vessels and the books. Then came the congregation walking. two and two. The Service in the church was held in the usual manner with Psalm 84, Psalm 87, Psalm 132: 8, 9, or other suitable passages as lessons, and an appropriate sermon and prayers.*

With reference to the dedication of bells, pulpits, organs, altars, fonts and cemeteries, the same principles governed the Lutherans as in the dedication of churches. Whenever such objects were dedicated, the service consisted in their public presentation and use, and in supplicating the blessing of God upon their use and upon those who should use them. This was a very different thing from the Roman practice of consecrating these articles in the Mass, for the purpose of communicating to them some spiritual efficacy.

But Lutherans were not content with simply criticising ancient usage. They maintained the positive principle which should govern the Christian in his use of God's creatures as laid down in 1 Timothy 4. The creature did not need any sanctification to accomplish the object for which God had created it. But men needed sanctification and this could be attained only by the Word of God and by prayer. And men needed it not only for some things but for the whole life. Not the thing but the use of the thing is to be sanctified.†

Abraham Lincoln was not a liturgist, but in his Gettysburg speech he seems to have come very close to the Lutheran conception of consecration:

"We have come to dedicate a portion of that field. . . . But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. . . . It is for us the living rather to be dedi

* K. A. 4, 153.

+ Discussions of the Lutheran position on this subject are to be found in the Brunswick KO of 1531, BUGENHAGEN'S, and in the Corpus Doctrine of the Brunswick-Wolfenbuettel KO of 1569, composed by CHEMNITZ.

cated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us here to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us."

With the recognition of this principle that it is not the thing which is to be consecrated but that we are to be consecrated and that our use of the thing is to be consecrated, we gladly accept every service in which persons or things are devoted to the service of God. But our consecration will be larger and more free. We shall ask a blessing over a good book as well as over a meal. The humble widow who in the fear of God supports her family at the wash-tub is as truly consecrated as the sister who wears a garb, and the "man with the hoe" stands on the same plane as the consecrated bishop.

I would not wish to be understood as desirous of doing away with any of the beautiful services in which the Church sets apart earthly objects for sacred use. On the contrary, I would gladly see them multiplied. But such a service is not a consecration in the historical significance and in the popular conception of the term. It is an offering to God, and a prayer for a sanctified use of that which has been offered. I would therefore venture to hope that some other word might be substituted for consecration. For places and things, would dedication be better? For persons I am not prepared to suggest a substitute. As I stated in the beginning, my purpose is to awaken discussion and not to affirm a dogmatic certainty.

New York.

GEORGE U. WENNER.

THE LITURGICAL USE OF THE CREEDS.

Ir is, perhaps, a mere coincidence that the Oecumenical Creeds, which are Trinitarian in character, should be three in number,the Nicene, which was adopted at the Council of Nicæa, 325 A. D.; the Apostles', whose latest clause was added 650 A. D.; and the Athanasian, which originated in its earliest form about the middle of the fifth century and gained its present form about the middle of the ninth century.

In the Communion Service, the Nicene or the Apostles' Creed is used at the Morning Service, according as there is or is not a Communion. No Creed is recited at the Vesper and Matin Services. The Apostles' Creed is found in several of the Orders for Ministerial Acts. The Athanasian Creed appears at some place in the Service-Book, but it nowhere forms a part of the public worship. When it is remembered that the public worship reaches its highest point in the Communion Service and that in this Service the Nicene Creed alone is employed, it will be seen that the relative value set upon the Creeds, in their Liturgical Use corresponds to their historical order (in their definitive. form) the Nicene, the Apostles', and the Athanasian.

I. THE NICENE CREED.

As has just been said, this Creed is the Communion Confession and is recited whenever the Communion is administered. Its use in the Service began at an early date. Already in 488 A. D., Peter the Fuller, Patriarch of Antioch, directed that it should be recited at every gathering of a congregation, and a similar

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direction was given by Timotheus, Patriarch of Constantinople, 511 A. D. From the East this use gradually spread to the West, entering Europe by way of Spain, 589 A. D. "Thence it came, with the addition of the filioque in the Third Article, to France and Germany under Charlemagne. . . . Finally, it was accepted by Rome under Benedict VIII, in the year 1014. Luther rightly kept it, and in 1524 gave it to the people in versified form, to be sung by them after the minister had introduced the first line."*

II. THE APOSTLES' CREED.

As the Nicene properly belongs to the Communion Service, so the Apostles' properly belongs to the Baptismal Service and the subordinate weekly and daily services, the two Creeds corresponding to the two Sacraments. In this use is preserved its historical character, for this Creed is founded on and developed from the Baptismal Formula, Matt. 28: 19. The Creed itself is the gradual development of the Confession of Faith required of the Catechumens in the early Church. Its use, however, formed no part of the public worship. "For a long time the rule of faith was regarded as a secret, and was withheld even from the Catechumens till the last stage of instruction. This explains the fact that we have only fragmentary accounts of it in the writings of the sub-Apostolic and following age. Even as late as the time of S. Augustine we find him laying it down as a fundamental principle, Symbolum nemo scribit ut legi potest, 'No one writes down the Creed that it may be read.'" When, where and by whom this Creed began to be used in the public Offices of the Church, is not known with any degree of certainty.

III. THE ATHANASIAN CREED.

This Creed does not enter into the public Service of the Lutheran Church at the present time. At the time when Luther's * Liturgics, HORN. P. 56.

metrical version of the Nicene was more common than that Creed itself, the Athanasian was occasionally used, as on Trinity Sunday and at Ordinations. The Te Deum was also used at times.* It is interesting to note that two of the old names of this Symbol (tenth and eleventh century, respectively) are, Hymnus S. Athanasii de Trinitate, "a Hymn of S. Athanasius concerning the Trinity," and, Psalmus Quicunque Vult, "the Psalm Quicunque Vult." In a printed sermon defending the use of the Athanasian Creed in the Anglican Service-Book, Canon Liddon has this foot-note: "To refer to the 'Quicunque' as a Psalm may be only a pedantic crotchet. But if it is intended to imply that as a Psalm the Quicunque is not properly a Creed, this is to contradict the formal language of the Church of England both in the Articles and the Prayer Book." It may here be stated that in the Anglican Liturgy the use of the Creeds is as follows: The Nicene is said in the Order for Holy Communion. In the Order for Evening Prayer only the Apostles' is used. In the Order for Morning Prayer the Apostles' is used, "Except only such days as the Creed of S. Athanasius is appointed to be read." There are twelve of these Days, including, of course, Trinity Sunday. The Athanasian Creed also forms part of the Liturgy of the Greek Church. The Holy Spirit is said to be "of the Father." The words, "and of the Son," are omitted.

THE POSITION OF THE CREED IN THE SERVICE.

We here speak of the Nicene Creed. Its earliest place was in the Missa Fidelium before the Preface, the place which it still holds in the Eastern Church. Upon its introduction into the Church of the West, it was recited by the congregation before the Lord's Prayer. It was in France and Germany that it was placed after the reading of the Gospel. In the Lutheran Orders JACOB'S Lutheran Movement. p. 302.

mons.

+ For the Sermon advocating the retention of the Creed, see University SerSecond Series. PP. 95-114.

HORN'S Liturgics. p. 56.