&£** MffP ■ - #£ Hr iiiiilMHlH 18*9 Ki^ii rotas! BSbI W H HI H ifcfsssfc&t^ slap ■ i&: ■■ ' ^H ^ Hi liiiiB ^n mn si ■ Mm Hams Bfel fcH LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. S|ap li^rtjpji 1 **. Shelf ...iHS; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. DOCTRINES AND GENIUS OP THE lerlaod Presbyterian Church. By Rev. A. B. MILLER, D.D., LL.D., President of Waynesburg College, Pennsylvania. JS s 14 X NASHVILLE, TBNN. : Cumberland Presbyterian Publishing House, 1892. ^T T HE LIBRARY! OFCQNGRESf Washington Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1892, by The Board of Publication of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. INTRODUCTION. "He that entertains himself with moral or religious treatises will im- perceptibly advance in goodness." — Samuel Johnson. " I have gained the most profit, and the most pleasure also, from the books which have made me think the most." — Guesses at Truth. To one of the world's great reformers, equally eminent as a preacher and as a theologian, is attributed a frequent repeti- tion of the obvious truth that " only a reading people can be a growing people." The Board of Publication of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church has acted wisely in proposing to publish and place in the hands of our people a series of good books. Of a denomination of Christians it is true, as of the individual Christian, that in the measure in which it reads will it be intelli- gent, free, liberal, and progressive. There may not be too much reading of newspapers and other transient and fragmentary mat- ter, but there is certainly a pernicious tendency among Church members to neglect the reading of good books ; and it is the writer's ardent wish that the special work undertaken by our board may have a salutary influence in correcting this tendency. Though this work has been furnished in response to a request from the Board of Publication, the author was left free in the selection of a subject, and the selection was determined by a de- sire to produce, if possible, a plain and thoughtful book that would interest and profit the reader. To promote growth in grace, to enlarge our views of religious life and duty, and to broaden and strengthen the foundations of our Christian char- acter, patient reflection on the great Bible themes discussed in this book have a potency that is known only to those who have experienced it. "All graces," says a thoughtful writer, "begin (iii) iv INTRODUCTORY. in knowledge and are increased by knowledge." By that patient reflection which brings truth into contact with the soul., and by that obedience which accepts truth as the law of our lives, are we transformed "from glory to glory." To some of our readers it may seem that too little attention has been given to the support of our positions by Scripture ref- erences, but it has been our aim rather to show the reasonable- ness of the fundamental doctrines accepted by all Christians, and of the doctrines which distinguish us as a denomination. The- ology as a science must be, if true, a reasoned correlation of the teachings of the Bible in a system harmonious in all its parts. A system in opposition to man's reason can not be from Him who made man, and such a S}^stem man must ultimately reject. For the Cumberland Presb3^terian system we claim this high and final sanction of reasonableness. In the mother Church, because of a S3'Stem at war with man's consciousness and reason, there is unrest from center to circumference. To "search the Scriptures" is the surest way to a satisfying faith in the Scriptures as a rule of moral and religious practice whereby human life may realize the highest possible good, and it is hoped that, on this broader plane, the chapters which fol- low may stimulate to more extended research on a subject so vitally related to our present and eternal welfare. " The Christian faith, Unlike the timorous creeds of pagan priest, Is frank, stands forth to view, inviting all To prove, examine, search, investigate, And gives, herself, a light to see her by." The author aimed at a faithful statement of the historical and current sense in which the Church interprets its Confession on the subjects herein treated. In view of the recent discussions as to the accepted doctrine of the Church touching the Atone- ment, he has been at pains to ascertain the views of a number of the older ministers of the body, which he would gladly have INTRODUCTORY. v cited had space permitted. The brief chapter on that subject, which is rather a simple statement of the prevailing view of our theologians than an attempt at an argument in support of the view itself, accords thoroughly with the views collated in the manner above named. It is due the Board of Publication that it be here stated that the responsibility for the delay of the appearance of this work rests wholly with the writer, and he takes occasion to acknowl- edge the patient forbearance of the board. The work has been written in such brief intervals as could be so appropriated amid the labors incident to the author's relation to Waynesburg Col- lege. As it was begun, so it is now finished and sent forth in hope that it may be in some measure a useful and acceptable offering to the Church to which the author has devoted many years of labor. A. B. MII^ER. Waynesburg, Pa., July 16, 1892. CONTENTS. PART I. CHAPTER I. Reasons for the Volume Herein Offered to the Reading Public, . i CHAPTER II. Relation of Doctrine to Duty and Destiny, 5 CHAPTER III. Of the Scriptures and the Progressive Development of their Mean- ing, and the Use and Abuse of Creeds, 9 CHAPTER IV. Some Account of the Leading Creeds of the Christian World, . . 18 CHAPTER V. A Fuller Account of the Origin of the Westminster Symbols, . . 35 PART II. — Doctrinal Statement and Exposition. CHAPTER I. Of the Holy Scriptures, 47 CHAPTER II. Of the Holy Trinity, 66 CHAPTER III. Of the Decrees of God— A General View of the Subject, ... 93 CHAPTER IV. Decrees in the Creeds of the Churches, 116 (vii) viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. Creation, ••.. 