Iff- d 
 
 ALUMNI LIBRARY, * 
 
 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, | 
 
 70— J 
 
 
 / 
 
 ^o S- 
 
/ 
 
UTILITY .iATZ) LMPORTAJVCE OF CREEDS AXD 
 COJ\TESSIOjYS : 
 
 AN 
 
 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE, 
 
 BELITEBED 
 
 AT THE OPENING OP THE SUMMER SESSION 
 
 OF THE 
 OF THE 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, PRINCETON, 
 
 JULY 2, 1824. 
 
 BY SAMUEL MILLER, D. D. 
 
 Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government in the 
 said Seminary. 
 
 " IN NECESSARIIS UNITAS, IN NON NECESSARIIS LIBERTAS, 
 IV OMNIBUS CHARITAS." AUGUSTIN. 
 
 PRIirCETOir, IT. J. 
 
 I'lUNTED AXD PLDLISIIED IIY D. A. BORREXSTEIX ; 
 
 AND FOR SALE 
 
 UY A. TTINLEY, PHILADELPHIA J EDWARD J. COALE, BALTIMOHK 
 
 JOHN P. HAVEN, NEW-YORK ; AND BY D. FENTON, 
 
 TRENTON, N. J. 
 
 1 S24. 
 
REV. AND DEAR SIR, 
 
 M a meeting of the Students of the Theological 
 Seminary, held this afternoon, it tvas, on motion, unani- 
 mously 
 
 " RESOLVED, 
 
 <« That a Committee he appointed to request 
 of Dr. Miller a copy of his introductory lecture upon 
 CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS, delivered this morning, for pub- 
 lication.'^^ 
 
 In making this request, the Students would not 
 ivish to he considered as expressing any opinion upon the 
 merits of the general question ; hut as influenced solely by 
 the desire that the whole subject may come fairly before the 
 public. 
 
 JVith sentiments of high esteem. 
 
 We remain 
 
 Respectfully yonrs^ 
 
 EBENR. MASOX, ") 
 DANL, A. PEMCK, V 
 HUGH CALDWELL, J 
 
 e: 
 
 danl, a. pemck, v committee: 
 
 II 
 
 l^rinieton, '} 
 July '2, 1824.5 
 
 llcv. Dr. Miller. 
 
AN 
 
 INTR0DUCT0R7 LECTURE, 
 
 &c. 
 
 BELOVED CANDIDATES FOR THE HOLY MINISTRY, 
 
 The character and situation of one who is pre- 
 paring for the Sacred Office, are interesting bejond 
 the power of language to express. Such an one, like 
 the Master whom he professes to love and serve, 
 is " set for the fall and rising again of many in Is- 
 rael." In all that he is, and in all that he does, the 
 temporal and eternal welfare, not only of him- 
 self, but of thousands may be involved. On every 
 side he is beset with perils. Whatever may be his 
 talents and learning, if he have not genuine piety, 
 he will probably be a curse instead of a blessing to 
 the Church. But this is not the only danger to 
 which he is exposed. He may have unfeigned 
 piety, as well as talents and learning ; and yet, 
 from habitual indiscretion ; from a defect in that 
 sobriety of mind, which is so precious to all men, 
 but especially to every one who occupies a public 
 station; from a fondness for novelty and innovation, 
 or from that love of distinction which is so nat- 
 ural to men;— after all, instead of edifying the "body 
 of Christ," he may become a disturber of its peace, 
 
and a corrupter of its purity; so that we might 
 almost say, whatever may be the result with respect 
 to himself, — "it had been good for the church if 
 he had never been born." 
 
 Hence it is, that every part of the character of him 
 who is coming forward to the holy ministry ; his 
 opinions ; his temper ; his attainments ; his infirmi- 
 ties; and above all, his character as a practical christ- 
 ian ; — are of inestimable importance to the ecclesi- 
 astical community of which he is destined to be a 
 minister. Nothing that pertains to him is uninte- 
 resting. If it were possible for him, strictly speaking, 
 to "live to himself," or to "die to himself," the case 
 would be different. But it is not possible. His de- 
 fects as well as his excellencies ; his gifts and graces, 
 as w^ell as the weak points of his character, must and 
 will all have their appropriate effect on every thing 
 that he touches. Can you wonder, then, that, em- 
 ployed to conduct the education of candidates for 
 this high and holy office, we feel ourselves placed 
 under a solemn, nay, an awful responsibility? Can 
 j^ou woniler that, having advanced a little before 
 you in our experience in relation to this office, we 
 cherish the 'deepest solicitude at every step you 
 take? Can you wonder, that we daily exhort you 
 to "take heed to yourselves and your doctrine;" 
 and that we cease not to entreat you, and to pray 
 for you, that you give all diligence to approve your- 
 selves to God and his church able and faithful ser- 
 vants? Independently of all official obligation, did 
 we not feel aijd act thus, we should manifest an 
 insensibility to tl>e interests of the church, as 
 
W€ll as to your true welfare, equally inexcusable 
 and degrading. 
 
 It is in consequence of this deep solicitude for 
 your improvement in every kind of njinisterial fur- 
 niture, that we not only endeavour to conduct 
 the regular course of your instruction in such a 
 manner as we think best adapted to promote the 
 great end of all your studies; but that we also 
 seize the opportunity which the general Lecture, 
 introductory to each session affords us, of calling 
 your attention to a series of subjects, which do not 
 fall within the ordinary course of our instruction. 
 
 A subject of this nature will engage our atten- 
 tion on the present occasion : namely, the import- 
 ance OF Creeds and Confessions for maintain- 
 ing THE UNITY AND PURITY OF THE VISIBLE 
 
 Church. 
 
 This is a subject, which, though it properly be- 
 longs to the department of Church Government, has 
 always been, for want of time, omitted in the Lec- 
 tures, usually delivered on that division of our stu- 
 dies. And I am induced now to call your attention 
 to it, because, as I said, it properly belongs to the 
 department committed to me ; because it is in itself 
 a subject highly interesting and important; because 
 it has been for a number of years past, and still is, the 
 object of much severe animadversion, on the part 
 of latitudinarians and heretics; and because, though 
 abundantly justified by reason, scripture, and univer- 
 sal experience, the spontaneous feelings of many, 
 especially under the free government, which it is 
 our happiness to enjoy, rise up in arms against what 
 
i 
 
 8 
 
 they deem, and are sometimes pleased to call, the 
 excessive '"'rigour''' and even ^^tyrannif\ of exacting 
 subscription to Articles of faith. 
 
 It is my design, ^/\s^, to offer some remarks on 
 
 the UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE OF WRITTEN CrEEDS ; 
 
 and secondly, to obviate some of the more common 
 and plausible Objections which have been urged 
 against them by their adversaries. 
 ; I. By a Creed, or Confession of Faith, I 
 mean, an exhibition, in human language, of those 
 great doctrines which are believed by the framers of 
 it to be taught in the Holy Scriptures; and which 
 are drawn out in regular order, for the purpose of 
 ascertaining how far those who wish to unite in 
 church fellowship are really agreed in the fund- 
 amental principles of Christianity. Creeds and 
 Confessions do not claim to be in themselves laivs 
 of Christ's house, or legislative enactments, by which 
 any set of opinions are constituted truths, and which 
 require, on that account, to be received as truths 
 among; the members of his family. They only pro- 
 fess to be summaries, extracted from the Scriptures, 
 of a few of those great gospel doctrines, which 
 are taught by Christ himself; and which those who 
 make the summary in each particular case, concur in 
 deeming important, and agree to make the test of their 
 religious union. They have no idea that, in forming 
 this summary, they make any thing truth that was 
 not truth before ; or that they thereby contract an 
 obligation to believe, what they were not bound by 
 the authority of Christ to believe before. But 
 they simply consider it as a list of the leading truths 
 
which the Bible teaches, which of course, all men 
 ought to believe, because the Bible does teach them ; 
 and which a certain portion of the visible church ca- 
 tholic agree in considering as a formula by means 
 of which they may know and understand one an- 
 other. 
 
 Now I affirm, that the adoption^'^uch a Creed 
 is not only lawful and expedient, but also indispen- 
 sably necessary to the harmony and purity of the 
 visible church. For the establishment of this po- 
 sition, let me request your attention to the follow- 
 ing considerations. 
 
 1. Without a Creed explicitly adopted, it is 
 not easy to see how the ministeeis and members 
 
 OF ANY PARTICULAR CHURCH AND MORE ESPECIALLY 
 A LARGE DENOMINATION OF CHRISTAINS, CAN MAIN- 
 TAIN UNITY AMONG THEMSELVES. 
 
 If every christian were a mere insulated individ- 
 ual, who inquired, felt and acted for himself alone, 
 no Creed of human formation would be necessary for 
 his advancement in knowledge, comfort or holiness. 
 With the Bible in his closet, and with his eyes opened 
 to see the " wondrous things" which it contains, he 
 would have all that was needful for his edification. 
 But the case is far otherwise. The church is a so- 
 ciety ; a society which, however extended, is "one 
 body in Christ," and all who compose it, "mem- 
 bers one of another." Nor is this society merely 
 required to be one in name, or to recognize a mere 
 theoretical union ; but also carefully to maintain 
 "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." 
 They are exhorted to "stand fast in one spirit with 
 
10 
 
 one mind." They are commanded all to " speak 
 the same thing," and to be " of one accord, of one 
 mind." And this " unity of spirit" is as essential 
 to the comfort and edification of those who are 
 joined together in church-fellowship, as it is to a 
 compliance with the command of their Master. 
 "How can •au^ walk together unless they be 
 agreed?" Can a body of worshippers, composed of 
 Calvinists, Arminians, Pelagians, Arians, and So- 
 cinians, all pray, and preach, and commune together 
 profitably and comfortably, each retaining the senti- 
 ments, feelings, and language appropriate to his de- 
 nomination? This would be indeed to make the house 
 of God a miserable Babel. What ! can those who 
 believe the Lord Jesus Christ to be God, equal 
 wath the Father, and worship him accordingly; 
 — and those who consider all such worship as 
 abominable idolatry: — Those who cordially re- 
 nounce all dependence on their own works or 
 merit for justification before God, relying entirely 
 on his rich grace, " through the redemption that 
 is in Christ Jesus;" — and those who pronounce 
 all such reliance fanatical, and man's own righteous- 
 ness the sole ground of hope : — Can persons who 
 cherish these irreconcilably opposite sentiments and 
 feelings on the most important of all subjects, unite 
 with edification in the same prayers, listen from 
 sabbath to sabbath to the same instructions, and 
 sit together in comfort at the same sacramental 
 table? As well might Jews and christians wor- 
 ship together in the same temple. They must 
 either be perfectly indifferent to the great subjects 
 
11 
 
 on which they are thus divided, or all their inter- 
 course must be productive of jarring and distress. 
 Such a discordant assembly might talk about church- 
 fellowship ; but that they should really enjoy that 
 fellowship, which the Bible describes as so precious, 
 and which the pious so much delight to cultivate, 
 is impossible ; — -just as impossible as that " right- 
 eousness should have fellowship with unrighteous- 
 ness," or "light hold communion with darkness, or /^ 
 Christ maintain concord with Belial." / 
 
 Holding these things to be self-evident, how, '^- 
 I ask, is any church to guard itself from that baleful 
 discord, that perpetual strife of feeling, if not of 
 words and conduct, which must ensue, when it is 
 made up of such heterogeneous materials? Nay, 
 how is a church to avoid the guilt of harbouring 
 in its bosom, and of countenancing by its fellowship 
 the worst heresies that ever disgraced the christian 
 name ? It is not enough for attaining this object, that 
 all who are admitted profess to agree in receiving 
 the Bible; for many who call themselves christians, 
 and profess to take the Bible for their guide, hold 
 opinions, and speak a language as foreign, nay 
 as opposite, to the opinions and language of many 
 others, who equally claim to be christians, and equal- 
 ly profess to receive the Bible, as the east is to 
 the west. Of those who agree in this general profes- 
 sion, the greater part acknowledge as of divine 
 authority, the whole sacred canon, as we jiow re- 
 receive it; while others w^ould throw out whole 
 chapters, and some a number of entire books 
 4xQm the volume of God's revealed will. The Or- 
 
 ,y 
 
, 12 
 
 // 
 
 thodox maintain the plenary inspiration of the 
 scriptures; while some who insist that they are 
 christians, deny their insj)iration altogether. In 
 short, thefe are multitudes who, professing to believe 
 the Bible, and to take it for their guide, reject every 
 fundamental doctrine which it contains. So it was 
 in the beginning as well as now. An inspired 
 Apostle declares, that some in Ihis day, who not 
 only professed to believe the scriptures, but even 
 to " preach Christ," did really preach " another 
 gospel," the teachers of which he charges those 
 to whom he wrote to hold " accursed ;" and he 
 assures them that there are some " heresies" so 
 deep and radical that they are to be accounted 
 "damnable." Surely those who maintain the true 
 gospel, cannot " walk together" in " church fel- 
 lowship" with those who are " accursed" for preach- 
 ing " another gospel," and who espouse " damn- 
 able heresies," the advocates of which the disciples 
 of Christ are not permitted even to " receive into 
 their houses," or to "bid God speed!" How, 
 then, I ask again, are the members of a Church, 
 to take care that they be, according to" the divine 
 command, " of one mind," and " of one way ?" 
 They may require all who enter their communion 
 to profess a belief in the Bible ; nay they may re- 
 quire this profession to be repeated every day, and 
 yet may be corrupted and divided by every form of 
 the grossest error. Such a profession, it is manifest, 
 ascertains no agreement; is a bond of no real union ; 
 a pledge of no spiritual fellowship. It leaves every 
 thing within the range of nominal Christianity, ag 
 
13 
 
 perfectly undefined, and as much exposed to total 
 discord as before. 
 
 But perhaps it will be proposed as a more ef- 
 ficient remedy, that there be a private understand- 
 ing, vigilantly acted upon, that no ministers or mem- 
 bers be admitted, but those who are known, by 
 private conversation with them, substantially to agree 
 with the original body, with regard both to doctrine 
 and order. In this way, some allege, discord may 
 be banished, and a church kept pure and peaceful, 
 without an odious array of Creeds and Confessions. 
 To this proposal, I answer, in the first place, it is 
 to all intents and purposes, exhibiting a Creed, and 
 requiring subscription to it, while the contrary is 
 insinuated and professed. It is making use of a 
 religious test, in the most rigourous manner, with- 
 out having the honesty or the manliness to avow it. 
 For what matter is it, as to the real spirit of the 
 proceeding, whether the Creed be reduced to writ- 
 ing, or be registered only in the minds of the church 
 members, and applied by them as a body, if it 
 equally exclude applicants who are not approved ? 
 
