are reasonably proved to be of Divine authority. 
 But we are altogether unwilling to believe what is ' ineffable.' 
 
 " Human flesh is not unintelligible. We are reasonably acquainted with 
 its properties, and we know as assuredly as we can know anything that it 
 cannot be present without being visible, that it cannot be eaten without 
 being tasted, that it cannot be sacrificed without bloodshedding, and cannot 
 at one time be in more places than one. 
 
 " The flesh of our Saviour Christ is human flesh. So the Church Catholic 
 describes Him of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. This is 
 proved by most certain warrant of Holy Scrij^ture. ' For the children,' 
 the human children to be redeemed, * being partakers of flesh and blood. 
 He also himself likewise took part of the same.' To this He himself 
 appealed after his resurrection, saying, 'Handle me and see, for a spirit 
 hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have.' Therefore we know as 
 assuredly as we can know anything, that the flesh of our Saviour Christ 
 cannot be present without being visible, cannot be eaten without being 
 tasted, cannot be sacrificed without shedding of blood, and, as our own 
 branch of the Church Catholic plainly declares, cannot at one time be in 
 more places than one. 
 
 " I could say more in defence and commendation of the Athanasian Creed, 
 but I fear my letter has already become inconveniently long. 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 "Hugh M'Neile."
 
 On Friday, January 31st, 1873, a Meeting was held in 
 St. James's Hall, for the purpose of protesting against any 
 interference with the form or the use of the Quicunque Vult in 
 the service of the Church. A large number of tickets had 
 been issued in excess of the accommodation of the Large 
 Hall, in consequence of which a supplementary Meeting was 
 held simultaneously in Hanover Square Eooms. 
 
 The Duke of Marlborough had promised to take the Chair 
 but owing to his recent severe illness was unable to do so, 
 and his place was taken by Mr. J. G. Hubbard. " From the 
 beginning to the end," says the ' Guardian,' " the greatest 
 enthusiasm prevailed, and the immense applause that greeted 
 Dr. Liddon and the mention of Dr. Pusey's name can never 
 be forgotten by those present, the whole assembly rising up 
 and again and again renewing their cheers." 
 
 Before the business of the Meeting commenced, 
 
 Mr. Beresford Hope, M.P., said — His Grace the Duke of 
 Marlborough, to his great regret, is unable, owing to the severe 
 indisposition with which he has been visited, to take the Chair. 
 The Committee has invited Mr. Hubbard to take his place, and 
 Mr. Hubbard has kindly consented ; but before the proceedings 
 begin, I will read the letter of the Duke of Marlborough. 
 
 " My dear Mr. Hope, — In consequence of a recent severe attack 
 of illness I regret that it will not be in my power to be present and 
 preside at the meeting to be held on Friday next in St. James's Hall, 
 as an expression of public feeling in favour of the retention in its 
 unmutilated form of the Athanasian Creed. My original engage- 
 ment to preside at the meeting will be the best proof of the sincere 
 sympathy I have with its object, and although circumstances have 
 prevented that engagement, my earnest hope is that the result of the 
 meeting — which, I doubt not, will be much more ably presided over 
 — will show unmistakably that Churchmen of all shades of opinion 
 unite in a common determination to resist any attempt to mutilate 
 or excise a Creed which has always commanded the reverence and 
 consent of the Christian world. — Believe me, yours sincerely, 
 
 " Marlborough."
 
 2 Mr. J. (t. Huhhard. 
 
 The Dean of York then said the Collect for Trinity- 
 Sunday, and the Lord's Prayer; all present repeating the 
 latter. 
 
 The Chairman. — This meeting will have learnt with great 
 regret that his Grace the Duke of Marlborough is unable to 
 fulfil his promise to preside here to-day. The Duke has been 
 very seriously ill, and, although now happily convalescent, he is 
 still unequal to the exertion of taking the chair. The Committee 
 cherished as long as possible the hope that his Grace might aid 
 by his presidency here the all-important cause in which he has 
 expressed so deep an interest; and the necessity for providing 
 another chairman upon the eve of the meeting, and when those 
 who might have adequately replaced him had already accepted 
 their several parts in the proceedings, will serve to excuse the 
 Committee for having assigned the presidency to one who, undis- 
 tinguished by theological learning or high position, has great need 
 of your indulgence in the discharge of the duties which he under- 
 takes in compliance with their request. (Cheers.) This meeting 
 is gathered to deprecate, and if needful to resist, an agitation di- 
 rected against the present use and position of the Athanasian Creed. 
 (Cheers.) The proposals adverse to the Creed are many and mul- 
 tiform, but I will allude only to the five which occur to me as the 
 principal. It has been proposed — That the use of the Creed be 
 restricted to fewer occasions ; that the use of the Creed be alto- 
 gether optional ; that the Creed be excluded from the Book of 
 Common Prayer, and be appended to the Articles ; that the so-called 
 " Damnatory Clauses " be expunged ; that a Parliamentary indem- 
 nity be provided for the clergy who may break the law of the 
 Church by omitting the use of the Creed. To these proposals the 
 obvious replies are — That to restrict even to a single day the occa- 
 sions on which the Athanasian Creed is authoritatively used would 
 not satisfy those who object to the Creed itself ; that to make the 
 use of the Creed optional would be to introduce a new element of 
 disunion into the Church, and create dissensions between the clergy 
 and their congregations ; that the banishment of the Creed from its 
 present position and use in the public service of the Church to the 
 region of the Thirty-nine Articles would be a cruel and intolerable 
 privation to those who find in its clear and unfaltering utterance 
 the priceless foundations of their faith ; that it is not within the 
 competency of a single branch of Christ's Church to make changes
 
 Mr. J. G, Huhhard. 3 
 
 in a Creed which is the inheritance of the whole Catholic Church ; 
 that to provide by statute an immunity for a breach of ecclesiastical 
 law would fail to remove the conscientious difficulty of any loyal 
 clergy, and would create an injurious antagonism between the law 
 of the Church and the law of the State. (Cheers.) But although 
 the proposals I have now dealt with be inadmissible, it must not 
 be assumed that the agitation for some change as regards the Atha- 
 nasian Creed may not partly proceed from loyal men who would 
 suffer real disquiet in their enunciation of the so-called Damnatory 
 Clauses. I for one cannot deny it — for I can recall the time when 
 I shrank from pronouncing them as they occurred in the recital of 
 the Creed, although the retrospect carries me over more than fifty 
 years, to the age of early youth, and although study and obser- 
 vation entirely removed the difficulty I then felt, by showing me 
 that the warning clauses in the Creed are to be taken in the same 
 sense, and with the same limitations, as the words of our Lord and 
 his Apostles, of which they are virtually the iteration. I cannot 
 doubt that much, if not all, of the dissatisfaction which has been 
 expressed would vanish if the clergy generally were more learned, 
 and the laity generally were better taught. I say this with reluc- 
 tance, but with no doubt as to the fact. I have seen a pamphlet adverse 
 to the Athanasian Creed, by a clergyman, who attempted to demon- 
 strate the unreasonableness of insisting upon the acceptance of its 
 clauses, by pointing out that one of those clauses declared God to 
 be " incomprehensible " — interpreting, in his own mind, as " inca- 
 pable of being understood," a word which he should have known 
 meant " incapable of being confined or limited." And so, again, 
 the charge of uncharitable condemnation of the uninstructed is 
 advanced by some who are unmindful that in order that a man 
 may " hold " or may " keep " the faith it must first be presented to 
 him. Whether it be possible to devise an authoritative declaration 
 of the true sense and application of the warning clauses, which 
 would dissipate the prejudice against them, is an important question, 
 but one not included in our present consideration. Our purpose is 
 to discuss and adopt resolutions touching an agitation which en- 
 dangers the essential doctrines of Christianity. The discussion, to 
 be successful, must be conducted with firmness, but with calmness, 
 and, above all, with charity. It has been painful to observe in the 
 course of this controversy, angry, resentful, and contemptuous ex- 
 pressions, sadly incongruous with the consideration of the nature 
 of the God of Love ; but no uncharitable spirit will, I feel confi- 
 
 B 2
 
 4 Mr. Beresford Hope. 
 
 dent, be allowed to mar tlie proceedings or impair the influence of 
 this important meeting. (Loud cheering,) 
 
 Mr. Beresforp Hope. — The Chairman has given me permission 
 to read some letters from distinguished persons who are unable to 
 be present. The first letter I shall read is from Bishop Ryan, now 
 Vicar of Bradford : — 
 
 " My Lord, " Vicarage, Bradford, Jan. 28, 1873. 
 
 " I regret very much that I am not able to attend the meet- 
 ing on the 31st. The resolution which you have asked me to 
 support is so entirely, in accordance with my own convictions, that 
 I should have felt it a privilege to have the opportunity of doing 
 so. The reason why I cannot attend is that there is to be a public 
 meeting in Bradford on that evening, in connection with the move- 
 ment for the suppression of the slave-trade in Eastern Africa ; and 
 as that abominable traffic was brought under my notice very 
 specially during the thirteen years of my work in Mauritius, and 
 again in the summer of last year, I feel a special obligation to 
 attend the meeting in Bradford, having already done so in Leeds 
 and other towns in the North as well as in London. 
 
 " I hope you will have a successful meeting, — and remain, my 
 Lord, your very faithful servant, 
 
 " Vincent W. Ryan (Bishop) . 
 " The Right Honourable Earl Beauchamp." 
 
 The second is from the Right Hon. Gathorne Hardy, addressed 
 to Lord Beauchamp : — 
 
 " My dear Beauchamp, "Hemstead Park, Jan. 26. 
 
 " Although I have doubts as to the advisability of a public 
 meeting in reference to the Athanasian Creed, I heartily accept the 
 resolutions which it is proposed to move and to adopt. At a time 
 when we most need to be held to our moorings it would be most 
 unwise to neglect or let slip an anchor which has for so many ages 
 assisted to hold us securely. I hope the agitation for changes, any 
 of which would grieve many consciences, may cease when it is 
 seen how serious might be the result. — Believe me, yours very 
 sincerely, 
 
 " Gathorne Hardy." 
 
 The next is from the Rev. Charles Kingsley to Mr. MacCoU. 
 
 •' EVEESLEY KeCTORY, WiNCHFIELD, 
 
 <' Dear Mr. MaoColl, " January 31. 
 
 " I am, to my regret, unable to be present at the meeting to- 
 night. But I cannot let it pass without asking leave to express my 
 strong sympathy with its object.
 
 Mr. Beresford Hope. 5 
 
 " I have long held that the general use and understanding of the 
 Athanasian Creed by the Church of England would exercise here- 
 after (as it has exercised already) a most potent and salutary influ- 
 ence, not only on the theology, but on the ethics, and on the 
 science, physical and metaphysical, of all English-speaking nations. 
 
 " I believe that that influence was never more needed than now 
 since the great French revolution of the last century ; and I am 
 therefore the more jealous at this moment of the safety of the 
 Athanasian Creed. 
 
 " I feel for, though I cannot feel with, the objections of many ex- 
 cellent persons to the so-called Damnatory Clauses. But I believe 
 that those objections would die out were the true and ancient 
 Catholic doctrine concerning the future state better known among 
 us; and therefore, in the event of an explanatory rubric being 
 appended to the Creed in our Prayer Book, I should humbly pray 
 that it may express, or at least include and allow, that orthodox 
 and salutary doctrine. — Believe me, yours with sincere good 
 wishes, 
 
 " Charles Kingsley." 
 
 The next is from the Dean of St. Paul's to Dr. Liddon. 
 
 " My dear Liddon, «' jaw. 31, 1873. 
 
 "I fully intended to be present at the meeting to-night; but 
 it will be impossible for me to reach it in time. I only desire to 
 say that the objects of the meeting have my entire concurrence, and 
 seem to me to be of the first importance. — Yours ever, 
 
 " K. W. Church." 
 
 The following letters were also read: — 
 
 "Dear Lord Beauchamp, "Batsford Pare, Jan. 30, 1873. 
 
 " Prudence forbids my travelling up to town to-morrow, and 
 particularly in this weather. I am what is called going on well, 
 but the well is very slow. I am now free from pain, but am ordered 
 to keep quiet, and remain in bed half the day. I must be fit to 
 attend the meeting of Parliament, and for that purpose must be 
 very careful now. Pray let my regret at not being able to attend 
 be expressed to the meeting. — Yours very truly, 
 
 " Eedesdalb." 
 
 " Walmer Wood, Mortimer, Eeading, 
 " My dear Beauchamp, " Jan. 30, 1873. 
 
 " I am sorry that I am prevented by a severe cold from 
 attending the meeting at St. James's Hall. But I regret it the less 
 as I hear that your numbers are overflowing. When I first heard 
 of the intention to hold a public meeting in defence of the
 
 6 Mr. Henry HucJcs Gibhs. 
 
 Athanasian Creed, I entertained some doubts of the policy of sucli 
 a step. But I fully recognize the importance of obtaining a dis- 
 tinct manifestation of the opinions of Churchmen on a question so 
 vitally affecting the preservation of Christian truth, and I beg to 
 express my hearty concurrence in the resolutions proposed for 
 adoption. — I remain, my dear Beauchamp, yours sincerely, 
 
 " J. E. Mowbray. 
 " The Earl Beauchamp, &c., &c." 
 
 " Dear Lord Beauchamp, "Estcourt, Tetbury, Jan. 23, 1873. 
 
 "As the time approaches for the conference, which you 
 announced to me, to be held in London, for the purpose of confirm- 
 ing the Archbishop and others in the maintenance of the Athanasian 
 Creed unmutilated in our Prayer Book, I write one line to express 
 my consent, and to add my name to the list of supporters of that 
 resolution in any form you may think proper to use it. But I can- 
 not undertake to attend, or to take an active part in the business. — 
 Believe me, my dear Lord, yours faithfully, 
 
 " T. SOTHERON ESTCOURT." 
 
 I have one more document in my hand which is a Declaration 
 emanating from Oxford : — " We, the undersigned, without express- 
 ing any opinion on the advisability of an Explanatory Note, or of a 
 Synodical Declaration, desire to express our conviction, that the 
 Athanasian Creed in its integrity ought to be retained in its present 
 position in the services of the Church of England." 
 
 The above statement is signed by 1562 members of the Church 
 of England resident in the University and City of Oxford, and in 
 several parishes in the County and Archdeaconry of Oxford and 
 the neighbourhood. Of these signatures, 178 are those of clergy- 
 men, 116 of churchwardens; and it is signed by Charles Clerke, 
 Archdeacon of Oxford. (Cheers.) 
 
 The Chairman. — Before I call upon the first speaker, I ought to 
 say that I hold in my hand a list of those places that have sent 
 delegates. The list comprises 36 counties, more than 100 towns, 
 and the number of delegates sent to attend this meeting is more 
 than 560. (Cheers.) 
 
 Mr. Henry Huoks Gibbs (Director of the Bank of England) said 
 — I accept the task which is imposed upon me of moving the first 
 resolution with the more confidence and satisfaction, because I feel 
 that this is not a question of High Church or Low Church — not a
 
 Mr. Henry HucJcs Gihbs. 7 
 
 question of cleric or lay distinctively ; but it is a question of the 
 heritage of our Christian faith handed down to us from nineteen 
 centuries back, and now, as ever, the object of attack. The 
 present point of attack, as you all know, is the Athanasian Creed ; 
 but the resolution that I have to move has a wider scope; it affirms 
 what the Church of England affirms in her Eighth Article, that the 
 three Creeds — the Nicene Creed, the Apostles' Creed, and the 
 Creed of St. Athanasius — are to be perfectly received and believed, 
 for that they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy 
 Scripture. Now, I wish to say that the attacks upon the Athana- 
 sian Creed are, to my mind, attacks not only upon that Creed, but 
 upon the other Creeds, and upon all dogmatic teaching. I am 
 quite sure that of those who feel scruples as regards this Creed 
 who wish to amend it, or to mar it, or to discontinue its use in the 
 services of the Church, a large majority have no such thought ; 
 they have the earnest, but I believe the entirely mistaken, idea 
 that they are aiding true religion by the course they are taking. I 
 am equally sure that they are unwillingly playing into the hands 
 of a small knot of noisy agitators, who know right well what they 
 are about, who wish to destroy the dogmatic teaching of the 
 Church of England, and who make this, the Athanasian Creed, which 
 is the fullest exposition of the doctrine of the Church of England, 
 their first point of attack. If they succeed in that attack, the 
 time must come when the Church of England as a body will teach 
 nothing, for as a body it must believe nothing. (Cheers.) What, 
 then, are the allegations that they bring against this Creed ? They 
 tell us that it is unintelligible, that it is uncharitable, that it is 
 contrary to public opinion — (laughter) — and not consonant with 
 the spirit of the age. Now, as to its unintelligibility, it seems to 
 me that it is intelligible enough for any Christian man ; that if 
 there be any difficulties, any unintelligibility in it, equally so there 
 are in the other Creeds ; for can any man say that he fully under- 
 stands every clause in the Apostles' Creed and in the Nicene 
 Creed? The grammatical propositions he can accept and under- 
 stand, but the doctrines contained in them are the subjects not of 
 intellect, but of faith. (Loud cheers.) They are too wide, too vast, 
 for the finite intellect of man, and must be accepted by him as a 
 revelation from God Almighty. I think, then, that in the matter of 
 intelligibility the three Creeds must stand or fall together, and it is 
 my belief that they will stand. Again, we are told that it is un- 
 charitable ; but that I deny. The Church in the not damnatory
 
 8 Mr. Henri/ Eucl's Gibbs. 
 
 but monitory clauses of this Creed sits in judgment upon no 
 individual soul, upon no particular Churcli. Our Lord lias said 
 that belief is a necessary condition to salvation, and the Church 
 in her three Creeds but recalls the words of her Lord, and, 
 summarising the docti-ines that she has received from the 
 earliest ages, she warns her sons that to them they must keep 
 for their soul's health, for in them lies the appointed path of safety. 
 The Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed have no monitory clauses ; 
 but they also must be read in conjunction with the words of our 
 Lord to which I have alluded, and, read with those words, their 
 warnings are as strong and as severe as the warnings of the Atha- 
 nasian Creed. But to warn is not the office of uncharitableness : 
 to warn is the office of charity itself. And if it be said that whether 
 for condemnation or warning this Creed is offensive to the Eastern 
 Church, I say that we must not, then, stop at this Creed, but we 
 must go further, and take the Nicene Creed also ; for it is the 
 Nicene Creed which first clashes with the Eastern Church. I leave 
 it to others to discuss the difference between the Churches, which I 
 believe is but verbal and not real. (Cheers.) I will, however, say 
 that in point of charity, again, the three Creeds must stand on the 
 same footing, and must be accepted by all of us. Then, again, we 
 hear that the Athanasian Creed is not consonant with public opinion. 
 Why, sir, if it were not consonant with public opinion, it is- not 
 now for the first time that we hear of Atlianasius contra mundum ; 
 and in this age also the truth will prevail if the world be against it. 
 Public opinion ! Why, this crowded meeting that is before me, 
 and the meetings that are held all over the country, are an answer 
 to the allegation. I believe that the true public opinion of the 
 Churcli of England is in its great majority not against us, but on our 
 side. They know that this Creed has existed in its present form 
 at least for thirteen centuries ; they know that the doctrines which it 
 embodies are drawn from the earliest ages of the Church, before the 
 division of the East and West ; they know that at the Reformation 
 the Church of England deliberately adopted those three Creeds, 
 and that at every successive revision of her formularies these three 
 Creeds have held their own place, and I believe that the great 
 majority of the laity and clergy of the Church of England will 
 now refuse to alter the status of these three Creeds. Sir, this is a 
 layman's cpestion. (Cheers.) The heritage of the faith is the 
 heritage alike of the clergy and the laity ; but the clergy are the 
 guardians and teachers of this faith ; and for whom do they guard
 
 Rev. Berdmore Compi 
 
 on. 
 
 it, and to whom do they teach it ? For us, the laity ; to us, the great 
 body of the Church ; and I say that it is now time for the laity to 
 speak out in defence of their Church. It is for this reason that I, 
 a layman, a man of business, unaccustomed to controversy, unde- 
 sirous of entering into controversy on Church matters, or any 
 other matters, come before you this night to advocate fidelity to 
 the faith and the Creeds of the Church, and to express my belief 
 that the great majority of the laity of the Church will refuse to 
 see their Creeds tampered with, and their faith frittered away, 
 and will heartily concur with you in the resolution which I have 
 now the honour to propose : — 
 
 " That this meeting fully and unhesitatingly accepts the teaching 
 of the Church of England, contained in its Eighth Article of Ee- 
 ligion ; that ' the three Creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasius's Creed, 
 and that which is commonly called the Apostles' Creed, ought 
 thoroughly to be received and believed ; for they may be proved 
 by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture.' " (Loud cheers.) 
 
