Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray that the church shall have the faith and the courage to embrace that opportunity. When the storm has passed the Presbyterian church will stand to proclaim to mankind. those great truths of divine revelation to which our fathers witnessed with their intellect, confessed with their faith, for which they suffered and died, and which are the alone hope of a lost and fallen world.

A MESSAGE ON THE PRESENT SITUATION IN THE CHURCH 1

Stand fast in the faith.”—I Cor. 16:13.

"Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you, a reason of the hope that is in you.”—I St. Peter 3:15.

"For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."-I Cor. 3: II.

There has been, during the past few weeks, much public discussion of matters affecting the faith and life of the church.

We have had in time past discussions upon questions of lesser moment-questions of ritual, of Biblical criticism, of speculative theology within the sphere of that wide liberty which this church allows. But the questions which are now before us are different.

They touch the very soul and center of our faith as Christians. They relate to the person of our Divine Lord Himself, His supernatural birth, His bodily resurrection, His ascension into heaven. Men are right in feeling the importance of the present questions. These are not matters of doctrinal detail or opinion. They are matters of life or death to the Christian religion. They are the basic facts upon which our faith in Christ rests, without which the Gospel would cease to have reality or meaning.

Christianity stands or falls with the facts about Jesus Christ as declared in the creed and in the Scriptures.

1 By the Rt. Rev. William T. Manning, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of New York. Christian Work. 116: 239-43. February 23, 1924.

If these things did not happen, Christianity has no basis whatever, the whole message of the New Testament is a mistake. It is these great central realities of the Chris-· tian faith which are now being questioned within the church itself.

I think I can say that, during the course of these discussions, I have been in no haste to speak. I speak now with deep realization of my responsibility, and only because it seems to be my duty. I want to speak only in that spirit which should guide and rule us in the church. It is required of one in the Bishop's office that he shall speak the truth in love, but it is required also that he shall speak it faithfully and without fear.

What I wish to do, and feel it my duty to do, is to declare plainly what is the faith which this church holds, and what is the obligation to teach the faith which rests upon those of us who hold office as her ministers. Let me, at the outset, refer to one matter as to which I feel that I must express myself once for all.

It has been intimated to me, and to the public, that a clear position on my part upon these questions might result in financial loss to the work of the diocese, and especially to the campaign now commencing for the building of the cathedral. I do not believe it. But if this suggestion were true my answer would be that a thousand cathedrals are of less importance than one foundation fact of the Christian faith. Better that the cathedral should never be built than that a bishop of this church should fail to bear his witness for the full truth of Jesus Christ.

In considering the present questions it should be emphasized and kept always in mind that the issue involved is not liberty of conscience or freedom of thought. There is no restriction upon the conscience or the liberty of any of us. Each one of us is free to follow the truth as he sees it, and to follow it wherever it may lead him.

The issue is whether those of us who, of our own free choice, have accepted office as ministers of this

church are under obligation to teach the faith which this church holds.

Three points I must refer to briefly in order to make the situation clear:

1. Few, if any of us, in this church hold the position of those who are popularly described as Fundamentalists. We believe in the widest freedom of inquiry and of scholarly research. We welcome eagerly all the light that science and scholarship can give. We are in no fear that truth, from any source, will conflict with the truth made known to us in Christ. We believe fully in applying modern knowledge to religion, but we insist that the power of God and His revelation of Himself shall not be limited by the measure of our human reason or of our necessarily partial knowledge of the physical order.

2. Our standard of belief is great and essential, but very brief and simple. We do not require any mechanical theory as to the inspiration of the Scriptures. We do not demand allegiance to any elaborate doctrinal systems of a past age, such as those contained in the confessions of faith, which were drawn up in the sixteenth century. The Thirty-nine Articles are not, and have never been, our creed. The only formal doctrinal requirement of one who enters this church is acceptance of the Apostles' Creed, which contains the great facts about our Lord Jesus Christ as these facts are declared in the Scriptures and as they have been held and taught by the whole Christian church from the beginning.

3. It should be unnecessary to say that the present discussions involve no issue whatever between "high" and "low" church views. The Apostles' Creed is neither "high church" nor "low church." It is the faith itself which is in question. The Apostles' Creed is the creed of the church herself, and of all the members of the church alike.

In these recent discussions three questions have been clearly raised:

1. Does this church believe and teach the Gospel of

Christ as divinely given from above, a supernatural revelation from God, which is vital to mankind and on which the hope of the world depends? Or does this church regard the Gospel as the product of human reason and speculation?

2. Are the ministers of this church under obligation to uphold and teach the Christian faith as contained in the creeds and the Scriptures? Or are they engaged only in a search after truth and commissioned to teach whatever their own private opinions may dictate?

3. What latitude of interpretation have we in our acceptance and teaching of the church's creed, and is there some necessary limit to what may legitimately be called interpretation?

No one can be in any doubt as to the answer to the first question. This church believes and proclaims the fact that "the Jesus of history is none other than God and Saviour on Whom, and on faith in Whom, depends the whole world's hope of redemption and salvation."

With the apostles, with the New Testament, with the whole Christian church from the first this church believes that it was the Eternal One Himself, "God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God," "Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man." The very message of the Gospel is that it was God who came Himself in the person of Jesus Christ to dwell among men. This is the "good news" which the church proclaimed in the beginning and which has brought life and hope to men ever since.

To reject the supernatural from the Gospel is to reject the Gospel itself. Our religion as Christians is not a matter of mere belief in doctrines or of assent to intellectual propositions. It is a matter of relationship with the risen and reigning Christ. This is the very meaning of our religion. It means that we believe in Him, pray to Him, follow Him, look to Him as our

Saviour and our Lord. Only if He is God can He stand in this relation to us. Only if He is God can He have any real place in our lives at all. Only if He is God can we explain or justify the prayers, the hymns, the sacraments, the whole faith and worship of this church. We believe in Jesus Christ, crucified for our sakes, risen and ascended. We believe in Him not only as He was here on earth, but as He is now at the right hand of God. We believe not only in Christ the Teacher, but in Christ the Redeemer, and Lord, and Judge, to whom is given all power in heaven and in earth.

This is the Gospel as this church has received it. This is the Gospel with which the Christian church is put in trust by her Lord and Head, and which she is commanded to preach to all the world.

Let us now consider the second question which has been raised, "Are the ministers of this church under obligation to uphold and teach the Christian faith as the church holds it, and as it is contained in the creeds and. the Scriptures?"

The Pastoral Letter recently put forth by the House of Bishops says, "It is irreconcilable with the vows voluntarily made at ordination for a minister of this church to deny or to suggest doubt as to the facts and truths declared in the Apostles' Creed." Anyone who will read the services for the ordination of ministers will, I think, recognize that this statement is true, and that the bishops were bound so to declare. At the service for the ordering of priests each one gives his pledge that he will "minister the doctrine, and sacraments, and the discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded and as this church hath received the same." And in addition to the pledges which he makes in the ordination service every minister of this church, bishop, priest or deacon is required, before his ordination, to make and sign the following declaration: "I do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the word of God, and I do solemnly engage to conform to the doctrine, discipline