166 CHAPTER VI. Creation— Continued 193 CHAPTER VII. Providence, .... 220 CHAPTER VIII. The Fall of Man — Effects on the Original Transgressors — Effects on the Race — The Covenant of Grace, etc., 250 CHAPTER IX. Free Will — The Moral Law — Moral Government — Man's Freedom Consistent with God's Sovereignty, 273 CHAPTER X. Redemption in Relation to the Heathen and Those Incapable of Faith, 285 CHAPTER XL Sin — Atonement — Pardon — Restoration, ...... 294 PART III. CHAPTER XII. The Genius of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, • • . 310 CHAPTER I. REASONS FOR THE VOLUME HEREIN OFFERED TO THE READING PUBLIC. The inquiry after truth and the belief of truth is the sovereign good of human nature. — Bacon. ^npHB Cumberland Presbyterian Church, like the spiritual kingdom of which it is a humble branch, came not with imposing display. In the year 1810, in a plain rural dwelling in Dickson county, Tennessee, it was instrumentally set up by three devoted and godly ministers. From its inception until the present, its course has been a remarkable progress ; but it has gone forward with silent rather than with resounding steps. Its ministers have been laborious toilers in the field, not makers of books. Our literature is notably meager, and has no circula- tion beyond our own people. Hence it is not a just ground of wonder or complaint that, while God is doubtless our father, other branches of Abraham's great family are ignorant of us, and that the writers of histories in Israel acknowledge us not. As a denomination we have been singularly, if not culpably, indifferent to the obligation to bring our doctrines and our work more fully before the Christian public, and to this conviction, deep, long cherished, and intensified by many facts which have come to the personal knowledge of the author, the pages which follow are to be attributed. " I suppose your Church is very numerous about Cumber- land?" "Not at all," I replied. " In fact, I do not know that we have a congregation in the State of Maryland." " Is it possible ! Why, did your Church not originate about Cumberland?" (1) 2 DOCTRINES AND GENIUS OF THE ''By no means — we originated in Tennessee." " How, then, did you get your name? " This fragment of a conversation with a minister to whom I was introduced in my first field of labor indicates not only that even ministers in other great communions know but little of us, but also that it is a disadvantage to wear a name entirely devoid of significance as to doctrine, and to only a few persons indica- tive of even our geographical origin. In illustration of the erroneous opinions prevalent in respect to our doctrinal views, it is in place to cite a passage from the Philosophy of Sectarianism, by Rev. Alexander Blaikie, of Bos- ton. As the imprint of the book is 1855, it might be difficult at this date to ascertain the sources of his information — if he had any. Having noticed other Presbyterian Churches, he proceeds to say: " We have then the Cumberland Presbyterians, originat- ing from the irregular conduct of a Presbytery of that name, which, in 1803, introduced some fatal doctrinal errors ; and appealing from the Synod of Kentucky, to which it had been subordinate, its doings were condemned in 18 10, when it pro- claimed itself an independent Church. Not only holding some tenets gratifying to natural men, but also employing in its min- istry men of a less acquaintance with science, the languages, and theology, than other portions of the Presbyterian Church, it has grown rapidly." This language seems to indicate that its author believed our rapid growth attributable to " some fatal doctrinal errors," " some tenets gratifying to natural men," and an illiterate min- istry, while we have been wont to attribute it to the L,ord's blessing upon a faithful exhibition of the word he has ordained as the " infallible rule of faith and practice ; " and if the chapters that follow contribute to a better understanding, on the part of members of other denominations, of our faith and spirit, one of the aims in their preparation will have been secured. Unity of faith is at once a powerful bond, a condition of peace, CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. n and a source of denominational strength. If our membership, now exceeding one hundred and sixty thousand, can be more generally enlisted in reading plain expositions of the funda- mental principles of our holy religion, most valuable results will be realized in a higher type of individual Christian life, and in our enlarged usefulness as a Church. To this end it is desirable that the number of our books be multiplied as speedily as possible, and all the more so because the pulpit ministrations of to-day are, as a rule, quite barren of doctrinal exposition. There is among the Churches of this country a growing dispo- sition to lay aside those strifes over doctrinal differences which in the past have occasioned much waste of energy and provoked feelings quite at war with a true Christian spirit. If now these Churches will sit down to the task of an impartial examination of one another's standards, it may result that the differences will be seen to be so much fewer, and of so much less impor- tance than they were hitherto thought, as to bring about kinder fraternal sympathy, and helpful adjustment and co-operation in work, among numerous branches that in all essential doctrines have a like precious faith. The vast work now challenging the utmost energies of the Churches of America seems to demand such a movement as will most efficiently mass their forces against the common foe, and we are confident that, in the event of such a movement, Cumberland Presbyterians will be ready for what seems for the glory of the Master and the promotion of his kingdom. It is with no purpose of an uncharitable attack upon other creeds that this exposition of our own is sent forth. Compari- sons will be made, to show differences as well as agreements ; and as the Confession of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church — as indeed