 The Eev. Berdmore Compton (Eector of St. Paul, Covent 
 Garden). — In seconding this resolution, the first sentiment I wish 
 to enounce is the echo of that which has been so plainly stated by 
 my predecessor — namely, that this is a layman's question much 
 more than a clergyman's question. With regard to the holding the 
 truth of this resolution, I should be simply a perjured man if I did 
 not. (Loud cheers.) I have, I believe, solemnly sworn to it six 
 times, and I hold my present position in the Church simply and 
 wholly on the faith of adherence to it. Now, with regard to 
 the attacks upon the Athanasian Creed which have brought us 
 together to-night, they may be mainly divided into attacks upon 
 the substance, and attacks upon the language. The attacks on the 
 substance, so far as they are made within our Church, are headed 
 by no less a person than the Dean of Westminster. (Hisses.) I 
 leave him to Dean Waterland and Mr. Brewer. I do not think 
 this is a fit place to go into these questions, and I propose now to 
 direct your attention rather to the attacks on the language of the 
 Creed than to those on the substance. What, then, are the attacks 
 on the language of the Creed ? First, it is said that it consists 
 mainly of the negation of certain abstruse philosophical principles 
 which a man cannot understand. To this I answer, in the first 
 place, that although they may be abstruse, while they are abstruse 
 they can do no harm, and when their abstruseness disajipears they
 
 10 Bev. Berdmore Compion. 
 
 are wanted. An ignorant man, who has not sounded the depths of 
 the difficulties of the doctrine of the Incarnation and of the Blessed 
 Trinity, does not require them, nor can I see that it does him 
 any harm to have them declared to him. In support of this 
 principle, I will only remind you that we do not hesitate to teach 
 our children the Seventh Commandment. It is not till the ab- 
 struseness disappears that it is wanted, and then it is immediately 
 wanted. And here let me say that very few persons who raise these 
 objections really do believe the whole of the Creed, though it is to 
 its language only they profess to object. Some may, but I believe 
 they are very few. Nothing can be more remarkable in the ex- 
 perience of all those who have lately had to do with this great 
 question, than the manner in which the extraordinary ignorance 
 and disbelief of many people has come out. For, it must be 
 remembered that this Creed contains a great deal more than 
 the two prominent chapters — if I may so call them — on the 
 doctrines of the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation. It contains, 
 besides, most definite announcement of two most important doc- 
 trines — viz. the doctrine of eternal punishment, and the doctrine 
 that a right faith is necessary to salvation; and I can only say that 
 I have almost invariably found, in talking and discussing this great 
 subject with persons who did not agree in maintaining the Creed, 
 that it was on one or other of these supplementary subjects that 
 they really did not believe in what the Creed taught. When we 
 were getting up petitions some time ago to the Lower House of 
 Convocation, on this subject, I was talking to two of my friends 
 whom I asked to sign the petition. They said they could not sign 
 it on account of what they called the Damnatory Clauses. I pointed 
 out to them the famous passage in the 16th. chapter of St. Mark's 
 Gospel, and I showed them that the language of the Damnatory 
 Clauses, as they called them, was not stronger than the language of 
 our Blessed Lord. Well, one of them immediately said that he 
 thought that language was too strong ; and the other said he did 
 not believe in eternal punishment at all. Both those men thought 
 themselves good Churchmen. (A laugh.) They had gone on 
 thinking themselves good Churchmen, and it was not till this 
 question arose, and these differences were brought out, that these 
 really dangerous doubts came up. Secondly, the objectors to 
 the expressions of the Creed find great fault with them for being 
 negative ; and I grieve to say that in the pamphlet of the Bishop 
 of Salisbury he has to a great degree endorsed these doubts by
 
 Rev. Berdmore Compton. 11 
 
 stating in a most careful way that, only so far as the statements 
 of this Creed are affirmative, he believes it to be a most useful 
 and venerable document. I am prepared to maintain that negative 
 precepts are absolutely necessary for complete instruction when you 
 get beyond the very first rudiments of knowledge in almost anything. 
 Go to a master of elocution, to be taught to read or speak, which 
 many of us so grievously require — (laughter) — and after he has 
 found out that you have the power of stringing two or three words 
 together, what does he say to you — " Don't drop your voice at 
 the end of your sentences ; don't raise it up in what used to be 
 called House of Commons twang ; don't play with your watch- 
 chain," and twenty more negative precepts ; and you will be 
 lucky if you escape without the most pungent of all negative 
 teaching, viz. the ludicrous mimicry of your absurd peculiarities. 
 It is the same in rowing. As soon as you have the power of 
 sitting in the boat at all, what does an instructor tell you? — 
 " Don't look at your oar ; don't stiffen your back ; don't pull your 
 arms in till you have done your stroke." It is the same thing with 
 skating. As soon as a man can struggle along on a skate at all, 
 what does a kind friend tell him ? — " Don't look at the ice ; don't 
 bend the knee of the leg that is off the ice; don't stiffen your 
 elbows ;" and it is lucky if he does not add a minatory sentence — 
 " If you don't mind what I say you'll fall down." (Cheers.) But 
 now to rise to higher things. Even in such clemently instruction 
 as the Ten Commandments, as soon as a child or a grown-up 
 person arrives at the barest knowledge that he has some duty to 
 God and to man, are not seven of the Commandments negative? 
 But I can scarcely give you a better illustration of the point than 
 by telling you of a conversation I had the other day with one of 
 our most eminent architects. He said — " In giving instructions to 
 my builders and to my clerks of the works, I always find it neces- 
 sary not only to tell them what to do, but also carefully to tell them 
 what not to do. I find," he said, " by experience, that I know per- 
 fectly well the faults they will fall into unless they are expressly 
 warned against them." Sir, I submit that that is precisely the 
 position of the Catholic Church in framing and keeping before us 
 the Athanasian Creed. The Church as early, no doubt, as the 
 middle of the fifth century found out by four centuries of ex- 
 perience the errors of faith into which her children were liable 
 to fall unless they were expressly warned against them. There- 
 fore it is that she put before us, under, as I believe, the Divine
 
 12 Bev. Berdmore Compton. 
 
 guidance, and has maintained ever since, this Creed of St. Atba- 
 nasius, containing these negative precepts, as supplementary to 
 the affirmative precepts of the Nicene Creed. Now, sir, I proceed 
 to those well-known clauses, miscalled damnatory. I suppose there 
 is hardly a man in this room who does not know that this term is 
 thoroughly misapplied ; that they are admonitory and not dam- 
 natory ; or, if I might venture to put it in rather more legal 
 language, they are the announcements of God's law, and not the 
 pronouncing of God's sentence. I lament, I must say again, that 
 the Bishop of Salisbury ignores this great truth, and I am sure 
 that that great truth is, in fact, the main answer to his argument 
 against the admonitory clauses in the pamphlet he has lately 
 published. I cannot understand how a person's conscience can 
 be offended by a declaration of law against special offences, 
 unless, indeed, the cap fits. (Cheers.) It appears to me to be 
 as absurd to object to the law being announced to us in this way 
 as it would be for the troops in her Majesty's service to object to 
 the articles of war being read to them, as I believe they are, by 
 Act of Parliament, every three months. It appears to me that the 
 consciences of those who hear these announcements of law ought 
 no more to be hurt by it than the conscience of every soldier in 
 her Majesty's service is hurt when the officer reads the law 
 whereby every one who deserts her Majesty's service is liable to 
 the punishment of death ; nor can I conceive any but the most 
 ignorant soldier in her Majesty's service mistaking that for a 
 sentence of death upon any one else ! or thinking it uncharitable 
 to intending deserters ! I now approach the remaining argument, 
 which has been so much pressed upon us now — that this question, 
 having once been raised, must now be settled, and settled by some 
 alteration of the Creed. The Creed, it is said, is unpopular; people 
 do not like it, and some persons sit down when the Creed is said in 
 the churches. Sir, I can hardly find words to express my detesta- 
 tion of the principle that popular taste is to be the criterion of 
 religious practice ! As long as we live on this side the grave, the 
 natural man is not crushed in each one of us ; and as long as 
 the natural man is alive he will always strive against the Spirit, 
 and in striving against the Spirit he, of course, dislikes the 
 announcements of the Spirit. We are told in Holy Scripture 
 that the office of the Holy Spirit Himself is to " convince the 
 world of sin, because they believe not ; " and is it reasonable to 
 expect that the world will like to be convinced of sin? Moreover,
 
 Eei). Berdmore Compton. 13 
 
 it is said that this fact of unpopularity requires that the question 
 should be settled somehow. It is argued on behalf of some tender 
 consciences that they would be greatly relieved if the question 
 was at an end, and they no longer heard this most sacred ques- 
 tion publicly and loudly debated among men. I confess to 
 have a considerable feeling for them, but that feeling has not 
 such force that I can consent for one moment to sacrifice for 
 it not only one of the important articles of faith, but not even 
 the expression of the important articles of faith. Let me advert 
 to a point of Church history which strongly illustrates this. At 
 the great Council of Ariminum in the fourth century, it was 
 strongly pressed by the Arians that the word o/xoouVtov, being a 
 new word, and not found in Holy Scripture, caused division amongst 
 Catholics, and therefore they wished that the word should be re- 
 moved from the Creed of Nicsea. The orthodox Bishops at that 
 council were weak enough to remove that word, and the conse- 
 quence was that immediately after, the Arians throughout the 
 whole world boasted that the doctrine of the Council of NicEea 
 was contradicted at that council, and Arianism substituted for it. 
 I say this is a great warning to us to stick to our terms as well 
 as to our Faith. And now there is another argument still left 
 which must be dealt with, — that this question must be settled 
 somehow, and that something must be done to the Creed, simply 
 because the question has been raised. I submit to you, sir, and 
 to all this meeting that you will agree with me in this sentiment 
 — we are not so anxious to have the question settled at all. I am 
 a member of Christ's Church "militant here on earth" — (loud 
 cheers) — and as long as I am a soldier I shall have to fight. If I 
 thought that the enemy would lay down their arms altogether, I 
 should be very willing to have the question settled in that way ; 
 but I am not going to settle the question by either surrendering or 
 dismantling any bulwark of our faith. They are not the least likely 
 to leave off" their assaults if we yield to them on this one jpoint. I 
 suppose that no reasonable man can doubt that the next thing we 
 should have to do would be to defend the other two Creeds ; there- 
 fore, say I, let us go on fighting this, if they choose to fight, till the 
 end of the chapter. There are indications, indeed, that the enemy 
 are already looking behind them. I believe we have only to stand 
 firm a little longer, and we shall find that what was the fate of the 
 proposals of comprehension in the year 1689 will be the fate of the 
 schemes of the present comprehensionists. There is an old story
 
 14 Rev. Berdmore Comjyton. 
 
 of Marshal Saxe, who described the many battles he had been in 
 as having all one feature : that the two sides faced each other 
 fighting for a long time, and at last one side ran away, and he 
 never could make out why they ran away. Here is a piece of 
 useful negative precept, viz. that the way to win a battle is not 
 to run away. Provided you stand firm, let the other party per- 
 form that manoeuvre. (Cheers.) Now, gentlemen, I cannot see 
 why we should have any cause whatever for fear. I cannot see 
 that the artillery of the present comprehensionists is any heavier 
 than the artillery of Tillotson and Burnet. As far as I can under- 
 stand what is very difficult to understand, the weapons of the most 
 practised controversialist amongst our opponents, even though 
 they come from an episcopal quiver, are more like the arrows of a 
 dexterous archer, endeavouring to pick off our sentinels, than the 
 crushing blows of a Eoman catapult on the walls of our Zion. 
 (Cheers.) In this matter I believe that the guns have not surpassed 
 the armour. I believe that we are fully capable of maintaining our 
 position, that our fort— and, remember, this is our advanced fort — 
 is as strong as ever. I cannot say that it might not be possible 
 to have the glacis smoothed or the ditch cleaned out. I cannot 
 say that possibly something might not be done by an improved 
 translation ; but I cannot believe that in the present temper of the 
 Church of England the profit of that endeavour would be worth 
 the risk. In conclusion, let me avow my belief that this great 
 contest, which has now been going on for a good many months 
 among us, has already not only done no harm, but a great deal of 
 good. I believe it has brought out in the most prominent way that 
 which has been far too much kept in the background, even amongst 
 the clergy, and that is, the absolute necessity of a right faith in 
 order to salvation. I am not afraid to say — I should be a coward 
 if I were — that I believe it very possible that a man leading a most 
 moral, respectable, and well-conducted life, but not believing any 
 more than he chooses of what Almighty God has been pleased to 
 reveal to him of Himself, is more offensive in the sight of God 
 even than the profligate who, in a humble spirit, is ready as soon 
 as he knows it to come unconditionally before the mercy of God. 
 (Cheers.) I should be wrong if I did not believe that, when I 
 know that the publican and the harlot were nearer the kingdom of 
 God than the Pharisee, even though his manner of life be " after 
 the most straitest sect of our religion." I believe this contest has 
 done a great deal of good in another way. It has drawn an extra-
 
 The Marquess of Salishury. 15 
 
 ordinary sharp and hard line through the Church — in one respect 
 very sadly. It has found out many men as not being really firmly 
 attached to the faith, who, we earnestly hoped, would have been 
 found so. It may be sad for us, but I believe it is good for the 
 camp of God. But secondly, and far more joyfully, it has found out 
 many men through the length and breadth of England who are far 
 more attached to the faith of Christ than they ever thought them- 
 selves to be. (Cheers.) I rejoice most unfeignedly in a line having 
 been drawn irrespective of parties, separating a great party of faith 
 to stand together, as I hope, immovably and inseparably, united 
 together by the only bond which can safely and permanently unite 
 Christian men — the bond of firm, humble, hearty belief in all that 
 has been revealed to them. It has parted off this party of faith 
 to stand together united in this one determination — to uphold 
 the doctrine of the Eighth Article, and to maintain that the 
 doctrines of the three Creeds are firmly to be preserved and 
 maintained, for they may be proved by most certain warrants of 
 Holy Scripture. (Loud cheers.) 
 The resolution was carried by acclamation. 
 
 The Marquess of Salisbury (who was received with great cheer- 
 ing) said — The resolution which I have to move is — 
 
 " That this meeting earnestly deprecates, as fraught with danger 
 to the preservation of Christian truth throughout the world, any 
 mutilation of the Athanasian Creed, or any alteration of its status 
 in the Book of Common Prayer." 
 
