is almost certain that it is against them that this Article is directed.1 "There are such libertines and wretches," writes Hooper," who are daring enough in their conventicles not only to deny that Christ is the Messiah and Saviour of the world, but also to call that blessed Seed a mischievous fellow, and deceiver of the world." 2 "2 So at a somewhat later date (1579) one Matthew Hamant was burnt at Norwich for maintaining that "Christ is not God nor the Saviour of the world, but a mere man, a sinful man, and an abominable idol." There are other indications in the Articles-such as the emphatic language used in Article XV. on Christ who I came to be the Lamb without spot, Who, by sacrifice of Himself once made, should take away the sins of the world," and Who was "clearly void" from sin "both in His flesh and in His spirit"-of the necessity there was to guard against teaching of this character; and it certainly was not without cause that the compilers of the Articles introduced into them this strong assertion, that eternal salvation is only to be looked for through the name of Christ.

The Article, then, means neither more nor less than S. Peter's words in Acts iv. 12, which are referred to in it: "In none other is salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven that is given among men, wherein we must be saved." If this text be, as it surely is, reconcilable with a belief in the salvability of the heathen, then so also is this Article, which proclaims that Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved, for the one says no more than the other. With regard to the heathen who live and die out of reach of the gospel, Scripture says but little; but 1 Of. Hardwick, p. 101. 2 See p.6 23. "I hold it to be a most certain rule of interpretir, Scripture that it

sufficient is revealed, not only to make us shrink from pronouncing their condemnation, because we are taught not to judge "them that are without" (1 Cor. v. 12, 13), but even to enable us to have a good hope concerning them. God is "the Saviour of all men," but " especially of believers" (1 Tim. iv. 10),-an expression which can only mean that others besides Christians or "believers can be saved. S. Paul also speaks of the "Gentiles which have no law," and yet "do by nature the things of the law," showing "the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith " (Rom. ii. 14, 15); and it is probable that our Lord's parable of the Sheep and the Goats in S. Matt. xxv. is intended to refer primarily to their case.1 Consequently, whatever individual teachers may have maintained, the Church as a whole has never committed herself to the assertion that the heathen must be lost, nor denied to them the possibility of salvation. Though never brought into covenant with God here, they may be brought to know Him hereafter. But if so, whatever

never speaks of persons when there is a physical impossibility of its speaking to them. . . . So the heathen, who died before the word was spoken, and in whose land it was never preached, are dead to the word; it concerns them not at all: but the moment it can reach them it is theirs, and for them."-Dr. Arnold's Life and Correspondence, Letter LXV. quoted in Browne On the Articles, p. 443.

In this chapter (S. Matt. xxv.) there are three parables: the first two, the Ten Virgins and the Talents, refer directly to the kingdom of heaven, i.e. the Church. With the third, the Sheep and the Goats, the case is different. (1) It is spoken of távra тà tovη, all the nations, a phrase which most naturally refers to the heathen world; (2) neither those on the right hand nor those on the left recognise that they have ever seen Christ or ministered to Him on earth. Apparently, then, they had not known Him in this life; and (3) the test by which their lives are judged is the test of works of mercy and kindness, just those "things of the law" which the Gentiles might "do by nature," if they had "the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith."

grace may be theirs here, or glory be granted to them hereafter, they will not have been saved by the law (in lege) or sect which they professed, but only by Christ, the one Mediator, Who is "the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (S. John i. 9), and to whom, although they knew it not, they ministered, in doing works of mercy to their fellow-men.

If these considerations are carefully borne in mind, it appears to the present writer that there need be no hesitation concerning the acceptance of this Article. It certainly condemns a lax and latitudinarian view which would treat religion as a matter of indifference, and hold that the rejection of Christ mattered not. But Scripture equally condemns this, and speaks in the strongest terms of those who reject the truth, and let it go after they have received it (see [S. Mark] xvi. 16; S. John iii. 18, 19, xii. 48, etc.). But this letting go of the true faith was exactly the sin of which so many of the Anabaptists of the sixteenth century were guilty, looking on our Lord sometimes as a mere man, and denying Him to be the Saviour of the world; affirming that Holy Scripture was given "only to the weak," and claiming the inner light of the Spirit, and licence therefrom for every kind of profanity. Not without good reason was this Article inserted to condemn them.

1 See the Nineteenth Article of 1553, which immediately followed that one which has now been considered in the original series. The text of it will be found on p. 78, and cf. p. 233.

THIS Article has remained practically1 unchanged since the original edition of 1553. It was possibly suggested

by the words in the corresponding Article in the Confession of Augsburg: "Est autem ecclesia congregatio sanctorum, in qua evangelium recte docetur, et recte administrantur sacramenta." But the Anglican Article is more precise and guarded, and has nothing answering to the next words found in the Lutheran Confession: "Et ad veram unitatem Ecclesiæ satis est consentire de doctrina evangelii et administratione sacramentorum." 2

1 Slight verbal changes were introduced into the English Article in Elizabeth's reign in order to bring it into more exact accordance with the Latin, in which there has been no alteration whatever. "And manner

of ceremonies

in 1571.

was added in 1563; and "their" before "faith" omitted

2 Confessio Augustana, c. vii., De ecclesia.

The object of the Article appears to be twofold: (1) to give such a definition or description of the visible Church as shall exclude the claim of the Roman Church to be the only true Church, while not embracing under the terms of the definition the various sects of Anabaptists and others then springing up; and (2) to deny the claim of the Roman Church to infallibility.

That some such polemical object was intended by those who framed the description in the first part of the Article appears from the following passage in the Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum, between which and the Article there is evidently a very close connection:

"Etiam illorum insania legum vinculis est constringenda, qui Romanam Ecclesiam in hujusmodi petra fundatam esse existimant, ut nec erraverit, nec errare possit; cum et multi possint ejus errores ex superiore majorum memoria repeti, et etiam ex hac nostra proferri, partim in his quibus vita nostra debet informari, partim etiam in his quibus fides debet institui. Quapropter illorum etiam intolerabilis est error, qui totius Christiani orbis universam ecclesiam solius episcopi Romani principatu contineri volunt. Nos enim eam quæ cerni potest ecclesiam sic definimus ut omnium cœtus sit fidelium hominum, in quo sacra Scriptura sincere docetur, et sacramenta (saltem his eorum partibus quæ necessariæ sunt) juxta sunt) juxta Christi præscriptur administrantur." 1

To a later date belongs the Homily for Whitsunday first published in 1563, and ascribed to the authorship of Bishop Jewell. But it is interesting to notice that it introduces a description of the Church which is evidently suggested by that in the Article into a similar polemical passage combating the claims of the Church of Rome.

"But now herein standeth the controversy, whether 1 De Hæres. c. xxi., De Romana Ecclesia et potestate Romani pontificis.