Sin,—The Rev. Norman H. Clarke surprises me. In his letter
to you he says: " I do not believe that there is such a thing as non-credal Christianity." If by this he means that refusal to subscribe to any fixed creed is unchristian, then he must exclude froth Christ's Fellowship the Puritan Fathers, the Quakers, the Baptists and the Congregationalists, among other Fellowships. John Bunyan, John: Milton, Oliver Cromwell, George Fox and many other of the saints have no place in the communion of the Church. At present their total membership far exceeds the fellowship of the English-established church. With great respect I would say that it is just this attitude of mind that causes young seekers after truth to remain out of the membership of the Church Militant.
No creed which does not carry with it the conviction of the member subscribing to it has any living value, and our apprehension of truth is not static, but progressive. As the Puritan Father said: "There is still more light to break from God's most Holy Scripture." The Master also said: " Other things I have to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now." "Faith is 'not difficult, so long as we do not attempt to define it," and there is much by which we live that is incapable of any intellectual expression. As Pascal said: "The heart has its reasons, that reason is not aware of." Cannot the teachers in the established church, of which I conclude the Rev. Norman H. Clarke is one, exercise the charity which demands that they recognise the sincerity of others who do not see the light as they see it, remembering that there are at least
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