order is illegitimate that expresses and fosters the Christian life, and extends to every time and place the consecration which signalizes the Sabbath and the Church; none is legitimate which substitutes the form for the spirit, or creates a sense of merit in scrupulous attention to a ceremonial.

A few words must be said here about the observances which are known as sacraments. Whatever may be thought about other rites, there can be no doubt that Baptism and the Lord's Supper have been observed by the vast majority of Christians from the earliest times; and it may therefore be contended, with some show of reason, that they were enjoined by Christ himself as an essential part of his religion. This long and wide-spread continuity of usage makes these rites peculiarly impressive symbols of the unity of Christendom; and for my part I accept and deeply value them as venerable witnesses of a large and undying fellowship, and as helps, consecrated by the piety of ages, in our own dedication to that life which for so many centuries has been struggling against the evil in the world. But it is impossible to prove that Christ formally constituted them a part of his religion

for all time; and there is nothing whatever to justify the ascription to him of teaching which attaches value to the material elements, or attributes a sacramental efficacy to the mere performance of a rite. This, indeed, is quite contrary to the whole tenor of his teaching, which invariably lays the stress on that which is within, not on that which is without. He offended the Pharisees by saying that "there is nothing from without the man that going into him can defile him . . . . because it goeth not into his heart;"2 and it is only analogous reasoning to say that nothing from

1 The injunction, "This do in remembrance of me," is not found in Matthew or Mark. In Luke the words are at least of doubtful authenticity. In Westcott and Hort's edition the conclusion is reached that there is "no moral doubt that the words in question were absent from the original text of Lc." The Fourth Gospel makes no allusion to the institution, and therefore its evidence is purely negative. The fact, however, remains, that this important precept, if Westcott and Hort are right, rests ultimately on the sole testimony of Paul, But even if the words were used, they were spoken simply to the disciples then present, and there is nothing to suggest their application to the followers of Christ for all time. I may refer the reader to an essay by Professor Percy Gardner on The Origin of the Lord's Supper (Macmillan and Co., 1893), though I am unable to accept its more important conclusions.

2 Mark vii. 15, 19; Matt. xv. 10 sqq.

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without can sanctify a man, because it enters not his heart. Here, too, men must exercise the freedom of Christian judgment, and be fully persuaded in their own minds.

There are one or two other questions on which we must touch before we conclude. From all that has been said it follows that the Church, so far as it answers to its idea, is the ever-living witness and organ of the life of sonship, and that Christians, therefore, are not bound by a legal or dogmatic revelation incorporated once for all in ancient documents. The life which was brought into the world by Christ has remained as a permanent force, ever striving for a fuller and larger realization, and applying present insight to the solution of new problems of thought and practice. It is indeed kept pure and true to its ideal by constant reference to its original source; but that source fails of its intended object if the languid waters are allowed to sink into a stagnant marsh, and the living streams no longer flow over the wilderness, clothing it with freshness and verdure. There is, therefore, room in the Church for a true theological development. It is the business of theology to express in terms of thought the implicit contents of the spirit.

D

Here, then, are two elements of growth. The contents of the spirit gradually unfold themselves in consciousness under the experience and discipline of life; and from time to time men of higher spiritual power than their fellows arise, and, owing to exceptional gifts, bring new phases of the spirit to light, or clearly reveal what before was only dimly discerned. And, again, thought has its own law of development, and often requires centuries to work out its logical results; and as every system of thought must correspond with the known facts of the universe, it is checked and controlled, and liable even to be completely reversed, by the advance of knowledge. Thus theology grew as men became more clearly conscious of the problems which their Christian experience suggested, and it necessarily took form from the knowledge and philosophy of the time. Unfortunately, the definitions of theologians, when ratified by the votes of a general council, were regarded as the infallible utterances of Divine wisdom, and an anathema was pronounced on all who questioned their validity. This, as it appears to me, was a complete departure from Christian principle; and it has plunged the Church into trouble and confusion, and perhaps more than anything else has

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imperilled the very existence of the religion. If Christians all spoke with the free voice of untrammelled thought, their assertion of Christian truth would be a thousand-fold more impressive than it is; and if thought could freely adapt itself to the vast changes in our knowledge, the oracles of the Spirit would not be silent amid the decaying walls of medieval dogma.

This leads me, finally, to say a few words about the teaching function of the Church. In accordance with the view that the Church is not a dead mechanism, but a living organism, it is not simply to copy the earliest examples, and limit its instruction by the elementary wants of the first converts. Experience has widened; knowledge has increased; doubts and difficulties peculiar to the time are continually pressing upon the mind. In order to meet this condition of things, a body of men is required who are fitted both by natural gifts and by careful training for a position of high responsibility and of no ordinary difficulty. They ought to combine, at least in some humble fashion, the functions of the prophet and the scholar. They ought themselves to be penetrated with that spirit of sonship, the meaning and contents of which they have to unfold, so that they may speak with authority of