532 RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT -II 



pecially. I joined in the reading of the Psalter, in the 

 singing of the chants and hymns, and, occasionally, in re 

 citing part of the creeds, though more and more this last 

 exercise became peculiarly distasteful to me. 



Time has but confirmed the opinion, which I then began 

 to hold, that, of all mistaken usages in a church service, 

 the most unfortunate is this demand which confronts a 

 man who would gladly unite with Christians in Christian 

 work, and, in a spirit of loyalty to the Blessed Founder of 

 Christianity, would cheerfully become a member of the 

 church and receive the benefit of its ministrations ; the 

 demand that such a man stand and deliver a creed made 

 no one knows where or by whom, and of which no human 

 being can adjust the meanings to modern knowledge, or 

 indeed to human comprehension. 



My sympathies, tastes, and aims led me to desire to 

 enter fully into the church in which I was born ; there was 

 no other part of the service in which I could not do my 

 part; but to stand up and recite the creeds in all their 

 clauses, honestly, I could not. I had come to know on 

 what slender foundations rested, for example, the descent 

 into hell ; and, as to the virgin birth, my reading showed 

 me so weak a basis for it in the New Testament taken 

 as a whole, and so many similar claims made in behalf of 

 divine founders of religions, that when I reflected upon the 

 reasons for holding the doctrine to be an aftergrowth 

 upon the original legend, it was impossible for me to go 

 on loudly proclaiming my belief in it. Sometimes I have 

 refrained from reciting any part of the creed ; but often, 

 in my reverence for what I admire in the service, in my 

 love for those whom I have heard so devoutly take part in 

 it in days gone by, and in my sympathy with those about 

 me, I have been wont to do what I could, have joined in 

 repeating parts of it, leaving out other parts which I, at 

 least, ought not to repeat. 



Various things combined to increase my distrust for the 

 prevailing orthodoxy. I had a passion for historical 

 reading, indeed, at that time had probably read more and 