 But to this proposed remedy, I answer, in the 
 
 second place, the question, what is soundness in the 
 faith ,^^ however explicitly agreed upon by the mem- 
 bers of the church among themselves, cannot be 
 safely left to the understanding and recollection of 
 each individual belonging to the body in question. 
 As well might the civil Constitution of a State, 
 instead of being committed to writing, be left to the 
 vague and ever varying impressions of the individual // 
 citizens who live under it. In such a Constitution, ^■' 
 
14 
 
 every one sees, there could be neither certainty nor 
 stability. Scarcely any two retailers of its articles 
 would perfectly agree ; and the same persons would 
 expound it differently at different times, as their 
 interests or their passions might happen to bear 
 sway. Quite as unreasonable, and unsafe, to say 
 the least, would it be to leave the instrument of a 
 church's fellowship on a similar footing. Such a 
 nuncupative Creed, when most needed as a means 
 of quieting disturbances, or of excluding corruption, 
 would be rendered doubtful, and, of course, useless, 
 by having its most important provisions called in 
 question on every side. A case in which, if it were 
 ^nade operative at all, it would be far more likely to 
 be perverted into an instrument of popular oppres- 
 sion, than to be employed as a means of sober and 
 wholesome government. 
 
 The inference, then, plainly is, that no church 
 can hope to maintain a homogeneous character; — •. 
 no church can be secure either of purity or peace, 
 for a single year ; — nay, no church can effectually 
 guard against the highest degrees of corruption and 
 strife, without some test of truth, explicitly agreed 
 upon, and adopted by her, in her ecclesiastical ca- 
 pacity: something recorded; something publicly 
 known ; something capable of being referred to when 
 most needed ; which not merely this or that private 
 member supposes to have been received ; but to 
 which the church as such has agreed to adhere, as 
 '4 bond of union. In other words, a church, in 
 order to maintain "the unity of the Spirit in the 
 \ bond of peace and love," must have a Creed — a 
 
15 
 
 WRITTEN Creed — to which she has formally given 
 her assent, and to a conformity to which her minis- 
 trations are pledged. As long as such a test is faith- 
 fully applied, she cannot fail of being in some good 
 degree united and harmonious ; and when nothing 
 of the kind is employed, I see not how she can be ex- 
 pected, without a miracle, to escape all the evils ot 
 discord and corruption. 
 
 2. The necessity and importance of Creeds and 
 Confessions appear from the consideration, that one 
 great design of establishing a church in our world 
 was, that she might be in all ages, a depository, 
 
 A GUARDIAN, AND A WITNESS OF THE TRUTH. 
 
 Christians, collectively as well as individually, 
 are represented in Scripture as witnesses for 
 God among men. They are commanded to main- 
 tain his truth, and to " hold forth the word of life," 
 in all its purity and lustre before a perverse genera- 
 tion, that others may be enlightened and converted. 
 They are exhorted to " buy the truth, and not to sell 
 it;" — to "contend earnestly for the faith once de- 
 livered to the saints;" — to "hold fast the form of 
 sound words which they have received ;" — and to 
 "strive together for the faith of the Gospel." These, 
 and many oAer commands, of similar import, plainly 
 make it the duty of every christian church to de- 
 tect and expose prevailing heresies ; to exclude all 
 such as embrace radical heresy from their com- 
 munion ; and to "lift up a standard" for truth, 
 whenever " the enemy comes in like a flood." 
 
 But does not all this imply taking effectual mea- 
 sures to distinguish between truth and error? Does 
 
16 
 
 not all this necessarily infer the duty of drawings 
 and publicly manifesting^ a line between those who, 
 while they profess, in general, to believe the Bible, 
 really deny all its essential doctrines; and those who 
 simply and humbly receive " the truth as it is in 
 Jesus ?" But how is this distinction to be made, see- 
 ing those who deny, as well as those who embrace 
 the essential doctrines of the Gospel, equally profess 
 to receive the Bible ? It can only be done by care- 
 fully ascertaining and explicitly declaring how the 
 church herself, and how those whom she suspects 
 of being in error, understand and interpret the Bible ; 
 that is, by extracting certain articles of faith from 
 the Scriptures, according to her understanding of 
 them, and comparing with these articles the profess- 
 ed belief of those whom she supposes to be heretics. 
 And what is this but extracting from the Scriptures 
 a Confession of faith — a Creed, and applying it 
 as a test of sound principles ? It does really appear 
 to me that those orthodox brethren, who admit that 
 the church is bound to raise her voice against error, 
 and to " contend earnestly" for the truth ; and yet 
 denounce Creeds and Confessions, are, in the high- 
 est degree inconsistent with themselves. They ac- 
 knowledge the obligation and importance of a great 
 duty ; and yet reject the only means by which it 
 can be performed. Quite as unreasonable, I am 
 constrained to say, as the " task-masters" of Egypt, 
 they require work to be done, without allowing the 
 materials necessary to its accomplishment. Before 
 the church, as such, can detect heretics, and cast 
 them out from her bosom : before she can raise her 
 
17 \ 
 
 voice, in "a day of rebuke and of blasphemy,*' 
 against prevailing errors, her governors and mem- 
 bers must be agreed what is truth ; and, unless they 
 would give themselves up, in their official judg- 
 ments, to all the caprice and feverish effervescence 
 of occasional feeling, they must have some accre- 
 dited, permanent document, exhibiting what they 
 have agreed to consider as truthi There is really 
 no feasible alternative. They must either have 
 such "a form of sound words," which they have 
 voluntarily adopted, and pledged themsel^s to one 
 another to "hold fast;" or they can have no security 
 that any two or more successive decisions concerning 
 soundness in the faith will be alike. In other words, 
 they cannot attain, in any thing like a steady, uni- 
 form, consistent manner, one of the great purposes 
 for which the visible church was established. 
 
 It surely will not be said, by any considerate 
 person, that the church, or any of her individual 
 members, can sufficiently fulfil the duty in question, 
 by simply proclaiming, from time to time, in the 
 midst of surrounding error, her adherence and her 
 attachment to the Bible. Every one must see that 
 this would be, in fact, doing nothing as "witness- 
 es of the truth ;" because it would be doing nothing 
 jyeculiar ; nothing distinguishing ; nothing which 
 every heretic in Christendom is not ready to do, or 
 rather is not daily doing, as loudly, and as frequently 
 as the most orthodox church. The very" idea of 
 *' bearing testimony to the truth," and of separat- 
 ing from those who are so corrupt that christian 
 communion cannot be maintained with them, neces- 
 
18 
 
 sarily implies some public discriminating act, i»i. 
 which the church agrees upoti, and expresses her 
 belief in, the great doctrines of Christianity, in con- 
 tradistinction from those who believe erroneously. 
 Now to suppose that any thing of this kind can be 
 accomplished, by making a profession, the very 
 same, in every respect, with that which the worst 
 heretics make, is too palpably absurd to satisfy any 
 sober inquirer. 
 
 Of what value, let me ask, had the Waldenses 
 and Albigenses been, as witnesses of the truth 
 — as LIGHTS IN THK WORLD, amidst the darkness 
 of surrounding corruption ; — especially of what va- 
 lue had they been to the church in succeeding times, 
 and to us at the present day ; if they had not form- 
 ed, and transmitted to posterity those celebrated 
 Confessions of Faith, as precious as they are 
 memorable, w^hich we read in their history, and 
 which stand as so many monumental testimonies to 
 the true " Gospel of the grace of God ?" Without 
 THESE, how should we ever have known in what 
 manner they interpreted the Bible ; or wherein they 
 differed from the grossest heretics, who lived at the 
 same time, and professed to receive the same Bible r 
 Without these, how should we ever have seen so 
 clearly and satisfactorily as we do, that they main- 
 tained the truth aad the order of Christ's house, 
 amidst all the wasting desolations of the "man of 
 sin ;" and thus fulfilled his promise, that there shall 
 always be "a seed to serve him, who shall be ac* 
 counted to the Lord for a generation ?" 
 
 3. The adoption and publication of a Creed, is 
 
19 
 
 A TRIBUTE TO TRUTH AND CANDOUR, which every 
 christian church owes to the other churches, 
 
 AND TO THE WORLD AROUND HER. 
 
 Every wise man will wish to be united in reli- 
 gious duty and privilege, with those who most 
 nearly agree with himself in their views of doctrine 
 and order ; with those in intercourse with whom he 
 can be most happy, and best edified. Of course, he 
 will be desirous, before he joins any church, toknoio 
 something of its faith, government, and general cha- 
 racter. I will suppose a pious and ingenuous imii- 
 vidual about to form his religious connections for 
 life. He looks round on the churches to which he 
 has most access, and is desirous of deciding with 
 which of them he can be most comfortable. I will 
 suppose that, in this survey, he turns his eyes to- 
 wards the trul}" scriptural and primitive church to 
 which it is our happiness to belong. He is anxious 
 to know the doctrine as well as the order which he 
 may expect to find in connection with our body. 
 How is he to know this? Certainly not by going 
 from church to church throughout our whole bounds, 
 and learning the creed of every individual minister 
 from his own lips. This would be physically im- 
 possible, without bestowing on the task a degree of 
 time and toil, which scarcely any man could afford. 
 He could not actually hear for himself the doctrines 
 taught in a twentieth part of our pulpits. And if he 
 could, he would still be unable to decide, from this 
 source alone, how far what he heard might be re- 
 garded as the uniform and universal, and especially 
 as the permanent character of the church ; and not 
 
20 
 
 rather as an accidental exhibition. But when such 
 an inquirer finds that we have a published creed, 
 declaring how we understand the scriptures, and 
 explicitly stating in detail the great truths which we 
 have agreed to unite in maintaining ; he can ascertain 
 in a few hours, and without leaving his own dwel- 
 ling, what we profess to believe and to practice, and 
 how far he may hope to be at home in our commu- 
 nion. And while he is enabled thus to understand 
 the system to which ive profess to adhere, he ena- 
 bles us to understand his views, by ascertaining how 
 far they accord with our published creed. 
 
 Further ; what is thus due to ingenuous indi- 
 viduals, who wish to know the real character of 
 our church, is also due to neighbouring church- 
 es, who may have no less desire to ascertain the 
 principles which we embrace. It is delightful for 
 ecclesiastical communities, who approach near to 
 each other in faith and order, to manifest their 
 affection for one another, by cherishing some de- 
 gree of christian intercourse. But what church, 
 which valued the preservation of its own purity and 
 peace, would venture on such intercourse with a 
 body which had no defined system, either of doc- 
 trine or government, to which it stood pledged; and 
 which might, therefore, prove a source of pollution 
 and disorder to every other church with which it 
 had the smallest interchansje of services ? One of 
 the ministers of such a denomination, when invited 
 into the pulpit of an orthodox brother, might give 
 entire satisfaction ; while the very next to whom a 
 similar mark of christian affection and confidence 
 
21 
 
 was shown, might preach the most corrupt heresy. 
 Creeds and Confessions, then, so far from having a 
 tendency to "alienate" and "embitter" those christ- 
 ian denominations, which think nearly alike, and 
 ought to maintain fraternal intercourse; really tend 
 to make them acquainted with each other ; to lay 
 a foundation for regular and cordial intercourse; to 
 beget mutual confidence ; and thus to promote the 
 harmony of the church of God. 
 
 I scruple not, therefore, to affirm, that, as every 
 individual minister owes to all around him a frank 
 avowal of his cliristian faith, when any desire to 
 know it ; so every church owes it to her sister 
 churches, to be equally frank and explicit in publicly 
 declaring her principles. She, no doubt, believes 
 those principles to be purely scriptural. In publicly 
 avowing them, therefore, she performs the double 
 duty of bearing testimony to the truth, and of en- 
 deavouring to draw from less pure denominations, 
 and from the surrounding world, new support to 
 what she conscientiously believes to be more correct 
 sentiments than theirs. She may be erroneous in 
 this estimate ; but still she does what she can, and 
 what she unfeignedly believes to be right; and what, 
 of course, as long as this conviction continues, she 
 is bound to perform. And I have no hesitation in 
 further maintaining, that, in all ages, those christian 
 churches which have been most honourably distin- 
 guished for their piety, their zeal, and their adher- 
 ence to the simplicity of the gospel, have been, not 
 only most remarkable for their care in forming, but 
 also for their frankness in avowing, their doctrinal 
 
 D 
 
22 
 
 creed ; and their disposition to let all around them 
 distinctly understjuid what they professed to regard 
 as the fundamental doctrines of our holy religion. 
 
 4. Another argument in favour of Creeds pub- 
 licly adopted and maintained, is that they are 
 
 FKIENDLY TO THE STUDY OF CHRISTlAiN DOCTRINE, 
 AND OF COURSE, TO THE PREVALENCE OF CHRIST-- 
 IAN KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 It is the general principle of the enemies of 
 Creeds, that all who profess to believe the Bible, 
 ought, without further inquiry, to unite; to maintain 
 ecclesiastical communion 5 and to live together in 
 peace. But is it not manifest, that the only way in 
 which those who essentially differ from each other 
 concerning the fundamental doctrines of the gos- 
 pel, can live together in perfectly harmonious eccle- 
 siastical fellowship, is by becoming indifferent to 
 truth ; in other words, by becoming persuaded that 
 modes of faith are of little or no practical import- 
 ance to the church, and are, therefore, not worth 
 contending for ; that clear and discriminating views 
 of christian doctrine are wholly unnecessary, and of 
 little use in the formation of christian character ? 
 But in proportion as professing christians are indif- 
 ferent to truth, will they not be apt to neglect the 
 study of it ? And if the study of it be generally 
 neglected, will not gross and deplorable ignorance 
 of it eventually and generally prevail ? The fact is, 
 when men love gospel truth well enough to study 
 it with care, they will soon learn to estimate its va- 
 lue ; and when they learn to estimate its value, they 
 will soon be disposed to " contend for it,- ' against 
 
23 
 
 its enemies, who are numerous in every age; and 
 this will inevitably lead them to adopt and defend 
 that " form of sound words" which they think they 
 find in the sacred scriptures. On the other hand, let 
 any man imbibe the notion that Creeds and Confes- 
 sions are unscriptuial, and of course unlawful^ and 
 he will naturally and speedily pass to the conclusion, 
 that all contending for doctrines is useless, and even 
 criminal. From this the transition is easy to the 
 abandonment of the study of doctrine, or, at least, 
 the zealous aud diligent study of it. Thus it is, 
 that laying aside all Creeds, naturally tends to make 
 professing christians indifferent to the study of christ- 
 ian truth ; comparatively uninterested in the attain- 
 ment of religious knowledge ; and, finally, regard- 
 less, and of course, ignorant of " the faith once de- 
 livered to the saints." 
 
 I would by no means, indeed, be understood to 
 assert, that no heretics have ever been zealous in 
 publishing and defending their corrupt opinions. 
 The pages of ecclesiastical history abundantly show, 
 that many of the advocates of error, both in ancient 
 and modern times, have contended not only pertina- 
 ciously, but even fiercely, for their peculiar doc- 
 trines. But my position is, that the enemies of all 
 Creeds and Confessions usually assume a principle, 
 which, if carried out to its legitimate consequences, 
 would discourage all zeal in maintaining the peculiar 
 doctrines of the Gospel ; that if all zeal in maintain- 
 ing peculiar doctrines were laid aside, all ardour and 
 diligence in studying them would be likely to be laid 
 aside also ; and that, if this were the case, a state of 
 
2^4. 
 
 things, more unfriendly to the growth and prevalence 
 of christian knowledge could scarcely be imagined. 
 J^ook at the loose, vague, undecisive character of 
 the preaching heard in nine tenths of the Unitarian, 
 and other latitudinarian pulpits in the United States, 
 and as I suppose, throughout Christendom. If the oc- 
 cupants of those pulpits had it for their distinct and 
 main object to render their hearers indifferent about 
 understanding, and, of course, indifferent about stu- 
 dying, the fundamental doctrines of the gospel, they 
 could scarcely adopt a plan more directly calculated 
 to attain their end, than that which they actually 
 pursue, 'Their incessant cry is, "matters of ojnnion 
 are between God, and a man's own conscience. 
 No one else has a right to meddle with them." 
 Hence, in pursuance of this maxim, they do, indeed, 
 take care to meddle very little with the distinguish- 
 ing doctrines of the gospel. We conjecture what 
 their doctrinal o))inions are, in general, not so much 
 from what they say, as from wliat they do not say* 
 And the truth is, that if this character of preaching 
 was to become universal, all discriminating views of 
 gospel-truth would, in thirty years, be banished 
 from the church. 
 
