24 



RECONSTRUCTION AND RESTATEMENT. 



Revelation of God which is handed down, or is it contained in 

 what are said to be the ultimate conclusions of science in the 

 twentieth century? I remember people talking about the 

 nineteenth century, and in a very high-minded way a curate 

 uttered a philippic against this so-called nineteenth century. 

 Well, this is the twentieth, and then there will be the twenty- 

 first, and the twenty-second, and the twenty-third century, 

 which may negative some of the things which are held at the 

 present time.. 



I should like to correct a mistake which some people fall into 

 about the Fathers of the Council of Nicsea. It is supposed that 

 the Nicene Fathers took upon themselves to say, " this is the 

 faith which men ought to believe because we say so." They did 

 nothing of the kind. When Constantine brought ecclesiastical 

 authorities from all parts of the Christian world, he said : — Here is a 

 question to be settled. Will you kindly tell us, you who have come 

 from France, from the East, from Egypt, can you tell us what are the 

 doctrines of Christianity you have believed in your various 

 localities 1 Then they all decided that it had been handed down 

 that Christ was " of one substance with the Father." The answer 

 shows the opinion of Fathers of the Council which has been handed 

 down from time immemorial ; and therefore let us understand 

 that the Fathers were not commissioned to dictate to us what we 

 ought to believe. 



I think we ought to thrash everything out, and I hope the 

 subject of the address may be discussed at a future meeting of the 

 Society, when all will have an opportunity of expressing their 

 opinions upon it. 



The meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the Chairman. 