 The position of things with which We have to deal is this — an 
 ancient Creed (which we now know dates from the sixth century) 
 representing with exact fidelity the words and phrases of the greatest 
 uninspired champion the Christian Church ever produced, round 
 which the faith and devotion of thirty generations of Christians 
 have entwined themselves — this Creed has come down to our time, 
 and for the first time in the history of Europe it is proposed to offer 
 an affront to it. We have to ask ourselves what are the reasons on 
 which this course is taken, what are the grounds which can be 
 alleged in its behalf, and what are the dangers which it reveals ? 
 Of course, there have been many different courses proposed to be 
 adopted with reference to this Creed. On the part of those who, 
 partly from their own feelings, but I think more often with the 
 desire of averting a supposed popular feeling, which perhaps after 
 all did not exist, complain of this Creed, a great variety of changes
 
 16 The Marquess of SaJishnry. 
 
 have been suggested ; but iu the main they have resolved themselves 
 into two. One of them is that which has been unhappily supported 
 by some Bishops of our Church, and which I am bound to say 
 has commended itself to a few excellent men, and that is the 
 mutilation of the Creed. To me that has always seemed the most 
 inadmissible proposition that could possibly be made. (Cheers.) 
 There is not only that consideration upon which the chairman has 
 so forcibly remarked, that this Creed is the inheritance of the whole 
 Catholic Church, and no part of the Church can take upon itself to 
 tamper with its words ; but there is also the fact that these clauses, 
 speaking of the retribution of guilty unbelief, only express a doctrine 
 which is expressed with quite as much distinctness and force in other 
 parts of the formularies of the Church. Until you can get rid of the 
 Eighteenth Article, the one anathema which the gentle spirit of our 
 Eeformers allowed them to insert in the formularies of faith, — the 
 Article which states that " they are to be had accursed that presume to 
 say that every man shall be saved by the law or sect which he pro- 
 fesseth, so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that law 
 and the light of nature," — yon will not get rid of the objection which 
 these gentlemen feel to the warning clauses of the Athanasian 
 Creed. Therefore, the whole object which they have in view would 
 not be met except by far more drastic measures than they venture 
 to propose. I do not like to speak of the purely theological objec- 
 tions, for I know there are those coming after me who can dwell 
 with a great deal more force than I can upon the terrible danger 
 of teaching in this age of scepticism that dogma is a matter of small 
 account, and that men may safely tamper with their faith. I do not 
 dwell on that ; but do not suppose I pass it by because I lightly 
 regard its importance, but because I greatly regard my own in- 
 capacity to deal with such a theme. Look, then, at the matter in a 
 humbler but more practical view. If you propose in any way to 
 alter or mutilate the Athanasian Creed, who is to do it ? (Cheers.) 
 Convocation will not. (Loud cheers.) Then, it must be done by 
 the House of Commons. ("Oh, oh!") Anyone who has been 
 privileged to hear the way in which discussions in committee, on 
 any important proposition, are carried on in that House, will not 
 feel that it will tend much to the advance of Christian edification 
 if the highest doctrines of our faith are submitted to amendments 
 and counter amendments, divisions and cross divisions, in that 
 highly honourable, but somewhat combative, assembly. (A 
 laugh.) Yet tliat is what you will be driven to, if it is allowed
 
 . The Marquess of Salisbury. 17 
 
 for one moment that the Legislature of its own mind, and without 
 any support or sanction from the Church, is to undertake the 
 task, before which synods of Churchmen have shrunk, of framing 
 new formulas of faith for the acceptance of the Christian Church. 
 I, therefore, put aside this question of altering the Creed. Apart 
 from theological objections, I put it aside as a thing that in the 
 present constitution of the English Government, in the present 
 relations between the Church and the State, it would be impossible 
 to do. Then, we come to the other proposition— the proposition 
 which has the sanction of Lord Shaftesbury's name, and which 
 was supported by a memorial he procured in the course of the 
 summer. The proposal is that the Creed should be banished from 
 its present position in the service of the Church, — not, as I 
 understand, dismissed altogether from the Church's considera- 
 tion, but put upon a kind of retired list — (laughter) — put, as 
 a gentleman in the gallery observes, upon half-pay, and in that 
 condition left upon the formularies of the Church. Now, have 
 these 7000 gentlemen who signed the memorial asked themselves 
 what their objection really is ? It cannot be an objection to 
 substance, because if it was an objection to substance it could 
 not possibly have been signed by any clergy of the Established 
 Church. We know that the clergy have all stated in the most 
 solemn way, and so have many besides the clergy, that this 
 Creed is most thoroughly to be received and believed, for it may 
 be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture; and we 
 know that they. are all not only pious but honourable men ; and 
 it is perfectly inconceivable that they should join in an objection to 
 the substance of that which they have pronounced to be perfectly 
 consonant with Holy Scripture. But not only that — the very 
 course they propose to pursue shows that they do not object to the 
 substance of the Creed ; because it is to be left among the formularies, 
 only it is not to be recited in church : in other words, if they object 
 to the substance, they are prepared to say that that may be an- 
 nounced to the world as the belief of a body of Christians which 
 that body of Christians dare not say in the presence of Almighty 
 God in church. That is an inconceivable proposition, and I think 
 it is impossible to come to any other conclusion but that these 
 7000 gentlemen— (^ Voice—'' 3000"*)— these 3000 gentlemen, then 
 
 * The " Voice " was in error. Lord Shaftesbury's memorial had the osten- 
 sible support of nearly 7000 names; though it is fair to add that Lord 
 Shaftesbury himself has no means of verifying the genuineness of many of 
 these names. — Editor. 
 
 C
 
 18 The Marquess of Salisbury. 
 
 — I beg their pardon for exaggerating their number — object to no- 
 thing but the form of the Creed. Well, now, I have read a great num- 
 ber of objections to the form of the Creed, I might almost call them 
 cavils, and what has struck me in respect of them all is, that though 
 they show much learning and great ingenuity, they are all marked 
 by an utter want of breadth. They are the criticisms not of men 
 accustomed to deal with large masses of mankind, but rather the 
 fastidious criticisms of men accustomed to deal with literary pro- 
 ductions. I was much struck with the fact that in this memorial 
 of 3000 there were several peers, many members of Parliament, 
 and many persons well known in London, but there was a very 
 beggarly array of churchwardens. (Cheers.) There was, in fact, 
 a large assemblage of the rich and educated, but of the other por- 
 tions of the laity very little account seems to have been taken. I 
 am not myself adverse in secular matters to a certain flavour of 
 aristocratic doctrine, but I never dreamt of such Toryism as would 
 imagine that the objections of peers and members of Parliament to 
 an article of faith were more valuable than those of humbler laymen* 
 But there is a lesson to be drawn from this peculiar proportion. 
 It struck me on reading it that it was a proportion not dissimi- 
 lar to that which St. Paul observed when he contemplated the 
 ranks of the early Christian converts, and possibly for the same 
 reason ; but, at all events, it shows us that these criticisms and 
 objections which are levelled at the Creed are not of a kind 
 which can commend themselves to the broad views of the mass 
 of men. The mass of men do not understand these fastidious 
 objections to mere form. They think of substance, and of substance 
 only. They do not inquire whether this Article may be possibly 
 offensive to the Greek Church. They do not ask whether that 
 Article may represent a view of the Divine hypostasis later than 
 the Nic^ean : they do not enter into subtleties of that kind ; but 
 these broad facts are present to their minds — they know this Creed 
 has come down through many centuries associated with the most 
 sacred doctrines of the Christian Church ; they know it was taken 
 by the Eeformers whose names they venerate, and from whose 
 fellowship they would not be lightly parted, and put in the fore- 
 front in order to mark, at a moment when faith was sorely tried, 
 the intensity of the adhesion of the Church of England to this, the 
 foundation of our faith. They know that under the shadow of this 
 Creed have rested minds as learned and hearts as holy as any 
 Church has ever produced ; they know that through the three
 
 The Marquess of Salisbury. 19 
 
 centuries that have elapsed since this Creed was put into the 
 common service of our Church, numbers of men, generations of 
 Christian men, certainly not less devoted and less holy than those 
 amongst whom we live, have been perfectly satisfied to receive this 
 Creed ; and they now know that it has been attacked, in the first 
 instance, mainly under the urgency and at the desire of men to 
 whom all dogmatic teaching is an abomination. Well, then, if 
 you give it up, do you imagine they will think it is on account of a 
 criticism of mere form ? Do you imagine they will not see the 
 substance behind the form, and that they will not conclude that the 
 Church that deserts a position that has been held so long is really 
 indifferent to the doctrine which that Creed contains ? I am 
 astounded, I confess, at the levity with which many men seem to 
 have regarded the effects that will follow from the course which 
 they recommend with respect to this Creed. They seem to imagine 
 that tender consciences are all upon one side. They seem to think 
 that a man may be very sensitive to words in a Creed which he 
 thinks are too strongly expressed, but that it is impossible that any 
 man should be sensitive if an affront is put upon the main article of 
 the faith which he holds. That is the danger which we have to 
 fear. There are two courses which may be pursued. It is barely 
 possible that Parliament may interfere with this Creed ; it is barely 
 possible that the Church may give it up. (" Never, never.") If 
 Parliament were to interfere with it the evil would be very great. 
 Supposing it were to remove the Creed from the Prayer Book and 
 prohibit its use in church, I fear that the prohibition would be dis- 
 regarded — (great cheering) — in such a vast number of instances 
 that Parliament would be puzzled to execute its own decrees. If, 
 on the other hand, the option, as it is called, of abandoning it were 
 given, it would introduce a new party line into the Church, a new 
 cause of bitterness and antagonism between parish and parish, new 
 controversies, new acrimonies, new sources of paralysis to the 
 efforts by which alone religion and civilization can be carried into 
 the masses of ignorance with which we have to deal. But the inter- 
 ference of Parliament would be a far lighter evil than the possible 
 submission and desertion of the Church. It is a small matter com- 
 paratively that consciences would be wounded, and deep resent- 
 ments would be excited, and probably a formidable schism would 
 be created ; it is a small matter compared with that frightful evil 
 that men would come to look upon the Church as having deserted 
 her sacred mission, and having sunk to the level of those Protes- 
 
 c 2
 
 20 Bev, H. Te7nple. 
 
 tant communities abroad — at Geneva and in Paris — where the 
 faith which the Athanasian Creed proclaims has been openly- 
 abandoned. Such a result might be obtained by the help of those 
 scruj)ulous consciences whom we respect, though we regret their 
 efforts; but it would not be the scrupulous consciences that 
 would reap the ultimate results. Behind the thin line of 
 scrupulous consciences we see the vast forces of unbelief. The 
 scrupulous consciences would win the battle ; the forces of unbelief 
 would gather the spoils of victory. (Great cheering.) But I need 
 not pursue that theme. I feel that it cannot be. (Renewed cheers.) 
 I am sure that the experience of the last few months has taught 
 Churchmen and politicians alike that this is not a subject to be 
 lightly tampered with. I feel certain, at least, of this — from all 
 that in public or in private I have seen, that if at this time, and at 
 such a bidding, under such threatening circumstances, with infi- 
 delity raging around our walls — if this standard of our faith is in 
 any degree resigned, it will not be by the will or with the consent 
 of the Church, but it will be done by external force alone ; and 
 that to the end the Church will be faithful to the heritage that has 
 been handed down to her from olden times. (Loud cheers.) 
 
 Eev. H. Temple (Vicar of St. John's, Leeds). — It will be, I 
 fear, only as a feeble, almost voiceless echo of the north that I can 
 venture to lift up such a voice as I have in this assembly ; but when 
 the Committee requested me this morning to supplement the feeble 
 efforts I have been making during the last three months as hono- 
 rary secretary for the northern province by appearing in this pve- 
 sence and speaking here, I felt that the least I could do would be 
 to make the attempt. There is no question that the resolution which 
 the Marquess of Salisbury has so ably moved, and which I am now 
 trying to second, is the resolution which has provoked criticism up to 
 this time, and which will provoke a great deal more ; therefore I am 
 glad of the opportunity of stating at the outset that I accept it in its 
 fulness without the slightest hesitation. (Cheers.) We are taunted, 
 you know, by criticism about such ex^Dressions as " danger to the 
 preservation of Christian truth." Of course we know what that 
 means. There is no danger to the truth itself — that we are all per- 
 fectly satisfied about — but the danger will be to those, whether 
 persons or churches, who, having the truth distinctly and clearly 
 set before them, perversely refuse to accept it. Now, let me speak 
 on two points that have been already referred to, with reference to
 
 Bev. H. Temple. 21 
 
 the Creed itself. We are told by our opponents in this matter 
 that the language of the Creed is obscure. Good people, is this 
 what they really mean ? Is it indeed the case that they object to 
 the Athanasian Creed because its language is too obscure ? Why 
 those clergy of us who labour in large towns know perfectly 
 well how rampant Arianism is on every side of us. We know that 
 when we hold this Creed up to opponents of that description, and 
 place it before them, we are tempted to ask this question — 
 
 " Can you not read it ? Is it not fair writ ? " 
 and we almost seem to hear a sort of whisper in return, which dares 
 not quite be outspoken, 
 
 " Too fairly, Hubert, for so foul effect." ' 
 
 It is the doctrine, my lords and gentlemen, it is the doctrine 
 that forms the real ground of objection, and this miserable plea of 
 obscurity is but stalking-horse No. 1, which is put in the fore- 
 front to be knocked down. Now to go on, suppose the Creed 
 were, as no doubt considering it on one side it must be admitted 
 to be, an obscure document — that is, that it expresses as strongly 
 and clearly as human language may dare to do, the deepest of 
 mysteries — suppose it to be obscure, then, as it cannot help being, 
 is that a reason for not reciting it in public ? It is not the only 
 obscure document in the world. There is an epistle written by 
 St. Paul, called the Epistle to the Colossians. Suppose you 
 read that, and try to face the doctrinal part of it thoroughly from 
 end to end, I believe you will find it is rather a difficult document. 
 Is it, therefore, not to be read in the church ? What does God the 
 Holy Ghost say to that ? " When this epistle is read among you, 
 cause that it be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans ; and 
 that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea." I need not now 
 go into the question of what is meant by the epistle from Laodicea, 
 but, if the generally received idea be the true one, that is not a 
 very easy document to make out either. Then, take the epistle to 
 the Hebrews. Every one, I suppose, will admit that there are great, 
 and deep, and abstruse difficulties there. Is it, then, to be left alone, 
 and not studied by Christians and not read in churches ? What 
 says the epistle itself? "Therefore ye ought to take the more 
 earnest heed to the things which ye have heard." One other 
 instance of this sort, and I leave this part of the question. There 
 is a book which comes to us written by the beloved disciple, and 
 called " The Book of the Kevelation of St. John the Divine." No
 
 22 Rev. H. Temjyle. 
 
 one will deny that whether that book is to be interpreted chiefly 
 with reference to things that have been, or with reference to things 
 that are, or with reference to things that shall be — take it which 
 way you will, it teems with difficulties of interpretation. Is it, 
 therefore, not to be read in public ? " Blessed is he that readeth, 
 and they that hear the words of this prophecy." What can be 
 plainer? But the Marquess of Salisbuiy hinted at another point which 
 I should like to take up. We profess in this age, do we not, that 
 we are the Church of the Keformation. I for one glory in belong- 
 ing to the Church of the Eeformation ; and what does that mean ? 
 It means that for the last 300 years we have been boasting of an 
 open Bible ; we have been boasting of a free religion ; and now we 
 are told— and in some degree by those who feel these things very 
 strongly indeed — to read all that backwards, and put this Creed 
 among some archives, where it can only be reached by the clergy or 
 by the learned who have leisure to go into these questions. What 
 does that say for the Church of the Eeformation ? Now, we come 
 to this other point, the question of what are called the damnatory 
 clauses. Eeally, those of us who have studied the question at all 
 must be tired of hearing of the, anathemas of the Athanasian Creed. 
 Why, we know perfectly well that there is not a single anathema in 
 the Athanasian Creed from beginning to end ; and I do not know 
 whether it would ever have been thought so, but that the word 
 seems to alliterate somehow with Athanasian. (Laughter.) I can go 
 further and say, not only are there no anathemas in the Athanasian 
 Creed, but there are no curses in the Commination Service. 
 There is not a single curse that I remember in the whole 
 Prayer Book, except only in certain of the Psalms and some other 
 passages which are taken directly verbatim from the Word of 
 God. The very essence of an anathema, the very essence of 
 a curse, is this, that it be in the imperative mood. Do you 
 want to hear a real Scriptural anathema ? This is one, " If any 
 man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. Maran- 
 atha." If you want to hear the form of a Scriptural curse, here it 
 is, " Though we or an angel from heaven preach imto you any other 
 gospel than that we have preached unto you, let him be accursed ; " 
 and that, you know, is reiterated with very considerable force in 
 the next verse. Now, let me give you what I think is a fair parallel, 
 and it is proper to say that the idea is not my own, but that it is 
 slightly altered from a very valuable pamphlet that was sent tome 
 last week on this subject, by its author, Canon Espin, of Wallasey.
 
 Bev. H. Temple. 23 
 
 Suppose that one of us clergy in this room were to stand up in his 
 pulpit, and to preach a sermon from this text — " No murderer hath 
 eternal life;" and suppose the preacher were then to say, " Now, look 
 fairly at this text, and think what it means — ' No murderer hath 
 eternal life ' ; remember, that forbids duelling ; remember, you who 
 are of a melancholy temperament, that forbids suicide ; remember 
 you who are statesmen, that God regards the authors of causeless 
 wars as murderers; and remember a little more than this, that 
 you must search the depths of your own hearts, and bear in mind 
 that the very highest authority has told us that he who hates his 
 brother is a murderer. Now take that home, and bring the thing 
 face to face with yourselves ; and, once again, think of those words, 
 ' No murderer hath eternal life.' " Which of us could say that a 
 preacher who had spoken so, had been cursing anybody ? (Loud 
 cheers.) Is not the parallel clear with respect to the Athanasian 
 Creed? Does not that Creed set out at its very beginning — " Whoso- 
 ever wishes to be saved, before all things it is necessary that he 
 hold the Catholic Faith." Very well, then it goes on to say, " And 
 the Catholic Faith is this," — then it shows those doctrines which 
 cluster round the wonderful fact of the existence of the glorious 
 Trinity in Unity, and the Incarnation of the Son of God. It sets 
 these facts out in detail. It then says, " Now, you must believe 
 this, and remember, further, that your belief must lead to action ; 
 for, ' they that have done good shall go into life everlasting ; and 
 they that have done evil into everlasting fire.' Put all that together 
 and then once again I state it — this is the Catholic faith, which 
 except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved." Has the 
 Creed been cursing us, then ? (Cheers.) Very well, just let me 
 put together, before I sit down, those points on which I have laid 
 some emphasis ; the danger which is called danger to the preserva- 
 tion of truth is really danger to those who perversely reject the truth 
 of God when it is fairly set before them; the question of the 
 Creed's obscurity, allow it in what sense we may, is no reason 
 whatever for refusing to admit of its recitation in public worship ; 
 and, lastly, the damnatory clauses, as they are called, are in no 
 sense whatever anathemas or curses at all. Well, it does us, who 
 come from the far end of the country, good to see in London a 
 meeting like this. It makes us think that after all the truth of 
 God is not likely to perish from the hearts of our own countrymen 
 yet. It makes us believe ever more and more distinctly, that the 
 Church is the ark of God, and that, however the winds which
 
 24 Sir T. Percival Heywood, Bart. 
 
 blow round her may bluster, bowever the waves wbicb surge 
 under ber may roll, sbe really carries with Christ her Lord on 
 board her own calm, her own safety with her, and is strong, even 
 against all appearances, to make the peace she does not find. 
 (Great cheering.) 
 
 The resolution was carried with much enthusiasm. 
 