 If the friends of orthodoxy and piety, then, 
 really desire to cherish and maintain a love for the 
 discriminating study of christian doctrine; a taste 
 for religious knowledge; a spirit of zeal for the 
 truth, in opposition to that miserable indifference 
 to articles of faith, which is so replete with mis- 
 chief to every christian community in which it 
 is found ; — rtlien let theifi be careful to present, and 
 
25 
 
 diligently to keep before the eyes of one another, 
 and the eye of the public, that " good confession" 
 vviiich they are commanded to "profess before 
 many witnesses." If they fail to do this; if, un- 
 der the guise of adherence to that great Protestant 
 maxim, that the Bible is the only imfallible rule 
 of faith and manners, — (a precious all-important 
 truth, which, properly understood, cannot be too 
 often repeated) — they speak and act as if all who 
 profess to receive the Bible were standing upon 
 equally solid and safe ground; if, in a word, 
 they consider it as unnecessary, and even crimi- 
 nal, to select from the mass of scriptural truth, and. 
 to defend, as such, the fundamental doctrines of 
 the gospel ; — then, nothing short of miracle can 
 prevent them from sinking into that coldness and 
 sloth with respect to the study of doctrine, and 
 finally into that deplorable " lack of knowledge" by 
 which millions are constantly " destroyed." 
 
 5. It is an argument of no small weight in 
 favour of Creeds, that the experience of all ages 
 
 HAS FOUND THEM INDISPENSABLY NECESSARY. 
 
 Even in the days of the apostles, when all their 
 inspiration and all their miraculous powers, were 
 insufficient to deter heretics from spreading their 
 poison ; — men, calling themselves christians, and 
 professing to preach the religion of Christ, pervert- 
 ed his truth, and brought "another gospel," which 
 He had not taught. In this exigency, how did the 
 churches proceed ? An inspired apostle directed them 
 not to be contented with a general profession of be- 
 lief in the religion of Christ on the part of those who 
 
.26 
 
 came to them as christian teachers ; but to examine 
 and try them, and to ascertain whether their teach- 
 ing were agreeable to the " form of sound words'* 
 which they had been taught by him : and he adds 
 with awful solemnity — " If any man bring any 
 other gospel unto you than that ye have received, 
 let him be accursed" Here was, in effect, an 
 instance, and that by Divine warrant, of employing 
 a Creed as a test of orthodoxy: that is, men 
 making a general profession of Christianity, are 
 expressly directed by an inspired apostle, to be 
 
 BROUGHT TO THE TEST, in WHAT SENSE THEY UN- 
 DERSTOOD THAT GOSPEL, of which in general terms, 
 they declared their reception; and how they ex- 
 plained its leading doctrines. It would seem, in- 
 deed, that the Confession of Faith then required 
 was very short and simple. This, the peculiar 
 circumstances of the times, and the no less peculiar 
 administration of the church, rendered entirely 
 sufficient. Still, whether the Confession were 
 long or short ; whether it consisted of three articles 
 or of thirty, the principle was the same. 
 
 In the second century, in the writings of Irenceus; 
 and in the third, in the writings of Teriidlian, Ori- 
 gen, Cyprian, Gregory Thaumaturgus, and Lucian, 
 the martyr, we find a number of Creeds and Con- 
 fessions, more formally drawn out, more minute, 
 and more extensive than those of earlier date. They 
 were intended to bear testimony against the various 
 forms of error which had arisen ; and plainly show 
 that, as the arts and corruptions of heretics in- 
 "^ creased, the orthodox church found more attention 
 
27 
 
 to the adoption and maintenance of these formula- 
 ries indispensably necessary. 
 
 In the fourth century, when the church was still 
 more agitated by the prevalence of heresy, there was 
 a still louder demand for accredited tests, by which 
 the heretics were to be tried and detected. Of this 
 demand there never was a more striking instance 
 than in the Council of Nice, when the heresy of 
 Arius was under the consideration of that far-famed 
 assembly. When the Council entered on the exa- 
 mination of the subject, it was found extremely dif- 
 ficult to obtain from Arius any satisfactory explana- 
 tion of his views. He was not only as ready as the 
 most orthodox divine present, to profess that he be- 
 lieved the Bible ; but he also declared himself wil- 
 ling to adopt, as his own, all the language of the 
 scriptures, in detail, concerning the person and cha- 
 racter of the blessed Redeemer. But when the mem- 
 bers of the Council wished to ascertain in what 
 
 SENSE HE UNDERSTOOD THIS LANGUAGE, he dis- 
 covered a disposition to evade and equivocate, and 
 actually, for a considerable time, baffled the attempts 
 of the most ingenious of the orthodox to specify 
 his errors, and to bring them to light. He declared 
 that he was perfectly willing to employ the popular 
 language on the subject in controversy ; and wished 
 to have it believed that he differed very little from 
 the body of the church. Accordingly the orthodox 
 went over the various titles of Christ plainly expres- 
 sive of Divinity, — such as " God" — " the true God" 
 — the " express image of God," &c. — to every one 
 of which Arius and his followers most readily sub- 
 
28 
 
 scribed ; — claiming a right, however, to put their 
 OWN CONSTRUCTION Oil the scriptuial titles in quest- 
 ion. After employing much time and ingenuity in 
 vain, in endeavouring to drag this artful chief 
 from his lurking places, and to obtain from him an 
 explanation of his views, the Council found it would 
 be impossible to accomplish their object as long as 
 they permitted him to intrench himself behind a 
 \V.niere general profession of belief in the Bible. 
 They therefore, did, what common sense, as well as 
 the word of God, had taught the church to do in 
 all preceding times, and what alone can enable her 
 to detect the artful advocate of error. Th«»f ex- 
 pressed, in their own language, what they supposed 
 to be the doctrine of scripture concerning the Divin- 
 ity of the Saviour ; in other words, they drew up a 
 Confession of Faith on this subject, which they 
 called upon Arius and his disciples to subscribe. 
 This the heretics refused ; and were thus virtually 
 brought to the acknowledgement that they did not 
 understand the scriptures as the rest of the Council 
 understood them, and, of course, that the charge 
 against then^'as correct. 
 
 The same course was taken by all the pious 
 wiTNESSESS OF THE TRUTH iu the dark ages, when 
 amidst the surrounding corruption, and desolation, 
 they found themselves called upon to bear witness 
 to the truth." They all professed their belief in the 
 Bible, and their love to it ; they constantly appeal- 
 ed to it, as the only infallible rule of faith and prac- 
 tice ; and they studied it with incomparably more 
 veneration and diligence than any of the errorists 
 
29 
 
 around them. This all history plainly evinces. But 
 at the same time, they saw the futility of doing 
 nothing more than proclaim in general, their adhe- 
 rence to the sacred volume. This would have been 
 no distinction, and of course, no testimony at all. It 
 would have been nothing more than the bitterest ene- 
 mies of the truth were proclaiming busily, and even 
 clamorously, every day. They, therefore, did what 
 the friends of orthodoxy had been in the habit of do- 
 ing from the earliest ages. They framed creeds, 
 from time to time, as the exigencies of the church 
 demanded, by means of which they Vi^ere enabled to 
 bear their testimony for God; to vindicate his 
 truth ; and to transmit the memorials of their fidelity 
 to distant generations. — And finally, at the glorious 
 Reformation from Popery, by which the great Head 
 of the church may be said again to have "set 
 his people free," and the memory of which shall 
 never die;— in drawing the line between "the precious 
 and the vile," the friends of truth followed the same 
 course. They, with one accord, formed their Creeds 
 and Confessions, which served, at once, as a plea for 
 the truth, and a barrier against heresy. And it is 
 not, perhaps, too much to say, that the volume 
 which contains the collection of these Creeds, is one 
 of the most precious and imperishable monuments 
 of the piety, wisdom, and zeal of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 What, now, is the inference from all this experi- 
 ence of the church of God, so universal and so uni- 
 form ? It cannot be misunderstood. It speaks 
 volumes. When the friends of truth in all ages and 
 
 E 
 
30 
 
 situations, e\en those who were most tenacious of 
 the rights of private judgment, and most happy in 
 the enjoyment of christian liberty, have invariably 
 found it necessary to resort to the adoption of Creeds, 
 in order to ascertain for themselves, as a social body, 
 and to communicate to others, for their benefit, 
 
 THEIR SENSE OF THE HOLY SCKIPTURES ; WC are 
 
 naturally led to conclude, not only that the resort is 
 neither so "unreasonable" nor so "baneful" as many 
 would persuade us to believe ; but that there is real- 
 ly no other practicable method of maintaining unity 
 and purity in the church of Christ. 
 
 6. A further argument in favour of Creeds and Con- 
 fessions, may be drawn from the remarkable fact, 
 
 that THEIR MOST ZEALOUS OPPOSERS HAVE GENE- 
 RALLY BEEN LATITUDINAKIANS AND HERETICS. 
 
 I do not affirm that the use of Creeds has never 
 been opposed by individuals substantially orthodox, 
 and even by orthodox churches : for it is believed that 
 a few rare oases of this anomalv have occurred, un- 
 der the influence of strong prejudice, or veiy peculiar 
 circumstances. yTet, so far as I can recollect, we 
 have no example of it among the ancients. Such 
 cases are the growth of very modern times. Nor, on 
 the other hand, is it my purpose to deny that here- 
 tics have sometimes been extremely zealous in form- 
 ing and maintaining the most corrupt Creeds. For 
 of this the early history of the church abounds with 
 examples, and its later periods have not been wholly 
 without them. But what I venture to assert is, that, 
 as a general fact, the most ardent and noisy oppo- 
 nents of Creeds have been those who held corrupt 
 
31 
 
 opinions; that none, calling themselves christians, 
 have been so bitter in reviling them, in modern times, 
 as the friends of Unitarianism, and those who were 
 leaning toward that awful gulph ; and that the most 
 consistent and zealous advocates of truth have been, 
 every where and at all times, distinguished by their 
 friendship to such formularies. Nor has this been by 
 any means a fortuitous occurrence; but precisely 
 what might have been calculated, on principle, as 
 likely to be realized. It is an invariable characteris- 
 tic of the orthodox that they lay great stress on the 
 knowledge and reception of truth ; that they con- 
 sider it as necessary to holiness ; that they deem an 
 essential part of fidelity to their master in heaven, to 
 consist in contending for it, and maintaining it, in 
 opposition to all the forms of error. On the contra- 
 ry, it is almost as invariable a characteristic of 
 modern heretics, and more especially of those who 
 fall under the general denomination of Unitarians, 
 that they profess lightly to esteem modes of faith ; 
 that they manifest a marked indifference to truth ; 
 that they, for the most part, maintain, in so many 
 words, the innocence of error; and hence very natu- 
 rally reprobate, and even vilify, ii\] faithful attempts 
 to oppose heresy, and to separate heretics from the 
 church. From those, then, who have either/«r de- 
 parted, or at least begun to depart, from " the faith 
 once delivered to the saints," almost exclusivel}'^, do 
 we hear of the " oppression," and the " mischief" of 
 Creeds and Confessions. And is it any marvel that 
 those who maintain the innocence of error, should 
 be unwilling to raise fences for keeping it out of the 
 
32 
 
 church ? Is it any marvel that the Arian, the Socini- 
 an, the Pelagian, and such as are verging toward 
 those fatal errors, should exceedingly dislike all the 
 evangelical formularies, which tend to make visible 
 the line of distinction between the friends and the 
 enemies of the Redeemer ? No ; — men, as has been 
 often well obseved, " men are seldom found oppo- 
 sed to Creeds, mitil Creeds have become opposed to 
 them.'? That ^/le?/ should dislike and oppose them, in 
 these circumstances, is just as natural as that a cul- 
 prit arraigned before a civil tribunal, should equally 
 dishke the law, its officer, and its sanction. 
 
 Accordingly, if we look a little into the interiour 
 of church history, especially within the last century, 
 we shall find these remarks often and strikingly ex- 
 emplified. We shall find, with few exceptions, that 
 whenever a group of men began to slide, with respect 
 to orthodoxy, they generally attempted to break, if 
 not to conceal, their fall, by declaiming against 
 Creeds and Confessions.' They have seldom failed, 
 indeed, to protest in the beginning, that they had no 
 objections to the doctrines themselves of the Confes- 
 sion which they had subscribed, but to the principle 
 of subscribing Confessions at all. Soon, however, 
 was the melancholy fact gradually unfolded, that 
 disaffection to the doctrines which they once appear- 
 ed to love, had more influence in directing their 
 course, than even they themselves imagined, and that 
 they were receding further and further from the 
 " good way" in which they formerly seemed to re- 
 joice. L'Truly that cause is of a most suspicious 
 character to which latitudinarians and heretics, at 
 
33 
 
 least in modern times, almost as a matter of course, 
 yield their support ; and which they defend with a 
 zeal, in general, strictly proportioned to their hatred 
 of orthodoxy ! 
 
 7. The only further argument in support of Creeds 
 on which I shall dwell, is, that their most zealous 
 
 OPPOSERS do themselves VIRTUALLY EMPLOY 
 THEM IN ALL THEIR ECCLESIASTICAL PROCEED- 
 INGS. 
 
 The favourite maxim, with the opposers of Creeds, 
 that all who acknowledge the Bible, ought, without 
 hesitation, to be received, not only to christian, but 
 also to ministerial communion, is invariably aban- 
 doned by those who urge it, the moment a case 
 turns up which really brings it to the test. Did any 
 one ever hear of a Unitarian congregation engaging 
 as their Pastor a preacher of Cahinism, knowing 
 him to be such ? But why not, on the principle 
 adopted, or at least, professed by Unitarians ? The 
 Calvinist surely comes with his Bible in his hand, 
 and professes to believe it as cordially as the}^ 
 Why is not that enough ? Yet we know that, in 
 fact, it is not enough for these advocates of unbound- 
 ed liberality. Before they will consent to receive 
 him as their spiritual guide, they must be explicitly 
 informed, how he interprets the Bible; in 
 other words, what is his particular Creed; 
 whether it is substantially the same with their own 
 or not : and if they are not satisfied that this is the 
 case, all other professions and protestations will be 
 in vain. He will be inexorably rejected. Here, 
 then, we have in all its extent, i\\e principle of de- 
 
34 
 
 mantling subscription to a Creed ; and a prin- 
 ciple carried out into practice as rigourously as ever 
 it was by the most high-toned advocate of or- 
 thodoxy. 
 
