THE NEXT LAMBETH CONFERENCE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR." I SIR,—In addition to the optional use of the Authorised or Revised Versions to which your correspondent refers, in the Spectator of August 29th, there is another matter to which the Bishops might direct their attention,—namely, the optional use of the so-called " Athanasian Creed." This formula of doctrine, which was not known till long after the death of St. Athanasius, and was written in the Latin tongue, is a grievous burden to a large number of Churchmen, lay and clerical. Its intolerant spirit as exhibited in "the danmatory clauses" may not have been out of harmony with the spirit of the Catholic Church in the age in which it was drawn up, but is certainly repugnant to the present spirit of the Church of England as well as to that of the Gospel itself. Does any charitably minded Churchman really believe that unless a man holds "the Catholic faith" as laid down in that formula he shall "without doubt perish everlastingly "? There are millions of Christians who hold the saving truths of the Gospel as enunciated by our Lord and his Apostles, who have never heard the " Athanasian Creed," and would repudiate its intolerant statement if they did. Besides, it is not a creed in the sense of either the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed ; and the doctrine of the Trinity, to maintain which the " Athanasian Creed" was drawn up, is abundantly safe- guarded to the Church by the two real creeds, the Articles and the Liturgy. To those who reject and repudiate the damnatory clauses it is an intolerable grievance to be obliged, either as clergy, members of a choir, or attendants at morning prayer on certain days stated in the rubric, to be obliged to repeat those clauses. The Disestablished Church of Ireland when revising her Prayer-book consequent on the Act of 1870, availed herself of the opportunity of removing this burden from the consciences of her members, and while leaving the " Atha.nasian Creed" in the Prayer-book, has expunged the rubric, which rendered its use obligatory. The Church of England might well follow so good an example without
waiting for a similar occasion.—I am, Sir, E. H.
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