the Church itself — is a protest against what are called the severer features of Calvinism, to note specially our depart- ures from the Westminster Confession will be helpful in defining our doctrinal system. The earnest debate over those stern feat- 4 DOCTRINES AND GENIUS OF THE ures of Calvinism— at this very hour engaging the profoundest learning and logic of the mother Church— seems to render the present a time peculiarly suitable for such a publication as is proposed, since, as the sequel will show, the vicious theology now so perplexing the mother Church our fathers saw and purged away at the beginning of the century. Our Church owes to itself and the public a manifest obliga- tion to aid in the production of a healthful current literature. With its 2,776 congregations, its 1,646 ordained ministers, its membership of 163,216, its numerous literary institutions, and its theological seminary, the Church has done and is doing com- paratively little to furnish the periodicals and books demanded by the great reading public, and thus comparatively little to shape the great currents of contemporary thought. From the whole body, therefore, should come a cordial and liberal re- sponse to the important step on the part of our Board of Publi- cation to throw upon the mind of the Church and upon the reading public generally a series of books setting forth the sys- tem of doctrine through which as a denomination we have received singular blessing and enlargement. For reasons herein given, and for more general ones to be stated in the next chapter, when recently the writer was re- quested by the Board of Publication of his Church to contrib- ute a volume to a series it is now issuing, the subject of this effort at once occurred to him as the one he could discuss with the most hope of some useful service to the cause of truth. CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. CHAPTER II. RELATION OF DOCTRINE TO DUTY AND DESTINY. Ye shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free. — John viii. 32. No error can be more pernicious or more absurd than that which repre- sents it as a matter of but little consequence what a man's opinions are ; for there is an inseparable connection between faith and practice, truth and holiness ; otherwise it would be of no consequence to discover truth or to embrace it. Our Savior has said, "A corrupt tree can not bring forth good fruit." — Introduction to Cumberland Presbyterian Confession of Faith. God and truth are always on the same side. — Theo. Parker. TN strict use of language, one's creed is that which he be- lieves; his doctrine, that which he teaches. As a candid man's teaching is also his belief, "creed" and ''doctrine" are with him one and the same thing. In a technical sense a creed is a summary of Christian belief. The creed, or confession of faith, of a Church embodies the summary of principles the Church professes to believe and to teach ; and hence creed and doctrine may be used as synonyms, as hereafter in these pages. Zoroaster, the Persian philosopher and the founder of Parsee- ism, is credited with sa}dng: "Taking the first footstep with a good thought, the second with a good word, and the third with a good deed, I entered Paradise." The beginning of his career was a good thought, its end Paradise. It was because the begin- ning was a good thought that the end was Paradise. The insep- arable connection between creed and conduct, principle and practice, doctrine and destiny is solemnly affirmed by conscious- ness, observation, and the word of God. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth 6 DOCTRINES AND GENIUS OF THE shall make you free," declared the Great Teacher who came to speak to the world the words which the Father gave to him. So far as a creed embodies error, be it a social, political, moral, or religious creed, it will be vicious in its issues. Only upon truth can rest the well-being of rational creatures. Only out of truth can come the harmony of the universe. Hence the vast impor- tance and the responsibility, whether it pertain to an individual or a Church, of formulating a summary of principles to be believed, practiced, and taught. Believers are " chosen to sal- vation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." What God hath joined together in the process of the soul's salvation let us be careful that our "creeds" do not put asunder. In every soul there is capacity for a true life — a life that opens godward, that fits its possessor for the presence in which there is fullness of joy. How is that susceptibility awakened into activity in the true spiritual evolution ? Through the quicken- ing power of the Spirit it is made capable of upward impulses from the apprehension of the truth, but these initial processes and the subsequent daily renewal of the inner man are in har- mony with psychological laws. The soul, spiritually quickened, holding under survey the various impulses to action, chooses as its supreme end, because of a perceived obligation, the law and the service of its God. Truth believed begets sense of obliga- tion, obligation felt begets volition, volition issues in action, action repeated begets habit, habits aggregated constitute char- acter, character determines destiny. But the soul which has chosen salvation through Christ, and the commandments of Christ as the law of its conduct, starts upon its career but a babe in Christ, and hence needs the means of developing, strengthening, training, perfecting its powers. To such the direction is, " Desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby." For such Christ prays the Father, "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth." It is CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 7 truth apprehended, truth received by faith, truth digested by reflection, and assimilated by daily observance as a principle of action, that is " profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness," so that thereby "the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." Simply to believe the truth is not enough. Devils