 We have before seen, that the friends of truth, in 
 all ages, have found, in their sad experience, that a 
 general profession of belief in the Bible, was alto- 
 gether insufficient, either as a bond of union, or as 
 a fence against the inroads of error. And here we 
 find, the warmest advocates of a contrary doctrine, 
 and with a contrary language in their mouths, when 
 they come to act, pursuing precisely the same 
 
 COURSE WITH THE FRIENDS OF CREEDS, with Only 
 
 this difference, that the Creed which they apply as 
 a test, instead of being a written and tangible docu- 
 ment, is hidden in the bosoms of those who expound 
 and employ it, and, of course, may be applied in the 
 most capricious as well as tyrannical manner, with- 
 out appeal ; and further, that, while they really act 
 upon this principle, they disavoio it, and would per- 
 suade the world that they proceed upon an entirely 
 different plan. 
 
 Can there be a more conclusive fact than this ? 
 The enemies of Creeds themselves cannot get along 
 a day without them. It is in vain to say, that in 
 their case no Creed is imposed, but that all is volun- 
 tary, and left entirely to the choice of the parties 
 concerned. It will be seen hereafter that the same 
 may be with equal truth asserted, in all those cases 
 of subscription to articles, for which I contend, with- 
 out any exception. No less vain is it to say, again, 
 that in their case the articles insisted on are few and 
 
 V/ 
 
35 r 
 
 simple, and by no means so liable to exception as the 
 long and detailed Creeds which some churches have 
 adopted. It is the 'principle of subscription to Creeds 
 which is now under consideration. If the lawful- 
 ness and even the necessity of acting upon this prin- 
 ciple can be established, our cause is gained. The 
 extent to which we ought to go in multiplying arti- 
 cles, is a secondary question, the answer to which 
 must depend on the exigencies of the church framing 
 the Creed. Now the adversaries of Creeds, w^hile they 
 totally reject the expediency, and even the lawful- 
 ness, of the general principle, yet show that they 
 cannot proceed a step without adopting it in practice. 
 This is enough. Their conduct is sounder than their 
 reasoning. And no wonder. Their conduct is dic- 
 tated by good sense, and practical experience, nay 
 imposed upon them by the evident necessity of the 
 case : while their reasoning is a theory, derived, as 
 I must believe, from a source far less enlightened, 
 and less safe. 
 
 Several other arguments might be urged in favour 
 of written Creeds, did not the limits to which 1 am 
 confined in this Lecture, forbid me further to enlarge. 
 
 It were easy to show that Confessions of Faith, 
 judiciously drawn, and solemnly adopted by particu- 
 lar churches, are not only invaluable as bonds of 
 union, and fences against error ; but that they also 
 servcj'an important purpose, as accredited manuals of 
 christian doctrine, well fitted for the instruction of 
 those private members of churches, who have neither 
 leisure, nor habits of thinking sufficiently close, to 
 draw from the sacred writings themselves a consist- 
 
36 
 
 ent system of truth. It is of incalculable use to the 
 individual who has but little time for reading, and 
 but little acquaintance with books, to be furnished 
 with a clear and well arranged, compend of religious 
 doctrine, which he is authorized to regard, not 
 merely as the work of a single, enlightened, and 
 pious divine ; but as drawn out and adopted by the 
 collected wisdom of the church to which he belongs. 
 There is often a satisfaction, to a plain, unsophisti- 
 cated mind, not to be described, in going over such 
 a compend, article by article ; examining the proofs 
 adduced from the word of God in support of each; 
 and "searching the scriptures daily to see whether 
 the things which it teaches are so or not." 
 
 It might also be further shown, that sound and 
 scriptural Confessions of Faith, are of great value for 
 transmitting to posterity a knowledge of what is 
 done by the church, at particular times, in behalf of 
 the truth. Every such Confession that is formed or 
 adopted by the followers of Christ in one age, is a 
 precious legacy transmitted to their children, and to 
 all that may come after them, in a succeeding age, 
 not only bearing their testimony in support of the 
 true doctrines of Jesus Christ, but also pouring more 
 or less light on those doctrines, for the instruction of 
 all to whom that testimony may come. 
 
 But while we attend to the principal arguments in 
 favour of written Creeds, justice to the subject re- 
 quires that we 
 
 II. Examine some of the principal objections 
 which have been made to Creeds by their adversa- 
 ries. 
 
37 
 
 1. And the first which I shall mention is, that 
 forming a Creed, and requiring subscription to it as 
 a religious test, is superseding the bible, and 
 
 MAKING A HUMAN COMPOSITION INSTEAD OF IT A 
 
 STANDARD OF FAITH. " The Bible," say those who 
 urge this objection, " is the only infallible rule of 
 faith and practice. It is so complete, that it needs 
 no human addition, and so easily understood, that it 
 requires no human explanation. Why, then, should 
 we desire any other ecclesiastical standard? Why- 
 subscribe ourselves, or call upon others to subscribe, 
 any other Creed than this plain, inspired, and perfect 
 one ? Every time we do this, we oifer a public indig- 
 nity to the sacred volume, as we virtually declare, 
 either that it is not infallible, or not sufficient." 
 / This objection is the most specious one in the 
 whole cataIogue>> And although it is believed that 
 a sufficient answer has been furnished by some of 
 the principles already laid down ; yet the confidence 
 with which it is every day repeated, renders a formal 
 attention to it expedient ; more especially as it bears, 
 at first view, so much the appearance of peculiar 
 veneration for the scriptures, that many are capti- 
 vated by its plausible aspect, and consider it as de- 
 cisive. 
 
 The whole argument which this objection pre- 
 sents, is founded on a false assumption. No Pro- 
 testant ever professed to regard his Creed, considered 
 as a human composition, as of equal authority with 
 the scriptures, and far less as of paramount authority. 
 Every principle of this kind is, with one voice, dis- 
 claimed, by all the Creeds, and defences of Creeds, 
 
38 
 
 that I have ever read./ And whether, notwithstand- 
 ing this, the constant repetition of the charge, ought 
 to be considered as lair argument, or gross calumny, 
 the impartial will judge.-r^A church Creed professes" 
 to be, as was before observed, merely an epitome, or 
 summary exhibition of what the scriptures 
 TEACH. It professes to be deduced from the scrip- 
 tures, and to refer to the scriptures for the whole of 
 its authority. Of course, when an}^ one subscribes 
 it, he is so far from dishonouring the Bible, that he 
 does public homage to it. He simply declares, by a 
 solemn act, how he understands the Bible ; in other 
 words, what doctrines he considers it as containing. 
 In short, the language of an orthodox believer, in 
 subscribing his ecclesiastical Creed, is simply of the 
 following import. — ■" While the Socinian professes to 
 believe the Bible, and to understand it as teaching 
 the mere humanity of Christ : — while the Arian pro-* 
 fesses to receive the same Bible, and to find in it 
 the Saviour represented as the most exalted of all 
 creatures, but still a creature : — While the Pelagian 
 and Semi-Pelagian make a similar profession of their 
 general belief in the scriptures, and interpret them 
 as teaching a doctrine, far more favourable to human 
 nature, and far less honourable to the grace of God, 
 than they appear to me really to teach ; — I beg the 
 privilege of declaring, for myself, that, while I 
 believe, with all my heart, that the Bible is the word 
 of God, the only perfect rule of faith and manners, 
 and the only ultimate test in all controversies — it 
 plainly teaches, as 1 read and believe — the deplora- 
 ble and total depravity of human nature — the essen- 
 
39 s^ 
 
 tial Divinity of the Saviour — a Trinity of persons in 
 the Godhead — justification by the imputed righteous- 
 ness of Christ — and regeneration and sanctification 
 by the Holy Spirit, as indispensable to prepare the 
 soul for heaven. — These I believe to be the radical 
 truths which God hath revealed in his word ; and 
 while they are denied by some, and frittered away 
 or perverted by others, who profess to believe that 
 blessed word, I am verily persuaded they are the ^/i 
 
 fundamental principles of the plan of salvation." r 
 
 Now, I ask, is there in all this language, any 
 thing dishonourable to the Bible ? Any thing that 
 tends to supersede its authority ; or to introduce a 
 rule, or a tribunal of paramount authority? /Is there 
 ,--itot, on the contrary ^.^n the whole language and 
 spirit of such a declaration, an acknowledgment of 
 God's word as of ultimate and supreme authority ; 
 ajnji^^ expression of belief in certain doctrines, 
 f SIMPLY and ONLY BECAUSE they are believed to be 
 / REVEALED IN THAT WORD?) Truly, if THIS be dis- 
 Tionouring the scriptures, or setting up a standard 
 above them, there is an end of all meaning either of 
 words or actions. 
 /<^^ut still it is asked — " Where is the need of any 
 r definitive declaration of what we understand the 
 ''scriptures to teac^ Are they not intelligible enough 
 in themselves ? Can we make them plainer than 
 their Author has done ? Why hold a candle to the 
 sun ? Why make an attempt to frame a more expli- 
 cit test than He who gave the Bible has thought 
 proper to frame : — an attempt, as vain as it is pre- . 
 sumptuous ?" To this plea it is sufficient to answer, 1 
 
40 
 
 'that, although the scriptures are undoubtedly simple 
 and plain ) so plain that " he who runs may read ;" 
 yet it is equally certain that thousands do, in fact, 
 mistake and misinterpret them. This cannot possi- 
 bly be denied ; because^ thousands interpret them, 
 and that on points confessedly fundamental, not only 
 in different, but in directly opposite ways. Of course 
 all cannot be equally right. Can it be wrong, then, 
 for a pious and orthodox man — or for a pious and 
 orthodox church, to exhibit, and endeavour to recom- 
 mend to others, their mode of interpreting the sacred 
 
 s volume ? As the world is acknowledged, on all 
 hands, to be, in fact, full of mistake and error as to 
 the true meaning of holy scripture, can it be thought 
 a superfluous task for those who have more light, 
 and more correct opinions, to hold them up to view, 
 as a testimony to the truth, and as a guide to such 
 as may be in error ? fSurely it cannot. Yet this is 
 neither more nor less than precisely that formation 
 and maintenance of a scriptural Confession of Faith 
 
 ^or which 1 am pleading. 
 
 Still, however, it may be asked, what right has 
 any man, or set of men to interpose their authority, 
 and undertake to deal out the sense of scripture for 
 others? Is it not both impious in itself, and an im- 
 proper assumption over the minds of our fellow men ? 
 I answer, this reasoning would prove too much, and 
 therefore, proves nothing. For, if admitted, it would 
 prove that all preaching of the gospel is pre- 
 sumptuous and criminal ; because preaching always 
 consists in explaining and enforcing scripture, and 
 that, for the most part, in the words of the preacher 
 
41 
 
 himself. Indeed, if the objection before us were 
 valid, it would prove that all the pious writings of 
 the most eminent Divines, in all ages, who have 
 had for their object to elucidate and apply the word 
 of God, were profane and arrogant attempts to mend 
 his revelation, and make it better fitted than it is, to 
 promote its great design. |' Nay, further; upon the 
 principle of this objection, it not only follows, that 
 no minister of the gospel ought ever to do more in 
 the pulpit than simply to read or to repeat the 
 VERY WORDS OF SCRIPTURE; but it is equally evi- 
 dent, that he must read or repeat scripture to his 
 hearers, only in the languages in which they 
 
 WERE originally GIVEN TO THE CHURCH. For, 
 
 as has been often observed, it cannot be said, that 
 the words of any translation of the Bible are the 
 very words of the Holy Spirit. ' They are only the 
 words which uninspired men have chosen, in which 
 to express, as nearly as they were able, the sense of 
 the original. If, therefore, the objection before us 
 be admitted, no man is at liberty to teach the great 
 truths of revelation in any other way than by literal- 
 ly repeating the Hebrew text of the old testament, 
 and the Greek of the new, in the hearing of the 
 people. So extreme is the absurdity to which an 
 erroneous principle will not fail to lead those who 
 are weak enough, or bold enough to follow it to its 
 legitimate consequences ! ^^^^s^ftt 
 
 But, after all, what language do facts ^peak on 
 this subject? Are those individuals or churches, 
 who have been most distinguished for their attach- 
 ment and adherence to Creeds, more regardless of 
 
42 
 
 the Bible than other professing christians ? Do they 
 appear to esteem the Bible less ? Do they read it 
 less ? Do they appeal to it less frequently, as their 
 grand and ultimate authority ? Do they quote it 
 more rarely, or with less respect in their preaching ? 
 Where they once refer to their Creeds or Catechisms, 
 for either authority or illustration, in the pulpit, do 
 they not, notoriously, refer to the Bible a thousand 
 times? Do they take less pains than others to impress 
 the contents of the sacred volume on the minds of 
 their children, and to hold it forth as the unceasing 
 object of study to all ? Look at the reformed churches 
 of Scotland and Holland, of France and Geneva, in 
 their best state, when their Confessions of Faith 
 were most venerated, and had most power ; and then 
 say, whether any churches, since the days of the 
 Apostles, ever discovered more reverence for the 
 scriptures, or treated them with more devout regard, 
 as the only perfect standard of faith and practice, than 
 they ? Nay, am I not warranted in making a similar 
 appeal with respect to those churches in our land, 
 which have been most distinguished for their attach- 
 ment to Creeds? Are not their ministers, in general, 
 quite as remarkable for very rarely quoting their 
 own ecclesiastical formularies, for either proof or 
 illustration, as they are for their constant and abun- 
 dant quotations from scripture for both purposes? 
 Can the same incessant and devout recurrence to the 
 sacred oracles be ascribed with equal truth to the 
 great body of the opposers of Creeds, in ancient or 
 modem times? I will not press this comparison into 
 further detail ; but have no apprehension that even 
 
43 
 
 the bitterest enemy of Creeds, who has a tolerable 
 acquaintance with facts, and the smallest portion of 
 candour, will venture to say that the result, fairly 
 deduced, is in favour of his cause. ^ . : • . 
 
 2. Another objection frequently made to church 
 Creeds is, that they intekfere with the rights 
 
 OF CONSCIENCE, AND NATURALLY LEAD TO OP- 
 PRESSION. "What right," say those who urge this 
 objection, " has any church, or body of churches, to 
 impose a Creed on me, or dictate to me what I shall 
 believe ? To attempt such dictation is tyranny ; to 
 submit to it, is to surrender the right of private judg- 
 ment." 
 
 There would be some ground for this objection, if 
 a Creed were, in any case, imposed, by the civil go- 
 vernment, or by an established church ; if any were 
 obliged to receive it, under heavy pains and disabili- 
 ties, whether they approved it or not. But as such a 
 case does not, and, happily, cannot exist in our fa- 
 voured country, the objection is surely as illegitimate 
 in reasoning, as it is false in fact. One is tempted 
 to suspect that those who urge such an objection 
 among us, have found it manufactured to their 
 hands, by persons living under civil governments and 
 ecclesiastical establishments of an oppressive charac- 
 ter ; and viewing it as a weapon which might be 
 wielded with much popular effect, they have taken 
 it into their service, and thenceforward refused to 
 abandon it ; though proved a thousand times to have 
 no more application to any Creed or church in the 
 United States, than to the inhabitants of another 
 planet. 
 
