THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. JANUARY, 1883. No. 314, Tros Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine agetur. NEW YORK: No. 30 LAFAYETTE PLACE. 1883. NORTH AMERICAN N. VII. THE ADULTERATION OF INTELLIGENCE. BY CHARLES 888 THE Editor disclaims responsibility for the opinions of contributors, whether their articles are signed or anonymous. RESTATEMENT of creeds has always been only a question of time. From the beginning the church has always at least held its creeds subject to renewals and adaptations to the times. In the ante-Nicene period several formulas of faith appeared. The so-called Apostles' Creed was a gradual growth. An ancient baptismal formula was expanded into the Nicene Creed, and a century had not passed before that first ecumenical symbol was in turn enlarged. Its closing anathema disappeared from later reaffirmations of it. The solemn decree of the fathers at Ephesus did not protect it from additions by the Council of Chalcedon, nor did their prohibition of any new creed prevent their own from receiving further definition by a still later council. This most unchangeable of creeds, as it still stands in the liturgy of the Church, shows upon more than one of its ancient expressions marks of time and change. Rome has repeatedly restated or defined its infallible teachings. The Protestant Confessions disclose the same tendency, and in still greater force, toward multiplication and periodic renewals. Confession followed confession in Lutheran and Reformed churches; the first Scotch Confession was followed by the second Scotch Confession; the thirtynine articles of the Church of England were buttressed in twentyVOL. CXXXVI.-NO. 314. 1 |