portance of a visible centre of unity became apparent in the clash of conflicting interests and diverse nationalities at work within the common fold; and so, too, successive theological controversies were the providential means of bringing out in detail the due 'proportion' and harmony of the faith. The fulness of truth was wrapped up in the apostolic tradition, the world-wide religion lay hid in the upper room at Jerusalem, as the results of mathematical science are involved in its axioms, or the oak is contained in the

acorn.

And, next, we may trace a certain historical sequence in the evolution of doctrines running parallel to the order of the Creed. First, in the contest with Greek philosophy, the doctrine of the Trinity had to be evolved and fixed, and this mainly occupied the two first Ecumenical Councils; the four next were engaged in formulizing and guarding the faith of the Incarnation; the first definition on the Eucharist occurs in the seventh (787, A.D.) Later on, and in the West, the subjective questions of grace and free will, first mooted by St. Augustine, and their mutual relations in the justification of man (involving the doctrine of 'merit,' so strangely misunderstood afterwards) presented themselves to the mind of the Church; as also the theology of the sacraments, in their nature, number, and distinguishing characteristics. The results of her judgment on all these points found a luminous exposition in the Catechism and decrees of Trent, from which the later doctrinal symbols of the Greek Church do not

materially differ. It was in the subjective side of their theology that the strength of the Reformers chiefly lay. Luther desired to shift the verdict from the Synod, and the lecture-room, and the cloister, and to make his appeal direct to the hearts and experiences of mankind. He questioned them, not of the nature or mission of the Redeemer, but of how the sinner is made just before God. The controversies of our own day turn principally on the last division of the Creed, which deals with the Person and Offices of the Holy Ghost, and concern more especially His inspiration of Scripture, and His abiding Presence in the Church. What the Protestant movement was to the sixteenth century, that is the Rationalistic movement to our own.

I observe further, that, if the principle of development be denied, only two theories remain on which any positive scheme of Christian doctrine can be maintained; first, that laid down by Chillingworth, and accepted in name, but rejected in practice, by nearly all Protestant communities, The Bible, and the Bible only, the religion of Protestants." His thesis is defended in the famous passage which has passed into a classical common place of Protestant polemics, but which is founded on a radical misconception of the Catholic idea of Church authority and an absolute ignoring, or rather denial, of the whole principle of development, which indeed he elsewhere refers to as a reductio ad absurdum of the claims of Catholicism.

It

Chillingworth's Religion of Protestants, a Safe Way of Salvation, published in 1637.

is as follows:-"I see with my own eyes that there are Popes against Popes, Councils against Councils, some Fathers against others, the same Fathers against themselves, and consent of Fathers of one age against a consent of Fathers of another age, the Church of one age against the Church of another age. Traditive interpretations of Scripture are pretended, but there are none to be found; no tradition but only of Scripture can derive itself from the fountain, but may be plainly proved either to have been brought in, in such an age after Christ, or that in such an age it was not. In a word, there is no sufficient certainty but of Scripture only, for any considering man to build upon." On this I have to observe; as to "Popes against Popes," waiving the question of fact, their judgments when resting on their own authority alone, if maintained by some theologians to be infallible, are as strenuously denied to be so by others; it is a purely open question. Councils are held by no one to be infallible, except in matters of doctrine; and there is no case of doctrinal contradiction between Councils universally received in the Church as Ecumenical. The individual opinions of Fathers are valuable as testimony to prevalent belief, or from the character and position of the writer; but they form no part of our faith, and their contradictions to each other or themselves, do not supply even a plausible argument against the authority of Catholic tradition; neither are "traditive interpretations of Scripture" any part of that tradition so far as it is authoritative, though they serve to illustrate and

enforce it. The "certainty of Scripture only" is a perfectly useless criterion, unless we also know the certain interpretation of Scripture. Scriptura est sensus Scripturæ. It is enough merely to refer here to those perplexing questions about scriptural history and inspiration, hardly dreamt of in Chillingworth's day, but which have led a recent Protestant essayist to observe that "the doctrine of plenary inspiration"-on which, according to Chillingworth, the whole fabric of the Protestant faith reposes-" has broken like packthread before the rising gales of scientific discovery and historical research." On the actual results of the system, when fairly carried out, I shall have something to say, in another connection, hereafter. Suffice it to remark here, that, when attempted to be reduced to practice for corporate purposes, it is obliged to assume at starting so much of the Catholic principle as will cover the authenticity and inspiration of the Bible, and also some particular scheme of interpretation; if either of these postulates be denied, the theory falls to the ground as a basis for any definite form of belief.2 In the abstract, however, it is intelligible and coherent.

The other theory in fact, though not in words, admits the principle of development, but seeks to limit its operation to the early ages. According to this view, we ought to accept not only the Bible, but the Catholic creeds-i. e., the Apostolic, Nicene, and

Essays on Church Policy (Macmillan, 1868), p. 39.

This inconsistency of Protestant systems is dwelt upon in Mackay's Tubingen School and its Antecedents. London, 1863.

Athanasian-together with the dogmatic decrees of the earlier Councils, and the judgment of the early Church on the Canon of Scripture, rejecting all later developments, or as they would be called 'innovations,' such as Purgatory or Transubstantiation. This principle is professed by the Church of England, and, with more rigid consistency, by the Greek Church,' and is acted upon in various degrees, though disclaimed in theory, by the principal Protestant communities of Europe. It has an advantage over the former, or purely Bible theory, in providing, up to a certain point, a definite system of belief; but it is deficient in applicability to fresh circumstances, and in internal coherence. For the question at once occurs, Where are we to draw the line? Theological science cannot come to a standstill, and if we are bound to accept the definitions of Nice and Chalcedon, why are we to reject the decrees of later Councils ?2 If the sensus fidelium is enough to guarantee the Athanasian dogmas, and (in the Anglican Church) the Filioque, why is it inadequate to guarantee the Invocation of Saints, or Purgatory? The Holy Ghost, who guided the Church during the earlier ages, cannot be supposed to have withdrawn His illuminating gifts; and, since the new

1 Yet the term μeTovolwσis was adopted by the Synod of Bethlehem. Cf. infr. note, p. 54.

*So clearly did Jeremy Taylor perceive this, that he does not conceal his dislike to the Nicene Creed, complaining that it has been "made an ill example of, till, by explicating the old, they have inserted new articles." He adds, consistently enough, that no one can tell how much is necessary, and how much is not, if they once go beside the Apostolic [Apostles'] Creed."-Ductor Dubit, ii. 13.