Jesus, spoke through him and wrought by him. (See John xiv. 10.) The human and divine must not be thus confounded, creating a mystery where there is none and so befogging the understanding as well as falsifying the facts in the case. But this has been one of the great theological mistakes of Christendom, first made by the Nicean Council and perpetuated unto this day, corrupting the minds of millions of sincere believers in the church, who count it a deadly heresy to hold to the strict humanity of Jesus and yet to the absolute Divinity of his official Christhood.

Clause 5. "By whom all things were made.” This clause, though having warrant in the letter of the New Testament (Col. i. 16.), as it appears in the creed contradicts what has been stated before and bewilders rather than edifies the understanding of men. It had been previously affirmed that the Father Almighty was the "Maker of all things visible and invisible." And now to declare that all things were made by Jesus Christ as their primal source and creator, is to make the Father and the Son identical and undistinguishable so far as the act of creation was concerned, a conclusion which the most conservative and dogmatic Trinitarian would not in our day accept. The Scriptures, from which the clause in question is derived, must be highly figurative representations of the exalted character and office of God's dear Son, or must refer to the divine Logos - the creative wisdom of the universe, which, inhering in the Supreme One, operates throughout immensity to execute

His holy will and fulfill His vast designs; more especially as it dwells in and actuates and works. through living souls, and most of all in and through the great Son of man, Son of God as well. In one or the other of these senses only can there be any rational or Scriptural basis for the statement under examination; the one implied in the Nicene pronunciamento being wholly inadmissible and unworthy of acceptation.

Clause 6. "Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven." Not from some celestial abode or locality in the upper airs, but from the grand realm of moral and spiritual verities, the heaven of divinely appointed agencies and ministries for the progress and final redemption of humanity. Only in this sense can I accept this portion of the creed in review.

Clause 7. "And was incarnated by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, AND HE WAS MADE MAN." The doctrine of incarnation by the Holy Ghost as here set forth, or of what is usually termed the immaculate conception, I regard as chimerical and misleading. It is manifestly contrary to the laws of divine order in the procession of the generations, as attested by human experience in all ages of history, Moreover, I maintain that it has no warrant even in the letter of authentic Scripture annals. I am convinced from arguments which I cannot reproduce here that the narratives prefacing the real Gospels of Matthew and Luke upon which the doctrine is based are apocryphal and unworthy of acceptation. Furthermore, neither

Jesus nor his Apostles, so far as the Scripture records show, ever made any account of the doctrine whatever, much less taught that it was of vital importance; nay they did not ever mention it as a historical fact. While the former repeatedly puts forth high claims to divine indwelling power and authority, and insists on being believed in as the Christ, he never in a single instance does this on the ground of or with reference to any peculiarities of conception, birth, or parentage. Nor do any of the immediate teachers and promul gators of his religion. They do not so much as allude to such an abnormal occurrence as known to them. I cannot therefore regard it as having any place among the essentials of a vital Christian faith. The true doctrine of the incarnation or indwelling in Jesus of the divine Logos, contemplates what was characteristic of him from the time of his baptism, but settles nothing in regard to his previous super-earthly endowments, whatever they may have been, and no creed should presume to do so. The exact measure of his Christly endowments and authority before he began his public ministry is of comparatively little importance; it was what the Logos said and did through him in its plenary manifestation that chiefly concerns his disciples and mankind generally.

Clauses 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. "Was crucified also under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried. And the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures. And he ascended into heaven. Sits at the right hand of the Father. And he is to come

again with glory to judge the living and the dead; of whose kingdom there shall be no end." The first three of these declarations may be assented to as substantially true to the facts of the case, but are not to be urged or imposed upon believers in a dogmatic, imperious manner; while the others, important and valuable if rightly understood, are exceedingly liable to be misinterpreted and given a false meaning. The statement that Christ sits at the right hand of the Father may be taken in the absurd literal sense and so made to teach that the infinite and all-pervading God is an organic personality occupying a veritable throne in some given locality of the universe like an earthly monarch occupying a chair of state, whence He administers the affairs of His vast and complex government; and that Jesus, who is also still an actual organism, has a place by His right hand side. Whereas, the term, "right hand," in such a representation is to be regarded metaphorically and spiritually, as denoting the highest degree of honor, approbation, and glory.

Again, how has the statement "he is to come again with glory to judge the living and the dead," been made by a narrow, arbitrary literalism to inculcate sundry most irrational notions and to disgrace the pure religion of the New Testament! Especially has it done this in respect to what are known in the history of the church and in general religious literature as the doctrine of the "Second Coming of Christ" in person to the earth, that of the "General Judgment" which, it is assumed, will be held much after the manner of earthly tribunals at

some definite date of the unknown future, and others akin thereto. These doctrines have been deduced with presumptuous assurance from certain highly figurative texts of the Bible in which the word come or its equivalent holds a central place and is given its common signification. Whereas it is a word of very flexible and versatile meaning both in its original Hebrew or Greek prototype and in its translated form, applying alike to the most literal, physical movement hitherward and to the most figurative, spiritual descent of grace and power from on high. To mistake one of these applications for the other or to use them indiscrimi nately is to juggle with words and fall into lamentable error. That Christ has come to the children of men since he dwelt in the flesh and went about Palestine preaching the Gospel, that he does come. today and will come in the ages ahead is to my mind certain. But it is not in a personal, bodily form as aforetime, but as a spiritual presence and force, to renew the life of the world and extend the realm of righteousness, brotherhood, peace, and love upon the earth. The same spiritual interpretation and latitude of meaning is to be given to the additional explanatory phrase, "to judge the living and the dead." That is, Christ, as a representative of the eternal Father and a revealer of the divine truth, in his spiritual relations to mankind, becomes a judge to approve, honor, and reward the good, and to blame, condemn, and pronounce sentence against the evil. The principles of God's moral government, which he proclaimed