as implying "desire" or "wish," was becoming obsolete, or at least that "will" was more readily regarded as the sign of the future tense than as implying volition. And again, "let him thus think" is a really more accurate rendering of "ita sentiat."

By a curious inconsistency the opening words, "Whosoever will be saved" (Quicunque vult salvus esse) were allowed to stand as in the English Prayer Book. I have reason to believe that the fault was not Wedderburne's.

The correction of these two verses would, of course, be an obvious duty on the occasion of a new revision of the Prayer Book. But the other verses to which objection has been raised are scarcely capable of any mitigation of their real or seeming harshness. Some small gain might be found in rendering "ut teneat" (in the first verse) by the words "that he hold fast," rather than "that he hold." In the common language of our time "to hold" this or that doctrine is no more than "to believe" it; while "to hold fast," which seems to be the real sense of tenere in this passage, leads the mind to the thought of a constant adherence to the faith professed. It lays the emphasis not on orthodoxy, but on the moral qualities of fidelity and constancy. The same thought comes out in the correct text of verse 29; for, while the Greek text of our Reformers reads "believe rightly," the more authentic Latin reads "believe faithfully." And again, the last verse of the Creed in the Latin lays stress upon constancy in the words fideliter firmiterque.

If we are right in believing that the Psalm

Quicunque vult originated in Southern Gaul in the fifth century, at any time during the long-continued and barbarously cruel persecution of the Catholics by the Arians all along the coast of North Africa, or while the Arian persecution in Gaul itself was still fresh in men's memories, nothing would be more natural than laying great stress on the moral obligation of not surrendering the faith under the temptations of bribery or under the pressure of terror. If we are correct in believing that these were the historical surroundings when the Psalm had its birth, we can more easily understand that the stress of thought lies, not upon orthodoxy merely, but upon loyalty, and that its condemnations are directed not against either unbelief or misbelief, as such, but against apostasy through fear or favour.*

That ut teneat in the first verse might well be rendered by "that he hold fast," finds, in my opinion, support from the following passages from the Vulgate :

(a) 1 Thess. v. 21, "hold fast that which is good," stands as "quod bonum est tenete" in the Vulgate.

(b) Rev. ii. 13, "thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith." In the Vulgate "tenes nomen meum," etc.

(c) Rev. ii. 25, "that which ye have already, hold fast till I come." Vulgate, "id quod habetis tenete." (d) Rev. iii. 11, "hold that fast which thou hast." Vulgate, "tene quod habes."

*This will be found treated at some length in a pamphlet by the author, entitled Helps from History to the true sense of the minatory clauses of the Athanasian Creed. (Edinburgh: R. Grant & Son, 1897.)

(e) Coloss. ii. 19, "not holding the Head" (Revised Version, "not holding fast the Head"). Vulgate, "non tenens caput."

(ƒ) 1 Cor. xi. 2, "keep the ordinances" (Revised Version, "hold fast the traditions, even as I delivered them to you"). Vulgate, "tenetis."

Compare, too, 2 Thess. ii. 15 in Greek and Latin. (g) Heb. iv. 14, "let us hold fast our profession" (Revised Version, "let us hold fast our confession"). Vulgate, "teneamus confessionem."

(h) Mark vii. 8, "ye hold the tradition" (Revised Version, "ye hold fast"). Vulgate, "tenetis."

Some recent writers, in their desire to lessen the difficulties presented by the minatory clauses, have alleged that we should render "salvus esse" in the first and last verses, not by to be saved, but to be safe. I am unable to accept this distinction, because I think both the usage of the Latin Vulgate and the context in the Quicunque make plain that it is eternal salvation that is referred to. See Acts ii. 21, “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (ownσetai): Vulgate, "salvus erit." Again, Rom. v. 9, "being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved (ownσóuela) from wrath through him": Vulgate, "salvi erimus." I Cor. iii. 15, "he himself shall be saved (ownσeтα); yet so as by fire": Vulgate, "salvus erit." See also I Cor. v. 5, I Tim. ii. 4, etc.

After all has been said in explanation of the minatory clauses the question remains, Is the Quicunque vult, as it now stands, or even after all shall have

been done in the way of securing a more correct text and a better translation, well-fitted for use by the general body of the people that crowd our churches on the great Festivals? Can we expect of them that acquaintance with the probable circumstances of the origin of the Creed (as revealed by ancient ecclesiastical history) or the exercise of the historical imagination, which alone makes the minatory clauses intelligible in their true sense? We need not refer to the attempt made in 1689 to explain the difficulties by a note, or to the somewhat similar attempt made by the Convocation of Canterbury (but rejected by that of York) as appears in the Reports presented to the Queen in 1879.

It has only to be added that the Athanasian Creed was removed from the Prayer Book of the Church of the United States of America, and has not been restored to it; and that the Church of Ireland, while retaining the Creed, untouched, in the Prayer Book, has removed the rubric enjoining its use in the public services of the Church.*

* It is interesting to find Bishop Jewel as early as 1564, noticing that some attributed the Athanasian Creed to Eusebius of Vercelli. (Defence of Apology in Parker Society's edit. of Works, iii. 254.)

CHAPTER XI.

THE COLLECTS-THE LITERARY TREATMENT OF LATIN ORIGINALS · THE NEW COMPO

THE

SITIONS.

THE

HE artistic merits and literary beauty, no less than the devotional excellence of the Collects of the English Prayer Book, have been acknowledged with a remarkable fulness of testimony from various quarters. The great majority of these forms are either close translations, or, more commonly, somewhat amplified paraphrases of Latin Collects, which can be traced, through the medieval servicebooks of England, to authorised devotions of the ancient Church of Rome. These prayers are almost all to be found in certain collections that are known as the Sacramentaries of St. Leo, St. Gelasius, and St. Gregory. Many of them belong to the sixth, and some to the fifth century, or may even possibly mount higher still.

The special form or structural plan of the Collect is peculiar to the worship of the Western Church. The prayers in use in the Eastern Church are commonly much longer, more elaborate, and more ornate. The characteristic of the Collect is the presentation of (ordinarily) a single petition, preceded