believe, but are devils still. It is by embracing the truth as good, by doing it, by looking into it as into a mirror, that, " beholding therein the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." " Divine truth exerts upon the mind," says Caird, "at once a restorative and a self-manifesting power. As light opens the close-shut flower-bud to receive light, so the truth of God, shining on the soul, quickens and stirs into activity the faculty by which that very truth is perceived." In the introduction to his valuable compend, Theology Con- densed, Rev. T. C. Blake, D.D., well urges that theology should be taught as any other science is taught, and that " parents owe it to themselves and to their children to have in their own houses such helps as will enable them and their offspring to form correct conceptions of God and of the plan of salvation which he has revealed." In this effort to present briefly the relation of doctrinal soundness to a life of godliness here, and to man's eternal well-being hereafter, the writer must record his regret that on the part of professing Christians generally there seems to be so little disposition to read and ponder works setting forth the vital truths of our holy religion. Not only does the study of moral and spiritual truth lay the granite foundation for that character which infinitely outvalues all perishable treasure, it also imparts the strength, piety, stability, and vigorous activity which should characterize the Church of Jesus Christ. If "ignorance is the curse of God," indifference to the truth is a paralysis of our moral and spiritual powers. In this realm of knowledge especially "God and truth are always on the same 8 DOCTRINES AND GENIUS OF THE side," and that truth is the strait gate into the narrow way lead- ing up to heaven, and immortality, and God. Having penned the paragraphs of this chapter in hope of con- tributing something to awaken interest in the study of those words which are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, and purified seven times, the writer can be pardoned for record- ing his grateful recollection that in his youthful days Abbott's Corner Stone of Religious Truth, The Pilgrim 's Progress, The Saints' Rest, Nelson's Cause a?id Cure of Infidelity, and other religious works, afforded mental food which he devoured with eager relish, when " sensational literature," which had already begun to teem from the press, and has since become multitudi- nous as the locusts of Egypt, was either unknown to him or beyond his ability to procure. If our people will encourage the present effort of the Board of Publication to engage the pens of the Church for the produc- tion of a sound theological literature, the result will be most fruitful of good. It has been well said that religion is subject- ive theology — the exemplification in the experience and the life of the light and power of the truths of religion clearly appre- hended, believed, and obeyed. To all the other methods of work of the Christian Church, books are an aid of the greatest value, in their religious bearing as well as in other respects justi- fying the sentiment of Bartholin, that " without books God is silent, justice dormant, science at a stand, philosophy lame, letters dumb, and all things involved in Cimmerian darkness." CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 9 CHAPTER III. OF THE SCRIPTURES AND THE PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR MEANING, AND THE USE AND ABUSE OF CREEDS. Truth is the daughter of time. — Aulus Gellius. * J ^HK volume received as the word of God is made up of sixty-six distinct books, and its authorship is attributed to over thirty writers. From the production of the first to the pro- duction of the last of these books there intervenes a period of nearly two thousand years. Some of the books are historical, some devotional, some prophetic. Though all are inspired, yet each receives a coloring from its author's mental peculiarities, and from the customs of the people, from the morals, the civil institutions, and the philosophy of its own age. Some of the subjects discussed are of .such a character that their complete comprehension transcends the human mind, and the entire course of events revealed therein stretches from the creation of the heavens and the earth to the end of man's probationary career. Besides, this book is God's revelation for all the ages, and many of the " things yet to come" of which it speaks will not be understood until the race shall look upon them in the light of their own unfolding. Such being the character of the Bible, it is not remarkable that men of equal candor, erudition, and piety differ, and differ widely, in their interpretation of its teachings. It would be much more remarkable if they did not differ. This is apparent when we consider that we arrive at the meaning of the Script- IO DOCTRINES AND GENIUS OF THE tires as we arrive at the meaning of other books, by faithful study and the comparison of part with part. The Great Teacher commanded, "Search the Scriptures," and the inspired word itself declares that in Paul's Epistles " are some things hard to be understood," and that these difficult passages the unlearned and unstable not only do not understand, but "wrest unto their own destruction." One can so interpret the world about him as to be a morose pessimist ; and one may so wrest the teachings of the word of God as to justify a wicked life — as we have known men to do. Whoever will read the Bible with a reverent mind, seeking the Spirit's guidance, will undoubtedly so far understand it that it will be made to him the power of God unto salvation. Utterly unreasonable are those who put aside the whole question as to the claims of the Bible by saying to Chris- tians, " Why, you can not yourselves agree what it means ! " In all the sciences and in all the arts men differ in their views ; and yet the sciences contain truth, and the arts are useful. The Bible is not contradictory in its teachings ; but man's judgment is fallible. In the study of the Bible we see what