244

was silent; the minister repeated, in an higher tone, his Who-soever ; the King continued silent; at length the Apostle’s Creed was repeated by the minister, and the King followed himthroughout with a distinct and audible voice.

I certainly dislike the imposition of all creeds forme<d by humanauthority; though I do not dislike them, as useful suimmaries ofwhat their compilers believe to be true, either in naturall or revealedreligion.

As to natural religion, the creeds of the most distinguishedphilosophers, from Plato and Cicero to Leibnitz and Clarke , areextremely various, with respect to the origin of things — theexistence and attributes, natural and moral, of the Supreme Being— the natural mortality or immortality of the human soul — theliberty and necessity of human actions — the princip le of virtue,and other important points. And, as to revealed religion, thoughall its doctrines are expressed in one book, yet such a i diversity ofinterpretations has been given to the same passages of Scripture,that not only individuals, but whole churches, have formed tothemselves different creeds, and introduced them into their formsof worship. The Greek church admits not into its ritual eitherthe Apostle’s Creed , or the Athanasian, but merely the Nicene.The Episcopal church in America admits the Nicene and theApostle’s Creed , but rejects the Athanasian. The church of England admits the whole three into its Liturgy ; aind some ofthe foreign Protestant churches admit none but thie Apostle ’s.These, and other creeds which might be mentioned, are all ofhuman fabrication; they oblige conscience, as far as they are