44 
 
 It will not, surely, be denied by any one, that a 
 body of christians have a right, in every free count- 
 ry, to associate and walk together upon such princi- 
 ples as they may choose to agree upon, not incon- 
 sistent with public order. They have a right to 
 agree and declare how they understand the scrip- 
 tures ; what articles found in scripture they concur 
 in considering as fundamental ; and in what manner 
 they will have their public preaching and polity con- 
 ducted, for the edification of themselves and their 
 children. They have no right, indeed, to decide or 
 to judge ybr others, nor can they compel any man to 
 join them. But it is surely their privilege to judge 
 for themselves ; to agree upon the i)lan of their own 
 association ; to determine upon what principles they 
 will receive other members into their brotherhood ; 
 and to form a set of rules which will exclude from 
 their body those with whom they cannot walk in 
 harmony. The question is, not whether they make, 
 in all cases, a wise and scriptural use of this right to 
 follow the dictates of conscience — but whether they 
 possess the right at all ? They are, indeed, account- 
 able for the use which they make of it, and solemnly 
 accountable, to their Master in heaven ; but to man 
 they surely cannot, and ought not, to be compelled 
 to give any account. It is their own concern. 
 Their fellow-men have nothing to do with it, as 
 long as they commit no offence against the public 
 peace. To decide otherwise, would indeed be an 
 outrage on the right of private judgment. If the 
 principles of civil and religious liberty, generally 
 prevalent in our happy country, be correct, demon- 
 
45 
 
 stration itself cannot be more incontrovertible than 
 these positions. 
 
 But if a body of professing christians have a 
 natural right thus to associate, to extract their own 
 Creed from the scriptures, and to agree upon the 
 principles by which others may afterwards be admit- 
 ted into their number ; is it not equally manifest 
 that they have the same right to refuse admittance 
 to those with whom, they believe, they cannot be 
 comfortably connected ? ■>. 
 
 Let us suppose a church to be actually associat-" 
 ed upon the principle laid down ; its Creed and 
 other articles adopted, and published for the inform- 
 ation of all who may wish to be informed ; and its 
 members walking together in harmony and love. 
 Suppose, while things are in this situation, a person 
 comes to them, and addresses them thus — "I demand 
 admittance into your body, though I can neither be- 
 lieve the doctrines which you profess to embrace, 
 nor consent to be governed by the rules which you 
 have agreed to adopt." — What answer would they 
 be apt to give him ? They would certainly reply — 
 *'Your demand is very unreasonable. Our union 
 is a voluntary one, for our mutual spiritual benefit. 
 We have not solicited you to join us ; and you can- 
 not possibly have a right to force yourself into our 
 body. The whole world is before you. Go where 
 you please. We cannot agree to receive you, unless 
 you are willing to walk with us upon our own prin- 
 ciples." Such an answer would undoubtedly be 
 deemed a proper one by every reasonable person. 
 Suppose, however, this applicant were still to urge 
 
 G 
 
46 
 
 /■ 
 
 his demand; to claim admission as a right; and, 
 upon being finally refused, to complain, that the so- 
 ciety had " persecuted" and " injured" him ? Would 
 any one think him possessed of common sense ? 
 Nay, would not the society in question, if they 
 could be compelled to receive such an applicant, in- 
 stead of being oppressors of others, cease to be free 
 themselves ? 
 
 The same principle would still more strongly ap- 
 ply, in case of a clergyman offering himself to such 
 a church, as a candidate for the station of pastor 
 among them. Suppose, when he appeared to make 
 a tender of his services, they were to present him 
 with a copy of that Creed, and of that form of go- 
 vernment and of worship which they had unani- 
 mously adopted, and to say — " This is what we be- 
 lieve. We pretend not to prescribe to others ; but 
 * so WE have learned Christ ;' so we understand the 
 scriptures ; and thus we wish ourselves, our child- 
 ren, and all who look up to us for guidance, to be 
 instructed. Can you subscribe to these formularies ? 
 Are you willing to come among us upon these prin- 
 ciples, and, as our pastor, thus to break to us, and 
 our little ones what we deem ' the bread of life ?' " 
 Could the candidate complain of such a demand ? 
 Many speak as if the church, in putting him to this 
 test, undertook to "judge for him." But nothing 
 can be more remote from the truth. They only 
 undertake to judge for themselves. If the candid- 
 ate cannot or will not accept of the test, he will be 
 of course, nyected. But, in this case, no judgment 
 is passed on his state toward God ; no ecclesiastical 
 
47 
 
 censure, not even the smallest, is inflicted upon him. 
 The church only claim a right to be served in the 
 ministerial office by a man who is of the same reli- 
 gion with themselves. And is this an unreasonable 
 demand ? Are not the rights of conscience recipro- 
 cal ? Or do they demand, that, while a church shall 
 be prohil)ited from " oppressing" an individual, an 
 individual shall be allowed to " oppress" a church ? 
 Surely it cannot l)e necessary to wait for an answer. 
 Accordingly, the transactions of secular life, fur- 
 nish every day a practical refutation of the objection 
 which I am now considering. Does the head of a 
 family, when a person ap[)lies to be received as a 
 resident under his roof, ever doubt that he has a 
 right to inquire whether the applicant be willing to 
 conform to the rules of his family or not ; and if he 
 decline this conformity, to refuse him admission ? 
 And even after he has been received and tried, for a 
 while, if he prove an uncomfortable inmate, does 
 not every one consider the master of the family as 
 at liberty to exclude him ? Has not every parent, 
 and, of course, every voluntary association of pa- 
 rents, an acknowledged right to determine what qua- 
 lifications they will require in a preceptor for their 
 children ; and, if so, to bring all candidates to the 
 test agreed on, and to reject those who do not cor- 
 respond with it ? And if a candidate who fell to- 
 tally short of the qualifications required, and who, 
 of course, was rejected, should make a great outcry, 
 that he was "wantonly" and "tyrannicaHy" de- 
 prived of the place to which he aspired, would not 
 every one think him insajie, or worse than insane f 
 
48 
 
 The same principle applies to every voluntary asso- 
 ciation, for moral, literary, or other lawful purposes. 
 If the members have not a right to agree on what 
 principles they will associate, and to refuse mem- 
 bership to those who are known to be entirely hos- 
 tile to the great object of the association, there is an 
 end of all liberty. Of the self-evident truth of all 
 this, no one doubts. But where is the essential dif- 
 ference between any one of these rights, and the 
 right of any community of professing christians to 
 agree upon what they deem the scriptural principles 
 of their own union ; and to refuse admission into 
 their body of those whom they consider as unfriend- 
 ly to the great purposes of truth and edification, for 
 the promotion of which they associated ? To deny 
 them this right, would be to make them slaves in- 
 deed! 
 
 It will probably, however, be alledged, that a 
 church cannot, properly speaking, be considered as a 
 voluntary association ; that it is a community insti- 
 tuted by the authority of Christ ; that its laws are 
 given by Him, as its sovereign Head and Lord ; and 
 that its rulers are in fact onlv stewards, bound to 
 conform themselves in all that they do to his will ; 
 that, if the church were their own, they would have 
 a right to shut out from it whom they pleased ; but 
 as it is Christ's, they must find some other rule of 
 proceeding than their own volitions. This is, doubt- 
 less, all true^ The church of Christ certainly cannot 
 be regardea as a mere voluntary association, in the 
 same sense in which many other societies are so 
 called. It is the property of Christ. His will is the 
 
49 
 
 basis and the law of its establishment, and, of course, 
 none can be either admitted or excluded but upon 
 principles which his own word prescribes. Thisj 
 /////» ^ however, it ioi^eonceived, does not alter "one jot or 
 tittle," the spirit of the foregoing reasoning. The 
 union of christians in a church state, must, still, 
 from the nature of things, be a voluntary act; for if 
 it were not so, it would not be a moral act at all. 
 But if the union be voluntary, then those who form 
 it, must certainly be supposed to have a right to fol- 
 low their own convictions as to what their Divine 
 Master has revealed and enjoined respecting the laws 
 of their union. If i/ie^are not to judge in this mat- 
 ter, who, I ask, is to judge for them? Has the Head 
 of the Church, then, prescribed any qualifications as 
 necessary for private membership, or for admission 
 to the ministerial office, in his church? If so, what 
 are they ? Will any degree of departure from the pu- 
 rity of faith or practice, be sufficient to exclude a 
 man ? If it will, to whom has our Lord committed 
 the task of applying his law, and judging in any par- 
 ticular case ? to the applicants or delinquents them- 
 selves ; or to the church in which membership is de- 
 sired ? If to the latter, on what principles is she 
 bound to proceed ? As her members have voluntari- 
 ly associated for their mutual instruction and edifica- 
 tion in spiritual things, have they not a right to be 
 satisfied that the individual who applies to be receiv- 
 ed among them, either as a private member or minis- 
 ter, entertains opinions, and bears a character, which 
 will be consistent with the great object which they 
 seek ? Can any such individual reasonably refuse 
 
50 
 
 to satisfy them as to the accordance of his religious 
 sentiments with theirs, if they think that both the law 
 of Christ, and the nature of the case, render such ac- 
 cordance necessary to christian fellowship ? If he 
 could not reasonably refuse to give satisfaction vev' 
 bally on this subject; could he, with any more reason, 
 refuse to stale his own sentiments in writing, and 
 subscribe his name to that written statement ? Sure- 
 ly to decline this, while he consented to give a verbal 
 exhibition of his Creed, would wear the appearance 
 of singular caprice or perverseness. B ut if no ration- 
 al objection could be made to his subscribing a decla- 
 ration, drawn up with his own hand, would it not be 
 exactly the same thing, as to the spirit of the trans- 
 action, if, with a view, simply, to ascertain the 
 
 FACT OF HIS BELIEF, NOT TO DICTATE LAWS TO 
 
 HIS CONSCIENCE, a Statement previously drawn up 
 by the church herself, should be presented for his 
 voluntary signature ? What is required of an indi- 
 vidual in such case is, not that he shall believe 
 what the church believes ; but simply that he shall 
 declare, as a matter of fact, whether he does possess 
 that belief, which, from his voluntary application to 
 be received into christian fellowship with that 
 church, he may be fairly presumed to possess. — 
 Again, I ask, is it possible to deny a church this right, 
 without striking at the root of all that is sacred in the 
 convictions of conscience, and of all that is precious 
 in the enjoyment of christian communion ? I fully 
 grant, indeed, that, as her authority rests entirely on 
 the declared will cf Christ, she has no right, in the 
 sight of God, to propose to a candidate, any other 
 
61 
 
 than a sound orthodox Creed. She cannot possibly 
 be considered as having a right, on this principle, to 
 require his assent to anti-scriptural principles. Still, 
 however, as the rights of conscience are unalienable ; 
 and as every church must be considered, of course, as 
 verily believing that she is acting according to her 
 Master's will, we must concede to her the plenary 
 right, in the sight of man, to require from those who 
 would join her, a solemn assent to her formularies. 
 
 But, perhaps, it will be asked, when a man has 
 already become a member, or minister of a church, 
 in virtue of a voluntary and honest subscription to 
 her articles, and afterwards alters his mind ; — if he 
 be excluded from her communion as a private mem- 
 ber, or deposed from office as a minister, is not here 
 « oppression ?" Is it not inflicting on a man a " heavy 
 penalty" for his " opinions ;" " punishing" him for his 
 *' sincere, conscientious convictions?" — I answer, if 
 the Lord Jesus Christ has not only authorized, but 
 solemnly commanded his church to cast the heretical, 
 as well as immoral, out of her communion, -^nd 
 wholly to withdraw her countenance from those 
 who preach " another gospel ;"— then it is manifest, 
 that the church, in acting on this authority, does no 
 one any injury. In excluding a private member 
 from the communion of a church, or deposing a 
 minister from office, in the regular and scriptural ex- 
 ercise of discipline, she deprives neither of any natu- 
 ral right. It is only withdrawing that which was 
 voluntarily asked, and voluntarily bestowed, and 
 which might have been, without injustice, withheld. 
 It is only practically saying—" You can no longer, 
 
consistently with our views, either of obedience to 
 Christ, or of christian edification, be a minister or a 
 member with us. You may be as happy and as use- 
 ful as you can in any other connection ; but we must 
 take away that authority and those privileges which 
 we once gave you, and of which your further exer- 
 cise AMONG us would be subversive of those princi- 
 ples which we are solemnly pledged to each other 
 to support." Is this language unreasonable ? Is the 
 measure which it contemplates oppressive ? Would 
 it be more just in itself, or more favourable to the 
 rights of conscience, if any individual could retain 
 his place as a teacher and guide in a church, contrary 
 to its wishes ; to the subversion of its faith ; to the 
 disturbance of its peace ; and finally, to the endan- 
 gering of its existence ; and all this contrary to his 
 own solemn engagements, and to the distinct under- 
 standing of its members, when he joined them? 
 Surely every friend of religious liberty would indig- 
 nantly answer, No! Such a church would be the 
 oppressed party, and such a member, the tyrant. 
 
 The conclusion, then, is, that when a church 
 makes use of a Creed in the manner that has been 
 described ; as a bond of union ; as a barrier against 
 what it deems heresy ; and in conformity with what 
 it conscientiously believes to be the will of Christ ; 
 it is so far from encroaching on the " rights" of 
 others; so far from being chargeable with " oppres- 
 sion;" — that it is really, in the most enlightened man- 
 ner, and on the largest scale, maintaining the 
 RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE ; and that for such a church, 
 instead of doing this, to give up its own testimony 
 
53 
 
 to the truth and order of God's house ; to surrender 
 its own comfort, peace, and edification for the sake 
 of complying with the unreasonable demands of a 
 corrupt individual, would be to subject itself to the 
 worst of slavery. What is the subjugation of the 
 many, with all their interests, rights, and happiness 
 to the dictation of one, or a few, but the essence of 
 tyranny r ■^-- -■* 
 
 3. A third objection often urged against sub-^ 
 scription to Creeds and Confessions is, that it is'i^' 
 UNFRIENDLY TO FHEE INQUIRY. [ " When a man," 
 say the enemies of Creeds, " has once subscribed 
 a public formulary, and taken his ecclesiastical stand 
 with a church which requires it, he must continue 
 so to believe to the end of life or resign his place ; 
 new light in abundance may offer itself to his view ; 
 but he must close his eyes against it. Now, can it 
 be right, say they, for any one voluntarily to place 
 himself in circumstances of so much temptation ; 
 willingly to place himself within the reach of 
 strong inducements to tamper with conscience, and 
 to resist conviction ?" 'Ng^ 
 
 In answer to this objection, my first remark is, ''^ 
 that when a man takes on himself the solemn and 
 highly responsible office of a public instructor of 
 others, we must presume that he has examined the 
 most important of the various Creeds, called christ- 
 ian, with all the deliberation, sincerity, and prayer, 
 of which he is capable, and that he has madaup his 
 mind with respect to the leading doctrines of scrip- 
 ture. To suppose any one capable of entering on 
 the duties of the ministerial office while he is wav- 
 
 H 
 
54 
 
 ering and unsettled, and liable to be " carried about 
 by every wind of doctrine," is to suppose him both 
 weak and criminal to a very great degree. I know, 
 indeed, that some ardent opposers of Creeds, consi- 
 der a state of entire indecision with regard even to 
 leading theological doctrines, as the most laudable 
 and desirable stale of mind. They wish every man, 
 not only to feel himself a learner to the end of life, 
 which is undoubtedly right; but, also, if possible, 
 to keep himself in that equilibrium of mind with 
 respect to the most important doctrinal opinions, 
 which shall amount to perfect indifference whether 
 he retains or relinquishes his present sentiments. 
 This they eulogize, as " openness to conviction," 
 " freedom from prejudice," &c. Without stopping 
 to combat this sentiment at large, I hesitate not to 
 pronounce it unreasonable in itself; contrary to 
 scripture ; and an enemy to all christian stability and 
 comfort. We know what is said in the word of 
 God, of those who are " ever learning, and never 
 able to come to the knowledge of the truth." I 
 repeat it, we must suppose him who undertakes to 
 \j be a teacher of others, to be himself, as the apostle 
 •* expresses it, " grounded and settled in the faith." 
 We ought to be considered, then, as having all the 
 security that the nature of the case admits, that he 
 who comes forward as one of the lights and leaders 
 of a religious community, is firm in the principles 
 which he has professed, and will not be very apt, es- 
 sentially, to alter his Creed. 
 
