The utility and importance of creeds and confessions : addressed particularly to candidates for the ministry

':/^.

>

H

>

If,-' JL

jlP^Ui£Xf

/ A, >^

mz

S?^"* Jfe.' , ■^Jr

i-jSwBgr^L *

BX

^*T

8950

\ ^ygjd J

.M5

1839

JU

c. 2

^^y

• 0) w

o o c

#

<a

IT) c 0

Q_

00 CO -H

.

H +J 1/1

a

1 U CO

§

1c

Q.

cm o> 0 (D

«

• vo a1^

CO

1 o i-- e c

rH «H O

*•>*

IE

o> u

*8 ►»

CL

CO »> XJ

o

00H C tl
H 0) (0 c

**

5

p TO

^? £

0)

m E >i

c

S CO -P w

<
"53

3

i— I CD

fc

E

IT) Lj +J }-i

*i M

ro

CJn CD 3 O

£* «

c/>

00 r— 1

^* Pk

,j

iH <D ««

^

s

X -H £ O

CQSH

■&

-a

%

0)

c

V*

<U

&-,

to
ID

^

CL

IhtlS

•

THE

UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

0F I" \

CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS:

>- & Cr O

ADDRESSED PARTICULARLY

CANDIDATES FOR THE MINISTRY,

BY SAMUEL MILLER, D. D.

■In neeessariia uriltas, in nun necesaariia libertas, in omnibus
charitas." — August in.

PHILADELPHIA:
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION.

WILLIAM S. MARTIEN, PUBLISHING AGENT.

1839.

/

CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS.

The character and situation of one who is
preparing for the Sacred Office, are interest-
ing beyond the power of language to express.
Such an one, like the Master whom he pro-
fesses to love and serve, is " set for the fall
and rising again of many in Israel." In all
that he is, and in all that he does, the tempo-
ral and eternal welfare not only of himself,
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 inno-
vation, or from that love of distinction which
is so natural to men; — after all, instead of edi-

4 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

fying the " body of Christ," he may become
a disturber of its peace, and a corrupter of its
purity; so that we might almost say, what-
ever may be the result with respect to him-
self, " 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 attain-
ments; his infirmities; and above all, his char-
acter as a practical Christian; — are of inesti-
mable importance to the ecclesiastical commu-
nity of which he is destined to be a minister.
Nothing that pertains to him is uninteresting.
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 defects as well as his excellen-
cies; his gifts and graces, as well 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 employ-
ed to conduct the education of candidates for
this high and holy office, we feel ourselves
placed under a solemn, nay, an awful respon-
sibility? Can you wonder that, having ad-

OP CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 5

vanced 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 faith-
ful servants? Independently of all official
obligation, did we not feel and act thus, we
should manifest an insensibility to the inter-
ests of the Church, as well as to your true
welfare, equally inexcusable and degrading.

It is in consequence of this deep solicitude
for your improvement in every kind of min-
isterial furniture, that we not only endeavour
to conduct the regular course of your instruc-
tion in such a manner as we think best adapt-
ed 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 atten-
tion to a series of subjects, which do not fall
within the ordinary course of our instruction.

A subject of this nature will engage our
attention on the present occasion: namely, the
1*

6 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

importance of Creeds and Confessions for
maintaining the unity and purity of the visi-
ble Church.

This is a subject, which, though it properly
belongs to the department of Church Govern-
vient, has always been, for want of time,
omitted in the Lectures usually delivered on
that division of our studies. And I am indu-
ced 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 sub-
ject highly interesting and important; because
it has been for a number of years past, and
still is, the object of much severe animad-
version, on the part of latitudinarians and
heretics; and because, though abundantly
justified by reason, Scripture, and universal
experience, the spontaneous feelings of many,
especially under the free government which it
is our happiness to enjoy, rise up in arms
against what they deem, and are sometimes
pleased to call, the excessive " rigour" and
even " tyranny" of exacting subscription to
Articles of Faith.

It is my design, first, to offer some remarks
on the utility and importance of written

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 7

Creeds; and secondly, to obviate some of the
more common and plausible objections which
have been urged against them by their adver-
saries.

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 regu-
lar order, for the purpose of ascertaining how
far those who wish to unite in church fellow-
ship are really agreed in the fundamental
principles of Christianity. Creeds and Con-
fessions do not claim to be in themselves laws
of Christ's house, or legislative enactments, by
which any set of opinions are constituted truths,
and which require, on that account, to be re-
ceived as truths among the members of his
family. They only profess 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

8 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

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 leacling
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 catholic agree in
considering as a formula by means of which
they may know and understand one another.

