A profound and spiritual reflection on the Nicene Creed, the basis of Catholic belief. These meditations, based upon the principal articles of the Nicene Creed, were originally presented by Evelyn Underhill (1875 –1941) at a retreat she conducted at her beloved Pleshy, a small village in England that was the site of her conversion to the Christian faith. The renewed interest in mysticism and spirituality today among Christians of all communions draws heavily from her work. The popularity and use of her books by scholar, lay people, and clergy attest to the originality of her writings and the helpfulness of her spiritual direction. Evelyn Underhill (1875–1941) was an Anglo-Catholic writer who wrote about spiritual practice and specifically Christian mysticism. She published 39 books and contributed more than 350 articles and reviews. Her best-known works include Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man’s Spiritual Consciousness and Practical Mysticism. THE SCHOOL OF CHARITY Meditations on the Christian Creed By EVELYN UNDERHILL Church Publishing Incorporated Copyright © 1991 Longman Group UK Limited All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-8192-1548-2 Contents FOREWORDPREFACEPart II. I BELIEVEII. ONE GOD, CREATORIII. ONE LORDPart IIIV. INCARNATEV. CRUCIFIEDVI. GLORIFIEDPart IIIVII. SPIRITVIII. CHURCHIX. THE WORLD TO COME CHAPTER 1 I BELIEVE God is love, and he that abideth in love abideth in God and God abideth in him... we love because he first loved.— St. John . We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavouring to know God, forbeholding His greatness, we realize our littleness. His purity shows ourfoulness, and by meditating on His humility we find how very far we are frombeing humble.— St. Teresa . Everyone who is engaged on a great undertaking, depending on many factors forits success, knows how important it is to have a periodical stocktaking. Whetherwe are responsible for a business, an institution, a voyage, or anexploration—even for the well-being of a household—it is sometimesessential to call a halt; examine our stores and our equipment, be sure that allnecessaries are there and in good order, and that we understand the way in whichthey should be used. It is no good to have tins without tin openers, bottles ofwhich the contents have evaporated, labels written in an unknown language, ormysterious packages of which we do not know the use. Now the living-out of thespiritual life, the inner life of the Christian—the secret correspondenceof his soul with God—is from one point of view a great business. It waswell called "the business of all businesses" by St. Bernard; for it is no mereaddition to Christianity, but its very essence, the source of its vitality andpower. From another point of view it is a great journey; a bit-by-bit progress,over roads that are often difficult and in weather that is sometimes pretty bad,from "this world to that which is to come." Whichever way we look at it, anintelligent and respectful attitude to our equipment—seeing that it is allthere, accessible and in good condition, and making sure that we know the realuse of each item—is essential to success. It is only too easy to bedeluded by the modern craving for pace and immediate results, and press onwithout pausing to examine the quality and character of our supplies, or beingsure that we know where we are going and possess the necessary maps. But thismeans all the disabling miseries of the unmarked route and unbalanced diet; andat last, perhaps, complete loss of bearings and consequent starvation of thesoul. Karl Barth has told us, that on becoming a Calvinist minister, he paused toexamine his own spiritual stock in trade; and found to his horror that it wasuseless to him. He seemed to have nothing to feed on, nothing to depend on,nothing to give. It looked imposing; but much of the food was stale andunnourishing, some of the tins seemed empty, and some were so tightly sealedthat he could not reach their contents. He was the child and servant of thatInfinite God, whose every word nourishes the souls of men. But he was receivingnothing from Him: the real contents of the stores that had been issued to himwere inaccessible. In apparent plenty, he was spiritually starved. In lesserways that dreadful situation can easily become our own, if we merely take ourreligious equipment for granted; do not make sure that it contains food on whichwe can feed, tins we can open, and that we know what the labels really mean. Forthe spiritual life of man cannot be maintained on a diet of suggestive phrasesand ideas. Only when we have found within the familiar externals of ourreligion, those vivid realities which these externals enclose and keep safe, arewe using our equipment properly and getting the food we need. We must open thetins, if we are to discover inside them the mysterious nourishment of the soul.Nor have we any right to ask for fresh enlightenment, or a new issue ofprovisions,