PREBENDARY SWAINSON'S CREEDS OF THE CHURCH. * THE object of these
Hulsean Lectures is to enforce the necessity of creeds and articles, in opposition to those persons who desire
their relaxation or abolition. The literature of the sermons is better than the logic. The arguments may be satisfactory enough to those whose minds are already made up on the subject and only want something to be said for them. It may be doubted whether the classes who are opposed to the stringency of formulae will be convinced by the reasoning of the preacher. In fact, one of his main arguments may be turned against himself, and in enforcing another he is likely to shock the opinions of many genuine Pro- tatants by a claim which they will think savours of Popery or worse.
The evidence for creeds, says Mr. Swainson, is reducible to two kinds: the external, which we draw from history, Scripture, and the general consent of the Church ; the internal, which arises from our own feelings, convictions, or conscience. It is on this latter point that the discrepancy alluded to arises. Mr. Swainson ap- pears to charge the Rationalists, or by whatever name a large class of earnest though somewhat sentimental Christians may be called, with substituting their own feelings or aspirations for the authority of Scripture, and bringing God down to their own stand- ard or mental conception, instead of endeavouring through reve- lation to rise to God. Against this proceeding he properly warns his hearers: If you set aside evidence as to doctrines by your own ipse dixit, how can you prevent others from doing the same ? "For if we deem it sufficient to appeal to our own feelings and our own consciousness and our own sense of right and wrong, we must permit the un- believer to appeal to his feelings as boldly. and as confidently. If, on our side, we consider that our powers of intuition supersede all necessity of ex- ternal testimony, we cannot complain if others affirm that their intuition is so good as to overcome the evidence that such testimony offers. In fact, we are giving our sanction to the erection of those intrenchments which the evil heart of unbelief' is throwing up around it ; and when they are erected, who will be able to drive it from them ?
"Difficult is it to mount from facts to laws, from the things which are seen to the things which are not seen. Easy is it, on the other hand, to make assumptions, to consider that our assumptions are true, to carry them out to their consequences. But in the one process we are moulding Chris- tianity to our liking, in the other we are being moulded by it. In the one process we are setting forth the truth as it seems to us, in the other we are searching for it as it is in Jesus. In the one process we are setting forth our own opinions, and therefore sowing the seeds of continued divisions, In the other we are aiming at truth, and so far attaining to unity."
This is true enough, whether against Pantheism, Rational- ism, or vaguely dreaming Christianity, expatiating in gene- ralities of love, charity, and what not. Yet the lecturer not Only seems to adopt the same argument, but to introduce the principle of continual inspiration, in answer to the objection
that creeds and dogmas are not to be found in Scripture ; and though they may be deduced from an interpretation of Scrip- . The Creeds of the Church, in their _Relations to the Word of God and to the Conscience of the Christian. The ilulsean Lectures for the year 1857. By Charles Anthony Swainson, M.A., Principal of the Theological College, and Pre- bendary of Chichester. Published by Macmillan and Co., Cambridge.
tare, yet it is not a universal induction, or all would agree upon them. The text of his fifth lecture is from John xvi. 13— "When He the spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth." This the preacher interprets, with much ingenuity of argument and illustration, into meaning that the same " Spirit of truth" which attended the Apostles at the beginning still pre- vails in the Church, and assists individuals to discover certain truths when the times are ripe for the knowledge.
"I must confess that I am unwilling to limit the promise of my text either to the lives of the Apostles of our Redeemer, or even to the period during which the last member of their body survived. I think that that promise covers a wider surface in respect of time, and is of greater compre- hension in respect of subject. If we hold that all truth is of God—if we hold that all truth comes to us in Him who is the Holy, the Faithful, and the True'—if we hold, therefore, that of all truth the Comforter is the Spirit,— we cannot limit the words of my text to the proper and peculiar truths of Christianity, nor can we confine the operations of the promised guide to the lifetime of those to whom in the first instance He was imparted. For all truth is bound together by a chain that cannot be severed, and no one can love it for its own sake in one form and dislike it for its consequences in. another.
"And where now shall we draw the line, my brethren? At what epoch shall we say that the Spirit of truth ceased here to guide men into the truth of God ? Shall we say that when the beloved Apostle died, then the Holy Ghost was withdrawn, so that from that day forward it has been impossible to know anything assuredly that was not decided before ? The question of the canon of the New Testament, for instance, how must we deem that it was settled Must we falsify history, as some have ventured to do, and against all evi- dence claim the sanction of St. John for that canon, fearing that if he gave not his sanction we have no assurance that the canon is correct ? Or may we deem that for the first three centuries the Spirit of God was leading men to examine and to preserve these records, until at the last the voice of the Church decided, still under His guidance, what books were to be received, what to be preserved ? And if we grant that He had not ceased to work when the canon was settled, must we hold that from the day when the Church was severed into East and West, and (Ecumenical Councils were no longer possible, Christians must feel themselves in ever-increasing doubt and scepticism, not knowing that truth can be attained ? Or must we say that the Reformation was the epoch when the Spirit was withdrawn, and that then, when He was pleased to lay before us the written word, Tito ypeeepiv, itpa witiniacera, He deprived us of the power of reading its contents ? I find no encouragement for such mournful views in the Holy Writings of our faith. I read not so the promise of our Lord. His words are, 'Into all the truth shall the Spirit guide you' ; and the YOU of this promise I extend as we extend the you of another promise to the Church of all ages."
Truth of this nature, which he primarily applies to the creed and to early opinions reduced into forms, is open, however, to the same objection that Mr. Swainson has already opposed. It de- pends upon individual conclusion, and with a freer right of draw- ing it than is conceded to " private judgment" ; for though all Christian men are bound by the meaning of the Scriptures when it is ascertained, it seems too much (beyond the Romish Church) to say that men are authoritatively bound to the opinions of particular divines even though sanctioned by general agreement. The argument from the analogy of scientific consent is well reasoned by Mr. Swainson ; but the nature of the cases is "different. Scientific consent is only universal when the truths de7 pend upon experiment or mathematical demonstration.
The real reason in favour of creeds and articles for ascertaining general concurrence rests on the necessity of the case. Particular individuals may dispense with formulae ; an aggregate of indivi- duals cannot, at least for long. Churches are a section of society, with many of the worldly needs of mere human society, at least after the enthusiasm which founded them has passed away. They must have edifices ; and this necessity involves a reference to law, and (among nonconformists) very often to nice points connected with the law of trusts and uses. If not absolutely necessary, all churches have, as soon as they can get them, institutions for edu- cational and training purposes, where law is further required, and sometimes to settle the particular creed which entitles to the use or the possession of the property. Except, perhaps, Quakers, (though a preaching Friend gets " meal" if he does not get " malt,") all churches have offices of credit, position, and profit ; and men deem it necessary that persons should not get education, special training, and a living, more or less, at their expense, unless they are of their way of thinking. A series of distinct propositions which embodies the general belief of the church is the readiest way of securing this object. There is further a spiritual necessity for a creed, if clearness and defi- niteness should form part of the belief of churches. Those mo- dern sects, or more properly schools, which claim and exhibit earnestness, warmth, and enlarged philanthropy, are very vague in doctrinal meaning, even when they try to set forth the articles of their belief.
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