Now, I affirm, that the adoption of such a
Creed is not only lawful and expedient, but
also indispensably necessary to the harmony
and purity of the visible Church. For the
establishment of this position, let me request
your attention to the following considerations.

1. Without a Creed explicitly adopted, it is
not easy to see how the ministers and mem-
bers of any particular church, and more espe-
cially a large denomination of Christians, can
maintain unity among themselves.

If every Christian were a mere insulated
individual, who inquired, felt, and acted for
himself alone, no creed of human formation
would be necessary for his advancement in

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 9

knowledge, comfort, or holiness. With the
Bible in his closet, and with his eyes opened
to see the " wondrous things" which it con-
tains, he would have all that was needful for
his edification. But the case is far otherwise.
The church is a society; a society which,
however extended, is " one body in Christ,"
and all who compose it, " members 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 main-
tain " the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace." They are exhorted to "stand fast
in one spirit with one mind." They are com-
manded 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 join-
ed together in church fellowship, as it is to a
compliance with the command of their Master.
" How can any walk together unless they be
agreed?" Can a body of worshippers, com-
posed of Calvinists, Arminians, Pelagians,
Arians, and Socinians, all pray, and preach,
and commune together profitably and com-
fortably, each retaining the sentiments, feel-

10 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

ings, and language appropriate to his denomi-
nation? This would indeed make the house
of God a miserable Babel. What! can those
who believe the Lord Jesus Christ to be God,
equal with the Father, and worship him
accordingly; and those who consider all such
worship as abominable idolatry: — Those who
cordially renounce all dependence on their
own works or merit for justification before
God, relying entirely on his rich grace,
u 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 sen-
timents 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 worship together in the
same temple. They must either be perfectly
indifferent to the great subjects on which they
are thus divided, or all their intercourse must
be productive of jarring and distress. Such a
discordant assembly might talk about church

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. H

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 im-
possible as " that righteousness should have
fellowship with unrighteousness," 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 hete-
rogeneous 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 Chris-
tian 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

12 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

to the west. Of those who agree in this gene-
ral profession, the greater part acknowledge
as of divine authority the whole sacred canon,
as we receive it; while others would throw out
whole chapters, and some a number of entire
books from the volume of God's revealed will.
The orthodox maintain the plenary inspira-
tion of the Scriptures; while some who insist
that they are Christians, deny their inspira-
tion altogether. In short, there are multitudes
who, professing to believe the Bible, and to
take it for their guide, reject every fundamen-
tal doctrine which it contains. So it was in
the beginning as well as now. An inspired
Apostle declares, that some in his 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." Sure-
ly those who maintain the true Gospel, cannot
" walk together" in u church fellowship" with
those who are " accursed" for preaching " an-
other Gospel," and who espouse " damnable

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 13

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 require this profes-
sion 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 fel-
lowship. It leaves every thing within the
range of nominal Christianity, as perfectly
undefined, and as much exposed to total dis-
cord as before.

But perhaps it will be proposed as a more
efficient remedy, that there be a private
understanding, vigilantly acted upon, that
no ministers or members be admitted, but
those who are known, by private conversa-
tion with them, substantially to agree with
the original body, with regard both to doc-
trine and order. In this way, some allege,
2

14 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

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 requir-
ing subscription to it, while the contrary is
insinuated and professed. It is making use of
a religious test, in the most rigorous manner,
without 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 writing, or be registered
only in the minds of the church members, and
applied by them as a body, if it equally ex-
clude 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 members of the church among them-
selves, cannot be safely left to the understand-
ing and recollection of each individual belong-
ing 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

OP CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 15

a constitution, 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 exclud-
ing 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 made
operative at all, it would be far more likely to
be perverted into an instrument of popular
oppression, 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 high-
est degrees of corruption and strife, without
some test of truth, explicitly agreed upon, and

16 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

adopted by her, in her ecclesiastical capa-
city; 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 a bond of union. In
other wofds, a church, in order to maintain
" the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace
and love," must have a Creed — a written
Creed — to which she has formally given her
assent, and to a conformity to which her
ministrations are pledged. As long as such a
test is faithfully applied, she cannot fail of
being in some good degree united and harmo-
nious; and when nothing of the kind is em-
ployed, I see not how she can be expected,
without a miracle, to escape all the evils of
discord and corruption.