 Sir T. Percival Heywood, Bart. — The resolution which I am 
 privileged to propose to you this evening is framed in these 
 words — 
 
 " That this Meeting pledges itself to employ all lawful means 
 for the maintenance, in its integrity, of the Athanasian Creed, 
 and of its prescribed use in the Church of England." If I had the 
 command of persuasive language, as those who have preceded me 
 this evening have had, I should have gladly welcomed this occasion 
 as one upon which I could tell you how intensely I sympathize with 
 the objects of this meeting. But I have no facility of language, 
 and I have asked the Committee not to request me to speak, but 
 only to give me a little work to do — that I am willing and anxious 
 to do. If we are to work there are a few things on which we must be 
 entirely agreed ; and one, I take it, is that if we are, in the words 
 of the resolution, to maintain our Creed in its integrity, it will 
 only be by establishing it in the affections of the people. (Cheers.) 
 Angry controversy, therefore, must be entirely excluded. Of that 
 there must be none, either in this meeting or in any of the proceed- 
 ings that may follow it. Then, I hope that we are all agreed that 
 it will never do for our Church to lower her standard of faith to 
 meet the wishes of anyone. It is for us to struggle and to pray uj) 
 to a high standard, not for the standard to be brought down to us 
 who use no effort and no prayer. We censure, and we justly cen- 
 sure, a Church that teaches us dogmatic truth more than Scripture 
 warrants ; should not we equally ceusure a Church that teaches less 
 than Scripture truth ? Each Churhcman is a trustee for the faith 
 which he has received, and he must hand it on in its integrity to 
 his children. You will all have your own especial ways of helping 
 to carry out the object of this resolution. For myself, I confess 
 my firm conviction is, that one way only will avail, and that is 
 for the Church to take back into her own hands the absolute and 
 entire education and religious training of her people. (Loud 
 cheers.) It is to this work that, in the presence of this great 
 meeting, I humbly pledge myself to devote what efforts I can, and
 
 Bev. Lord Alwyne Comi^ton. . 25 
 
 in that work I earnestly invite you to join. But whatever method 
 you adopt, let us all go hand in hand ; let us work with heart and 
 soul, and, although the time may be far distant when we shall have 
 regained what we want, it surely will come. (Cheers.) 
 
 The Kev. Lord Alwyne Compton. — I have great satisfaction in 
 seconding this resolution, and the more so, because I feel it is one 
 that will not require many words from me to commend it to your 
 acceptance, for in fact it necessarily follows from those you have 
 already so enthusiastically carried. You have already affirmed — 
 it is strange that it should need affirmation — your acceptance of 
 that Article of the Church of England which declares that the 
 three Creeds are to be thoroughly received and believed, because 
 they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture, 
 and in so doing you have set your acceptance to the whole of the 
 Athanasian Creed. I say to the whole of it, because, as we all 
 know, it contains at least two distinct parts : it sets forth in the 
 first place the necessity of a sound faith for salvation, and it next 
 declares what that sound faith consists in ; and it is well known to 
 us all that those things in which the sound faith consists are the 
 essential articles of the Christian Creed. But while we admit 
 that, we cannot forget that the Church of England applies to the 
 whole document the name of the Creed of St. Athanasius, and that it 
 applies, therefore, to the whole document that declaration of the 
 Eighth Article, that it can be proved by most certain warrants of 
 Holy Scripture. We have heard many arguments used against the 
 public recitation of the Athanasian Creed in church. The greater 
 part of them have always appeared to me extraordinarily weak and 
 futile. We have been told that we ought to give up the Creed 
 because we are not certain who wrote it, and again, because it has 
 not had the acceptance of any General Council ; two arguments 
 which, if they were true, would involve giving up the Apostles' 
 Creed also. We have been asked also to give it up, because it is 
 hard of comprehension; because some parts of it are exceedingly 
 painful to those who read or hear them ; because some parts of it 
 touch upon such subjects expressed in human language that there 
 is great danger lest ignorant men hearing it, so far from being 
 brought to the truth, might actually fall into dangerous heresies 
 — three arguments, no doubt, of some weight, but every one of 
 them has been applied against the public reading of the Holy 
 Scriptures in the church. Lastly, I have actually heard it
 
 26 Bev. Lord Alwyne Comj^ton. 
 
 argued that we ought to withdraw this Creed from public use, 
 because in the Church of Eome it is not commonly known to the 
 laity. (Laughter.) I have heard this argument adduced by men 
 who were proud of the name of Protestants, and who seem to 
 forget that it has been the boast of our Church that she has not 
 buried any portion of God's truth in a dead language or in 
 hidden places such as they wish us to put this Creed into — (loud 
 cheers) — but that she has placed it freely and openly before 
 the people. But I have heard one argument against the Creed, 
 which certainly is a weighty one if true. No one this evening 
 has referred to it. I have heard from the lips of clergy that the 
 Creed was false. (" No, no.") I cannot say that I have heard it 
 from the lips of the laity — (loud cheers) — but I have heard that 
 said in Convocation and elsewhere, and I must say I heard it with 
 very great pain. I felt that if the Creed were false, then no doubt 
 those who wished to silence it would be justified ; though not those 
 who wished to alter it. I cannot see that the Church of England 
 has any right to alter that which is the common heritage of the 
 greater part of Christendom; but we have power over our own 
 formularies and services, and the Church of England would be 
 bound to alter her Eighth Article, and to cut this Creed out of her 
 Common Prayer if that argument were sound. But I have never 
 yet heard that argument proved. I have hardly heard an attempt 
 to prove it. I have heard a certain amount of popular talk about 
 charity — I hardly like to say popular talk about charity, because 
 it is far too sacred a thing for having popular talk about ; but I have 
 heard no successful attempt to prove that this Creed is false by the 
 one test which Churchmen can admit, that it is not according 
 to the Word of God. We who defend this Creed are entitled to 
 say — " The Church of England has declared that this Creed is to 
 be believed, because it can be proved by the true word of Scripture. 
 You say it is false. Prove your assertion by that word of Scripture. 
 It is not for us to prove its truth ; it is for you to prove its falsity 
 if you can;" and I have never seen that attempted. Holding then, 
 as we have all held to-day, that the Creed is true, and that it can 
 be proved to be so by Scripture, we have next resolved that that 
 truth is not a truth of light or unimportant character — not a truth 
 that may be put aside, but that it is essential to the maintenance 
 of Christian truth tliroughout the world ; that any mutilation or 
 suppression of this Creed would be exceedingly dangerous to the 
 faith. That resolution you have carried already, and if you are
 
 Bev. Lord Alwyne Compton. 27 
 
 convinced of those two facts, that it is true and tliat it is necessary 
 to maintain that truth publicly, I need hardly impress upon you 
 that it is your duty as lovers of truth and lovers of mankind to 
 take every legal step in your power to retain that Creed in its 
 integrity in the Book of Common Prayer. But I should like 
 to say a very few words as to the terms of this resolution, because 
 I have found that in the country some persons have misunderstood 
 it. It has been supposed that the intention is to pledge this great 
 meeting generally and individually to take legal proceedings to 
 bring punishment upon such of the clergy as do not use the Creed 
 in their services. If such were the meaning of the resolution, I 
 for one could not support it. I assume, as a matter of course, 
 that all the clergy are bound to obey the law of the Book 
 of Common Prayer, and that those who are set over us in the 
 Church are bound to see that we do it. As a general rule that is 
 perfectly clear. At the same time, I do believe that those who are 
 set in authority do possess and ought to use some discretion as to 
 how they enforce the laws of the Church. I think that discretion 
 may well be used in this case, for I am perfectly convinced that the 
 great mass of the clergy who are in the habit of passing over this 
 particular part of their duties do so not from any unsoundness in 
 the faith — not from any doubt of the truth they have over and over 
 again declared of the Eighth Article, but from motives of policy or 
 expediency, from a real feeling for weak consciences, from re- 
 membering that " mercy is better than sacrifice," though it may be 
 they are mistaken in their application of that text. I should be 
 sorry to punish them for what is, after all, an error of judgment. 
 This is not my only reason for saying that such a course would 
 be foolish. It is not easy under present circumstances for the 
 authorities of the Church of England to enforce her laws ; and the 
 only result of trying to do so has been this (it is not my own 
 remark) — to mark out to those who are disloyal within her com- 
 munion how near they may go towards breaking the law without 
 subjecting themselves to its penalties. The great majority of 
 clergy who do not use this Creed are loyal to the truth ; but 
 there may be some who are disloyal, and I feel confident, therefore, 
 that no greater mistake could be made than to use legal means to 
 enforce the use of this Creed ; vexing and harassing the faithful, 
 and strengthening the hands of the unfaithful. But that is not 
 what you are asked to do. You are asked to pledge yourselves 
 to use all lawful means in your power for the maintenance in
 
 28 Bev. Lord Alwyne Cotnpton. 
 
 its integrity of tlie Atlianasian Creed, and of its prescribed use 
 in the Church of England; that is, to use all lawful means in 
 your power that the Creed shall not be mutilated, that the rubric 
 shall not be so altered as to silence it. What the lawful means 
 in our power are, may be a question. There are certainly two : 
 one is, public meeting and public speech, which we are now 
 using; and the other is, the right of petition, which, I believe, 
 we shall shortly exercise. But I would remark this, iliat in 
 order to make any alteration in the integrity or the status of 
 the Creed, only two courses appear to be j)ossible — the one course, 
 which is the proper and constitutional course, would be for 
 the Church itself to take action on the subject, and then for the 
 State to back up that action. Now, as Lord Salisbury has told you, 
 we are safe from that. The Convocations of the Church can take 
 no action, unless it is agreed to by the Bishops on the one hand 
 and by the clergy on the other. I can only speak of the Lower 
 House of the Convocation of Canterbury^ of which I am a humble 
 member ; and I can assure you there is not the slightest chance of 
 our consenting to any such alteration as you are to-day met to 
 protest against. In the regular course, then, there is no fear of 
 this Creed being interfered with. The irregular course would 
 be for Parliament to act for and by itself, to forbid the use of 
 the Creed, and forbid all exercise of Church discipline on the 
 subject. I cannot believe that the members of Parliament, your 
 representatives, have learned what is now called the great lesson 
 of toleration in such a sense as to believe it consists in this — 
 that every body of Christians, except one, may manage its own 
 affairs ; but that the one body which is established is to be 
 legislated for not merely without consulting its wishes, but against 
 the known wishes of a great majority of its members. I have 
 no fear of such a result. The wishes of the clergy are well 
 known on the subject, as has been shown by the votes of both 
 Convocations, and the petitions that have been presented, and I 
 am glad to see before me now no slight proof of what the wishes of 
 the laity are. I will not go into the question of whether you form the 
 majority of the laity in the Church ; but if you are not, you are at 
 least a very powerful minority, and I trust you will make your 
 voice heard by your representatives. It may be said we are rather 
 inconsistent in maintaining a law, and in the same breath saying 
 we do not mean to enforce it. It is a plausible argument, but T think 
 it is not a sound one. Let me put this to you — Sujiposing a hundred
 
 Mr. Hoj^hins. 29 
 
 years ago we had had an agitation, not on the Athanasian Creed, 
 but on the daily service ; and suppose the rulers in Church and 
 State had met together and said, " What is the use of your rubrics 
 about daily prayer ? There are a few cathedrals, no doubt, where 
 it is kept up ; there are a few churches in London, one or two in 
 other great cities, where daily prayers exist ; but what is the use of 
 keeping in your Prayer Book such rules as these — one ordering the 
 clergy to use the Matins and Evensong daily, either privately or 
 openly, and the other that the curate that ministereth in every 
 parish church, shall say the same in the parish church — when no 
 one obeys them ?" The argument would have been a very plausible 
 one in those days, but it is not a plausible one now. (Cheers.) We 
 have now learnt that the laws of the Church, at least those which 
 are enshrined in the Prayer Book, have a power of executing and 
 enforcing themselves, for I need not tell you whom I address that 
 in the present day daily prayers are common in numberless churches 
 in London, in many great towns, and they are not unknown even 
 in many country parishes. That is the consequence of these rubrics 
 being in the Book of Common Prayer, without an attempt to 
 enforce them ; and I venture to think, if we stand firmly to our 
 purpose, and retain the Athanasian Creed in its existing position, 
 a similar result will follow. At the present moment we see 
 increasing signs of religious feeling, and increasing religious know- 
 ledge, the revival of the queen of sciences — theology — and with 
 that a revival of almost ev-ery form of error and false doctrine 
 that has ever been known in the Christian Church. I think these 
 circumstances taken together will teach the faithful sons of the 
 Church more and more the value of the Athanasian Creed, and 
 that when, fifty years hence, some new question arises to agitate 
 the Church — some point of the Church's law which men want to 
 get rid of — they will be able to point back and say, " See how 
 men cried out against the Athanasian Creed, and see how popular 
 it is now !" I am certain that our wisdom is not to break up the 
 old ways of the Church, because men do not tread in them, but 
 rather to keep them in sound and good repair, certain that sooner 
 or later men will turn back into those old paths, and find that they 
 are the paths of safety. (Loud cheers.) 
 
 Mr. Hopkins (a working man). — When the Covenanters of Scot- 
 land met in all sorts of places amidst the deep ravines of their 
 native mountains to worship God under the blue canopy of heaven,
 
 30 Mr. Alderman Bennett. 
 
 they met in silence and with compressed lips, for they did so at 
 the peril of their lives. They knew not what might happen before 
 they sejDarated, and every man stood, knelt, and prayed, with his 
 hands on the hilt of his sword, or on his matchlock, ready at the 
 slightest sound of warning to raise his hand in defence of his faith. 
 The Covenanters have gone ; two hundred years have passed over 
 the world ; still there is warfare in the Christian Church ; and 
 now, as then, the working classes form no inconsiderable item on 
 the defensive side of the contest. (Cheers.) I stand here as the 
 representative of the working classes in a large metropolitan parish 
 at the West-end, in which parish I am proud to say the commu- 
 nicants of both sexes of that class may be numbered by hundreds. 
 I know that many of those are here, and if I am saying anything 
 wrong let them contradict me. It has been said that the working 
 classes, as a body, are indifferent on matters of religion. It may 
 be that, perhajDS, the majority are, but whose fault is it ? The first 
 forty-five years of my own life were passed in the cold shade of 
 neglect ; and it is neglect that has made so many of the working 
 classes careless about religion. My own personal knowledge of 
 what has taken place amongst the working classes during the five 
 years I have been following the blessed privileges of a Christian, 
 makes me most unhesitatingly assert that, if properly taught, there 
 are no men in all England more faithful to the Creeds — (cheers) — 
 and I may say that of the three Creeds there is not one they are 
 more determined to stand by and maintain in its full integrity than 
 the Creed of St. Athanasius. (Loud cheers.) I will conclude by 
 saying that the resolution which has been moved and seconded has 
 my earnest support, and I believe it has the most earnest support 
 of all those working men who are really and sincerely good Church- 
 men. (Cheers.) 
 
 The resolution was then carried as enthusiastically as the pre- 
 ceding two. 
 
 Mr. Alderman Bennett (of Manchester). — The resolution which 
 I have the honour to move is this : — " That petitions embody- 
 ing the foregoing resolutions be signed by the Chairman, and 
 respectfully transmitted to their Graces the Presidents and to 
 the Revs, the Prolocutors of the Convocations of Canterbury 
 and York, for presentation to the respective Houses." If these 
 two Convocations were united and sat together at Westminster, as 
 the English and Irish Parliaments were united years ago, if the
 
 Mr. Alderman Bennett. 31 
 
 bishops of the Church sat in the Upper House of Convocation as 
 bishops, and included everyone in episcopal orders in this country, 
 whether diocesan, suffragan, colonial, or retired ; and if the Lower 
 House of Convocation was composed of the representatives of 
 all the 20,000 clergy in priest's orders, whether beneficed or un- 
 beneficed, then. Sir, after this great meeting to-night I think we 
 might sit down with folded hands and calmly await the result. 
 (Cheers.) But we must take Convocation as we find it, and 
 although Lord Alwyne Compton, one of its members, said he 
 believed Convocation intended to do nothing with respect to the 
 Athanasian Creed, let the laity take care that they don't. We are 
 so accustomed in the active and busy North to a little agitation 
 when we want to do anything, that perhaps I may not be considered 
 impertinent if I venture to suggest that in the slow and sluggish 
 South you should also, if need be, in defence of this Creed, bring a 
 little pressure to bear upon the members of Convocation. I do not 
 want you to bring anything but the most gentle pressure possible, 
 but I think if it were to go forth from this meeting, or from the Atha- 
 nasian Creed Defence Committee, that it was desirable that a little 
 pressure should be put upon the Proctors of Convocation by their 
 constituents, the respective clergy, then, perhaps, the Lower House 
 of Convocation would not even be disposed to listen to any sugges- 
 tion for altering the Creed. I may just refer to what was done in 
 the Archdeaconry of Manchester a year ago. The proctors were 
 invited to meet the clergy, and consider inter alia the question of 
 the use of the Athanasian Creed. After a protracted discussion, 
 they came to a resolution, by a very large majority, that it was 
 desirable the Creed should be preserved in its integrity ; and the 
 proctors of course taking this as an instruction from their con- 
 stituents, voted accordingly. There is no very great pressure in 
 that. It is at all events a measure that might be imitated by every 
 archdeaconry in the country. Perhaps I may be told that there is 
 no fear whatever of the Lower House of Convocation, that they 
 have always been sound upon the Creed ; that if there be any fear 
 at all, it is from the Upper House of Convocation. (Cheers.) I may 
 be asked what sort of pressure I should be disposed to bring to bear 
 upon the bishops. I will tell you. You know. Sir, that the bishops 
 being " the creatures of the State " — (laughter) — always look to the 
 State for advice and assistance in any doubtful question. We 
 all know that when a bishop is preparing his episcopal charge, 
 he turns to the laity, ascertains which way the wind blows, and
 
