That principle is generally true in life today, as in every generation, even though some disparage it as mere ‘compromise’.  If in some of the Articles, the zeal for reform may seem to have gone to extremes, allowance must be made for the fact that the text of many of them was hammered out in the heat of controversy.  ‘Their statements must always be taken in the light of the circumstances which brought them forth.’

The relevance of the Articles today lies in the fact that, for the most part, they speak, albeit in dated language, of eternal truth – of the nature of God, the life and work of Christ as Saviour, the origin of the Holy Spirit; of the nature of man, his sinfulness and need of grace; of the mercy and love of God displayed in our justification and salvation; of the nature and work of the Church, its Ministry, its Doctrine and Sacraments; and of the relationship between the Church and the world through which we pass, as pilgrims on the road to an Eternal Destiny.