we bring the power to see, and no more. As constitutional peculiarities and the customs of his times give coloring to the writings of every inspired author, it is likewise true that every individual student of the word will see it, in a greater or less degree, in coloring reflected upon its pages from his own mental idiosyncrasies, the education he has received, his system of metaphysics, and the preconceived theological views with which he sits down to the study of the word. In every department of study men differ, and none differ more widely than those justly esteemed the world's great thinkers. It is related that an Englishman desired to introduce his son, then an Oxford student, to the two greatest living thinkers, as he esteemed them — Carlyle and Herbert Spencer. Upon the close of the interview with Spencer the father remarked that it was his purpose to take his son to see Carlyle also, whereupon Mr. Spencer exclaimed : "Ah, Mr. Car- CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 1 1 lyle ! I am afraid he has done more to propagate error than any other writer of the century." Upon the close of the interview with Carlyle the father remarked : " This will be a day for my hoy to look back upon, Mr. Carlyle, for in it he has been intro- duced to two great men — yourself and Herbert Spencer;" whereupon Carlyle exclaimed : " Herbert Spencer ! Herbert Spencer! an im-measur-able fool!" Yet were both these men great thinkers, each, in his sphere, seeing some truths more clearly than any predecessor had seen them, each contributing something to the general stock of knowledge. The interpretation of the word of God, equally with the inter- pretation of the works of God, has been progressive. Newton knew more about the heavens than did Galileo, and the astrono- mers of to-day know vastly more than Newton knew ; and we are constrained to believe that the sum of astronomical knowl- edge will yet be vastly increased. Similarly, we must believe that the concurrent theological thought of to-day more nearly represents the true meaning of the Bible than did the thought of any preceding age. And the advance in biblical interpreta- tion comes much as does the advance of our knowledge of the world in which we live, in the science of government or of morals, and that is through the service rendered by those supe- rior minds seemingly sent to guide the race up to greater heights of knowledge and improvement. To the interpretation of the Bible, the establishment of the Church, and the progress of Christian civilization, we may aptly apply the declaration of Car- lyle, that " universal history, the history of what man has accom- plished in this world, is at the bottom the history of the great men who have worked here ; " and that all " things we see stand- ing in this world are, properly, the outward material result — the practical realization and embodiment of thoughts which dwelt in the great men sent into the world." The idea that these great leaders may be divinely sent, to be the guides of the race in its march through and out of the wilderness of ignorance, 12 DOCTRINES AND GENIUS OF THE seemed to impress the mind of Carlyle even, for he said : " The great man is the ' creature of Time,' they say ; the Time called him forth ; the Time did every thing ; he nothing but what we, the little critic, could have done too! This seems to me but melancholy work. The Time calls him forth ? Alas, we have known the Times call loudly enough for their great man, but not find him when they called I He was not there ! Providence had not sent him ; the Time calling its loudest had to go down to confusion and wreck, because he would not come when called." It is not more true in aught than in religion and in scriptural interpretation that one extreme begets another. A great mind set for the work of exposing and destro3'ing a doc- trinal heresy is liable to run into an extreme opposite the one he fights, as the history of theological opinions will show. Yet, upon the whole, there is progress ; and we may not unreasonably indulge the belief that the great multiplication of facilities for the study of the sacred word, and the vastly increased number of competent critics now devotedly giving their erudition and their powers of logic to the investigation of that word, will gradually wear away the differences of doctrinal belief which now divide the Church into sects. The great work now before the Churches of this country, and their solemn responsibility in view of it, demand, as it seems to me, that they candidly con- sider, and at once, whether in many instances alleged doctrinal differences are not entirely too unimportant to justify the divis- ion they occasioned and still perpetuate, and whether because of these divisions there is not great waste of spiritual energ}^ and of material agencies, both so greatly needed in the solution of the problem of the evangelization of the rapidly increasing num- bers who never enter our places of worship. As declared in the introduction to the Confession of Faith of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, " the right of private judgment, in respect to religion, is inalienable." To search the Scriptures for himself is alike the right and the duty of every CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 13 man who has the opportunity. No pope or council or creed can bind the conscience in this respect. Only the word of God is the rule of faith and practice, and it is such to every man in the sense in which he understands it through an honest effort to arrive at its meaning. This doctrine, common to Protestanism, is the key to progress in the interpretation of the Scriptures. To give it up is to go back to the spiritual bondage of the mid- dle ages. The division and sub-division of Churches is prefer- able to the spiritual death in which men repose unquestioning faith in the opinions of a fallible man or a council of fallible men. A written creed, therefore, while it serves for a time a most important end, may become a most serious hindrance to the progress of truth, a very