 32 Mr. Alderman Bennett. 
 
 charges the clergy accordingly. (Cheers, and some expressions of 
 dissent.) Now, you have nothing to do but to instruct the laity a 
 little better than they have been instructed with respect to the 
 Athanasian Creed, and you bring all the pressure to bear that is 
 necessary to influence the bishops. But in what way would you do 
 this? I remember in former times it was said that when the 
 government of the day wanted to carry any measure, they began by 
 tuning the pulpits. Now, Sir, I want to see the pulpits tuned, and 
 the key-note to be the Athanasian Creed. In short, I want a series 
 of sermons preached by the parochial clergy all over the country, 
 taking for their text the Athanasian Creed. (Cheers.) But I should 
 like to see something else done in addition. It is astonishing when 
 we come to talk with working men in the country — perhaps not the 
 working men in London represented by the last speaker — what little 
 interest they take in the Athanasian Creed. Why is this ? They say : 
 " We so very seldom hear it in the church ; in fact we never hear it 
 at that service we attend in the largest numbers " — that is, Evensong. 
 Therefore it cannot be wondered at that working men generally 
 take so little interest in the Athanasian Creed. I want to recom- 
 mend a course whereby the laity shall take a little more part in 
 the Athanasian Creed than they have done hitherto ; but before I 
 do that I want to remind you what the use of the Athanasian Creed 
 was in our early English Church. From the 7th to the 16th 
 century the Athanasian Creed was used daily in the Church of 
 England. (Cheers.) It was so used in Anglo-Saxon times, and when 
 the great S. Osmund, of Sarum, remodelled the Liturgy in his day, 
 and gave to his diocese the great Liturgy which we now know by 
 the name of the Sarum use— (cheers) — finding that the Athanasian 
 Creed had been used for centuries before his time, and used daily, 
 he ordered the daily use of it to be continued in the church of 
 Sarum, although the Roman use was to have it weekly only, namely, 
 on the Sunday. He ordered it to be sung at that particular service, 
 the service of prime, when historians tell us that the greater number 
 of the people, of the laity, attended. It was essentially the people's 
 Creed. (Cheers.) He ordered the Apostles' Creed to be used at the 
 same service ; but it was said in a different manner. It was the 
 priest's Creed. It was said privately by the priest, who did not 
 raise his voice above a whisper till he came to the last clause, 
 " the resurrection of the flesh," and then the people responded in 
 the concluding words — " and the life eternal." That was all the use 
 that in our early English Church at this particular service, when
 
 Mr. Alderman Bennett. 33 
 
 the people most attended, was made of the Apostles' Creed. The 
 great Creed in those early days was the Athanasian Creed, which 
 was always ordered to be sung publicly and openly by both priest 
 and people. So it continued down to the time of the Reformation 
 to be used daily in our Church. Then when the seven services 
 of the old Church had to be condensed into the two services, the 
 Matins and Evensong of the new, of course some portion of the 
 old services had to be left out. The Athanasian Creed then ceased 
 to be used daily, and the Apostles' Creed was brought in in its 
 place ; but still a prominent and honourable place was assigned to 
 the Athanasian Creed. It was ordered to be sung or said on the 
 four great festivals of the Church, — Christmas, Easter, Ascension, 
 and Pentecost, with the addition of the two lesser feasts of Epiphany 
 and Trinity. So this great and glorious Creed, which had been 
 used 365 times a year up to 1549, was after that time to be used 
 only six times in the year ; and that state of things continued 
 till the next revision of the Prayer Book, when seven saints' days 
 were added, and from that time down to the present the Athanasian 
 Creed has been used only thirteen times a year in the church, many 
 of those being saints' days, when the great majority of the people do 
 not now attend church, so that it is only used in our Sunday Services, 
 perhaps four or five times in the year. Can it be wondered at 
 then that the people, the working classes, who mostly go to Even- 
 song, do not take the interest in it which we should like to see them 
 take ? There is no reason, in my opinion, why the Athanasian 
 Creed, simultaneously with the sermons which I have just said I 
 should like to hear preached, should not be sung as a hymn, at 
 Evensong. (CheerSc) I heard it last year, with very great effect, 
 in several churches, not only in London, but in the country, 
 sung as a processional hymn by the clergy and choir, as they 
 marched round ther church, and the effect upon the people was 
 electrical. They took it up, and such a singing of the Athanasian 
 Creed I never heard before. There may be some churches where 
 processional hymns are not used. (Cheers and laughter.) Well, if 
 they are not, why should they not sing the Athanasian Creed after 
 the third Collect as an Anthem ? Nay, if there be any old-fashioned 
 £)hurchmen of the last-century type (and I dare say there are a 
 great many still who would object to its being sung at Evensong 
 at all), why should it not be sung when Evensong is over, in the 
 same manner as we now frequently hear the Te Deum sung after a 
 Harvest Festival, or on a Thanksgiving Day ? If it be good to 
 
 D
 
 34 Bev. Dr. Liddon. 
 
 sing the Te Deum in the evening, why should not it be also right to 
 sing the Athanasian Creed in the evening ? If you want the prayer 
 of your petition to be granted, that petition which you. Sir, are 
 about to sign to-night, you must adopt some such means as those 
 I have indicated, and if the Houses of Convocation only see that 
 your prayer is fervent, you may depend upon it it will be effectual. 
 (Loud cheers.) 
 
 Eev. Dr. Liddon, upon rising to address the meeting, was re- 
 ceived with great enthusiasm. The assembly rose up en masse, 
 and for more than a minute indulged in cheers, waving of hats, 
 and other demonstrations of approval. He said — So much has 
 been already said to-night, and (if it be not impertinent in me 
 to add) so well said, that I might content myself with giving 
 expression to the congratulations, or rather, let me say, to the 
 thankfulness which is natural at the sight of a meeting, so numerous, 
 so unanimous, and governed by such a tone of reverence and earnest- 
 ness as the meeting of to-night. You have come together, gentle- 
 men, I aj^prehend, many of you at great inconvenience and great 
 cost to yourselves, to affirm what is in your judgment a great and 
 vital principle. That principle is that, so far as in you lies, there 
 shall be no organic change whatever in the formularies of the Church. 
 I say, no organic change ; because, of course, it is reasonable to allow 
 that there may be changes of a subordinate description, most useful 
 and desirable, which it would be our first anxiety to promote. But I 
 submit that a change which affects any one of the three Creeds is 
 in the nature of an organic change. (Cheers.) It touches the life 
 of the Church of England at its centre. The three Creeds, among 
 those formularies of devotion which the Church puts into our hands, 
 are second only in their authority to the very words of our Lord 
 Himself ; to the words of that prayer which He taught us to pray, 
 to those words, through using which, at His command, we rightly 
 administer the Sacraments. They stand upon a different level to 
 other compositions which we find in our Prayer Book ; and to touch 
 them is to touch its heart. Now, I take it that this is not merely 
 a scholastic or theological prejudice. It is, when we come to look 
 at it, a fact of experience ; for in the case of any one Christian now 
 present — what is the master-thought, or conviction, that forms the 
 centre and the core of his life? It is this — a feeling of unutterable 
 thankfulness bursting up again and again from his heart, even if it 
 never finds expression in words, that he, sinner as he is, should have
 
 Rev. Dr. Liddon. 35 
 
 been redeemed to freedom from sin and from death. Then comes the 
 question, redeemed by whom ? There is no avoiding that question if 
 the conviction is to be a reality. You cannot possibly — if you would 
 — you cannot put it aside. Certainly here a modern school using 
 language which was unheard in the early days of the Church comes 
 in, and says that it can answer that question in its own way. I 
 recollect seeing some time ago in a French writer the remark that 
 if you wanted to get up a revolution you had first of all to find out 
 a telling phrase, and then to " work " it. That advice applies to 
 Church matters just as much as to political matters ; and accord- 
 ingly there has been obtruded on us in all sorts of forms again and 
 again during the progress of the Athanasian controversy this par- 
 ticular phrase — " We do not believe in a collection of dogmas ; we 
 believe in a person." Very well ; let us try to see what that is worth. 
 Is there in reality any distinction between believing in a person and 
 believing in a set of dogmas ? What do you do, when you believe 
 in a person ? You cannot believe in any person without believing 
 in something about him. You cannot believe in a simple term. 
 You can only believe in a proposition ; in a something which is 
 affirmed about the simple term. Try to do the other if you can. 
 (Cheers.) When you say you believe in a friend, what do you mean ? 
 You mean that you believe in his justice, in his generosity, in 
 his personal affection for yourself. And when you say you believe 
 in God, what do you mean ? You mean, first of all, that you 
 believe that He exists {that is something about Him); that He 
 exists of Himself {that is peculiar to Himself); that He is 
 powerful, wise, good, benevolent, holy ; that all those attributes, 
 in point of fact, are to be predicated of Him which make up in a 
 Christian mind the idea of God. You cannot believe in God without 
 believing in a large number of propositions, or, if you prefer it, a 
 large number of dogmas. (Cheers.) The i)hrase which is obtruded 
 upon us about believing in a person and not believing in a set of 
 dogmas offers us only an unsubstantial makeshift, which fades away 
 from the mental vision as soon as it is examined. No; if you would 
 answer the question by whom you are redeemed, it must be answered 
 in this way ; — by the Eternal Son of God, Who took my nature upon 
 Him, and Who died for me. That is how St. Paul answered it. 
 " God spared not His own Son, but freely gave Him up for us all." 
 That is what Hooker means by saying that " the infinite worth of 
 the Son of God is the very ground of all things believed concerning 
 health and salvation." Put aside that doctrine, and what sort of 
 
 D 2
 
 36 Bev. Dr. Liddon. 
 
 explanation can you give of the infinite value of His Blood, of the 
 boundless power of His intercession ? These things depend upon 
 it. They are unrealities without it. And tlfus you see how the 
 very depths of the necessities of the spiritual life demand a clear 
 statement of Christ's Eternal Godhead. Now here, if a man thinks at 
 all, two questions at once meet him — How are you to reconcile the 
 doctrine thus reached, on the one hand with what we read about 
 His true human nature in the Gospels, and on the other hand with 
 what conscience tells us, and Christianity rej)eats to us, about the 
 unity of God? You cannot answer those two questions without 
 the assistance which you get from such a Creed as the Athanasian 
 Creed ; and if there were time for it this evening, I should not 
 despair of convincing you between now and twelve o'clock that the 
 answer which the Athanasian Creed gives is the only answer that 
 can be given to those vital questions. (Loud and prolonged cheers.) 
 This is felt to be the truth by the mass of simple believing Chris- 
 tians. Only the other day I received a letter, couched in most 
 touching terms, from a recently converted New Zealander, who, 
 in trying to master the Christian faith, had experienced the greatest 
 possible assistance from this very Creed. He urged me in sen- 
 tences which I can only say were painful to me — it was painful 
 that a Christian convert should ever have to write such a letter to 
 a clergyman, — entreating me to do what I could to j)revent the with- 
 drawal of a document which he had found so precious to his own 
 soul from our public services. (Cheers.) Moreover, the influence 
 of this Creed is not by any means confined to those who are mem- 
 bers of the Church. Some time ago an honoured friend of mine, a 
 clergyman in Essex, who may possibly be in this room to verify it, 
 mentioned to me the case of a Dissenter who sent to him upon his 
 deathbed, and said, among a great many other things, that he 
 wished to give him a particular message. " Tell those gentlemen," 
 said that Baptist to this clergyman, " who are standing up in your 
 Church for the Athanasian Creed, that I entreat them to persevere, 
 and that I wish them God-speed, for though I don't attend your 
 services I have your Prayer Book, and I have found, in consulting 
 your Prayer Book, the greatest possible assistance to my own mind 
 and soul in making out to myself what the Bible really does mean 
 about God and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by the help of 
 that Creed." (Cheers.) There are two proposals especially which 
 have been under the consideration of this meeting for dealing with 
 this Creed, One of them is to disuse it. I am not at all prepared
 
 Rev. Dr. Liddon. 37 
 
 to deny abstractedly that it would be possible for a Cbristian 
 Church to omit this Creed, or rather to have^ omitted it from its 
 morning service. It is impossible to deny that through the exer- 
 cise of the jus liturgicum, as it is called, that inherent right of 
 directing the lesser accessories of public worship which is inherent 
 in the Episcopate, such an order as this might have been made ; 
 but we have not to deal with a technical question of ecclesiastical 
 right, but with a great practical fact. We know perfectly well 
 that if this Creed were to be withdrawn, it would be withdrawn 
 in deference to a challenge which is addressed to us from those 
 who, as we cannot refuse to see, deny truths which are taught 
 in the Creed. I know it is said by way of consolation that the 
 Creed would still be placed in an extremely honourable position 
 among the Thirty-nine Articles — (laughter) — but I take it that 
 those persons who use that language can never have considered the 
 immense difference of value between a document which belongs to 
 the universal Church and documents which, however valuable — 
 and I have no sort of wish to depreciate them — do not belong 
 to the universal Church, but are strictly documents of our own 
 Church. We made them 300 years ago. We might modify them 
 to-morrow. We might do away with them to-morrow, and no sort 
 of effect would be produced on our relations with the rest of Chris- 
 tendom. But the Athanasian Creed is a document which we did not 
 make. It came down to us at the Reformation along with other 
 treasures of the faith from the old unreformed Church. It was one 
 of those portions of the old inheritance of the Church which the re- 
 formers deliberately adhered to and with much earnestness of purpose. 
 For, as has been already pointed out by Mr. Alderman Bennett, one 
 of the most remarkable circumstances connected with the recon- 
 struction of the formularies at the Eeformation is this ; — that in the 
 revision of 1552 — when almost all the other changes that were 
 made in the Prayer Book were made in a negative direction — the 
 rubric affecting the Athanasian Creed was altered in a positive direc- 
 tion. While in the First Book of Edward VI., of 1549, the Creed 
 was ordered to be said only six times a year, it was by the deliberate 
 act of Archbishop Cranmer, who knew the large advance of Arian 
 and Anabaptist opinions in the interval, advisedly increased in 
 1552 to thirteen times a year. It would, I maintain, be nothing less 
 than an organic change to disuse this Creed. Let us see how the 
 change would be spoken of some ten or twenty years after the re- 
 solution had been taken. How would the thing look in the distance ?
 
 38 Bev. Dr. Liddon. 
 
 Would it not be said that for 300 years the Church of England had 
 asserted that faith in the doctrines of the Holy Trinity and the In- 
 carnation was essential to the salvation of those who could have it ; 
 and that in 1873 she had changed her mind; that she had from that 
 date refused to say that these truths were thus essential ? Even 
 sup230sing that the spirit of innovation could be arrested at this 
 point, — certainly an improbable supposition, — whatever statements 
 of those doctrines might still be found in other parts of the formu- 
 laries, it would be true that the Church of England had shrunk from 
 the most merciful duty of affirming the necessity of faith in these doc- 
 trines for all Christian souls. (Loud cheers.) And this leads me to 
 that other proposal for dealing with the Creed, upon which I must 
 really make the confession that I feel it difficult to speak with patience 
 — the proposal for mutilating it. Can the men who have dared to 
 advise us to do this have thought how, on the morrow of the act, 
 we should stand in the face of Christendom ? Did we make the 
 Creed ? Can we conceive that it is competent for us to mangle a 
 document of oecumenical authority ? An old friend and colleague 
 of mine, who is now a Bishop, and of whom I must speak — and I 
 am sure Mr. Alderman Bennett will bear me out — with much per- 
 sonal affection and respect — the Bishop of Manchester, has called 
 me publicly to task for elsewhere applying that expression 
 " oecumenical " to the Athanasian Creed. But in spite of his lord- 
 shij)'s remarks, I must take the liberty of deliberately repeating the 
 epithet. (Laughter and cheers.) From reading his Charge, I pre- 
 sume that the Bishop of Manchester is under the impression that 
 a document can only become oecumenical by one process, and that 
 is, by being pronounced to be of universal authority by an CEcume- 
 nical Council. That, I take leave to say, is a mistake. (Cheers.) 
 The oecumenical character of a document may be secured to it by 
 the silent instinctive action of the Church, which, without assem- 
 bling in synod, and without thus giving formal utterance to its deep 
 conviction, quietly decides that a given document has a place in its 
 heart and mind which must be universally acknowledged. That 
 was, in point of fact, the case with the Holy Scriptures themselves. 
 (Cheers.) Does anybody, who knows anything whatever of the 
 history of the canon of the New Testament, suppose that before the 
 fathers of the second and third centuries began to quote those books 
 as books from the authority of which no appeal whatever could bo 
 jiermitted, a great QEcumenical Council had assembled and said — 
 " All these books together are infallible, and they form the New 
 Testament " ? You will find nothing of the kind in Church history,
 
 Rev. Dr. Liddon. 39 
 
 And what happened to the books of the New Testament is really 
 what happened — I grant, in a more distant age — I grant, by a more 
 graduated process — to tlio Athaiiasian Creed itself. It has been 
 received throughout the West. It is also received in the Eastern 
 Church — I have been told so by a Greek Bishop ; I see it appealed 
 to in a Greek catechism of the highest authority, as a document of 
 first-class importance on dogmatic questions. (Cheers.) But I 
 must not detain you longer with discussions of this kind. (Shouts 
 of " Go on," and great cheering.) Before I have done, it is neces- 
 sary to turn to some personal and, in some respects, more painful 
 matters. Gentlemen, the best men I have ever known in the 
 Church of England have regarded this maintenance of the Athana- 
 sian Creed as a vital question. One, whom I can never name 
 without the deepest reverence and affection, the late Bishop of 
 Salisbury — (loud cheers) — had this question which now agitates 
 the Church before his mind in all its bearings. Some circum- 
 stances occurred which obliged him to consider it, and indeed led 
 him to form the opinion so early as the spring of the year 1868, that 
 before long it would be forced on the Church of England for deci- 
 sion ; and after telling me that that was his opinion, he said to me 
 one day, after an interval, some words which I can never forget to 
 my dying day, and I do not think I am violating his precious con- 
 fidence in repeating them to you. He said to me — " I have been 
 thinking over that question of the Athanasian Creed, and if they 
 tamper with it (the particular form of tampering with it which he 
 had before his mind was the project of disusing it), I have made up 
 my mind — I will resign my see." (Cheers.) And, gentlemen, any 
 one who knew him^ — a man of few words, of simple integrity and 
 directness of purpose, — ^must know that he would have done it ; 
 the words never could have passed his lips unless his resolution 
 had been equal to carrying them into effect in case the sad neces- 
 sity should have occurred. He was taken in mercy to another 
 world ere the storm broke upon the Church of England, from 
 which we may trust we are now escaping. And so another most 
 dear and most honoured friend, the late Mr. Keble — (renewed 
 cheering) — the author of those lines about the 
 
 " Calm breathed warning of the kindliest love 
 
 That ever heaved a wakeful mother's breast, 
 
 which describe his value for the warning clauses of this great Creed, 
 and which have been so often quoted of late, would, I am certain, 
 had he been spared to help us, have made any sacrifice in order to
 
 40 Bev. Dr. Liddon. 
 
 preserve to the Churcli this Creed in its integrity. There is one 
 more name I would mention — the name of one who is still with us, 
 but who has been, as probably many of you know, within the last 
 ten days as near death as it is possible for a man to be without 
 dying — one of whom I do not think it is rash to say that, if in 
 another century the history of the Church of England in this cen- 
 tury should be written, his name will stand out as a name of the 
 highest eminence when those of almost all his contemporaries are 
 forgotten — I mean Dr. Pusey. [At the mention of this name the 
 assembly rose and cheered most enthusiastically.] Gentlemen, I 
 thank you from my heart for that manifestation of feeling. I thank 
 you for it because I am able, through rare good fortune, to read 
 to you some words of his which three days ago he dictated, in a 
 whi&per, from his bed of sickness, to his son, Mr. Philip Pusey. 
 His mind was full of this great meeting, at which, had it been 
 possible, he would have been present. This is his letter : — 
 
 " Genoa, Piazza Galeazzo Alessi, 
 " Monday, JamMry 27, 1873. 
 