2. The necessity and importance of Creeds
and Confessions appear from the considera-
tion, 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 individu»

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 17

ally, are represented in Scripture as witnesses
for God. They are commanded to maintain
his truth, and to " hold forth the word of
life," in all its purity and lustre before a per-
verse generation, that others may be enlight-
ened and converted. They are exhorted to
" buy the truth, and not to sell it;" — to "con-
tend earnestly for the faith once delivered 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 other commands, of similar
import, plainly make it the duty of every
Christian church to detect and expose prevail-
ing heresies; to exclude all such as embrace
radical heresy from their communion; and to
" lift up a standard" for truth, whenever "the
enemy comes in like a flood."

But does not all this imply taking effectual
measures to distinguish between truth and
error? Does not all this necessarily infer the
duty of drawing, 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
2*

IS UTILITY ANT- IMPORTANCE

Jesus?" But how is this distinction to be
made, seeing those who embrace the essential
doctrines of the Gospel, equally profess to
receive the Bible ? It can only be done by
carefully 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 these articles with the professed
belief of those whom she supposes to be here-
tics. 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 " con-
tend earnestly" for the truth; and yet de-
nounce Creeds and Confessions, are, in the
highest degree inconsistent with themselves.
They acknowledge the obligation and im-
portance 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

Or CREEDS AND CONTESSIOXS. 19

work to be done, without allowing the mate-
rials necessary to its accomplishment Before
the church, as such, can detect heretics, and
cast them out from her bosom: before she can
raise her voice, in " a day of rebuke and of
blasphemy," against prevailing errors, her
governors and members must be agreed what
is truth; and, unless they would give them-
selves up, in their official judgments, to all the
caprice and feverish effervescence of occasional
feeling, they must have some accredited, per-
manent document, exhibiting what they have
agreed to consider as truth. There is really
no feasible alternative. They must either
have such " a form of sound words," which
they have voluntarily adopted, and pledged
themselves to one another to " hold fast;" or
they can have no security that any two or
more successive decisions concerning sound-
ness in the faith will be alike. In other
words, they cannot attain, in any thing like a
steady, uniform, consistent manner, one of the
great purposes for which the visible church
was established.

It surely will not be said, by any conside-
rate person, that the church, or any of her

20 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

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 " witnesses
of the truth;" because it would be doing
nothing peculiar; nothing distinguishing; no-
thing which every heretic in Christendom is
not ready to do, or rather is not daily doing,
as loudly, and as frequently as the most ortho-
dox church. The very idea of " bearing
testimony to the truth," and of separating
from those who are so corrupt that Christian
communion cannot be maintained with thern,
necessarily implies some public discriminating
act, in which the church agrees upon, and
expresses her belief in, the great doctrines of
Christianity, in contradistinction from those
who believe erroneously. Now to suppose
that any thing of this kind can be accom-
plished, 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 Walden-

OP CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 21

ses and Albigenses been, as witnesses of the
truth — as lights in the world, amidst the dark-
ness of surrounding corruption; — especially of
what value had they been to the church in
succeeding times, and to us at the present day,
if they had not formed, and transmitted to
posterity those celebrated Confessions of Faith,
as precious as they are memorable, which 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 here-
tics, who lived at the same time, and professed
to receive the same Bible? Without these,
how should we ever have seen so clearly and
satisfactorily as we do, that they maintained
the truth and 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 u a seed to serve him,
who shall be accounted to the Lord for a
generation ?"

3. The adoption and publication of a Creed,
is a tribute to truth and candour, which every

22 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

Christian church owes to the other churches,
and to the world around her.

Every wise man will wish to be united in
religious 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, to know something of its
faith, government, and general character. I
will suppose a pious and ingenuous individual
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 comfort-
able. I will suppose that, in this survey, he
turns his eyes towards the truly scriptural and
primitive church to which it is our happiness
to belong. He is anxious to know the doc-
trine 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 indi-
vidual minister from his own lips. This would
be physically impossible, without bestowing on

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 23

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 regarded as the uniform and universal, and
especially as the permanent character of the
church; and not rather as an accidental exhibi-
tion. 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 dwell-
ing, what we profess to believe and to practise,
and how far he may hope to be at home in our
communion. And while he is enabled thus to
understand the system to which we profess to
adhere, he enables 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
churches, who may have no less desire to ascer-

24 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

tain 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 degreeof Christian intercourse.
But what church, which valued the preser-
vation of its own purity and peace, would ven-
ture on such intercourse with a body which
had no denned system, either of doctrine or
government, to which it stood pledged; and
which might, therefore, prove a source of pol-
lution and disorder to every other church with
which it had the smallest interchange of ser-
vices ? One of the ministers of such a denomi-
nation, when invited into the pulpit of an or-
thodox brother, might give entire satisfaction;
while the verj next to whom a similar mark
of Christian affection and confidence was shown,
might preach the most corrupt heresy. Creeds
and Confessions, then, so far from having a
tendency to "alienate" and "embitter M those
Christian denominations which think nearly
alike, and ought to maintain fraternal inter-
course, really tend to make them acquainted
with each other; to lay a foundation for regu-
lar and cordial intercourse; to beget mutual