paralysis on the Church of which it is the bond of faith and practice. To say that any creed shall for all time express the faith of a Church is to claim that the creed is infallible, or that the Church holding it is incapable of progress. As a great thinker has said, if an oak be planted in an urn, the urn must break or the oak must die — a fact illustrated again and again in the history of the Christian Church. A creed is but a temporary halting place in the march of mind, indicat- ing a position in advance of any previously reached ; but knowl- edge multiplies, and directly the creed is out of harmony with the current of advanced thought, and unrest and agitation result in the revision of the creed or a secession that sets up a new one. The truths here hinted at in an imperfect wa}^ seem to me of the utmost importance, and to justify the insertion of the fol- lowing excellent passage from Bishop Butler : "And as it is owned the whole scheme of Scripture is not yet understood, so, if ever it comes to be understood, it must be in the same way as natural knowledge is come at — by the continu- ance and progress of learning and libert3^, and by particular per- sons attending to, comparing, and pursuing intimations scattered up and down it, which are overlooked and disregarded by the generality of the world. Nor is it at all incredible that a book 14 DOCTRINES AND GENIUS OF THE which has been so long in the possession of mankind should contain many truths as yet undiscovered. For all the same phenomena, and the same faculties of investigation, from which such great discoveries in natural knowledge have been made in the present and last age were equally in the possession of man- kind several thousand years before." The following passage from the farewell address to the Plym- outh Pilgrims, by their pastor, Rev. John Robinson, sets in so clear a light the true spirit of the consistent student of God's word that I am confident the reader will be glad that it is here reproduced : " Brethren, we are now quickly to part from one another, and whether I may live to ever see your face on earth any more, the God of heaven only knows; but whether the Lord hath appointed that or no, I charge you before God and his blessed angels that you follow me no farther than you have seen me fol- low the Lord Jesus Christ. " If God reveal any thing to you by any other instrument of his, be as ready to receive it as ever } t ou were to receive any truth by my ministry; for I am verily persuaded, I am very confident, the Lord has more truth yet to break forth out of his Holy Word. For my part I can not sufficiently bewail the con- dition of the Reformed Churches, who are come to a period in religion, and will go at present no farther than the instruments of their Reformation. The Lutherans can't be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw ; whatever part of his will our good God has revealed to Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it. And the Calvinists, y§M see, stick fast where they were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all things. " This is a misery much to be lamented, for though they were burning and shining lights in their times, yet they penetrated not into the whole counsel of God ; but were they now living would be as willing to embrace further light as that which they first received. I beseech you to remember it, 't is an article of CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 15 your Church, covenant, that you be ready to receive whatever truth shall be made known to you from the written word of God. Remember that and every other article of your sacred covenant. But I must here exhort you to take heed what you receive as truth. Examine it, consider it, and compare it with other scriptures of truth before you receive it, for 'tis not possible the Christian world should come so lately out of such thick anti- Christian darkness, and that perfection of knowledge should break forth at once." — NeaPs History of New England. "It is evident," says Dr. Edwards A. Park in his " Duties of a Theologian," "that theology has been obviously improving within the last two centuries ; and the comparison between the standard systems of the present day and those of Turretin, Ridgely, or Owen presents a rich earnest of what is to come. All these improvements have given and all future improvements will give new power to the essential doctrines of Jesus." I truly believe, as Dr. Park elsewhere adds, that " both the Testa- ments are more accurately interpreted at the present day than they have ever been since the days of John, the last of the uner- ring expositors;" to which ma}^ be added the expectant declara- tion of another equally distinguished critic, who says : "The time is coming (I can not doubt it) when all the dark places of the Bible will be elucidated to the satisfaction of intelligent and humble Christians. But how near at hand that blessed day is I do not know. ' The Lord hasten it in its time ! ' " In the same line of thought the following excellent words of Professor Shedd, author of History of Christian Docti'ine, seem to indicate a hopeful expectancy of a convergence of the views of intelli- gent Christians in all evangelical branches of Protestantism, and the near approach of the better day when our great theological warriors will unitedly turn against the common foes of our holy religion the weapons hitherto employed for mutual overthrow : "All doctrinal history evinces," says Professor Shedd, "that just in proportion as evangelical believers come to possess a 1 6 DOCTRINES AND GENIUS OF THE common scientific talent for expressing their common faith and feeling, they draw nearer together so far as regards their sym- bolic literature. While on the contrary a slender power of self- reflection and analysis, together with a loose use of terms, drives minds far apart within the sphere of theology who often melt and flow together within the sphere of Christian feeling and effort. Science unites and unifies wherever it prevails ; for sci- ence is accuracy in terms, definitions, and statements." " Prob- ably nothing in the way of means," adds the same writer, " would do more to bring about that universal unity in doctrinal statement which has been floating as an ideal before the minds of men amidst the denominational distractions of Protestantism than a thorough and general acquaintance with the symbols of the various denominations, and the history of their origin and formation." The careful study of the influence of creeds in their relation to the progress of the interpretation of the Scriptures, and the history of Protestant Christianity will lead, we think, to the fol- lowing conclusions : i . That creeds are useful as depositories of the results of true progress in the interpretation of the Bible, treasuring the fruits of investigation by a master mind, or of an epoch of general quickening of thought. 