an.

"Their immense range, too, the infinite questions into which they branch
out (it has been said, I know not how truly, that five hundred questions
may be raised upon them), is a further objection to their maintenance as
a preliminary and indispensable requirement before the young man is
admitted to Holy Orders. On the whole I stand, without hesitation, to my
proposition, that the doctrines of the English Church are not only more
simply, but more fully, assuredly, more winningly, taught in our Liturgy
and our Formularies than in our Articles."

* * * * *

The very elaborate work of Mr. Taylor Innes, entitled the "Law of
Creeds," is exhaustive for Scotland; including both the Established
Church and the various sects of Protestant Dissenters. It also
incidentally takes notice of some of the more critical decisions on
heresy cases in the English Church. Mr. Innes properly points out, that
the abolition of Subscription is compatible with compulsory adherence to
Articles. The relaxation of the forms of Subscription in the English
Church, by the Act of 1865, gave a certain amount of relief to the
consciences of the clergy, but left them as much exposed as ever to
suits for heresy.

* * * * *

[Report of Presbyterian Alliance.]

For the usages of the Reformed Churches, on the Continent, and in
America, a mass of valuable information has been furnished in the Report
of the Second General Council of the Presbyterian Alliance, convened at
Philadelphia, September, 1880. At the previous meeting of the Council,
held at Edinburgh, July, 1877, a Committee was appointed to Report on
the Creeds and Subscriptions in use among the various bodies forming the
Alliance. It is unnecessary to refer to the answers given in to the
Committee's Queries, from Great Britain and Ireland, except to complete
the history of the Presbyterian Church of England, so long distinguished
for the abeyance of clerical subscription.

It was in 1755, that the Presbytery of Newcastle made a movement towards
disclaiming the Arian, Socinian and other heresies, but without
proposing a Confession. In 1784, the same Presbytery adopted a Formula
accepting the Westminster Confession; in 1802, however, subscription to
the Formula was rescinded. Through Scottish influence, the return to the
Westminster Confession was gradually brought about in the early part of
the century. That Confession was formally