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Maurice is right on in what he says about the Creed – that it is "a continual protection against traditions," when it is "put forward," which is to say, is rightly used, as "a declaration that what we believe and trust in is not this or that notion, or theory, or scheme, or document; but that it is the Eternal Name into which we are baptized, and in which the whole Church and each member of the Church stands." To be sure, as the Creed has come down to us, "it must be a tradition. But it is a tradition which we cannot value for its own sake. Not the utterance, but that which is uttered; not the form, but the substance which it sets forth is the object and the ground of our belief" (The Prayer-Book: 162).

Wiki MarkupOf course, any tradition, rightly used, i.e., valued not for its own sake but for the sake of the substance of which it is the form, could likewise be such a continual protection. So the Creed itself is not unique, as Maurice might well seem to imply. But the deeper question is, What, finally, is to be understood by "that which is uttered," as distinct from "the utterance," "the substance which \ [the Creed\] sets forth," as distinct from "the form" of the Creed itself? Interestingly, Maurice himself, later in the same book, acknowledges this very question.

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