The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-18 00:00:00

THL SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EN EMNG, AUGUST 18. 1870.

MA DAME TUSS AUD'S EXHIBITION,
BAKER STREET.

On view Portrait Models of the Emperor Napoleon 111., the
Empress Eugenie, and Prince Imperial ; King William of
Prussia, and Count von Bismarck. Admission, Is.; Children
under 10 years of age, 6d. Napoleon Rooms 6d. extra. Open
from 10 a.m. till 10 p.m.

OPERAS, THEATRES, AND AMUSEMENTS.

PRINCE OF WALES'S—A 7.30. Quite by Accident. M.P. Dearest
Mamma.

QUEEN'S—At Seven, Hy Wife's Dentist. 'Twist Axe and Crown.
VAUDEVILLE—Cupboard Love. Two Roses. Don Carlos.

CHRISTY MINSTRELS, St. James's Hall, Every Night, at 8; Wed-
nesdays and Saturdays, at 3 and 8 all the year round.
ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, Regent's-park. Open daily ( except Sun-
days). Admission, is. on Mondays, 6d. Children under

• .
twelie, 6d. ,
MADAME TUSSAUD'S EXHIBITION, Baker-street, from 11 a.m. till
3.0 p.m., and from 7 till 10 p.m. Admission, ls.; extra
6d.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE THIS DAY.'

Morning ............13 after 0 I Afternoon ........31 after 6

ttgE

EVENING EDITION.

LONDON, THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1870.

THE rapidity with which the tables have been
turned, already, during this terrible campaign, is not
its least remarkable characteristic. How completely
the tables have been turned is apparent upon the
very surface. When the fighting commenced the
war maps. almost all of them, included within their
range in the far north-east corner—Berlin. Whereas,
in the south-west corner of these maps, as a rule,
there was no indication of—Paris. It seemed to be
accepted as a matter of course, as what is termed a
foregone conclusion, that the drift of the war would
be Rhineward, would be across the Rhine, and on in
the direction of the Spree and Potsdam. A fort-
night was enough to scatter any such allusion. Three
weeks have sufficed to render the majority of the
war maps obsolete. The drift of the campaign sets
strongly, steadily—every now and then with a rush
—towards the Seine not towards the Spree, towards
St. Cloud not towards Potsdam. Berlin occupies itself
with rejoicings after each victory is announced in
exultant telegrams by King WILLIAM to Queen
AUGUSTA. Paris bestirs itself on the contrary to
ensure that, in case of emergency, everything shall
be in readiness for defence on its fortifications. It
allows even the imperial fete day to pass by without
the display of one additional tricolour or the
firing of a single rocket in its celebration.
As yet, it is all of a piece, this astounding campaign
of 1870. Disaster everywhere to the arms of
France. Success everywhere to the Prussian, or
rather to the German nationalities martialled in
battle array under the banners of the Prussian KING
in his capacity as leader of the North German Con-
federation.
Hitherto there has been no break in the cloud for
France. From first to last the calamities befalling
her have been consistent in their uniformity. The
less that is said of her first vaunted achievement—
the one in which the little Prince IMPERIAL received
his baptism of fire—well, perhaps, the better. So also
in regard to her supposed repulse of the enemy on
Sunday last, a repulse that, when the result of the
contest comes to be looked into more narrowly
appears to have been quite the other way. Between
those two dates, namely, between the 2nd inst. and
the 14th instant, the Prussian forces have gained at
the least three great victories—the victory at Weis-
senburg on the 4th inst., and two days after-
wards, on the 6th, two other great victories,
one to the right hand one to the left, the victory at
Forbach and the victory of Woerth or Reichshoffen !
The conquering Germans as the result of all this
occupying one fourth of the territories of France,
overrunning it with three armies amounting in their
aggregate, as we skewed yesterday, to scarcely less
than 600,000 men. The future, in point of fact,
could hardly look more frowningly either for the
French people or their Sovereign.

