in the world, and the force of evidence strikes different minds so differently that it is impossible to say for certain whether the man has ever had the faith fairly set before his conscience. Not till the secrets of all hearts are revealed at the last day can it be known who they are who have "not believed," and who, therefore," shall be damned." In precisely the same way as that in which we deal with a text such as this, should we deal with the statements of the Athanasian Creed. They are of the nature of a proclamation. They stand, as our Lord's own words stand, as a warning to the believer of the danger of letting go that which he has received. They speak in close adherence to scriptural phraseology of the doom incurred by those who reject the Saviour of the world. But that is all. To apply them to any given individual is to assume the office of the judge, to whom alone it belongs to administer the law, and to consider how far it applies in the case brought before Him for judgment.

Verse 26: "He, therefore, that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity." Here, again, there is a harshness about the English translation which is absent from the original. If the words ran thus, "Let him, then, who wishes to be safe [or "saved"] thus think of the Trinity," no objection could reasonably be raised to the clause, and such a rendering would far more closely represent the original "Qui vult, ergo, salvus esse: ita de Trinitate sentiat."1

1 Dr. Swainson has pointed out (on the authority of Professor Skeat). that "must" in the sixteenth century often bore a less strong meaning than is now usually attached to it, and was often used in the sense of "would have to," or "should."-Nicene and Apostles' Creeds, p. 495. The old English version in the Bodleian (Douce, 258), printed by Maskell (Monumenta Ritualia, Ed. 2, vol. iii. p. 257) gives the following rendering of the clause, "And who soeuer wele be saafe, yus fele he of ye

trinite.'

Verse 27:"Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ."

In this sentence the word "rightly" is unfortunate, for to many minds it probably suggests the same idea as "correctly," and seems to imply that strict orthodoxy and correctness of belief is the main thing, making the faith spoken of a matter of the intellect, of the head rather than of the heart. The Latin, however, is this: "Sed necessarium est ad æternam salutem ut incarnationem quoque Domini nostri Jesu Christi fideliter credat "; and if this word fideliter were rendered "faithfully" instead of "rightly," it would be apparent that the belief spoken of is a moral quality, and belongs to the heart even more than to the head.1 In this case the mistranslation, which is serious, is beyond question due to the fact that the Reformers believed that the creed was the work of Athanasius, and therefore corrected the Latin by reference to a Greek version, which they must have considered the original. The version known to them has been shown by Waterland to be that published by Nicholas Bryling at Basle about 1540, and this, we find, renders fideliter in this verse by ὀρθῶς.

Finally, if, in spite of the considerations here urged, it is still maintained that the creed makes everything depend upon a man's belief, it may be well to emphasise the fact that in reality it is the only one of the three creeds which expressly asserts judgment by works.

They that have done good [not 'thought correctly' nor even 'believed rightly '] shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire."

1 Compare Rom, x. 10, "With the heart man believeth unto righteous. ness."

2 See Waterland, Critical History, ch. v. and x., and cf. Swainson, p.

A word may be added with regard to the phrases used to describe the condemnation incurred by those who reject the faith. "Everlastingly" and "everlasting can scarcely be defended as renderings of æternus. It would be better if "eternally" or "eternal" could be substituted, as these are the true equivalents of in æternum and æternum in clauses 2 and 39. The Latin phrases adequately represent the Greek eis Tòv aiova and aiovios, and, therefore, whatever interpretation we put upon the original sayings of our Lord, the same we are justified in putting upon the quotations of them in the creed. Now, in verse 2, the phrase in æternum perire occurs. This is the equivalent used in the Vulgate for ἀποθανεῖν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα in S. John xi. 26. Its use in the creed may also be justified by the occurrence of the phrase "eternal destruction" (ŏλe@pos (ὄλεθρος alúvios) which is used of the doom incurred by those who "know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus" in 2 Thess. i. 9.1 Still more directly are the words of the thirty-ninth verse of the creed founded upon Scripture. They are taken from our Lord's sayings in S. Matthew xxv. 41: "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire" (Tup aiúviov, Revised Version, "eternal fire"), and in verse 46: "These shall go away into everlasting punishment (εἰς κόλασιν αἰώνιον, Revised Version,' eternal punishment'); but the righteous into life eternal."2

Whatever, then, our Lord's words mean, the creed means the same, for, as the late Dr. Mozley forcibly pointed out," where the language of a doctrinal formulary and the language of the Bible are the same, whatever explanation we give, in case there is a difficulty, of the language of the Bible is applicable to the language of the formulary as well; and therefore, in such a case, 1 Compare also the expression "the second death" in Rev. xx. 6. Cf. also S. John v. 29.

the statement in the formulary is no fresh difficulty, but only one which we have already surmounted in accepting the same statement in the Bible." 1 Let due weight be given to this consideration, and let it be remembered that the creed repeats rather than explains or interprets the phrases used in Scripture, and it is believed that much of the difficulty now felt in some quarters with regard to the acceptance of the creed will be removed.

Appended is the creed itself in the original Latin, as found in the Sarum Breviary.2

SYMBOLUM ATHANASII.

1. Quicunque vult salvus esse: ante omnia opus est ut teneat Catholicam fidem.

2. Quam nisi quisque integram, inviolatamque servaverit; absque dubio in æternum peribit.

3. Fides autem Catholica hæc est, ut unum Deum in Trinitate: et Trinitatem in Unitate veneremur.

4. Neque confundentes personas: neque substantiam separantes.

5. Alia est enim persona Patris: alia Filii, alia Spiritus Sancti.

1 Lectures and Theological Papers, p. 220. In the same volume is contained an important lecture on the Athanasian Creed, to which reference may be made (Lecture xiii.).

2 Vol. i. col. 46, in the Cambridge edition.

This title is not given to the creed in any ancient MS. Even where it is attributed to Athanasius it is not called Symbolum, but Fides, as in some of the MSS. referred to above. Various readings in the text of the creed are limited in number. They may be seen in Burn, p.

193.

6. Sed Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti una est divinitas æqualis gloria coæterna majestas.

7. Qualis Pater talis Filius; talis Spiritus Sanctus.

8. Increatus Pater increatus Filius: increatus Spiritus Sanctus.

9. Immensus Pater immensus Filius immensus Spiritus Sanctus.

10. Eternus Pater æternus Filius: æternus Spiritus Sanctus.

11. Et tamen non tres æterni: sed unus æternus.

12. Sicut non tres increati nec tres immensi: sed unus increatus et unus immensus.

13. Similiter omnipotens Pater omnipotens Filius: omnipotens Spiritus Sanctus.

14. Et tamen non tres Omnipotentes: sed unus Omnipotens.

15. Ita Deus Pater Deus Filius: Deus Spiritus Sanctus.

16. Et tamen non tres Dii: sed unus est Deus.

17. Ita Dominus Pater Dominus Filius: Dominus Spiritus Sanctus.

18. Et tamen non tres Domini: sed unus est Dominus. 19. Quia sicut sigillatim unamquamque personam Deum ac Dominem confiteri, Christiana veritate compellimur: Ita tres Deos aut Dominos dicere, Catholica religione prohibemur.

20. Pater a nullo est factus: nec creatus nec genitus. 21. Filius a Patre solo est: non factus nec creatus sed genitus.

22. Spiritus Sanctus a Patre et Filio: non factus nec creatus nec genitus, sed procedens.

23. Unus ergo Pater non tres Patres: unus Filius non tres Filii, unus Spiritus Sanctus non tres Spiritus Sancti. 24. Et in hac Trinitate nihil prius aut posterius: nihil majus aut minus.