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definite and formal assent to them. Certainly it was so regarded by Archbishop Laud, who in his conference with Fisher the Jesuit, writes of it as follows:

"A. C. will prove the Church of England a shrew, and such a shrew. For in her Book of Canons, she excommunicates every man, who shall hold anything contrary to any part of the said Articles.' So A. C. But surely these are not the very words of the Canon, nor perhaps the sense. Not the words, for they are: 'Whosoever shall affirm that the Articles are in any part superstitious or erroneous, etc.'; and perhaps not the sense. For it is one thing for a man to hold an opinion privately within himself, and another thing boldly and publicly to affirm it. And, again, it is one thing to hold contrary to some part of an Article, which perhaps may be but in the manner of expression; and another thing positively to affirm, that the Articles in any part of them are superstitious and erroneous. But this is not the main of the business; for though the Church of England denounce excommunication, as is before expressed, yet she comes far short of the Church of Rome's severity, whose anathemas are not only for Thirty-Nine Articles, but for very many more, above one hundred in matter of doctrine, and that in many points as far remote from the foundation; though, to the far greater rack of men's consciences, they must be all made fundamental, if that Church have once determined them; whereas the Church of England never declared that every one of her Articles are fundamental in the faith. For it is one thing to say, no one of them is superstitious or erroneous; and quite another to say, every one of them is fundamental, and that in every part of it, to all men's belief. Besides, the Church of England prescribes only to her own children, and by those Articles provides but for her own peaceable consent in those doctrines of truth. But the Church of

Rome severely imposes her doctrine upon the whole world, under pain of damnation." 1

Moreover, it must not be forgotten that the only formulary to which a layman is directly required to assent is the Apostles' Creed. It is this which is set before him at his baptism, and again in the visitation of the sick, as containing the Articles of the faith. The position which the Nicene Creed occupies in the Church's eucharistic office, where it is appointed to be sung or said before the worshippers are invited to join in the greatest act of fellowship and communion possible, practically interprets for us the sense in which the briefer form is to be understood. But it remains true of the Apostles' Creed that for the layman, "that, and that alone, is required at his baptismal admission within the Church; that, and that alone, is asked for at the deathbed, as a sufficient proof that the man retains what he orginally began with the Christian's confession of a true faith." 2

The Articles, on the other hand, are at least primarily for the clergy. The loyal and faithful laity of the Church will naturally regard them with respect, and will in accordance with the terms of the Fifth Canon abstain from impugning them. But the Church never requires from them a formal act of assent to them. "Their proper usage is as a Túπos didaxis, a sketch or framework of sound doctrine, by which the Church takes engagements from her clergy and other teaching officers, that while occupying her pulpits and teaching in her name-they will not be disloyal; but will teach in her spirit, and present her time-honoured doctrine, albeit in sundry forms and divers manners to her people." s

1 Works (Anglo-Catholic Library), vol. ii. p. 60.

2 Curteis, Bampton Lectures, p. 309 (Ed. 1).

id. The whole passage is worth consulting, but it is not entirely free from exaggeration, as there is no reference in it either to the

7. THE CHIEF DIVISIONS OF THE ARTICLES.

It only remains to mark out the chief groups or divisions into which the Articles fall, before proceeding to the commentary upon them. The most natural and convenient division of them, in accordance with their subject-matter, appears to be the following:

I. The Catholic Faith and where it may be found (Articles I-VIII.).

(a) The Faith (Articles I.-V.).

(b) Scripture and the Creeds (Articles VI.-VIII.).

II. Personal Religion, or Man and his Salvation (Articles IX.-XVIII.).

III. Corporate Religion, or the Church, the Ministry, and the Sacraments (Articles XIX.-XXXI.).

IV. Miscellaneous Articles, relating to the discipline of the Church of England, its relation to the civil power, etc. (Article XXXII.-XXXIX.).

Fifth Canon, or to the position of the Nicene Creed in the Communion Service.

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