 But further ; the same objection might be urged, 
 / with quite as much force, against a man's making 
 
55 
 
 V ANY PUBLIC DECLARATION OF HIS SENTIMENTS, ci^ 
 
 ther by preaching, or by writing and printing; lest 
 he should afterwards obtain more light, and yet be 
 ; tempted to adhere, contrary to his conscience, to 
 I what he had before so publicly espoused. I But 
 does any honest minister of the gospel think it his 
 duty to forbear to preach, or otherwise to express 
 his opinions, because it is possible he may afterwards 
 change them ? We know that if the preacher of a 
 Unitarian congregation should alter his views, and 
 become orthodox, he must quit his place, give up 
 his salary, and seek employment among his new 
 connections. The same thing would happen, if a 
 change the converse of this were to occur, and an 
 orthodox preacher become a unitarian. What then ? 
 Because an honest man, when he changes his mind 
 on the subject of religion, will always hold himself 
 in readiness to change his situation, and to make 
 every necessary sacrifice, shall he, therefore, never 
 venture to take any public station, lest he should not 
 always think as he does at present ? 
 
 There can be no doubt, that every public act, by 
 / which a man pledges himself, even as a private 
 member, to any particular denomination of christ- 
 ians, interposes some obstacle in the way of his af- 
 terwards deserting that denomination, and unitmg 
 himself with another^^ And, perhaps, it maybe said, 
 the more delicate and honourable his mind, the more 
 reluctant and shjw he will be to abandon his old con- 
 nections, and choose new ones. So that such an 
 one will really labour under a temptation to resist 
 light, and remain where he is. But because this is 
 
56 
 
 so, shall a man, therefore, never join any church ; 
 never take any step that will, directly or indirectly, 
 pledge his religious Creed or character, lest he should 
 afterwards alter his mind, and be constrained to 
 transfer his relation to a different body, and thus be 
 liable to find himself embarrassed by his former 
 steps ? Upon this principle, we must go further, 
 and adopt the doctrine, equally absurd and heathen- 
 ish, that no parent ought ever to instruct his child in 
 what he deems the most precious truths of the gos- 
 pel, lest he should fill his mind with prejudices, and 
 present an obstacle to free and unshackled inquiry 
 afterwards. For there can be no doubt that early- 
 parental instruction does present more or less obsta- 
 cle, in the way of a subsequent change of opinion, 
 on those subjects which that instruction embraced. 
 Yet our Father in heaven has expressly commanded 
 us to instruct our children, and to endeavour to pre- 
 occupy their minds with every thing that is excellent, 
 both in principle and practice. In short, if the ob- 
 jection before us be valid, then no one ought ever 
 to go forward in the discharge of any duty ; for he 
 may one day cease to think it a duty ; in other words, 
 he ought habitually, and upon principle, to disobey 
 some of the plamest commands of God, lest he 
 should afterwards entertain different views of those 
 commands, from those whiih he at present enter- 
 tains. Nay, if this be so, then every book a man 
 reads, and every careful, deep inquiry he makes con- 
 cerning the subject of it, must be considered as tend- 
 ing to influence the mind, and to interfere with per- 
 fect impartiality in any subsequent inquiry on the 
 
57 
 
 same subject; and therefore, ought to be for- 
 borne ! 
 
 No man in his senses acts thus. Especially, no 
 christian allows himself thus to judge, or reason. 
 In the path of what appears to be present duty, he 
 feels bound to go forward, leaving future things with 
 God. Now, if subscription to a correct Creed be 
 really agreeable to the will of God ; if it be necessary, 
 both to the purity and haruiony of the church ; and, 
 therefore, in itself a duty ; then no man ought any 
 more to hesitate about discharging this duty, than 
 about discharging any of those duties which have 
 been mentioned, or any others which may be sup- 
 i posed.) There is no station in life in which its oc- 
 cupant does not find some peculiar temptation. 
 But if he be a man of a right spirit, he will meet 
 it with christian integrity, and overcome it with 
 christian courage. If he be a truly honest man, he 
 will be faithful to his God, and faithful to his own 
 conscience, at all hazards ; and if he be not honest, 
 he will not be very likely to benefit the church by his 
 discoveries and speculations. Accordingly, the voice 
 of history confirms this reasoning. On the one 
 hand, how many thousand instances have the last 
 two centuries afforded, of men who were willing to 
 incur, not only obloquy and reproach, but also beg- 
 gary, imprisonment, and even death itself, in then- 
 most frightful forms, rather than abandon the truth, 
 and subscribe to formularies which they could not 
 conscientiously adopt! On the other hand, how 
 many instances have occurred, within the last fifty 
 years, of unprincipled men, after solemnly subscrib- 
 
58 
 
 ing orthodox Creeds, disregarding their vows, and 
 opposing tlie spirit of those Creeds, and still retain- 
 ing tiieir ecclesiastical stations, without reserve ! It 
 is plain, then, that this whole objection, though spe- 
 cious, has not the least solidity. Truly upriglit and 
 pious men will always follow their convictions; 
 while, with regard to those of an opposite character, 
 their light, whether they remain or depart, will be 
 found to be of no value, either to themselves, or the 
 church of God. 
 
 4. A fourth objection frequently brought against 
 Creeds is, that they have altogether failed of 
 
 ANSWERING THE PURPOSE PROFESSED TO BE IN- 
 TENDED BY THEM.j " Churches," it is said, "which 
 have Creeds the most carefully drawn, and of the 
 most rigid character, are as far from being united in 
 doctrinal opinions, as some which either have never 
 had any Creeds at all, or have long since professedly 
 omitted to enforce subscription to them. To men- 
 tion only two examples ; the church of England, for 
 nearly three centuries, has had a set of Articles de- 
 cisively Calvinistic, to which all her candidates for 
 the ministry are required to subscribe ; but we know 
 that more than a hundred and fifty years have passed 
 away, since Pelagian and Semi-Pelagian tenets be- 
 gan to pollute that important branch of the reformed 
 church ; and that within the last seventy-five or 
 eighty years, almost every form of heresy has lurked 
 under subscription to her orthodox Articles. And 
 even the church of Scotland, which has had, for 
 nearly two centuries, the most rigidly and minutely 
 o) liiodox Confession on earth, is generally supposed, 
 
69 
 
 at this hour, to have a ministry far from being unan. 
 mous in loving and honouring her public standards 
 Now, if Creeds have not, in fact, been productive oi 
 the great benefit intended by them, even in some t : 
 the most favourable cases that can be produced, why 
 be perplexed and burdened with them at all ?" 
 
 This objection evidently proceeds on the princi 
 pie, that a remedy which does not accomplish every 
 things is worth nothing. Because Creeds have not 
 completely banished dissension and discord from the 
 churches which have adopted them, therefore they 
 have been of no use. But is this sound reasoning ? 
 Does it accord even with common sense, or with the 
 dictates of experience in any walk of life ? Because 
 the constitution of the United States has not com- 
 pletely defended our country from all political ani- 
 mosity and strife ; is it, therefore, worthless ? Or 
 should we have been more united and harmonious 
 without any constitutional provisions at all ? Be- 
 cause the system of public law does not annihilate 
 all crime, should we, of course, be as well without 
 it ? No one will say this. Nay, may not the ob- 
 jection be retorted on those who urge it ? They con- 
 tend that Creeds are unnecessary ; that the Bible is 
 amj)ly sufficient for all purposes, as a test of truth. 
 But has the Bible banished dissension and discord 
 from the church? No one will pretend that it has. 
 Yet why not? Surely not on account of any error 
 or defect in itself; but on account of the folly and 
 perverseness of depraved man, who, amidst all the 
 provisions of infinite wisdom and goodness, is con- 
 tinually warring against the peace of the world. 
 
60 
 
 But I go further, and maintain that the history 
 of the practical influence of Creeds, is strongly in 
 their favour. Though they have not done every thing 
 that could have been desired, they have done much ; 
 and much in those very churches which have been 
 most frequently selected as examples of their entire 
 want of efficacy. The Calvinistic articles of the 
 church of England were the means of keeping her 
 doctrinally pure, to a very remarkable degree, for 
 the greater part of a hundred years../ In the reign of 
 James I, very few opponents of Calvinism dared 
 publicly to avow their opinions ; and of those who 
 did avow them, numbers were severely disciplined, 
 and others saved themselves from similar treatment, 
 by subsequent silence and discretion. The inroads 
 of error, therefore, were very powerfully checked, 
 and its triumph greatly retarded by those public 
 standards. In fact, the great body of the bishops 
 and clergy professed to be doctrinal Calvinists, until 
 a number of years after the Synod of Dort, when, 
 chiefly by the influence of Arch-Bishop Laud, and 
 his creatures, Arminianism was gradually and guard- 
 edly brought in, in consequence of which the faithful 
 application of the thirty-nine articles, as a test of or- 
 thodoxy, and of admission to the ministry, was dis- 
 continued. The articles continued to speak as before, 
 and to be solemnly subscribed ; but the spirit of the 
 administration under them was no longer the same. 
 It became predominantly Arminian. We may truly 
 say, then, that the Creed of the church of England 
 continued to operate eflectually as a bond of union, 
 and a barrier against the encroachments of heresy, as 
 
61 „^:.m^ 
 
 long as it is continued to be faithfully applied, agree- 
 ably to its known original purport. When it ceased 
 to be thus applied, it ceased to produce its wonted 
 effect. But can this be reasonabl}'^ wondered at? 
 As well might we wonder that a medicine, when its 
 use was laid aside, should no longer heal. 
 
 The very same representation, in substance, may 
 be made concerning the church of Scotland. Her 
 preeminently excellent Creed was the means, under 
 God, of keeping her united and pure, as long as that 
 Creed continued to be honestly employed as a test, 
 according to its true intent and spirit. When this 
 ceased to be the case, it would have been strange, 
 indeed, if the state of things had remained as before. 
 It did not so remain. With lax and dishonest sub- 
 scription, heresy came in : — at first, with reserve and 
 caution, but afterwards more openly. 1 But even to 
 the present day, as all know fvlio are acquainted 
 with the state of that church, the movements of 
 heresy within her bosom, are held in most salutary 
 check; and her condition is incomparably more fa- 
 vourable than it could have been, had her public 
 standards been long ago abolished. -^ 
 
 Nor have the Creeds of those national churches 
 of Great Britain yet accomplished all the benefits to 
 the cause of truth and righteousness which they are 
 destined to confer. Though their genuine spirit has 
 been long since forgotten by many ; this is by no 
 means2ie case with all. There has constantly been, 
 in botli those churches, a body of faithful wifnesscs 
 to the truth. This body, thanks to the Almighty 
 and all-gracious King of Zion ! is increasing. Their 
 
62 
 
 J^'- good Confessions" form a rallying point, around 
 which numbers are now gathering ; — and those far- 
 farmed formularies, the favourable influence of 
 which has been supposed by many to be long since 
 exhausted, and more than exhausted, will again be- 
 come, there is every reason to believe, an " ensign 
 to the people," to which there shall be a flocking of 
 those who love the " simplicity that is in Christ," 
 
 j\ more extensive and more glorious than ever before. 
 
 ^"^■^Nor arc we without significant attestations to the 
 % efficacy of Creeds, and to the mischief of being with- 
 out them, in our own country. Of the former^ the 
 Presbyterian church in the United States, is one of 
 the most signal examples. Conflicts she has, indeed, 
 had ; but they have been such as were incident to 
 every community, ecclesiastical or civil, administered 
 by the counsels of imperfect men. Amidst them all, 
 she has, by the favour of her Divine Head, held on 
 her way, substantially true to her system of doctrine 
 and order; and though constituted, originally, by 
 members from different countries, and of different 
 habits, she has remained united to a degree, con- 
 sidering all things, truly wonderful. Of the lattery 
 the Congregational churches of Massachusetts, fur- 
 nish a melancholy memorial. Though originally 
 formed by a people, far more homogeneous in their 
 character and habits, and far more united in their 
 opinions ; yet, being destitute of any efficient bond of 
 imion, and equally destitute of the means of main- 
 taining it, if it had been possessed, they have fallen 
 
 I a prey to dissension and error, to a degree, equally 
 
 \ instructive and mournful. 
 
6^ 
 
 5. The last objection which I shall consider is, 
 that subscription to Creeds, has not only failed en- 
 tirely of producing the benefits contemplated by their 
 friends ; but has rather been found to produce the 
 
 OPPOSITE EVILS ; TO GENERATE DISCORD AND 
 
 STRIFE. ' " Creeds," say some, " instead of tending 
 to compose differences, and to bind the members of 
 churches more closely together, have rather proved 
 a bone of contention, and a means of exciting mutual 
 charges of heresy, and a thousand ill feelings, among 
 those who might have been otherwise perfectly har- 
 monious." 
 
 /- In reply to this objection, my first remark is, 
 / that the alleged fact, which it takes for granted, is 
 ^^ utterly denied.^ It is not true that Creeds have 
 generated contention and strife in the bosom of those 
 churches which have adopted them. On tlie con- 
 trary, it would be easy to show, by an extended in- 
 duction of facts, that in those churches in which 
 Creeds and Confessions have been most esteemed 
 and most regarded, there union and peace have 
 most remarkably reigned. In truth, it has ever been 
 the ivant of faithful regard to such formularies, that 
 has led to division and strife in the church of Christ. 
 I doubt whether any denomination of christians ever 
 existed, for half a century together, destitute of a 
 public Creed, however united and harmonious it 
 might have been, at the commencement of this pe- 
 riod ; without exhibiting, before the end of it, either 
 that stillness of death, which is the result of cold 
 indifference to the truth : or that miserable scene of 
 
64 
 
 discord, in which "parting asunder" was the only 
 means of escaping from open violence. 
 