OP CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 25

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 Christian 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 prin-
ciples to be purely scriptural. In publicly
avowing them, therefore, she performs the
double duty of bearing testimony to the truth,
and of endeavouring to draw from less pure
denominations, and from the surrounding world,
new support to what she conscientiously be-
lieves 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 hesita-
tion in further maintaining, that, in all ages,
those Christian churches which have been
most honourably distinguished for their piety,
their zeal, and their adherence to the simplicity
of the gospel, have been, not only most re-

26 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

markable for their care in forming, but also for
their frankness in avowing, their doctrinal
creed; and their disposition to let all around
them distinctly understand what they professed
to regard as the fundamental doctrines of our
holy religion.

4. Another argument in favour of Creeds
publicly adopted and maintained, is that they
are friendly to the study of Christian doctrine,
and, of course, to the prevalence of Christian
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 ; and to
live together in peace. But is it not manifest,
that the only way in which those who essen-
tially differ from each other concerning the
fundamental doctrines of the gospel, can live
together in perfectly harmonious ecclesiastical
fellowship, is by becoming indifferent to truth;
in other words, by becoming persuaded that
modes of faith are of little or no practical im-
portance to the Church, and are, therefore, not
worth contending for; that clear and discrimi-
nating views of Christian doctrine are wholly

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 27

unnecessary, and of little use in the formation
of Christian character? But in proportion as
professing Christians are indifferent 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 esti-
mate its value; they will soon be disposed to
" contend for it," against 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
Confessions are unscriptural, and of course un-
lawful, and he will naturally and speedily pass
to the conclusion, that all contending for doc-
trines is useless, and even criminal. From
this the transition is easy to the abandonment
of the study of doctrine, or, at least, the zealous
and diligent study of it. Thus it is, that laying
aside all Creeds, naturally tends to make pro-
fessing Christians indifferent to the study of
Christian truth; comparatively uninterested in

28 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

the attainment of religious knowledge; and,
finally, regardless, and, of course, ignorant of
"the faith once delivered to the saints."

I would by no means, indeed, be understood
to assert, that no heretics have ever been zea-
lous 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 pertinaciously, but
even fiercely, for their peculiar doctrines. But
my position is, that the enemies of all Creeds
and Confessions usually assume a principle,
which, if carried out to its legitimate conse-
quences, would discourage all zeal in main-
taining the peculiar doctrines of the gospel;
that if all zeal in maintaining peculiar doc-
trines 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 things more unfriendly to the growth
and prevalence of Christian knowledge could
scarcely be imagined. Look at the loose,
vague, undecisive character of the preaching
heard in nine-tenths of the Unitarian, and
other latitudinarian pulpits in the United

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 29

States, and, as I suppose, throughout Chris-
tendom. If the occupants of those pulpits
had it for their distinct and main object to ren-
der their hearers indifferent about understand-
ing, and, of course, indifferent about studying,
the fundamental doctrines of the gospel, they
could scarcely adopt a plan more directly cal-
culated to attain their end, than that which
they actually pursue. Their incessant cry is,
" matters of opinion are between God and a
man's own conscience. No one else has a
right to meddle with them.'' Hence, in pur-
suance 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 opinions are, in general,
not so much from what they say, as from what
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 doc-
trine; a taste for religious knowledge; a spirit
3*

30 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

of zeal for the truth, in opposition to that
miserable indifference to articles of faith, which
is so replete with mischief to every Christian
community in which it is found; then let
them be careful to present, and diligently to
keep before the eyes of one another, and the
eye of the public, that " good confession"
which they are commanded to " profess before
many witnesses." If they fail to do this; if,
under the guise of adherence to that great Pro-
testant maxim, that the Bible is the only infal-
lible rule of faith and manners, — (a precious
all-important truth; which, properly under-
stood, 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 criminal, to select
from the mass of Scriptural truth, and to de-
fend, 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 doc-
trine, and finally into that deplorable " lack of
knowledge" by which millions are constantly
" destroyed."

