As  we  direct  our  vision  toward  the  centuries  durin":  which
this  moulding  process  has  been  in  operation,  we  are  too  apt  to
use  our  mental  telescope  with  all  the  tubes  pushed  in,  so  that
our  landscape  has  no  more  perspective  than  a  Chinese  picture
where  everv^thing  stands  in  the  immediate  foreground.  We
must  first  pull  out  the  tubes  to  the  right  focus  and  get  the  cen-
turies in  their  true  perspective  before  we  can  see  things  as  they
really  happened.  As  an  illustration,  take  what  is  universally
known  as  the  Apostles  Creed.  Surely,  any  document  so  named
ought  to  date  from  the  first  century.  But  not  until  a.d.  336  do
we  find  any  trace  of  it  in  literature.  In  that  year  Marcellus  pre-
sented a  creed  to  Pope  Julius,  which  approached  it  in  form  but
not  in  fullness  of  statement.  The  perfected  creed  did  not
appear  until  about  a.d.  750,  when  the  Pope  received  it  from
Pirminius, — already  sawed  and  split  into  twelve  sections, —
with  the  name  of  an  Apostle  under  each  section.  Hence  the
title  "Apostles  Creed."  During  the  process  of  expansion  the
words  "Holy  Church"  grew  to  be  "Holy  Catholic  Church,"
which  reading  has  been  retained  to  the  present  day.
10  CHRISTIANITY    AND   THE    BRITONS

In  like  manner  the  Nicene  Creed  began  to  take  shape  in  a.d.
325,  was  doubled  in  size  in  the  year  3S1  and  finally  received  the
"filioque  clause"  at  the  Council  of  Toledo  in  a.d.  589.