 "My dearest Liddon, — Words dictated from a very sick bed 
 must be very true. Yes. I wish to express, through you, to the 
 meeting, how unchangiug, through sickness or health, is my sense 
 of the intensity of the crisis with \\ hich we were threatened all last 
 year, and out of which the Church of England has, by God's mercy, 
 been brought. However men might disguise the question them- 
 selves, I could not conceal from myself that the reaP issue was, 
 whether the Church of England should virtually deny that the faith 
 in the Holy Trinity, and in the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, was essential to salvation in those who could have it. As 
 to the remarks of some in authority, as to the line to which our 
 convictions independently led us, they cannot have understood the 
 strength of our convictions. It was no ' threat,' to give up, in my 
 case, the cherished aspirations of a past sixty years to serve God in 
 the ministry of the Church of England, the home and the centre of 
 one's deepest interests — (cheers) — to go forth not knowing whither 
 one went. It was like a moral death ; but with my convictions of 
 the issue of that question, I dared no more hesitate than about 
 being guilty of parricide. God be thanked for all His mercies. 
 Your most affectionate, for the Eev. Dr. Pusey, — P. E. Pusey." 
 
 There is nothing that I can possibly add to such a letter as that. 
 Only, I think, if he had been here, he would, perhaps, have used 
 some words of caution, some words of exculpation, for anything 
 that may have seemed to us to have been harshly or inconsiderately 
 said or done by those in authority. For he has constantly dwelt
 
 The Earl of Devo7i. 41 
 
 upon this; — how difficult is the position of our rulers in the Church 
 of England ; how many are the divergent influences which they 
 have to control, or between which they have to mediate ; how often 
 it may happen that they are acting from the highest, purest, best 
 intentions, when they seem to us to be acting inconsistently, only 
 from the sheer difficulties of their situation. Gentlemen, I believe 
 that we have before us, amid all our anxieties, a great future for 
 the Church of England. (Cheers.) The hearts of young clergy- 
 men and of young laymen are being stirred, by the Holy Spirit of 
 God, as they have not been moved for many a generation. The 
 great middle classes of our towns, too long alienated from our 
 churches, not through their fault, but through ours, are being again 
 drawn within the embrace of their true mother — (cheers) — and I 
 cannot believe that He who has done, and is doing, of His mercy 
 so much for us, will leave us now. I cannot doubt that He will lead 
 us through this dark valley of controversy and struggle, into a 
 bright future of confirmed faith and unimpaired charity beyond it. 
 (Great cheering.) 
 
 The Eael of Devon. — I beg your attention while I seek to 
 give expression to what I am sure is the sentiment of you all, 
 that we should give our hearty thanks to the honourable gentle- 
 man who has presided over this meeting; and in moving that 
 resolution I will take the liberty of asking Lord Salisbury to 
 consider himself as in the chair. Gentlemen, it has been with 
 great regret that we have found ourselves deprived of the pre- 
 sidency of the Duke of Marlborough. We know that in him we 
 should have had a chairman who, from the earliest period of his 
 life, has devoted himself to the extension and the good of the 
 Church ; but we feel that deprived as we have necessarily been of 
 his presence, we have had, in the honourable gentleman who has 
 presided to-day, one whose exertions have been no less unin- 
 terrupted, one whose desire to support the Church has been mani- 
 fested by the building of churches, and by promoting the cause of 
 education. (Cheers.) It is with the greatest confidence that I 
 shall invite you to offer the tribute of our thanks to Mr. Hubbard. 
 One word only I wish to add, after the addresses which you have 
 heard to-day, culminating in that most magnanimous and touching 
 address of the last speaker, it would ill become me to add one 
 word further than to say, that standing here as a country delegate 
 I feel that I am representing the views of the 120 places which
 
 42 The Warden of Keble College. 
 
 have sent representatives, when I say that with one heart and 
 mind, and in the fulness of our strength, we shall combine with 
 you in endeavouring to maintain intact the Creed in whose defence 
 we are assembled to-day. We shall do so because we believe it 
 contains a statement of dogmatic truth, essentially founded on 
 Scripture, and proved by its warrant. We shall do so because we 
 believe that the retention in our formularies of dogmatic truth is 
 essential no less to the spiritual life than it is to the well-being 
 of the Church. I will add no more than to invite you to offer our 
 best thanks to Mr. Hubbard. (Cheers.) 
 
 The Wakden of Keble College. — In seconding the vote of 
 thanks, I can best express my thanks by saying that I recognize 
 that coming from a place where we have perhaps great difficulties 
 in perceiving the practical bearing of movements in the Church, 
 where we are not acquainted with the masses of the people, and 
 where we are acquainted with a number of persons who, in an intel- 
 lectual atmosphere singularly charged, are to be ranked amongst 
 the " scrupulous consciences " of which mention has been made 
 to-night — coming from a place where we find it difficult not to 
 sympathize unduly with those scrupulous consciences, and to 
 neglect the masses of the faithful — I do recognize that you, Sir, 
 have been privileged to preside to-night at a meeting which is 
 the expression of a voice that has grown clearer and louder on 
 this matter, as the controversy has gone on, a voice which pro- 
 nounces that compromise with the attack upon the Athanasian 
 Creed is compromise with the forces of infidelity ; that mutilation 
 of the Creed is impossible, and that a modification of its use would 
 not only be useless as a concession to its assailants, but would 
 inflict a wound upon the hearts of those who are most fervent and 
 most devout in the service of the Church ; and would therefore be 
 a paralysis of the efforts of the Church of England in her attack 
 upon sin and unbelief. (Cheers.) 
 
 The resolution having been put to the meeting by Lord 
 Salisbury, and unanimously carried, 
 
 Mr. HuBBAED said : Every one here is here to do his duty to his 
 country and his God. You have conferred vi\)on me a great honour, 
 and I heartily thank you for the kindness with which you have 
 acknowledged my services. 
 
 Bishop Jenner then pronounced the benediction.
 
 The Marquess of Bath. 43 
 
 A supplementary meeting was simultaneously held at the 
 Hanover Square Kooms, and the same resolutions were pro- 
 posed and unanimously adopted. 
 
 The Maequess of Bath, in taking the chair, said : My Lords and 
 Gentlemen, — Although it is with very great regret that I see so 
 many excluded from the other meeting, I am sure you will at all 
 events agree with me in feeling satisfaction that so large a number, 
 after St. James's Pall had been completely filled, should have 
 assembled here for the purpose of joining in the protest against the 
 suppression of the Athanasian Creed. (Cheers.) I am glad to see 
 so many determined to the utmost of their power to preserve unmu- 
 tilated and inviolate that great Confession of the Faith of the 
 Church in its Maker and its Eedeemer, as He has declared Himself 
 to us. I will not weary you with any of those arguments which 
 will be laid before you by persons more competent than myself — I 
 will only ask you to consider who those are who demand an altera- 
 tion of the Creed, and what the authority is on which we ourselves 
 rely. On the one hand, we have the authority of the^ Western 
 Church for twelve hundred years ; and not only that, but the 
 authority of our own reformers. The Calvinist and the Lutheran 
 leaders at the time of the Eeformation all accepted this Creed ; and 
 the Greek Church, although it does not use it in its public worship, 
 equally authorizes, sanctions, and accepts it. And who have you 
 on the other side ? You have those who are hostile to Christianity, 
 and who wish to deny to the Almighty any powers which are 
 beyond those of man — who would, as it were, subject to human 
 reason, founded upon human experience, the justice of His decisions 
 and the wisdom of His counsels. You have those who tell you 
 that they hope soon to see the " Syrian superstition," as they call 
 it, swept from the face of the earth. (Cheers.) You have those, 
 again, who signed the memorial which was presented to the two 
 Archbishops last year. Of these last I wish to speak with the 
 greatest respect, for I have no doubt that their motives were most 
 excellent and most worthy ; but what do they say about the Creed ? 
 They do not deny the truth of a single proposition which it 
 contains. They profess to have no difficulty in accepting its 
 statements ; but they think it is a stumbling-block, and gives 
 offence to others, and therefore they suggest its removal. Now, 
 I should like to ask these gentlemen one question — Do they 
 suppose that, if this difficulty were out of the way, those on whose
 
 44 Earl Beauchamp. 
 
 behalf they speak would be one bit nearer the Church than they 
 are at present ? (Cheers.) Are there no other doctrines ? — is there 
 no other practice of the Church of England that gives them offence ? 
 Well, then, if you were to go on eliminating everything to which 
 those outside the pale object, the Church would soon be reduced to 
 a nonentity. (Cheers.) Nay, Christianity itself would eventually 
 — I do not say immediately — but it would eventually perish. 
 (Kenev/ed cheers.) Various suggestions have been made for the 
 alteration of the Creed, or for its relegation to some obscure part of 
 the Prayer Book — to the end or to the beginning — but to some 
 place which would not be considered a part of our Liturgy. If the 
 Creed is true, and contains the truth, it is the boundcn duty of the 
 Church to teach it ; but if it is untrue, and contains heresy, it is 
 equally the bounden duty of the Church to forbid it altogether. 
 The Chui'ch cannot remain neutral. It is bound to teach " the 
 truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth ;" it is equally 
 bound to prohibit every kind of error. . We must bear in mind that 
 in religion all truth is necessary. If we do not believe it to be 
 necessary to salvation we do not believe it at all. We cannot in 
 religious matters separate between truth and necessary truth. Re- 
 ligion is not what seems to be good to every man in his own eyes. 
 .It is clearly, therefore, the duty of the Church to teach all truth to 
 its people, and it is just as clearly its duty to forbid all error. 
 There is no middle term which it can adopt between the two 
 courses. (Cheers.) It is said that the Athanasian Creed trenches 
 on metaphysics ; but it is impossible when you have to deal with 
 such questions as religious truth to avoid metaphysics. As an 
 humble layman, I wish as strongly as possible to protest against any 
 change in that Church, which we have inherited from our fathers, 
 and which has remained the pride and strength of this country for 
 so many years. (Loud cheers.) I wish in no way to restrict any 
 liberty that our Church allows, but I wish to preserve inviolate the 
 limits which the wisdom of our reformers has set upon that liberty, 
 for I feel that unless those limits are maintained liberty will soon 
 degenerate into licence. (Loud cheers.) 
 
 Earl Beauchamp, in moving the first resolution, said — My lords 
 and gentlemen, having had a responsible share in those counsels 
 which have evoked our great meeting to-night, I wish in the first 
 instance to say a few words upon the policy of holding it, because 
 I am aware that many persons who entertain a deep affection for
 
 Earl Beauchamp. 45 
 
 the Athanasian Creed think that the topic is so deep and so holy 
 that it ought not to be handled at a public meeting, but ought to 
 be reserved for a graver occasion and a more fitting assembly. 
 They think, in fact, that we run some risk of profaning holy 
 things if we submit them to such a gathering as the present. In 
 answer to those who consider that meetings of this description 
 are unauthorized, are irregular, and set a precedent full of danger, 
 I am constrained to say that the precedent full of danger is not 
 in the holding of these meetings, but in the circumstances which 
 have rendered these meetings imperatively necessary. (Cheers.) 
 It is true that a meeting of this description may be without 
 precedent in the history of the Church ; but the circumstances 
 are equally so. There were times — there were happy times — when 
 we could look upon the Bishops and rulers of the Church as 
 defenders of the faith ; but though I wish to speak of our Bishops 
 with all respect, I do not think that anyone will in these days regard 
 them in that light. (Cheers.) Then, what are we to do ? Are we 
 to let the Catholic faith which we have inherited from our an- 
 cestors be frittered away out of deference to the factious clamour of 
 seditious men? The precedent full of danger has been set by 
 those in authority, and it is their vacillation, their trimming, and 
 their inability to appreciate the circumstances of the Church of 
 England, which have rendered it necessary for her faithful lay 
 members to give an unmistakeable and undeniable expression to 
 their determination. (Loud cheers.) It is said that meetings of 
 this kind are unauthorized. Well, those who know anything of 
 the history of the Church of England during the last forty years 
 will know that many unauthorized things have been done. 
 Forty years ago the most ordinary choral service in a parish 
 church was unauthorized, and persons in high positions denounced 
 in the strongest terms so daring an innovation. Yet what do we 
 see now ? Why, it is admitted on all hands that it is impossible 
 to sustain any popular, or, to use the cant phrase of the day, 
 any " hearty " worship, except by the frequent use of the choral 
 service. (Cheers.) I do not wish to raise any controversial 
 question, for the movement in defence of the Creed is not promoted 
 by any one party in the Church, but has received extensive and 
 hearty support from all the schools of thought amongst us. I 
 will, therefore, only say that it does not lie in the mouths of 
 those in authority who gladly accept the results of the great 
 Church revival which they resisted to the uttermost whilst it
 
 46 Earl Beauchamp. 
 
 was struggling to win a footing amongst us, — it does not lie in 
 their mouths to tell us that meetings of this kind are unauthorized. 
 (Cheers.) So long as a question remains in obscurity, and until 
 it has fought its way to success, they may tell us that ; but I don't 
 think that after the day which has witnessed our great meet- 
 ing the question before us will be considered as wanting in 
 authority, for we shall have vindicated to ourselves that which 
 in these days is considered the great test of authority, — we 
 shall have vindicated to ourselves success. (Loud cheers.) But, 
 then, it is said that all this is irregular. I cheerfully admit 
 that. It is wholly irregular for laymen to come forward in 
 defence of the Church against Bishops and Priests ; but the fault 
 of that irregularity lies not with the laymen who meet, but with the 
 Bishops and Priests, whose conduct has rendered their meeting 
 necessary. (Cheers.) When you have absorbed into your system 
 some deadly poison, you will find that if you pursue the even tenour 
 of your ordinary life, and do not resort to extraordinary measures 
 and extraordinary precautions, you will soon be in a fever, which 
 will be followed by the chill torpor of death. The present struggle, 
 I am happy to think, and the results of the efforts now made, will settle 
 for many years to come the attempt which has been made to poison 
 the theology of the Church of England. (Cheers.) It may also 
 be observed that meetings of this kind have had one great advan- 
 tage. They have shown that those who differ in other respects are 
 yet determined to maintain the great verities of the Christian 
 religion, and for that purpose are ready to sink all party preposses- 
 sions and interests. In proof of this, I may point to the support 
 which the movement has received from the Dean of Eipon (Dr. 
 McNeile), Mr. Kingsley, Bishop Eyan, Dr. Liddon, and others, 
 who have cheerfully come forward to defend the "faith once 
 delivered to the saints," and to preserve for those who may come 
 after us the inestimable blessing which we have ourselves inherited 
 from our fathers. (Cheers.) 
 
 I wish now to say a few words with respect to a matter upon 
 which I may profess to have some personal knowledge. The 
 Dean of Westminster, whose picturesque ingenuity can hardly 
 be excelled, has published a pamphlet in which he has invested 
 the proceedings of the Kitual Commissioners with such wonder- 
 ful glamour that he has succeeded in completely bewildering the 
 mind of the Archbishop of Canterbury, so that the most reverend 
 prelate has adopted some of the most remarkable misrepresentations
 
 Earl Beauchamp. 47 
 
 of the very reverend gentleman. It is true tliat the course which 
 was ultimately adopted by Her Majesty's Commissioners was the 
 recommendation of an explanatory note. It is also true that subse- 
 quently to the adoption of its report many individual members of 
 the Commission, who were animated by various crotchets, and by a 
 wonderful distaste for the Athanasian Creed, published their separate 
 opinions. The result is this. Hostile as a large number of the 
 Commissioners were to the Athanasian Creed, by the good pro- 
 vidence of God one party of them was led to confute the other in 
 detail, so that whilst a large number wished to see some change, 
 they could never agree as to what that change should be. The 
 consequence was, that a resolution was adopted in favour of an 
 explanatory note — which necessarily implied the retention of the 
 Creed in all its present authority — a note not explanatory of the 
 Athanasian Creed, but to the effect "that the condemnations in 
 that Confession of Faith were to be no otherwise understood than 
 as a solemn warning of the peril of those who wilfully reject the 
 Catholic faith." I am, therefore, entitled to say that if any con- 
 clusion is to be drawn from the Babel of separate opinions with 
 respect to the Athanasian Creed, it is, that however hostile to 
 that confession of our Christian faith persons may be, they are 
 not agreed as to what change should be made, and therefore we 
 may legitimately conclude that the formal decision of the Com- 
 missioners, recorded in their minutes, gives accurate expression to 
 their deliberate judgment that the Creed should be retained as 
 now, but with the addition of one explanatory note. (Cheers.) 
 Attention has been called to the limited number by which the 
 decision of the Commissioners respecting the Athanasian Creed was 
 carried, but the majority on that occasion was infinitely larger than 
 the majority which carried other rubrics that have been paraded as 
 decisions of the Eitual Commissioners. You must therefore do one 
 of two things — you must accept the decision of the Eitual Commis- 
 sioners or you must not. If you are not to take its decision as a 
 full explanation of the opinion arrived at on the question of the 
 Athanasian Creed, then you are not entitled to draw any conclusion 
 respecting the opinion arrived at on the other subjects which have 
 disturbed the mind of the Church. (Cheers.) I am ashamed to 
 have taken up so much of your time with these preliminary matters ; 
 but having had a share in them, it is, perhaps, not unfitting that I 
 should make some reference to them. (Cheers.) 
 
