We do not know of any Scriptures which warrant this assertion. The Church is not infallible, and has no more authority than any individual Christian.

Article 21:

"General Councils may not be gathered together without the commandment and will of Princes. And when they be gathered together (forasmuch as they be an assembly of men whereof all be not governed with the Spirit and Word of God) they may err, and sometimes have erred, even in things pertaining unto God. Wherefore things ordained by them as necessary to salvation have neither strength nor authority, unless it may be declared that they be taken out of holy Scripture."

The latter part of this Article is admirable and true, and it would have been well with the Church if she had always acted upon it; but the first part is wholly incorrect, inasmuch as some of the General Councils were not gathered "by the commandment of Princes," and also because the only Head of the Church has given no authority to Princes to rule or guide His Church.

Article 23:

"It is not lawful for any man to take upon him the office of public preaching, or ministering the Sacraments in the congregation, before he is lawfully called and sent to execute

the same. And those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent, which be chosen and called to this work by men who have public authority given unto them in the congregation to call and send Ministers into the Lord's vineyard."

This Article may be according to the law of a Parliamentary Church, but it is wholly out of harmony with the teaching and spirit of the Gospel. Was Paul thus chosen to be a preacher ? And have not many of the greatest preachers all through the Christian ages, and even in our own time, been directly called into the Lord's vineyard by the Lord Himself, even as was the great Apostle of the Gentiles? Has the Lord limited His own power and authority to give authority and power unto men to call and send ministers into His vineyard? Assuredly no. He is still the Head of His own Church and the Ruler of all His people.

Had the Articles come to us only as a Declaration of Faith, an embodiment of the opinions of the Church's officers centuries ago, we might gladly and gratefully have accepted them for ends of instruction, guidance, and help in the religious life. But coming as a Creed, backed by royal warrant and imposed by royal will, the will of

"The Defender of the Faith, and Supreme Governor of the Church within these Our Dominions. . . ." 66 Requiring all Our loving Subjects to continue in the uniform Profession thereof, and prohibiting the least difference from the said Articles," it is our bounden duty to resent and reject it as an instrument of oppression and tyranny, that we may stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.' And if we clearly apprehend and properly appreciate our privileges as the Lord's freemen, we shall carefully see to it that we are not again entangled in the yoke of royal or priestly bondage. 'The bondservant abideth not in the house for ever: the son abideth for ever. If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed' (John viii. 35, 36).

CHAPTER V.

CONCERNING SIN.

We now come to a vastly important matter, the

There is probably no children of God need

right apprehension of sin. subject about which the more enlightenment than the nature of sin and sinning, and there is, we think, no subject about which the Church is more vague and unsatisfactory in its teachings than this. And when men are wrong in their conceptions of moral evil, they are also likely to hold defective views of the purpose and possibilities of the Christian life and the work of the Holy Ghost. How and where are the right ideas to be obtained, if not by the devout reading and study of the Word of God? Only God can tell us what sin and sinning really are, for it is against Him and His holy laws that we have all transgressed. And that He has told us in

His Word is abundantly evident from this factthat it searches and reveals the very innermost parts of our being. 'The Word of the Lord is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing, even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.'

What is sin? 'Sin is lawlessness.' 'Everyone that doeth sin, doeth also lawlessness.' 'All unrighteousness is sin.' 'To him, therefore, that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.'

All men are sinners. 'All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.' 'There is none righteous, no not one.'

Because we have sinned, we are all sinful. Our nature is in a sinful state, and that state necessarily taints all the operations and outgoings of our whole being. Article 9 truly says: "This infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated." A clean thing cannot come out of an unclean. The fountain being corrupted, the streams must be impure.

Jesus is a Saviour from sins. 'The Father sent