 My next remark is, that, even if it were shown, 
 that orthodox public Creeds are often indirectly con- 
 nected with conflict and contention in the church ; 
 it would form no solid argument against them. Ar- 
 dent attachment to what they deemed truth, is the 
 principle, in all ages, which has led christian com- 
 munities to adopt Creeds and Confessions of Faith. 
 The same attachment to truth will naturally lead 
 them to watch with care against every thing that is 
 hostile to it; and to "contend earnestly" in its de- 
 fence, when it is attacked. In this case, a Creed, 
 supposing it to be a sound and scriptural one — is no 
 more the cause of conflict and division, than a whole- 
 some medicine is the cause of that disease which it 
 is intended to cure./ The word of God commands 
 us to "contend," and to "contend earnestly, for the 
 faith once delivered to the saints," and to hold him 
 "accursed," who preaches "another gospel" than 
 that which the scriptures reveal. But when such 
 " contention" becomes necessary, who is to blame 
 for it? Surely not truth, or its advocates; but those 
 who patronize error, and thus endeavour to corrupt 
 the body of Christ ; and, of course, render contention 
 for the truth a duty. It is granted, indeed, that, in 
 this conflict, much unhallowed temper may be mani- 
 fested. Not only on the part of the advocates of 
 { rror-; ,but also, in some degree, on the part of the 
 friends of truth. They may contend, even for the 
 truth, with bigotry and bitterness. Still, this does 
 
65 
 
 not render the truth itself less precious ; or the duty 
 of contending for it less imperative ; or those sum- 
 maries of it which christians have been led to form, 
 less valuable, as testimonies for God. 
 j^' Before Christianity was preached in the Roman 
 empire, the different classes of Pagans lived together 
 in peace. The foundation of this peace was, the 
 opinion, that error was innocent ; and that all classes 
 of religionists were equally safe. But when the re- 
 ligion of Jesus Christ was preached ; when his 
 ministers proclaimed that there was no other system 
 either true or safe ; that there was no other founda- 
 tion of hope ; that all false religions were not only 
 highly criminal, but also eternally destructive ; and 
 that the followers of Christ could not possibly counte- 
 nance any of them ; — then a scene of the most shock- 
 ing persecution and violence, on the part of the Pa- 
 gans, commenced. But on what, or on whom, are we 
 to throw the blame, for these scenes of violence ? No 
 one, surely, will say, on Christianity. We are rather 
 to impute it to the corruption of human nature, and 
 \to the blindness and violence of Pagan malice. If 
 tiie primitive christians had been willing to give up 
 the precious truth committed to them, and to act 
 upon the principle, that all modes of faith were 
 equally safe ; they might have escaped much, if not 
 the whole, of the dreadful persecution which they 
 were called to endure. 
 
 The only additional remark, therefore, -which 1 
 have to make on the objection before us, is, that it 
 can have no force, excepting upon the principle, that 
 
66 
 
 error ought to be left unassailed, and that contention 
 for the truth is not a duty : — for all defence of the 
 truth, against its active opposers — all " contending 
 for the truth," must, of course, disturb that cold and 
 death-like tranquility which indifference to the pu- 
 rity of faith tends to introduce. We are command- 
 ed, "if it be possible, as much as lieth in us, to live 
 peaceably with all men." But it is not " possible'* 
 to be at peace with some men. We inust not be at 
 peace with error or wickedness. The Divine au- 
 thority makes it our duty to oppose them to the ut- 
 most, at our peril. And if in the discharge of this 
 duty, the peace of the church is, for a time, disturb- 
 ed, the sin lies at the door of those who rendered the 
 conflict necessary. Those summaries of truth, which 
 particular occasions make it important to embody 
 and to publish, are no more to blame for the struggle, 
 than the wise and wholesonie law of the land is to 
 blame for that agitation which necessarily attends 
 the seizure, the trial, and the execution of a male- 
 factor. 
 
 But for further details on this subject, both for 
 and against the doctrine which I maintain, I must 
 refer you to those works which have been devoted to 
 its more extended discussion : more particularly to 
 what is said by the judicious and excellent Mr. Dun- 
 lop, in the able Preface to his ^'' Collection of Con- 
 fessions ;" to " The Confessional,'^'' by Mr. Blackburn, 
 one of the most zealous and formidable opposers of 
 Creeds ; which will prepare you for perusing some 
 of the best of the many valuable Answers to that far- 
 
67 
 
 famed work : to " Walker's Vindication of the Church 
 of Scotland,''^ he: and, finally, to Mr. Dyer^s ^^ Inquiry 
 into the nature of subscription to Articles of religion.''^ 
 
 The subject, beloved Pupils, on which I have been 
 addressing you, is eminently a practical one. It en- 
 ters deeply into many questions of personal and 
 official duty. I shall, therefore, detain you a few 
 moments longer, by calling your attention to some of 
 those PRACTICAL INFERENCES fi'om the foregoing 
 principles and reasonings, which appear to me to de- 
 serve vour serious regard — and 
 
 1. From the representation which has been given, 
 we may see how little reason any have to be 
 
 AFRAID OF CREEDS, AS INSTRUMENTS OF OPPRES- 
 SION. 
 
 There is something so perfectly visionary and 
 unreasonable in the very thought of "tyranny," or 
 "oppression," as connected with subscription to 
 Creeds, in this country, that the only wonder is, how 
 it can be admitted, for a moment, into any sober 
 mind. Who does or can impose a Creed upon any 
 one, or ever attempts to do it ? Is any man in the 
 United States, obliged to profess any belief; to 
 subscribe any Creed ; or to join any church what- 
 ever ? Every man, indeed, is bound by the law of 
 God, to believe correctly, and to connect himself 
 with a pure church. He is not, and cannot be at 
 liberty, in the sight of Jehovah, to neglect cither. 
 But is any man bound by human law, ecclesiasti- 
 cal or civil, to do any of these thmgs ? Is any man 
 jn the United States, after he has subscribed a 
 
68 
 
 Creed, and joined a church, obliged, by any human 
 authority, to adhere to either a single day longer 
 than he pleases ? Is he not at perfect liberty to 
 withdraw, at any moment, and that with or without 
 giving a reason for his conduct, as he thinks proper? 
 Everlasting thanks to Him who gives us this free- 
 dom ! May it be perpetual and universal ! Now, 
 one would think, this is liberty enough to satisfy any 
 reasonable man. But it seems there are really those 
 who wish for more, They demand, in effect, that 
 the church should be willing to take all manner of 
 heresy, as well as orthodoxy, to her bosom, and to 
 act as if she regarded both with an equal eye. 
 Nay, they ask that heretics be freely allowed to im- 
 pose THEMSELVES upou HER, whether she be wil- 
 ling or not — not to unite and edify her members, 
 but to divide and distract them ; — that they be at 
 liberty to come into the Redeemer's family, and 
 there, without any regard to its scriptural rules, or 
 its happy harmony, to propagate such discordant 
 sentiments, and to establish such new principles of 
 order, or disorder, as the intruders may choose to 
 adopt. But is this christian liberty ? Is this a kind 
 of liberty which any benevolent, or even honest man 
 would wish to possess ? It is liberty, truly, of the 
 most extraordinary kind, to the individual who in- 
 trudes ; but what becomes of the liberty of the ec- 
 clesiastical body which he thus enters, contrary to its 
 wishes and comfort, and to its real injury ? It is, evi- 
 dently, the same sort of privilege in the church, as 
 the privilege of invading the retreat of private fami- 
 lies, or disturbing the peace of civil society, at pleas- 
 
6* 
 
 ure, and with impunity, would be regarded by tho 
 inhabitants of any free country. 
 
 2 We may see, from what has been said, that 
 subscribing a church Creed, is not a mere formality ; 
 
 but a VERY SOLEMN TIIANSACTION, WHICH MEANS 
 MUCH, AND INFERS THE M05X SERIOUS OBLIGA- 
 TIONS. It is certainly a transaction which ought to 
 be entered upon with much deep deliberation and 
 humble prayer ; and in which, if a man be bound to 
 be sincere in any thing, he is bound to be honest to 
 his God, honest to himself, and honest to the church 
 which he joins. For myself, I know of no transac- 
 tion, in which insincerity is more justly chargeable 
 with the dreadful sin of " lying to the Holy Ghost 
 than in this. It is truly humiliating and distressing 
 to know, that in some churches it has gradually be- 
 come customary, to consider Articles of Faith as 
 merely Articles of peace; in other words, as articles 
 which he who subscribes, is not considered as pro- 
 fessing to BELIEVE ; but as merely engaging not to 
 OPPOSE-at least in any public or offensive manner. 
 Whether we bring this principle to the test of rea- 
 son, of scripture, of the original design of Creeds, or 
 of the ordinary import of language among honoura- 
 ble men;-it seems equally liable to the severest 
 reprobation, as disreputable and criminal in a very 
 high degree. Nor does it appear to me to be any 
 alleviation, either of the disgrace or the sin, that 
 many of the governors of the churches referred to, 
 as well as of those who subscribe, public^ avow 
 their adoption of this principle; admit the correct- 
 ness of it; keep each other in countenance; and 
 
70 
 
 thus escape, as lliey imagine, the charge of hypocri- 
 sy. What would be thought of a similar principle, 
 if generally adopted and avowed, with respect tg the 
 administration of oaths in civil courts ? Suppose both 
 jurors and witnesses, feeling it ai grievance to be 
 bound by their oaths to speak the truth, were to agree 
 among themselves, and openly to give out, that they 
 did not mean, when they swore, to take on them- 
 selves any such obligation ; that they did not so un- 
 derstand the import of their oaths, and did not intend 
 to recognize any such meaning ? And suppose the 
 judges were freely to admit them to their oaths with 
 a similar understanding ? Would a witness or a ju- 
 ror, in such a case, be exempt from the charge of 
 PERJURY, or the judge from the guilt of suborna- 
 tion OF PERJURY ? I presume not, in the estima- 
 tion of any sober-minded man. If it were otherwise, 
 then bad men, who form a majority of every com- 
 munity, might, by combining, violate all the princi- 
 ples of virtue and order, not only with impunity, but 
 also without sin. 
 
 Set it down, then, as a first principle of common 
 honesty, as well as of christian truth, that subscrip- 
 tion to Articles of Faith, is a weighty transaction, 
 which really means what it professes to mean ; that 
 no man is ever at liberty to subscribe articles which 
 he does not truly and fully believe ; and that, in 
 subscribing, he brings himself under a solemn, cove- 
 nant engagement to the church which he enters, to 
 walk with it "in the unity of faith," and "in the 
 bond of peace and love.'' If he cannot do this 
 honestly, let him not profess to do it at all. I see 
 
71 
 
 not but that here, insincerity, concealment, double 
 dealing, and mental reservations, are, to say the 
 least, quite as mean and base as they can be in the 
 transactions of social and civil life. 
 
 You will, perhaps, ask me, what shall be done 
 by a man who loves the Presbyterian church ; who 
 considers it as appproaching nearer to the scriptural 
 model than any other with which he is acquainted ; 
 who regards its Confession of Faith as by far the 
 best, in its great outlines, and in all its fundamental 
 articles, that he knows ; and who yet, in some of its 
 minor details, cannot entirely concur ? Can such an 
 one honestly subscribe, without any previous expla- 
 nation of his views? I answer — by no means. 
 Ought he, then, you will ask, to abandon all thoughts 
 of uniting himself with our church, when he is in 
 cordial harmony with it in all fundamental princi- 
 ples, and nearer to it, in all respects, than to any 
 other church on earth? I again answer — by no 
 means. I know of no other mode of proceeding in 
 such a case as this, which christian candour, and a 
 pure conscience will justify, than the following : Let 
 the candidate for admission unfold to the Presbytery 
 before which he presents himself, all his doubts and 
 scruples, with perfect frankness; — opening his whole 
 heart, as if on oath ; and neither softening nor con- 
 cealing any thing. Let him cause them distinctly 
 to understand, that if he subscribe the Confession of 
 Faith, he must be understood to do it in consistency 
 with the exceptions and explanations which he spe- 
 cifies. If the Presbytery, after this fair understand- 
 ing, should be of the opinion, that the excepted 
 
72 
 
 points were of little or no importance, and interfered 
 with no article of faith, and should be willing to re- 
 ceive his subscription in the usual wa}, he may 
 proceed. Such a method of proceeding will best 
 accord with every principle of truth and honour ; 
 and will remove all ground of either self-reproach, or 
 of reproach on the part of others, afterwards. 
 
 3. From the view which has been presented of 
 this subject, we may decide how an honest man 
 
 OUGHT TO ACT, AFTER SUBSCRIBING TO A PUBLIC 
 
 CREED. He will feel it to be his duty to adhere sin- 
 cercely and faithfully to that Creed, in public and in 
 private ; and to make it his study to promote, by all 
 the means in his power, the peace and purity of the 
 body with which he has connected himself. And if 
 he should, at any time, alter his views concerning 
 any part of the Creed or order of the church in ques- 
 tion, it will be incumbent on him to inquire, whether 
 the points, concerning which he has altered his mind, 
 are of such a nature as that he can conscientiously 
 BE SILENT concerning them, and "give no offence" 
 to the body to which he belongs. If he can recon- 
 cile this with an enlightened sense of duty, he may 
 REMAIN, IN PEACE. But, if the poiuts concerning 
 which his views have undergone a change, are of so 
 much importance in his estimation, as that he cannot 
 be silent^ but must feel himself bound to publish, and 
 endeavour to propagate them; then let him peacea- 
 bly WITHDRAW, and join some other branch of the 
 visible church, with which he can walk harmonious- 
 ly. Such he may find almost every where, unless 
 his views be singularly eccentric. But, at any rate. 
 
he has no more right to insist on remaining, and be- 
 ing permitted publicly to oppose, what he has 
 solemnly vowed to receive and support; than a mem- 
 ber of any voluntary association, which he entered 
 under certain engagements, but with which he no 
 longer agrees, has a right obstinately to retain his 
 connection with it, and to avail himself of the influ- 
 ence which this connection gives him, to endeavour 
 to tear it in pieces. 
 
 It is no solid objection to this view of the subject, 
 to allege, that every man is under obligations to 
 obey the great Head of the Church, altogether pa- 
 ramount to those which bind him, in virtue of any 
 ecclesiastical engagements, to obey the church her- 
 self. This is most readily granted. No man can 
 lawfully bind himself to disobey Christ, in any case 
 whatever. But this principle, it is conceived, has 
 nothing to do with the point under consideration. 
 Though a man cannot properly bind himself always 
 to believe as he now believes ; nor always to remain 
 in connection with the ecclesiastical body which he 
 now joins ; yet he may safely promise that he will 
 be a regular and orderly member of the body, as long 
 as he does remain in connection with it. When he 
 ceases to be able to do this, without sinning against 
 God, he will, if he be an honest man, immediately 
 withdraw. If he remain, and suffer himself habitu- 
 ally to violate his engagement, under the pretence of 
 benefiting the body to which he has vowed alle- 
 giance, he will be chargeable with the sin of treache- 
 rously and basely "doing evil that good may come." 
 To illustrate my meaning by a familiar example. 
 