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

1869. The total estimated value of boats, nets,
and lines employed in the trade was £981,882, being
an increase over the preceding year of 882 boats and
1,614 fishermen and boys, and of £14,862 in the
estimated value of boats, nets, and lines. On the
eastern coast, the fishing is carried on by Scotch and
French boats, but the latter confine their attention
to the deep sea, thus preventing those disputes which
were at one time both serious and frequent. Occa-
sionally the temptation to follow a shoal of herrings
inshore is too strong to be resisted, and the destruc-
tion of fishing gear by the French vessels is very
great.

a monarchy could not be realised when Europe was
tranquil,-it is far less possible now in the midst of a
general conflagration.

PRUSSIA AND ITALY.

A correspondent in Home says that although
Prussia has signified that she will not tolerate an
Italian occupation of Rome, her power does not
extend to the Garibaldians, who are becoming every
day more unwilling to trust her. It has been
rumoured that Francis 11. of Naples and the Grand
Duke of Tuscany were present with the Crown
Prince at the battle of Woerth. This is not authen-
ticated, but our correspondent states positively
that offer,s of restoration, in case of
victory, have been made by King William to most
of the deposed Italian princes, and it is also said that
the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who is the head of the
House of Lorraine, will be installed in that Duchy if it
is conquered by Prussia. The duke and his new State
will then enter the North German Confederation.
The Italians are growing suspicious of the sincerity
of Prussia's good faith. The concentration of troops
in the Southern Tyrol is also creating some
alarm. A camp is to be formed in Upper Italy
in consequence, and the Quadrilateral is to be
re-armed. So far Rome is perfectly tranquil,
though the last French troops have left Civita
Vecchia, and General Bixio has visited the city for
the purpose, it is said, of arranging an insurrection.
Three hundred strangers have been sent out of Rome,
as it was believed they were intended to form
a nucleus of revolution, The Garibaldians are
practising their / ifles under the eyes of the
Government, but will scarcely be ready for a general
and concerted move before the end of the month.

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DEAN STANLEY AND THE ATHA NASIAN
CREED.

IN the current number of the Contenzporaq Review
Dean STANLEY has delivered such a series of good,
hard, knock-down blows, against the Athanasian
Creed, that it is impossible to believe that the Tecita-
tion of the document will much longer be enforced
upon the English Church. He shows that the
Creed has not a leg to stand upon, either historically
or theologically ; that its name is a lie, that its
terminology has so changed in meaning since the
creed was framed as to convey an utterly erroneous
idea •to the great majority of persons who recite
it, that the charitable glosses put upon the damnatory
clauses are essentially and absolutely opposed to
its whole purpose and tenor ; that it had
fallen into desuetude until the Rubricians of thirty
years ago revived its use; that many of our most
distinguished prelates have refused to use it; that
e have allowed ministers of the American Church,
which repudiates the Creed, to minister in our own
churches, and that the party which is most resolute
in insisting; upon its retention is the party which has
received with the greatest cordiality and empresse-
nzent, members of those Eastern Churches, which
are by this Creed consigned irrevocably to everlasting
damnation.

The. history of this Creed, shows how small is the
value of tradition. Apparently without deliberate
forgery, the Creed was attributed to Athanasius
although, according to Mr. FFOULKEs, who
has just been received back into the
English communion with great rejoicing, it was the
composition of CHARLEMAGNE. That is, the wprk of
the 9th or else of the Bth century was assigned to a
divine who died in 373. The very year of its com-
position was fixed ; the very hole in the Abbey of
St. MAXTMIN, near the Schwazthor of Treves,
was pointed out as the spot where ATHANASIUS
had written the Creed in the concealment
of his western exile. It was not till 1642
that any doubt was thrown on its author-
ship. The German scholar, Voss, was the first to do
so. Our JEREMY TAYLOR adopted these doubts.
Our Bishop BURNETT pointed out that whether
geuuine or not, the introduction of the Ath anasian
Creed into the public services of the Church was in
direct contravention of the decrees of the Councils
of Ephesus and C halcedon which forbade under severe
penalties the imposition or publication of any
other creed than the Nicene. The theology of the
Creed is not a point which it would be seemly to dis-
cuss here, but we must be permitted to point out
that since the time of CHARLEMAGNE, much more
since the time of ATHANASIUS, the meaning of some
of the most important words in the Creed has entirely
changed. We allude especially to " substance
and " person." So complete is this change that
Canon LIDDON, the ablest defender of the Creed
has been compelled to admit that the
term " Person " cannot be applied " without
considerable intellectual caution." How far, a mis-
cellaneous congregation, how far the great majority
of the clergy even, are capable of this " intellectual
caution," requiring, as it does, an intimate acquaint-
ance with the great metaphysical and philosophical
disputes of the middle ages, we leave our readers to
judge. As a matter of fact ninety-nine hundredths
of those who repeat the Creed do so either without
attaching any meaning to its metaphysical theology,
or else fall into the very heresies which this creed
condemns.

