June 1924
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
344
And when the Church disowns her Creed, she dies, for she will have separated herself from her Lord, from the Giver of her life. The A uthority of th e Creed One word here dealing w ith the Creed’s authority. What do we mean by th e word au tho rity in th is connection? There is a clear distinction to be drawn. The Church has no power, hum an or divine, to compel men to believe her Creed. Men cannot be compelled to believe, even th a t th ere is a God or a life beyond the grave. There was no com pulsion on men to believe in our Lord when He was visibly among them. Some did, bu t most did not. Even among the Apostolic group, Jud as tu rn ed traito r. And obviously disbelief prevailed. He was rejected, mocked and cruci fied. And shall the Church’s Creed prevail where the Church’s Lord did not prevail? Shall it compel belief when He did not compel belief? Of course not. The very notion is absurd. Why, today the m ajority of men and women, even of those who are fam iliar w ith the Church’s Creed, reje ct it. Only a m inority believe it. Yes, bu t th e Church is p a rt of th a t m inority. T hat is th e point. The Church believes the Creed. The Creed is au tho ritative for the Church. The Church has no other faith : has never had an o th er,faith except th a t of th e Creed by which she has lived from th e beginning, from her very birthday. 1The Church has no reason for existence in th is world except to propagate her faith and to persuade men to accept her Creed. The Church has no au tho rity to com pel any m an’s belief, bu t she has an indefeasible and au tho r itativ e claim upon the tru th and honor of her agents and ambassadors. B rethren, there is no dishonor or disgrace in poverty, w hether it be poverty of purse or poverty of faith. Why, our Lord came to preach th e Gospel to the poor. He loves the poor. And He is particularly patien t w ith those who, being poor in faith, come to Him for more. “Lord, increase our faith ” : no prayer is more sure of His answer. Think how patiently, how tenderly, He dealt w ith His Apostles in their stupidity and dulness: in th e ir m isunderstandings and m istakes: how He was content to w ait till th e seed of faith which He had planted had tak en root and grown and be come strong enough to make its “ g reat confession.” We must try to be as p atien t and as tender as He is w ith those who can scarcely believe in the full glory of th e Gospel of the Grace of God. No; poverty is not dishonor. Dishonor comes only when we use dishonest means for th e relief of our poverty. To steal ano th er’s purse because our own is empty is dishonest. And faith means more th an money: therefore, to take away an o th er’s faith because our own is failing is still more dishonest. Be on your guard as you listen to the facile praise cf “liberalism ” in religion: particularly of “liberalism ” in dealing w ith the Church’s Creed. Much modern ta lk in praise of “ liberalism” is but the prostitu tion of a noble word. It is easy to be liberal w ith other people’s money, bu t it not praiseworthy. And it is not advisable if you desire liberty. For it is ap t to lead not to liberty, b u t to its opposite. And even th e world knows what to call it. It calls it stealing. The kind of liberalism which gives away the Church’s faith, having little of its own, deserves a harsher name and will receive, if God be ju st, a stern er punishment. To sum all up, to say a'fin al word, remember who it was who said “whosoever shall cause to stumble one of these little ones th a t believe in me, it is better for him th a t a m illstone were hanged about his'neck and th a t he were cast into the sea.”
of articles or members, as a body is made up of inseparable limbs and joints. If you wound or m u tilate a living body, a t any point, you begin a process which, unless checked, will drain it of its blood : will pu t its very life in peril. No Creed—No Salvation So w ith the Church’s Creed. Bach article has its own place in th e whole tru th which the Creed tells about the Church’s Lord. Tear any one of them out of its place and the process of depletion instantly begins. The tru th and grace of Jesus Christ is lost, by ju st so much, to His Church and therefore to His world. He becomes less th an He is, less th an He m ight be, less th an He wills to be, to us for our salvation. His hold is loosened: He becomes remote: He fades into the background: into the pages of a book: into the events of a past history: and, almost ere we know it, we have left to us only a memory, only a voice calling uncertainly across the centuries, only a good man and a g reat teacher: we are left— Cod pity us—we are left, ju st as St. Paul told us we should be left, in our sins, w ithout redemption, w ithout a Saviour, w ithout hope, w ithout God in the world. Does this seem overw rought imagination? Do you doubt it? Every Christian century, every epoch of the Church’s history, will furnish illustration. But you do not have to look so far afield. Look about you now. Think of those reputed Christian teachers, some of them priests in our Church, who are now urging us to “ simplify” th e Creed (as they like to pu t it) by leaving out th e V irgin B irth and the R esurrection of th e Body. Why do they ask it? W hat is the difficulty? Nothing is more certain th a n th a t these two articles present no difficulty to those who whole heartedly accept th e Incarnation: th a t is, who affirm w ith the Apostles,,,with th e New Testament, w ith the Church from t h e .beginning th at, “ for us men and for our salva tion ,” the only Begotten Son of God “ came down from Heaven . . . and was made man.” If th a t be really true, th e re is no difficulty in these articles. On th e contrary, they are n atu ra l and almost inevitable consequences. Even if there were no word in.H oly S crip tu re as to the way in which He entered, and th en left, this earth ly life, we should he almost driven to suppose, by the very logic of our faith, th a t His entrance and His exit must have been unique, in keeping w ith His own absolute uniqueness. His Virgin B irth, the R esurrection of His Body, give us w hat we need in our thought of Him. They complete th e picture: they make it all one simple, solid, satisfying whole. W here-then is the difficulty?. Why do these men ask th a t these articles be stricken out? Well, for answer we may very safely look much deeper down, much fa rth e r baok. And so looking we shall have no g reat trouble in finding what the real reason is. F o r the logic of disbelief is as peremptory and inexorable as the logic of belief. If to believers in the Incarnation these articles seem qu ite na tu ral and congruous, to those who disbelieve it they must seem the very opposite. If Jesus Christ is n o t th e only Begotten Son of God made man, if, in the last analysis, He is but a man among other men although the best of men, then a Virgin Mother and a risen body are empty portents, foolish superstitions, unnecessary, even contradictory. They disfigure and degrade th e quiet, normal story of a merely human b irth and a merely hum an death. Have I made it clear? Do you see the point? Do you see how the th in g 'w o rk s itself out, for belief on the one hand, for disbelief on the other? Do you see why I am justified in shying th a t th e Creed of the Church stands or falls as one inseparable whole? If th e Church disown one p art of it, in the end she will find herself disowning all.
God guard us from th a t condemnation. God send us men! God keep us tru e!
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