74 
 
 Every student of this Seminary has, at his entrance, 
 made a solemn promise, that, "as long as he shall 
 continue a member of it, he will conscientiously and 
 vigilantly observe all the rules and regulations speci- 
 fied in the plan for its instruction and government, 
 so far as the same relate to the students ; and fur- 
 ther, that he will obey all the lawful requisitions of 
 the Professors and Directors," k.c. As this engage- 
 ment was voluntarily made, no honest man will 
 doubt that you are all bound to act in conformity 
 with it, to the utmost tittle, as far as you have abili- 
 ty. Suppose, however, that one of your number 
 should become persuaded, that some of the "regula- 
 tions specified in the plan" of the Seminary, are not 
 only unwise, and inconvenient, but also immoral; 
 what ought he to do? Ought he to remain in the 
 institution, and habitually violate the regulations to 
 which he excepted, pleading that he could not con- 
 scientiously obey them, because, though he had so- 
 lemnly engaged to do so, he felt himself under a 
 prior and paramount obligation to " obey God rather 
 than man ?" This, surely, no christian would ap- 
 prove, nor any faithful government tolerate. No ; 
 every principle of honour and integrity would dictate, 
 that he should immediately loiihdraw from the Semi- 
 nary; and if, after withdrawing, he should be able 
 to convince the General Assembly of our church, 
 that his exceptions were just, and should prevail 
 with that body to alter the offensive rules ; then, 
 and not till then, he might, with a good conscience, 
 resume his place in the institution. 
 
 4. We are led to reflect, from the representation 
 
lb 
 
 which has been given, how easy it is for a single 
 
 IMPRUDENT OR UiNSOUND MINISTER TO DO EXTEN- 
 SIVE AND IRREPARABLE MISCHIEF IN THE CHURCH. 
 
 Such an one, especially if he be a man of talents 
 and influence, by setting himself, either openly or 
 covertly, against the public standards of his church ; 
 by addressing popular feeling, and availing himself 
 of popular prejudice ; may do more, in a short time, 
 to prepare the way for fatal error, than all his useful- 
 ness, though multiplied a hundred fold, would be 
 able to countervail. Ministers, my young Friends, 
 may be said to hold in their hands the interests of the 
 church, to a degree which no other class of men do ; 
 and which ought to make them tremble under a 
 sense of their responsibility ! Such as is the charac- 
 ter of the MINISTRY of any particular church, will 
 be, generally speaking, the character of the church 
 ITSELF. On the one hand, if the ministers of reli- 
 gion be generally enlightened, orthodox, holy, dili- 
 gent, and faithful men, the church to which they be- 
 long, will never fail to display the influence of this 
 character in happy results. On the other hand, never 
 was the church, in any country or age, corrLij)ted, 
 divided, and ruined, but the mischief was done 
 BY ITS MINISTERS. Howcver humiliating or pain- 
 ful this assertion may be, it is undoubtedly confirm- 
 ed by all scripture, and all experience. And as the 
 general influence of the clerical character is so vital; 
 so it is not easy to measure the mischief that may 
 be done by one unsound, graceless, imprudent, tur- 
 bulent minister. If, in every walk of society, " one 
 sinner destroyeth much good," how much more 
 
76 
 
 wide-spread, deplorable, and fatal is the mischief, 
 when the criminal individual is a minister ! By erro- 
 neous opinions ; by corrupt habits ; by a love of inno- 
 vation ; by embracing himself, and extensively im- 
 parting to others, pernicious delusions ; — he may do 
 more in jive or ten years, to agitate, divide, corrupt, 
 and weaken the church, than, perhaps, a score of the 
 most faithful ministers in the land, can do, humanly 
 speaking, for promoting its purity and peace, in half 
 a century. The influence of two or three individu- 
 als, of popular talents, in Massachusetts ^ more than 
 fifty years ago, in gradually undermining orthodoxy, 
 and in reconciling the public mind to heretical opin- 
 ions, is as well known, as it is deeply deplored, by 
 many who are acquainted with the ecclesiastical his- 
 tory of New-England. The authors of this mis- 
 chief have long since gone to their account; but 
 their works have survived them ; and of their awful 
 ravages, no one can estimate the extent, or see the 
 end. 
 
 Beloved Pupils ! be it your study, at all times, to 
 cherish a deep sense of your solemn responsibility to 
 God and his church. In a little while, you will be 
 among those to whom the most weighty interests 
 that can be committed to man, will be entrusted. Be 
 faithful to your high trust. Guard, with the utmost 
 vigilance, the church's orthodoxy. Nothing can be 
 truly right, where her doctrinal principles are essen- 
 tially wrong. But, O, think not that mere frigid 
 orthodoxy, however perfect, is all that is needed. 
 Labour to diffuse, in every direction, the holy and 
 benign influence of truth. If "the household of 
 
77 
 
 faith" be corrii}Dtefl by heresy, or torn by schism, or 
 agitated by unhallowed innovation, or become cold 
 through want of ministerial faithfulness — see to it, 
 that none of you be found among the workers of 
 the mischief. See to it that you seek unceasingly, 
 not " your own things" — your own aggrandizement 
 — ^your own fancies — or your own speculations — but 
 " the things which are Je'sus Christ's." If you can- 
 not benefit the church, (and no man has a right to 
 say that he cannot, if he have a heart for the pur- 
 pose) at least, do not lend your influence to the un- 
 hallowed work of corrupting and dividing it. And 
 if you should ever be brought into circumstances in 
 which you can do nothing else, see that you be 
 found, like the " ministers of the Lord" of old — 
 " weeping between the porch and the altar, and say- 
 ing, spare thy people, O, Lord, and give not thine 
 heritage to reproach ; save them, and lift them up 
 forever !" 
 
 5. We may infer, from what has been said, the 
 duty and importance of all the members, and espe- 
 cially the ministers, of the Presbyterian church, ex- 
 erting themselves to spread a knowledge of heh 
 PUBLIC STANDARDS. I Say, her ^^ public standards,^^ 
 notwithstanding all the sneer and censure which 
 have been cast on this language. For every intelli- 
 gent and candid man in the community, knows that 
 we employ it to designate, — not formularies which 
 we place above the Bible ; but simply those which 
 ascertain and set forth how we interpret the Bible. 
 These formularies— if they be really an epitome of 
 the word of God — and surely we think them so — 
 
 L 
 
78 
 
 every minister is bound to circulate, with unwearied 
 assiduity, among the people of his charge. This is 
 so far, in general, from being faithfully done, that I 
 seriously doubt whether there be a Protestant church 
 in Christendom, in which there is so striking a defect 
 as to the discharge of this duty, especially in some 
 parts of the country, as in the Presbyterian church. 
 Our Episcopal brethren exercise a most laudable 
 diligence in placing the volume which contains their 
 articles, forms and offices, in every family within 
 their reach, which belongs to their communion, or 
 can be considered as tending tow ards it. Our Me- 
 thodist and Baptist brethren, with no less diligence, 
 do the same, with respect to those books which exhi- 
 bit the doctrines and order of their respective deno- 
 minations. All this is as it should be. It bespeaks 
 men sincere in their belief, and earnest in the dissem- 
 ination of ^^ hat they deem correct principles ? Why 
 is it that so many ministers of the Presbyterian 
 church, with a Confession of Faith, and Catechisms, 
 "which, I verily believe, and which the most of them 
 readily acknowledge, are by far the best that were 
 ever framed by uninspired wisdom • and with a form 
 of Government and Discipline more consentaneous 
 with apostolical practice than that of any other 
 church on earth ; are yet so negligent, not to say so 
 indifferent, as to the circulation of these formula- 
 ries ? They, perhaps, do not take the trouble even 
 to inquire whether there be a copy of the volume 
 which contains them, in every family, or even in 
 every neighbourhood, of their respective charges. 
 How are we to accoiuit for the peculiar frequency 
 
79 
 
 of this negligence in the ministry of ;our church ? It 
 would be far from being true, I trust, to say, that 
 our clergy are more unfaithful in the general dis- 
 charge of their duties, than those of any other com- 
 munion. May we not rather ascribe the fact in 
 question to another fact, from which it might be ex- 
 pected naturally to arise ? The fact to which I al- 
 lude is, that, in the Presbyterian church, at the pre-' 
 sent day, and in this country — whatever may have 
 been the case in former times — there is less of sec- 
 tarian feeling; less of what is called, the espjit du 
 corps, than in any other ecclesiastical body among 
 us. We are, in truth, if I do not mistake, so exces- 
 sively free from it, as to be hardly ready to defend 
 ourselves when attacked. We are so ready to fra- 
 ternize with all evangelical denominations, that we- 
 almost forget that we have a denomination of our 
 own, to which we are peculiarly attached. Now, 
 this general spirit is undoubtedly excellent ; worthy 
 of constant culture, and the highest praise. But 
 may it not be carried to an extreme ? Universal, 
 active benevolence, is a christian duty ; but when the 
 liead of a family, in the ardour of its exercise, feels 
 no more concern or responsibility respecting his own 
 household, than he does about the households of 
 others ; he acts an unreasonable part, and, what is 
 worse, disobeys the com.mand of God. Something 
 analagous to this, I apprehend, is the mistake of that 
 christian, or that minister, who, in the fervour of his 
 Catholicism, loses sight of the fact, that God, in his 
 providence, has connected him with a particular 
 branch of the visible church, the welfare and cdiii- 
 
80 
 
 cation of which he is peculiarly bound to seek. If 
 his own branch of the church have any thing of pe- 
 culiar excellence in his estimation, on account of 
 which he prefers it, — which is always to be suppos- 
 ed — can it be wrong for him to desire that others 
 should view it in the same light ? And if he be justi- 
 fiable in recommending these peculiarities from the 
 pulpit — as all allow — is he not equally justifiable in 
 recommending them from the press, especially by 
 means of accredited publications ? 
 
 Happy will it be for our church, then, if her fu- 
 ture ministry shall be more attentive to the duty in 
 question, than many of those who have gone before 
 them. To you, beloved Candidates for the sacred 
 office, let me recommend a sacred regard to this du- 
 ty. Resist, always, to the utmost of your power, 
 the littleness of sectarian bigotry, and strive to ban- 
 ish it from the church. But, at the same time, che- 
 rish among her members an enlightened attachment 
 to that particular branch of the family of Christ in 
 which their lot is cast. For this purpose strive to 
 promote among them a general and intimate ac- 
 quaintance with our Confession of JFaith, and form 
 of Government and Discipline, as Avell as our Cate- 
 chisms, which latter, I fain would hope, are not en- 
 tirely neglected in any part of the church. Never 
 advise the people to take the contents of these pub- 
 lic formularies on trust ; but diligently to compare 
 every part of them with scripture, and see how 
 far they agree with the unerring standard. Thus 
 will you be likely to become instrumental in form- 
 ing solid, intelligent christians. Thus may you 
 
81 
 
 hope to become the spiritual fathers of multitudes, 
 "whose faith shall stand, not in the wisdom of men, 
 but in the power of God." 
 
 6. Once more; if the foregoing principles be 
 just, then how unhappy is the mistake of those who 
 imagine, that, by abandoning all creeds and 
 
 CONFESSIONS, THEY ARE ABOUT TO RENDER THE 
 
 CHURCH AN ESSENTIAL SEiivicE ,* to build her up 
 more extensively and gloriously than ever! There 
 are those who imagine that a new order of things is 
 about to open on the church, amounting to as great 
 a change of dispensation as ever marked the progress 
 of the Redeemer's kingdom, in any preceding age. 
 In this new and undefined prospect, they seem to 
 themselves to see the approaching prostration of 
 most of those fences, and the dissolution of most of 
 those ties, which have heretofore been regarded as 
 indispensable to the maintenance of unity and har- 
 mony in the family of Christ. I shall only say, that 
 it will be time enough to provide for this new order 
 of things when it shall arrive ; and that, in the mean 
 while, in the present state of the world, I should as 
 soon think of extending and edifying the church, by 
 laying aside all the means of grace ; as of promoting 
 its purity and peace, by abandoning those methods 
 of binding its members together, which have been 
 found necessary ever since the days of the Apostles. 
 The apostle Peter thus exhorted the christians in 
 his day — "Be sober, be vigilant, because your ad- 
 versary, the Devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about, 
 seeking whom he may devour." And another Apos- 
 tle, reminded those to whom he wrote, that this ad- 
 
82 
 
 versary oftentimes "transformed himself into an 
 angel of light." So it was eighteen centuries ago; 
 and so it is at this hour. The very blessings of the 
 church, as they have been in all ages, so they are 
 now, converted into means of deception. The pro- 
 gressive harmony of the different evangelical denomi- 
 nations ; their increasing zeal for the spread of the 
 gospel ; their growing disposition to sacrifice many 
 smaller differences on the altar of our common 
 Christianity ; — have so fired the imaginations of some 
 ardent, sanguine spirits, that they have allowed 
 themselves to be hurried on to the unwarranted 
 conclusion, that all former rules were about to 
 be laid aside, and all former barriers to be broken 
 down. But remember, my young Friends, that 
 a similar notion has been entertained, and after- 
 wards abandoned, in almost every century since the 
 incarnation of Christ. Remember, too, that even 
 when the Millennimn shall arrive, human nature 
 will still be depraved, and will still stand in need of 
 law and regulatio?}, not, perhaps, as Qnuch, but as 
 really as now. And, finally, remember that, before 
 that blessed day shall actually dawn upon our world, 
 we shall probably have many a sore conflict with 
 the enemies of truth, and stand in need of all those 
 methods of distinguishing and binding together its 
 friends, to which the word of God, and uniform ex- 
 perience have so long given their sanction. 
 
 While I exhort you, tlien, to hail with delight the 
 spirit of harmony, of union, and of active co-opera- 
 tion, which is among the most precious and anima- 
 ting "signs of the times" in which we live: and 
 
83 
 
 while I earnestly hope that no student of this Semi- 
 nary will ever stand afar off, or turn away with an 
 evil eye, when the true standard of Christ is raised 
 by any denomination ; let me, at the same time, 
 entreat you, always to temper your zeal with sober- 
 ness. I say SOBERNESS ; for this is a quality, not 
 always found associated even with great vigor of 
 talent, and great warmth of piety. Many a man of 
 admirable endowments in other respects ; endow- 
 ments which qualified him, if they had been happily 
 directed, to adorn and bless the church ; has been 
 either so transported by the visions of a heated fancy ; 
 or so deceived by keeping his eye fixed on a single 
 point only of the vast scene before him ; or so im- 
 pelled by the approaches of others, as anomalous as 
 himself; that, like the comet of the infidel philoso- 
 pher, he has only been able to strike off a few wan- 
 dering stars from the parent luminary, while he him- 
 self, given up to an orbit more and more eccentric, 
 never returned, either to regularity or usefulness. 
 The church is still "in the wilderness;" and 
 every age has its appropriate trials. Among those 
 of the present day, is a spirit of restless innovation ; 
 a disposition to consider every thing that is new, 
 as of course an improvement. Happy are they, 
 who, taking the word of God for their guide, and 
 walking in "the footsteps of the flock," continu- 
 ally seek the purity, the peace, and the edifica- 
 tion of the Master's family : — ^Who, listening with 
 more respect to the unerring Oracle, and to the so- 
 ber lessons of christian experience, than to the de- 
 lusions of fashionable error ; hold on their way, 
 
84 
 
 "turning neither to the right hand nor the left," and 
 considering it as their highest honour and happiness 
 to be employed as humble, peaceful instruments in 
 building up that "kingdom which is not meat and 
 drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the 
 Holy Ghost!" May God grant to each of us this 
 best of all honours ! And to his Name be the praise, 
 forever! Amen! 
 
 FINIS. 
 
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