 With regard to the abstract merits of the resolution which I
 
 48 Earl Beauchamp. 
 
 have to move, I do not think that any attached member of the 
 Church of England will have a word to say against it ; but it may 
 be necessary to make an observation in answer to those who 
 tell us that so long as the opening clauses of the Litany are 
 retained, and so long as we have the Nicene Creed, it is not 
 worth while to insist on what has caused so much diversity of 
 opinion as the Athanasian Creed and its damnatory clauses have 
 done. But what does the Athanasian Creed contain ? It contains 
 what is of course equally implied in the Apostles' Creed and the 
 Creed of Nicaea, but contains it in an explicit form — namely, a 
 declaration of the necessity of a right faith to salvation. (Cheers.) 
 We are entitled to ask those who are opposed to it, What is it that 
 you object to ? Do you object to the assertion that a right faith 
 is necessary? Do you object to the definitions contained in the 
 Creed ? If you do not object to the statement in the Athanasian 
 Creed as to the necessity of a right faith, be good enough to tell 
 what is the definition of that right faith which you will accept. 
 Do you consider that it is necessary to believe anything ? Because 
 if you do, the question becomes one only of degree, and the ]3rin- 
 ciple of the damnatory clauses is entirely conceded; for if you 
 will only consider the question so ably and intelligibly put by 
 Mr. Woodgate in his recent pamphlet, you will find yourself 
 obliged to admit that the position assumed in the Creed is unan- 
 swerably right. (Cheers.) But there is another reason why we 
 should not listen to proposals for altering the Athanasian Creed. 
 These are days when the Creeds and formularies of the Church 
 are subjected to narrow scrutiny, and when astute lawyers and 
 subtle Privy Councillors will scatter to the winds any practice of 
 the Catholic Church, or any tradition of universal Christendom, 
 however venerable, unless you can find it within the four corners of 
 the Book of Common Prayer. When, therefore, we do find within 
 the four corners of the Prayer Book an explicit declaration as to 
 the necessity of a right faith to salvation, we ought not lightly to 
 part with it. (Cheers.) Those who object to the Athanasian Creed 
 must also insist, as you will see if you press home their arguments, 
 on the abolition, or mutilation, or improvement — if you prefer that 
 word — of the other two. The point which has been dealt upon with 
 most rhetorical force is that the Athanasian Creed contains j)hiloso- 
 phical and metaphysical terms, such as "person" and "substance." 
 Well, but if that is any reason for giving up the Athanasian Creed, 
 it is equally a reason for surrendering the Nicene Creed, which
 
 Earl Beauchamp 49 
 
 contains the word " substance," the opening clauses of the Litany 
 which contains the word " person," and the proper preface for Trinity- 
 Sunday, which contains both, (Loud cheers.) I venture to think 
 that if you tamper with the Creed of St. Athanasius, with the 
 Nicene Creed, and with the Litany, it would be very difficult indeed 
 to frame a successful argument for the maintenance in its unim- 
 paired integrity of the Creed of the Apostles. (Cheers.) 
 But then it is said — 
 
 " For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight. 
 His can't be wrong whose life is in the right ; 
 
 — what is the use of all this dogma about which Christians dis- 
 agree ? let us find some common ground ; let us amalgamate our 
 opinions in works of benevolence ; and let us all set to work and 
 love our neighbours." But we have learned that there is an indis- 
 soluble connection between faith and morals. (Cheers.) We are 
 too apt in this nineteenth century to forget that public opinion 
 and Society are based upon and have profited by eighteen centuries 
 of Christianity; we are apt to overlook the harsh and cruel 
 and sensual state of things which prevailed before the preaching 
 of the Gospel. Morality and Society of the present day are 
 based upon the Christian religion, and I believe it is utterly im- 
 possible by mere abstract resolutions of benevolence to sustain the 
 framework of Society, and to maintain those bonds which hold us 
 all together. (Cheers.) Without definite belief Society has no 
 guide for this life, much less have its members a guide for that 
 which is to come. Our duty to our neighbour flows from our duty 
 to God. If we turn to the pages of the Bible we shall find 
 that in one of the earliest cases of conversion on record, that 
 of the gaoler at Philippi, the man said — " What must I do to 
 be saved?" And what was St. Paul's answer? Did St. Paul 
 say — " Cease to do evil, learn to do well"? Did he say — "Above 
 all things put on charity " ? Did he say — " Let your moderation 
 be known unto all men " ? All these, indeed, formed a subsequent 
 part of the Apostolic teaching; but the answer he gave to the 
 question, " What must I do to be saved ? " was — " Believe on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ." (Cheers.) And what was that but the 
 answer which the Church gives in the Athanasian Creed to the 
 same question — " Whosoever will be saved : before all things it is 
 necessary that he hold the Catholic faith." And what is the 
 Catholic faith but belief in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
 
 50 Earl Beauchamj). 
 
 both God and man ? (Clieers.) There remains one outcome of the 
 present controversy to which I wish for a moment to refer, — I 
 mean the ludicrous result of the controversies raised by Mr. 
 Ffoulkes, Dr. Swainson, and the Dean of Westminster. Says one, 
 " The Creed was written by Paulinus in the 9th century." Says 
 another, " Oh, no, it is a combination of floating atoms of various 
 date." While the third says both of these statements are true, and 
 flits from one theory to another at pleasure. Well, we have 
 had science applied in a most remarkable manner to settle the 
 question. It is well known that there is a very ancient MS. of the 
 Creed that once belonged to the collection of Sir Robert Cotton, 
 which has since been absorbed into the British Museum. By 
 some accident, or conveyance — (a laugh) — this MS. disappeared 
 from Sir Eobert Cotton's collection, and it ultimately found its 
 way into the University Library at Utrecht. Sir Thomas Duffus 
 Hardy, than whom it is impossible that there can be a more com- 
 petent authority, has been instructed to examine the MS. as a 
 pure matter of science, and give his opinion as to its date. Sir 
 Thomas Hardy says that he has no prepossession in favour of the 
 Creed — that, in fact, so far as he has any feeling on the subject it 
 is against it ; but the conclusion he has come to as a scientific man 
 applying the principles of palaeography to the MS. (which is in the 
 Latin tongue, and precisely in the same form as that in which we 
 now have it), is that it cannot have been written later than the 
 end of the sixth century, and that it may be of an age considerably 
 anterior to that. (Cheers.) Whatever difficulties there may be 
 with regard to the age of the Creed itself, it is clear that it cannot 
 have been composed by Paulinus, or forged by Alcuin, or imposed 
 on Christendom by Charlemagne, but that it must have been 
 written at some period before the schism between the East and 
 West. It therefore represents the belief of undivided Christendom, 
 and answers exactly to the description, " quod semper, quod iihique, 
 et quod ah omnihus." (Loud cheers.) When I think of this Creed 
 I am irresistibly reminded of an illustration which is furnished by 
 the north-western part of the continent of Europe ; where barriers, 
 constructed of feeble materials and by human hands, have for 
 centuries rolled back the stormy waves of ocean and defied the 
 raging sea. Within the protection of those magnificent dykes, a 
 large community pursue their peaceful arts, and enjoy a tranquil 
 life in all prosperity and security. In the same way for more than 
 twelve hundred and fifty years we have found shelter from the waves
 
 The Rev. R. Gregory. 51 
 
 of infidelity behind the august barrier of the Athanasian Creed. 
 If the stormy waves beat more fiercely than heretofore against 
 this barrier of the Christian Faith, it is for us to take care that 
 this possession, which has been such an inestimable blessing to 
 ourselves, shall not be destroyed by the open assaults of avowed 
 Socinianism, or weakened by the more insidious plots of more 
 insidious men. It is for us to watch jealously and to hand it down 
 to our posterity, that it may be to all future ages a solid and 
 enduring barrier against the cruel waves of dismal unbelief. 
 (Loud and long-continued cheering.) 
 
 Canon Gregory, in seconding the resolution, said — I have heard 
 with very great pleasure what my noble friend Lord Beauchamp 
 said in vindication of gatherings such as these ; for if we may at 
 all anticipate the future, we must foresee that meetings of this 
 description may have to be held very much more frequently than 
 they have been hitherto. We cannot but feel that though the 
 wave of one difficulty may be rolled back by the present successful 
 resistance to the efforts which have been made to tamper with the 
 Athanasian Creed, yet that there are forces at work throughout the 
 length and breadth of the country which must be resisted not by a 
 few of our leading people, but by great masses of Churchmen 
 showing that they are determined to stand by that which they 
 have received from their fathers, and are resolved to hand down 
 the faith which they have inherited unimpaired to their children. 
 We all know that in the early days of Christianity men had to con- 
 tend for the faith which our blessed Lord came down from heaven 
 to teach us — to suffer, and if necessary to die for it ; and it would 
 seem that in these our days there are deliberate efforts made on all 
 sides to deprive us of the blessings of the Gospel which have been 
 our heritage ; and that if we would preserve them we must be as 
 active in their defence as were our forefathers for their propagation, 
 and be as ready to suffer, if necessary, in order to accomplish the 
 task entrusted to us, as they were to fulfil their task. The manner 
 of the attack upon the Athanasian Creed is worthy of our special 
 consideration ; it is a sample of what is being done in other cases. 
 We have first open opponents ; and I rejoice that we have some open 
 ones, because they are far less dangerous to the cause of truth than 
 another class of which I will speak presently. These open oppo- 
 nents tell us that the Athanasian Creed " savours of heresy " ; and 
 the men who tell us so are men who have subscribed to the 8th 
 
 E 2 
 
 k
 
 52 The Rev. B. Gregory. 
 
 Article, affirming that " the three Creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasias' 
 Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles' Creed, 
 ought thoroughly to be received and believed ; for they may be 
 proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture." One of these, a 
 divine in Convocation, told us that the Athanasian Creed " savoured 
 of heresy," and another said that " the more we dived into the lan- 
 guage of the damnatory clauses, the more we should be convinced 
 that they were not true, but that they contained falsehood of a 
 most misleading and dangerous kind." It would be difficult to find 
 more outspoken hostility; and yet these were the words of men 
 who had deliberately, and on solemn occasions, subscribed the 8th 
 Article, and because of their subscription held considerable prefer- 
 ment in the Church of England. (Cheers.) If there is still such 
 a thing as straightforward honour or honesty amongst men, it 
 seems to me that when persons do not agree with the formularies 
 which they have subscribed, they ought either to abstain from re- 
 viling that to which they have declared their unfeigned assent and 
 consent, or to resign their preferments. (Loud cheers.) There is, 
 however, a second class of persons who are much more dangerous. 
 There are ever those who hover on the wings of a great move- 
 ment, and try to belong to both sides ; and on this occasion we 
 have many such. There are those who tell us that the Atha- 
 nasian Creed contains everything that is noble, and grand, and 
 beautiful, and true ; that there is no part of the whole service which 
 they value so much ; and yet, notwithstanding the very great value 
 which they place upon it, they would relegate it to the Articles, 
 where it would never be seen or heard of, or they would strip it of 
 its most distinctive features ! If you will consider for a moment 
 what all this really amounts to, you will at once see its utter folly, 
 hoUowness, and untruth. It is as if you had a friend whom you 
 professed to love so dearly that you dared not trust yourself to 
 hold converse with him in the flesh, but wished to see him in his 
 grave, that there might be a more real and living sympathy than 
 was possible whilst both were in this world. It is as though you 
 professed to fear that frequent intercoui'se with your friend might 
 so pall upon your taste, and cause his conversation to lose its in- 
 fluence, that the sooner an end was put to it the more you would 
 honour and love him. (Cheers.) The Athanasian Creed is either 
 true or it is not. If it is true, it contains the very truth which 
 God Himself has revealed, and which unless we believe we cannot 
 hope to be saved. In saying this we are not sentencing the heathen
 
 The Rev. R. Gregory. 53 
 
 to condemnation. So far from levelling the monitory clauses 
 against those who have never heard the truth, we regard those 
 clauses chiefly as a warning to ourselves — as a solemn admonition 
 to us of the consequences which must necessarily fall upon us if 
 we are not faithful to the truths God has placed in our hands. 
 (Cheers.) The most dangerous of opponents is he who goes a 
 long way with you, and accepts a great deal of what you believe ; 
 who professes to value what you value, and then tries to induce you 
 to betray what you feel to be all-important, to persuade you to 
 abandon what you know you ought to defend. Above all things, 
 let us rather have an open enemy than one that tells you he loves 
 the Creed, and yet longs to get rid of it. (Loud cheers.) As to 
 the proposal for making the use of the Creed optional, I can 
 scarcely conceive anything more fatal; because the moment a 
 clergyman may or may not use it, that moment the Creed ceases 
 to be part of the belief of the Church of which he is a minister. 
 Its words become merely his own words ; and when it is left to 
 his discretion whether he may employ them or not, their whole 
 force and weight are at once necessarily lowered. We have lost 
 the Creed unless it speaks the voice of the Church — unless it 
 is accepted as the solemn declaration of truth which Christ has 
 revealed, and which the Church has accepted, and authorita- 
 tively placed before us. (Cheers.) The other day the Bishop of 
 a very important diocese spoke in the presence of a number of 
 persons of the faith of the present day and of the past. He said 
 that in the past we saw how earnestly men felt on the subject of 
 the faith, and how that numbers were ready to die rather than that 
 it should be slighted or dishonoured; whereas, he said, that at 
 the present time no such thing could be found at all. And why ? 
 If there is one thing more than another necessary to make faith 
 real, and true, and deep, it is that it should be definite. It must be so 
 I)laced before us, so adapted to the mind, that it can feel its force and 
 reality as far as it is jDossible for abstract truth to be made definite 
 and real to man. Thus it will possess a living force, an actuating 
 influence upon the actions and conduct, and not remain something 
 on the surface that can only influence opinion. Now, is there 
 one amongst us who does not feel that in the employment of the 
 Athanasian Creed he finds something of this character ; something . 
 that makes what he believes more real and true to him, and there- 
 fore something upon which he can rest ; something to which he 
 can turn in every doubt and in every time of distress — something
 
 54 The Rev. B. Grgeory, 
 
 which brings before him the personality of our Divine Lord, the 
 reality of His Presence, and the true union of His two Natures, 
 in a manner which no other Creed does ? It seems to explain 
 and enforce Divine truth in a way which deeply affects the heart 
 of man, and it is to him as a sure and certain basis upon which he 
 feels he may rest. It is a teaching, an explanation, an exposition of 
 the other Creeds ; it adds to them a value and a reality which make 
 them something more than they would be without such an authori- 
 tative explanation. And yet this same prelate, who lamented the 
 great diminution of faith in modern times, who felt that our dimi- 
 nished faith made our religion so much less real and deep than was 
 that of our forefathers, whom he held up to us for admiration and 
 imitation, is one of those who are perfectly vidlling to give up the 
 Athanasian Creed, to mutilate it, to lay it aside, or to allow its 
 use to be optional. (Cheers.) We may easily see the reason why 
 faith has become so weak. Persons have lost their faith in the 
 Athanasian Creed, and so have naturally lost the reality of their 
 faith altogether. It is quite certain that faith, to be a principle 
 of action, and to give a moral foundation for a man's life, must 
 be very definite indeed ; and it is because it has lost definiteness 
 that faith has become so obscure and nebulous as it is in so many 
 instances. Let us, then, accept this Creed, which has been so merci- 
 fully preserved to us through the manifold dangers through which 
 the Church has passed during the last twelve centuries; it is a 
 trust committed to our faithful keeping ; let us strive to be faith- 
 ful to our trust and to preserve it for the future. (Cheers.) For 
 this purpose there is need of active assistance from the laity ; and 
 I trust that they will always be determined to uphold in its in- 
 tegrity that faith which we have received, to resist all rash and 
 dangerous changes that may threaten that Church of which we are 
 all members. I trust they have shown to-night that we have no 
 reason to fear the power of any adversaries, and that the muster- 
 ing of their forces will dissipate some of the clouds which threaten 
 our tranquillity and well-being. (Cheers.) Rely upon it, the 
 strength of the Church will not be consulted by framing vast 
 comprehensive schemes to include the largest possible number of 
 persons, whatever their belief or want of it may be; for the strength 
 of the Church is not in numbers, but in the faith and holiness of 
 her members. She has to rely for succour and protection upon 
 her great Head, and that is secured to her, not by her ranks being 
 swelled by a crowd of lukewarm, half-believing, nominal members,
 
 Earl Nelson. 65 
 
 but by her conformity to the image of her Lord. Moreover, it 
 must be evident to us that it is the earnest depth of piety and the 
 reality of the religion of the few, which penetrates the mass, and 
 makes the influence of the Church felt throughout the world. If 
 then, for the purpose of seeking strength by an addition to her 
 numbers, you throw down her bulwarks, you will find that you 
 have included not an army of combatants who will fight in her 
 defence, but a mob who will flee at the first assault. Let us 
 therefore boldly rally under the banner of the Church of England, 
 the banner of the Church Catholic, the banner which Christ Him- 
 self has unfurled and placed in our hands ; let us earnestly con- 
 tend for all that has been committed to our keeping, and which I 
 trust we shall keep whole and undefiled until the great day of 
 account. (Loud cheers.) 
 
