ABSTRACT
The Church hath power to decree rites or Ceremonies, that is, she may from time to time make new ones, if she deem it expedient, or she may decree to retain old ones in the face of opposition, or change and abolish existing ones. This power may fairly be called “legislative,” and it is analogous to the power exercised in the State by Crown and Parliament, which make new laws and abolish old ones. There is one clause of the Article on which nothing has been said, viz. that which states that the Church is a witness and a keeper of Holy Writ. The Church is the ordained teacher of truth; Holy Scripture is the criterion of truth by which the doctrines of the Church are proved and tested. To make Scripture, in the first instance, the teacher, is entirely to mistake its true office and function.
