t colour to the story. There is neither trace nor sign
of it for nearly seventy years. The internal evidence (3.) points the
same way. Deliberate revision implies a deliberate purpose to the
alterations made. Now in this case, though we have serious variations
enough, there is another class of differences so meaningless that they
cannot even be represented in an English translation. There remains (4.)
one more argument. The spurious Nicene creed cannot be the work of the
fathers of Constantinople in 381, because it is given in the _Ancoratus_
of Epiphanius, which was certainly written in 374. But if the council
did not draw up the creed, it is time to ask who did. Everything seems
to show that it is not a revision of the Nicene creed at all, but of the
local creed of Jerusalem, executed by Bishop Cyril on his return from
exile in 362. This is only a theory, but it has all the evidence which a
theory can have--it explains the whole matter. In the first place, the
meaningless changes disappear if we compare the spurious Nicene creed
with that of Jerusalem instead of the genuine Nicene. Every difference
can be accounted for by reference to the known position and opinions of
Cyril. Thus the old Jerusalem creed says that the Lord '_sat_ down at
the right hand of the Father;' our 'Nicene,' that he '_sitteth_.' Now
this is a favourite point of Cyril in his _Catecheses_--that the Lord
did not sit down once for all, but that he sitteth so for ever.
Similarly other points. We also know that other local creeds were
revised about the same time and in the same way. In the next place, the
occurrence of a revised Jerusalem creed in the _Ancoratus_ is natural.
Epiphanius was past middle life when he left Palestine for Cyprus in
368, and never forgot the friends he left behind at Lydda. We are also
in a position to account for its ascription to the council of
Constantinople. Cyril's was a troubled life, and there are many
indications that he was accused of heresy in 381, and triumphantly
acquitted by the council. In such a case his creed would naturally be
examined and approved. It was a sound confession, and in no way
heretical. From this point its history is clearer. The authority of
Jerusalem combined with its own intrinsic merits to recommend it, and
the incidental approval of the bishops at Constantinople was gradually
developed into the legend of their authorship.

[Sidenote: The rest of the canons.]

The remaining canons are mos