 Earl Nelson, in moving the second and third resolutions, said — 
 There are two great duties which every Christian is bound to 
 perform. One is to carry on our Lord's work upon this earth. 
 He went about doing good, and seeking everywhere opportunities 
 of curing sickness, disease, and suffering of every kind ; and we 
 ought, in like manner, to turn to account everything that can 
 enable us more truly in our day and generation to carry on the 
 great work which He has given us to do. There is another great 
 work which, as Christians, we have also had committed to us, and 
 if we neglect it we shall lose the foundation upon which alone all 
 other works can be based. It is to transmit unimpaired to suc- 
 ceeding generations the great deposit which, by God's mercy, has 
 been entrusted to the Church. (Cheers.) It is with reference to 
 this work that we are here to-night. I am not one of those who 
 would wish to curtail the liberty of Christian men : there are great 
 truths which many of us hold to be essential — truths indeed which 
 our finite minds cannot fathom, and upon which, therefore, dif- 
 ferent minds may be permitted to take different views, but we feel 
 that in the Athanasian Creed the whole germ of Christianity is at 
 stake. We find the three Creeds placed together in our Articles, 
 and we may truly call them the title-deeds of our Church. We 
 must never forget that the Church of England resolutely and pur- 
 posely reformed herself upon the model of the undivided Church. 
 The Eeformers never forgot that, and they appealed to a General 
 Council, when such General Council could be had, to ratify what 
 they had done. They consistently accepted these three Creeds as
 
 56 Earl Nelson. 
 
 embodying tlie teaching of the undivided Churet, and placed them 
 on the same footing, without any distinction of one from another, 
 as all equally provable by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture. 
 At this time, when we find infidelity again rampant amongst us, it 
 would be most unwise if we were carelessly, or without very serious 
 reason, to consent in any manner to tamper with the outworks of 
 the faith. (Cheers.) There are two ways in which this attack is 
 made upon the faith. We have in the background the determined 
 opposition of the infidel, and more prominently before us the in- 
 sidious attack which comes from people professing, and perchance 
 believing themselves, to be friends of the faith ; and it is curious 
 to observe, that as soon as this attack begins upon one Creed, it is 
 very ai)t to develope into an attack upon the others, showing how 
 truly the three Creeds together constitute the deposit of the Chris- 
 tian faith. (Cheers.) There is another thing on which I wish to 
 insist : — We must be on our guard against doing things in matters 
 of religion because they are popular. You may be pretty certain 
 that popularity of this kind will cost us dearly. We have seen from 
 the attacks upon the Athanasian Creed, and upon particular parts of 
 it, both what is the real evil which is to be feared at the present day, 
 and the necessity — a necessity far greater than we had ever thought 
 — of those very parts of the Creed which are assailed. I, for one, 
 think it is most essential that we should maintain the damnatory, 
 as they are called, but really the admonitory clauses of the Creed, 
 because they show that true belief is as much a part of religion as 
 purity of life ; and we may depend upon it that he who allows his 
 mind to be undisciplined will very soon go wrong in the purity of 
 his daily life also. I have seen a great deal written on the subject, but 
 we need not go very far to prove that those clauses have the sanction 
 of Holy Scripture. We need not go further than modern infidelity 
 itself ; for I think we shall find in the writings of infidels of the 
 present day accusations against our Blessed Lord Himself, that if 
 He had had the power He would have been a persecutor. They 
 attempt to prove their case by the warnings which he uttered for. 
 the benefit of the soul of man ; and surely we, His followers, need 
 not be ashamed to bear the reproach of our Master. (Loud cheers.) 
 The Church never has used these clauses in an unchristian sense ; 
 she has never used them for any other purpose than that for which 
 similar clauses are used in Holy Scripture itself, namely, as guides 
 and securities to prevent men from falling into error. We do not 
 curse individual men ; we only warn all men for their own good.
 
 The Bev. N. PococJc, 57 
 
 (Cheers.) If, however, we would really show the world, as our 
 blessed Lord showed it, the truth of this assertion, we have only to 
 follow His example, and all of us, in our several spheres, to go 
 about striving to do good, as He did. But do not let us think that 
 we can do this — do not let us think that the civilization in which 
 we glory, and which has arisen from the love of Christ, will con- 
 tinue—if the foundations of Christianity be overthrown. If, there- 
 fore, we would seek to extend our civilization, if we would seek 
 those objects which all men say they desire, it is most essential 
 that we should maintain inviolate the Christian faith. (Loud 
 cheering.) 
 
 The Rev. N. Pocock, in seconding the resolutions, said — After 
 the luminous speeches which have been delivered by the noble 
 lords and by Canon Gregory it will be unnecessary for me to 
 traverse the same ground which they have so ably gone over; 
 and, indeed, there is only one point upon which I feel that I am 
 qualified to address you with any authority — I mean the manner in 
 which the Athanasian Creed was dealt with by the Reformers during 
 the reigns of Edward YI. and of Queen Elizabeth. But before I 
 go into that matter, will you allow me to say one word upon an 
 aspect of the case which is suggested by the terms of the resolu- 
 tions ? These resolutions will, I believe, commit the meeting to 
 two very different things. One thing to which we shall commit 
 ourselves, is a protest against any mutilation of the Creed; the 
 other thing to which we shall commit ourselves is a protest against 
 any change in its place and status in the Church of England. Now, 
 I say that these two things are of very different significance 
 indeed. One is a matter of life and death — a matter that involves 
 the very existence of the Church of England ; whereas the other 
 is merely a question of expediency. We may protest against dis- 
 placing the Creed from a position which it has occupied for 320 
 years ; but the Church of England can clearly undo what she has 
 done. She made the Thirty-nine Articles, and if you want to see 
 these Articles abrogated or altered, you have only to appeal to the 
 authorities by which they were sanctioned, namely, to the Convoca- 
 tions and to the Parliament of England. I give no opinion as to 
 the wisdom or propriety of such a step ; but she has it in her 
 power to alter the place which this Creed now occupies in her 
 offices. And now I will tell you what the Church of England 
 cannot do. It is, I believe, an axiomatic principle of law that
 
 58 The Rev. K Pococh. 
 
 every inferior court is bound by the decision of its superior ; and 
 the Church of England, therefore, has no power to touch or alter 
 in any way whatever the Athanasian Creed. (Cheers.) It came 
 to her from a higher authority than her own. I have not the 
 slightest doubt whatever — I believe no theologian could possibly 
 doubt — that it was composed as early as the fifth century. There 
 is not the slightest shadow of a doubt that it was written some 
 time between a.d. 375 and 451. I fix these dates — which give 
 a very wide margin — on these grounds. In the year 375 ApoUi- 
 naris was condemned by Pope Damasus, and I infer that the Creed 
 must have been written after then, because it contains a very pointed 
 allusion to the Apollinarian heresy in the words, " Of a Reason- 
 able Soul and Human Flesh subsisting." On the other hand, 
 it could not possibly have been written after the condemnation 
 of the Monophysite heresy by the Council of Chalcedon in 
 451, otherwise it would have been more definite with respect 
 to the Two Natures in Christ. I must say that there are no 
 terms which sufficiently express my indignation at the manner 
 in which the name of S. Paulinus of Aquileia has been treated in 
 this controversy. We are told that one of the greatest saints of 
 his day consented to forge a lie for the purpose of pleasing the 
 emperor ! There is no blot whatever on the character of St. 
 Paulinus, and yet he is charged with this wickedness for the sake 
 of helping Charlemagne, forsooth, to separate the East and West 
 by asserting the doctrine of the Double Procession, which is scarcely 
 if at all visible in the Creed ! Was there ever such an incredible 
 piece of folly and wickedness ? (Loud cheers.) The Creed, then, 
 comes down to us with the authority of the West for 1450 years ; it 
 has been accepted by the East ; and it has been used in the Church 
 of England for more than a thousand years. This can be proved, for 
 we have the very words of this Creed in the profession of Denebert, 
 Bishop of Worcester, to Ethelhard, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the 
 year 798 ; and how, then, could it have been composed in the ninth 
 century ? (Cheers.) There have been various attempts to dis- 
 parage the Athanasian Creed, but we protest altogether against any 
 attempt to deprive us of the inheritance which we have received 
 from our fathers, and which we are resolved to transmit unmuti- 
 lated to our children. (Cheers.) You remember those who said, 
 " Nolumus leges Anglice mutari,'" and it is for you as members of the 
 English Church to protest, " Nolumus fidem ecclesice mutari." 
 (Loud cheers.) It would be a sacrifice of the faith to consent to
 
 The Rev. N. Pococh. 59 
 
 the mutilation of the damnatory, or minatory, or warning clauses ; 
 for to omit them would simply be to say that a man is not respon- 
 sible for his faith. You cannot take them out. They are at the 
 beginning, the middle, and the end, and they cannot be removed 
 without destroying the whole fabric. It is moreover of the very 
 nature of a Creed that it should imply warning clauses ; though it 
 does not matter whether they are expressed or not. They are not 
 expressed, for instance, in the Apostles' Creed, but they are implied 
 by the very nature of a Creed. The sanction of a Creed is our 
 blessed Lord's own statement, " He that believeth and is baptized 
 shall be saved;" the sanction of an anathema is contained in 
 the solemn words — " He that believeth not shall be condemned." 
 (Cheers.) But now I come to the question of expediency ; and 
 I can tell you about the history of the Creed at the time of the 
 Eeformation, and how it came to be placed where it is. Pre- 
 vious to that time it used to be recited in the office of Prime on 
 Sundays ; and when the Eeformers thought that instead of the old 
 hours, they would have a form of daily prayer — which they formed 
 by bundling the old services perhaps rather awkwardly together — 
 they appointed the Creed to be said on Christmas Day, on the 
 Epiphany, on the Feast of the Ascension, and on the three Sundays 
 on which it is still said. In 1552 it was directed to be used, not 
 six but thirteen times a year. Certain Cambridge professors say 
 that it was meant to be added to the Apostles' Creed, but I think they 
 are wrong, for it is matter of record that it never has been so said. 
 However, that question does not matter a straw. The fact remains 
 that in 1552 the Eeformers ordered the Creed to be said thirteen 
 times a year instead of six. All this is an old story ; but what is 
 new is the reason why they did so. The reason was that at the 
 beginning of the reign of Edward VI., foreign Anabaptists came 
 over here in shoals, and their teaching soon developed into Arian- 
 ism and into a form which did not differ much from the heresy 
 of ApoUinaris. These persons, who were tried and some of theaa 
 burned, were in the habit of throwing in Archbishop Cranmer's 
 teeth that he could not prove his own faith from Holy Scripture, 
 but that he got it out of the Athanasian Creed. What, then, did 
 the Eeformers do ? In the first place, they drew up the Eighth 
 Article, which stated that the Athanasian Creed could be proved by 
 most certain warrants of Holy Scripture, and they ordered the 
 Creed itself to be said thirteen times — on three Sundays and ten 
 festivals. The reason why the latter were chosen was because
 
 60 The Eev. N. Pocock 
 
 at tliat time the services on lioly days were more frequented than 
 now, and that, in point of fact, it was thought the churches would 
 probably be better attended on those days than on Sundays. (Cheers.) 
 And now let me say one word on the restoration of the unity of the 
 Christian Church throughout the world. I suppose we all look 
 forward to the time when the Church of England may be the means 
 of restoring unity amongst the scattered branches of the Western 
 Church. (Cheers.) Let us hope that the time is not far distant when 
 friendly relations between the Church of England and the Western 
 Church may be restored. But that before that time comes she must 
 have gathered within her bosom many of those who are now Non- 
 conformists. But let us not hope that we can gain Nonconformists 
 by any scheme of comprehension, alteration, or mutilation of the 
 Creed. (Cheers.) Schemes of comprehension have never answered, 
 and they never will. The only way to gain Nonconformists is by 
 teaching in their integrity all the doctrines of the Church. (Cheers.) 
 If Nonconformists are to be won only by the sacrifice of the Creed, 
 you will agree with me that the purchase will be too costly. (Loud 
 cheers.) If such are to be the conditions of union, I will express 
 my views in the words of the heathen poet — 
 
 " Doris amara suam non intermisceat undam." 
 
 I will add one word more. It has been said before now that such 
 a meeting as this is useless because the battle is already won. I 
 admit that the battle is very nearly won, and I hoj)e that after 
 this meeting it will be won altogether. (Cheers.) But there are 
 two dangers ahead yet. There is Convocation, and there is Parlia- 
 ment. We are told that the former will probably agree to accept 
 some form of synodical declaration that the Church of England 
 takes the condemnations in the Athanasian Creed in exactly 
 the same sense as the solemn warnings of Holy Scripture. I 
 will only say in reference to that proposal that I trust Con- 
 vocation will never commit itself to such an absurdity. I 
 have always thought it was for the Church to interpret the lan- 
 guage of Holy Scripture, not for Holy Scripture to interpret the 
 language of the Church. (Loud cheers.) But then it is said that 
 the authority of Parliament may be brought to bear for the purpose 
 of preventing any punishment from being inflicted upon such 
 clergymen as may disobey the Church. I trust that we may be 
 able to prevent such an anomalous state of things as that would 
 be. People now talk a great deal of the separation of Church and
 
 The Rev. George Williams. 61 
 
 State ; and I confess, I should regard that as a very great calamity. 
 But what is suggested would be the beginning of that separation ; 
 for if the State is to interfere to protect disobedient clergymen, it 
 would certainly be impossible for the connection to go on much 
 longer. (Loud cheers.) 
 
 Admiral Etder having moved the last resolution, — 
 The Eev. George Williams, in seconding it, said— There is one 
 objection to the Athanasian Creed which, if well founded, would 
 come- home with peculiar force to my mind, namely, that it inter- 
 poses a barrier to the reunion of the East and West. We have been 
 told upon high authority — upon that of a gentleman who styles 
 himself " the First Presbyter of the Church of England," that the 
 Creed anathematizes the whole Eastern Church. I should be 
 exceedingly sorry to believe that that was the case ; and if I thought 
 it was, I should feel very differently towards the Athanasian Creed 
 from what I do at the present time. In fact, the statement is 
 altogether a mistake — altogether an error. The Greek Church 
 accepts the Creed, and regards it as a most precious document. 
 She not only appends it in her Horologion or Book of Common 
 Prayer, but she has taken it out of that large collection of prayers 
 and documents, and inserted it in a little volume, which I have 
 here, called the Synopsis ; which consists of the cream of the larger 
 Service Book. On the title-page it is stated to be " profitable to all 
 Christian people ; " and I find imbedded in it the Athanasian Creed, 
 as a document of singular value. I remember the first time I 
 visited Palestine being very much struck at finding it suspended in 
 the Divan of the Greek Archbishop of Bethlehem, near the Church 
 which was erected by St. Helena, over what is supposed to be the 
 place of our Lord's Nativity. What is more, the copy which I saw 
 there actually contained the Double Procession. That fact seems 
 to show that there is no such dislike for that expression, save in the 
 Nicene Creed, as is commonly thought to exist in the East. I 
 suppose it would have been impossible for any copy of the Nicene 
 Creed with the Filioque to have been suspended in the Divan of a 
 Greek prelate. The real objection to the Filioque is that it is an 
 insertion introduced into a Catholic Creed without the consent of 
 the whole Church ; and it is an objection which is largely sympa- 
 thized in by many who entirely admit the Double Procession from 
 eternity. (Cheers.) As for the various proposals which have been 
 made for the mutilation or the "muffling" of the Athanasian
 
 62 The Rev. George Williams. 
 
 Creed, as tlie Dean of Norwich has so admirably expressed it, 
 there is a passage of Scripture which has been very strongly in my 
 mind. I think that this meeting and the great meeting at St. 
 James's Hall may well adopt the words of Naboth to Ahab, when 
 that King desired to have his plot of ground which lay so con- 
 venient to the palace, and which Naboth was so unreasonable as to 
 refuse — " God forbid that we should give you the inheritance of 
 our fathers ! " (Loud cheers.) Those who wish to remove this 
 Creed from the Prayer Book will hardly say — " We will give you a 
 better;" and if they offer to buy it at a price, we will reply that it 
 contains that which "cannot be gotten for gold, neither can silver 
 be weighed for the price thereof," which "is far above rubies." 
 (Cheers.) The Athanasian Creed was probably used in the Church 
 in England even before the Creed of Nicaea. You have heard of 
 that admirable paper of Sir T. Duffus Hardy, which I hope will be 
 published for the edification of the Church. Sir Thomas's theory 
 is that the Utrecht Psalter was brought to England by the eccle- 
 siastics in the suite of Queen Bertha for use in her chapel ; and it 
 is a remarkable fact, that the copy of the Athanasian Creed which it 
 contains is identical with the form which we now use. The Apostles' 
 Creed also contains the article respecting the Descent into Hell, 
 which was not found in the Eoman and Italian MSS., but which w^as 
 in the Gallican. So again the Gloria in Excelsis, which those who 
 know anything about liturgical matters are aware varies in different 
 Churches, so that there are scarcely two which have it in exactly 
 the same form as it stands in the Utrecht MS., is in that Psalter 
 identical with the form in which we still possess it. The English 
 Church prior to the Conquest seems to have been a vast deal 
 more English than it was after that event ; and since the Eeforma- 
 tion it has been more in sympathy with the Anglo-Saxon Church 
 than with the Anglo-Norman. It is, at all events, a very interest- 
 ing fact, that from the time of St. Augustine's mission to the Con- 
 quest, this Creed was in use in the English Church ; and that at a 
 period when Mr. Ffoulkes says it had not yet been composed. 
 (Cheers.) It was the practice at that time for English Bishops 
 before their consecration to make a Profession of allegiance to 
 their Metropolitan. The practice in question was probably intro- 
 duced by Archbishop Theodore — that learned Theodore of Tarsus 
 to whom the Church of England owes so much, and who, in fact, 
 may be said to have formed the English Church as an organized 
 body, for before his time it was little more than an aggregate of
 
 The Marquess of Bath. 63 
 
 mission stations. We find a singular resemblance between tbese 
 acts of profession and those which are made by Bishops in the 
 Orthodox Church at the present day ; a circumstance which points 
 to a common origin, and suggests that the practice was probably 
 brought in by Theodore. Several of these early English professions 
 embody regular confessions of faith, all with the Double Procession, 
 and some of them in the very words of the Athanasian Creed ; so 
 that we see that the Creed must have been in existence in this 
 country at that time, and was probably here in the Gallican 
 Psalter of Queen Bertha when Augustine set foot on our shores. 
 It is therefore an " inheritance of our fathers " in a very emphatic 
 sense of the words. (Cheers.) Whatever temptation may threaten 
 us, — whatever inducement may be held out to us to alienate it, I 
 hope we shall resist it, remembering that the one sole object of the 
 Christian Church is the maintenance of the Truth. It stands 
 for that purpose alone. It is to be the " Pillar and Ground of the 
 Truth," and if it comes to be a question between surrendering the 
 truth and surrendering life itself, I hope we may be prepared to 
 say in the words of the Pagan poet — 
 
 Summum crede nefas animam praeferre pudori, 
 Et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas. 
 
 (Loud cheers). 
 
 The Hon. C. L. Wood in proposing a very cordial vote of thanks 
 to the noble chairman, said he thought that what had taken place 
 that night would teach the most timid that there was no need of 
 fear or misgiving as to the future of the Church of England. 
 (Loud cheers.) 
 
 The motion was seconded by the Rev. Brymer Belcher, and 
 unanimously agreed to. 
 
 The Marquess of Bath, in acknowledging the compliment, hoped 
 that what had taken place that evening would settle, at all events 
 for a time, all questions of dealing with the Athanasian Creed. If, 
 however, that hope should not be realized, and their opponents 
 should persevere in their endeavours, he thought that what they had 
 seen and heard that night would justify them in urging upon their 
 friends both in London and in the country to agitate wherever they 
 could, and to persevere in the defence of this great bulwark of the 
 Church of England. (Loud cheers). 
 The meeting then broke up.
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLTAM CLOWES AND SONS, DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, 
 AND CHARING CROSS.