Many attempts have been made to explain away
the damnatory clauses. The most common explana-
tion is that they apply only to the cardinal truths of
Christianity. How any one can venture to assert
that in the face of the repeated sentence of condem-
nation we find it impossible to understand. The
fearful words occur in the beginning, in the middle
and in the end. Moreover it is expressedly said
that the Creed must be kept " whole" ; and so he,
who is guilty of disbelieving any one clause will, ac-
cording to the Creed, " without doubt perish everlast-
ingly." Much more logical was the clergyman who made
his Sunday-school childen recite the terrible sentence
after every clause. This theological ferocity is in
marked contrast to the spirit of the other and
genuine and only authoritative creeds. These recite
the great truths of Christianity, but nowhere judge
those who disbelieve them. Another peculiar fea-
ture of the pseudo-Athanasian Creed, which diffe-
rentiates it from the Apostles' and the Nicene, is
its metaphysical subtlety, rendering it whfiLly unfit
for ordinary use either by clergy. -of "laity. The
whole of the statements set r forth may be
tru but they have nothing in coitamon with Chris-
tiaility, and have no bearing upon libractical life. It
would be as rational to consign u.n.man to eternal
damnation for not accepting the binomial theorem as
for rejecting the great majority of these clauses.
They are exercises of the intellect, and very difficult
exercises. That a man should not be able to com-
pass them is no more a sin than the inability to
understand the pons asinorum of EUCLID.
It is impossible that the burden can be borne
much longer. The Creed which TILLOTSON wished we
were "well rid of," which SEeKER wished deprived of
its damnatory clauses, which ARNOLD said that he
disbelieved so far as these clauses were concerned,
which Bishop LONSDALE openly condemned, and
during the recitation of which he was always silent,.
which Bishop BLOMFIELD did not use all th e time that
he was in the lower orders of the Church—must
appear even more harsh to the lay mind. The libera-
tion of the Church rests with the laity. If they will
only do in a body what GEORGE 111. didwhen the Creed
was once read before him, close their prayer-books,
and remain silent, better still, if they will sit down
en masse, the clergy will soon cease to read it, and it
will become a mere antiquarian document, as the
State services had become before their abolition,
and as the Creed itself was before the Trac-
tarian movement. If the clergy complain, it
will be for the laity to do as Bishop STANLEY of
Norwich. once did. Having appointed to an office
a clergyman who had openly expressed his dis-
approval of the damnatory clauses of the Creed, a
large number of his brethren protested against the
appointment, but when the Bishop made it a condi-
tion of accepting the protest that each one of the
dignitaries should define the sense in which he
received the clauses, nothing further was heard of
the protest. Nothing further would be heard of any
protests now if we were to demand of
those who threaten to secede from the Church
if the Creed is eliminated from the Prayer-book, how
they understand the fearful sentence of condemnation,
whether for instance they intend it to apply to the
millions of that Eastern Church whose archbishop
they have just been treating with such effusion of
hospitality. Common sense and common charity
would prove too much for the orthodoxy which is
supposed to be inextricably bound up with the
retention of the document that bears a lie upon its
front.— Western Morning News.