2. As necessary to founding and perpetuating organizations by assimilating great numbers in faith and practice. We see, indeed, bodies of Christian believers who have no written creed, and for that very reason claiming to be par excellence Churches of Christ, as receiving only the Bible as their creed; but in these there is always an understood interpretation of the Script- ures, descending even to the detail of mode of baptism, which must be subscribed as a condition of fellowship. So it may be that there is most a creed where it is claimed there is no creed. 3. They are useful as tending to unify Christian belief, on the whole, by fixing definitely the meaning of theological phrases CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 17 and statements, whereby the means of comparison of views is furnished to the whole Church. " On all sides and for all minds," says Dr. Shedd, " more light would be poured upon the profound mysteries of a common evangelical Christianity, if the- ologians were in the habit of looking over the whole field of symbolic literature instead of merely confining themselves to the examination of a single system." 4. That creeds are harmful when they are so received as to discourage instead of promoting the study of God's word, and especially when put in the place of the only infallible standard, thus leading those who subscribe them to trust in man instead of God. If it was wrong for one to say, " I am of Paul," and another to say, " I am of Apollos," much more must it be wrong for one Christian of to-day to declare himself of Calvin and another to declare himself of Luther as to authority for their doctrinal views. Like the noble Bereans, the subscribers of all creeds should " search the Scriptures " to see whether these creeds speak according to the living oracles. 5. Creeds to be subscribed by the laity should be plain, brief summaries of only the essential doctrines of Scripture. For can- didates for ordination, subscription to fuller formulas may be necessary in order to unity of doctrinal teaching in the pulpits of a denomination. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church is fortunate in having but a brief creed. After a cursory view of it the learned Dr. Nelson, late of Lane Theological Seminary, said to the writer : " I see you have the advantage of us in one respect — you have less Confession of Faith ; and if I had my way ours would be less still — there is no need of so much book." A correspondent of The Church Union suggests this brief creed as a scriptural basis of Christian unity : Doctrine.—" I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Practice.—" If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another" 1 8 DOCTRINES AND GENIUS OF THE CHAPTER IV. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LEADING CREEDS OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD. " He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son." TT seems desirable to introduce here, as required by logical continuity of our subject, a brief notice of the leading CREEDS of the Christian world, with such a general classification of them as may be interesting to the ordinary reader. In his reply to the question of his divine Master, " But whom say ye that I am?" the Apostle Peter made a confession which seems entitled to the distinction of being regarded the first formal "confession of faith" under the Christian dispensation: " Thou art the Christ \ the Son of the living God." Whatever may be true in regard to the import of Christ's reply — whether the " rock " on which he said he would build his Church is Peter, or Peter's confession, or Christ himself — it is pertinent to notice that the confession of Peter recognizes Christ as the true Messiah and truly divine. As Lange observes : " It is a con- fession of Jesus Christ as the center and heart of the whole Christian system, and the only and all-sufficient fountain of spir- itual life — as a true man and the promised Messiah, and as the eternal Son of God, hence as the God-Man and Savior of the world." It is not unsuitable to remark, in passing, that what- ever be the import of the words of Christ conferring on Peter power to bind and loose in heaven (the Church), subsequently the same language (Matt, xviii. 18) was addressed to all the apostles ; and that, as remarked by Rev. David Brown, D.D., in CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 19 his commentary on the passage, " not in all the New Testament is there the vestige of any authority either claimed or exercised by Peter, or conceded to him, above the rest of the apostles — a thing conclusive against the Romish claims in behalf of that apostle." Peter's open confession of faith in Christ as the Son of the liv- ing God, in his nature, his mission, his work, is the true door of admittance to the Church of Christ and the test of the funda- mental orthodoxy of all subsequently formed creeds, as embrac- ing the central idea, and life, and power of the gospel. As the sun in the solar system, so is the central truth divinely revealed to Peter, in its relation to all evangelical creeds, as is most sug- gestively illustrated in their contents — Christ " the way, the truth, and the life." It is sufficient for our present purpose to classify creeds as those formed before and those formed after what is known as the Reformation, an event justly regarded a great dividing line in the history of the Christian Church. A. — Creeds Formed Before the Reformation. The confession of Peter seems to have been repeated by the early converts to Christianity upon their admission to the Church by the rite of baptism, as in the case of the eunuch bap- tized by Philip, whose solemn asseveration was, " I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." (Acts viii. 37.) As com- manded, the apostles baptized " into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; " and this of necessity involved the convert's implied, if not a formally declared, con- fession of the doctrine of the Trinity, giving a second element in the faith on which primitive converts were baptized. Some writers upon the subject regard 1 Tim. iii. 16 as a "creed-form » current at the time it was penned, but it lacks formal confession of the Trinity, though the Trinitv is implied in the summary of the person and mediatorial work of Christ. From these begin- 20 DOCTRINES AND GENIUS OF THE nings, through stages not now known, there was formed at a very early date what is known to the Christian world as i. The Apostles' Creed. Of this venerable creed Luther says : " This confession of faith we did not make or invent, nor did the fathers before us ; but as a bee collects honey from the beautiful and fragrant flow- ers of all sorts, so is this symbol briefly and accurately put together out of the books of the prophets and apostles And it has been in the Church from the beginning, since it was either composed by the apostles themselves or else brought together from their writings or preaching by some of their best pupils." Rufinus affirmed his belief at the end of the fourth century that it was made up of contributions from each one of the apostles, as the Greek word giving name to it {pufifiolov) signifies "thrown in." The Latin title is Symbolum Apostolicum, and the first word of the symbol being credo, thence has come the ecclesiastical "creed." The more general belief is that it was made up from the formulas used by individual Churches, and that by common consent it had by the close of the second century come into general use as a formula for admitting into Church fellowship. By order of the English Parliament it was appended to the first authorized edition of the Shorter Cate- chism. This ancient creed, which, without modification, has been for seventeen centuries the symbol of the faith of those claiming one Father, one Savior, and one hope of life eternal, is here given in the version accepted by all English-speaking Christendom : 7 believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was con- ceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 21 Almighty ; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost ; the Holy Catholic Church; the communio7i of saints ; the forgiveness of sins ; the resurrec- tion of the body ; and the life everlasting. As there were in those early days only manuscript copies of the Bible, and these in the hands of very few, it is a reasonable supposition that the Apostles' Creed was generally memorized and frequently repeated. Thus this symbol comes to us, not only invested with the charm of antiquity, but with the hallowed association of having been on the lips of a vast multitude who have dropped their bodies on the shore of life's unresting sea ! As another index of the faith of the earlier days of Chris- tianity, and as showing the agreement of the general teaching with the Apostles' Creed, the following is cited from a work of Tertullian, belonging to the end of the second century : "The rule of faith is one only, unchangeable, and not to be amended, namely, the belief in one sole omnipotent God, the maker of the world ; and in his Son Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mar}^, crucified under Pontius Pilate, raised from the dead on the third day, received into heaven, seated now on the right hand of the Father, and to come hereafter to judge the living and the dead, through the resurrection of the flesh." 2. The Nicene Creed. (A.D. 325-569.) The circumstances giving rise to this creed are also the key to its doctrinal structure, and show how the Church has frequently found it necessary to expand a creed already in use. It contains a fuller statement of the doctrine of the Trinity, as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, an addition made necessary by the fact that heretical teachers sprang up who professed faith in a trinity, but denied the divinity of Christ and of the Holy Ghost. These teachers claimed, moreover, that they put on the Apostles' Creed the true construction, as also on the Scriptures. Hence, as Professor Shedd observes, this "symbol introduces 22 DOCTRINES AND GENIUS OF THE scientific conceptions and technical terms, in order to preclude that possibility of two interpretations of language which was connected with the earlier symbol." The part of the creed relating to the divinity of Christ was formulated by a general council held in Nice, Bithynia, A.D. 325 ; the part relating to the divinity and personality of the Holy Ghost was added by a gen- eral council held at Constantinople, A.D. 381 ; and the part beginning with " filioque," supplied by a general council of the Latin Church at Toledo, Spain, A.D. 569. This creed was received by both the Greek and the Latin Churches, the former rejecting the last added part, and in modern times is, as Professor Shedd affirms, " the received creed-statement of all trinitarian Churches." By this ancient confession also, as by the Apostles' Creed, are we reminded of the essential unity and the unchange- ableness of Christian faith in its fundamental elements. Sys- tems of philosophy rise, flourish, and pass away ; one system of government gives place to another, but the faith of God's peo- ple, like the word of the Lord on which it is founded, changes not. In its usual English dress the Nicene, or Nic