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 31

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 pow-
ers, were insufficient to deter heretics from
spreading their poison; — men, calling them-
selves Christians, and professing to preach the
religion of Christ, perverted his truth, and
brought il another gospel," whieh 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 belief in the religion of Christ on the part
of those who came to them as Christian teach-
ers; but to examine and try them, and to
ascertain whether their teaching 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 gos-
pel unto you than that ye have received, let
him be accursed." Here was, in effect, an
instance, and that by Divine warrant, of em-
ploying a Creed as a test of orthodoxy : that
is, men making a general profession of Chris-
tianity, are expressly directed by an inspired

32 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

apostle, to be brought to the test, in what sense
they understood that gospel, of which, in
general terms, they declared their reception ;
and how they explained its leading doctrines.
It would seem, indeed, that the Confession of
Faith then required was very short and sim-
ple. 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
Irenasus; and, in the third, in the writings of
Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, Gregory Thau-
maturgus, and Lucian, the martyr, we find a
number of Creeds and Confessions, more for-
mally drawn out, more minute, and more ex-
tensive 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 here-
tics increased, the orthodox church found more
attention to the adoption and maintenance of
these formularies indispensably necessary.

Tn the fourth century, when the church was

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 33

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 Coun-
cil of Nice, when the heresy of Arius was
under the consideration of that far-famed as-
sembly. When the Council entered on the
examination of the subject, it was found ex-
tremely difficult to obtain from Arius any satis-
factory explanation of his views. He was not
only as ready as the most orthodox divine
present, to profess that he believed the Bible ;
but he also declared himself willing to adopt,
as his own, all the language of the Scriptures,
in detail, concerning the person and character
of the blessed Redeemer. But when the mem-
bers of the Council wished to ascertain in what
sense he understood this language, he disco-
vered a disposition to evade and equivocate,
and actually, for a considerable time, baffled
the attempts of the most ingenious of the ortho-
dox to specify his errors, and to bring them to
light. He declared that he was perfectly wil-
ling to employ the popular language on the
subject in controversy; and wished to have it

34 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

believed that he differed very little from the
body of the church. Accordingly the orthodox
went over the various titles of Christ plainly
expressive 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 subscribed; — claiming
a right, however, to put their own construc-
tion on the scriptural titles in question. 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 in-
trench himself behind a mere general profes-
sion 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. They
expressed, in their own language, what they
supposed to be the doctrine of Scripture con-
cerning the Divinity of the Saviour; in other
words, they drew up a Confession of Faith on
this subject, which they called upon Arius and

OP CKEEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 35

his disciples to subscribe. This the heretics
refused: and were thus virtually brought to
the acknowledgment that they did not under-
stand the Scriptures as the rest of the Council
understood them, and, of course, that the
charge against them was correct.

The same course was taken by all the pious
witnesses of the truth in the dark ages, when,
amidst the surrounding corruption and deso-
lation, they found themselves called upon to
bear " witness to the truth." They all pro-
fessed their belief in the Bible, and their love
to it; they constantly appealed to it, as the
only infallible rule of faith and practice; and
they studied it with incomparably more vene-
ration and diligence than any of the errorists
around them. This all history plainly evin-
ces. But at the same time, they saw the futi-
lity of doing nothing more than proclaim in
general, their adherence 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 enemies
of the truth were proclaiming busily, and even
clamorously, every day. They, therefore, did
what the friends of orthodoxy had been in the

36 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

habit of doing from the earliest ages. They
framed creeds, from time to time, as the exi-
gencies of the Church demanded, by means of
which they were enabled to bear their testi-
mony for God; to vindicate his truth; and to
transmit the memorials of their fidelity to dis-
tant 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 century.

What, now, is the inference, from all this
experience of the Church of God, so universal
and so uniform? It cannot be misunderstood.
It speaks volumes. When the friends of truth
in all ages and situations, even those who were

OP CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 37

most tenacious of the rights of private judg-
ment, 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 scriptures; —
we are naturally led to conclude, not only that
the resort is neither so " unreasonable" nor so
" baneful" as many would persuade us to be-
lieve; but that there is really no other practi-
cable method of maintaining unity and purity
in the Church of Christ.

6. A further argument in favour of Creeds
and Confessions, may be drawn from the
remarkable fact, that their most zealous op-
posers have generally been latitudinarians and
heretics.

I do not affirm that the use of Creeds has
never been opposed by individuals substantial-
ly orthodox, and even by orthodox churches:
for it is believed that a few rare cases of this
anomaly have occurred, under the influence
of strong prejudice, or very peculiar circum-
stances. Yet, so far as I can recollect, we
have no example of it among the ancients.
4

38 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

Such cases are the growth of very modern
times. Nor, on the other hand, is it my pur-
pose to deny that heretics have sometimes
been extremely zealous in forming and main-
taining 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 opponents of Creeds have
been those who held corrupt 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 gulf; 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 princi-
ple, as likely to be realized. It is an invaria-
ble characteristic of the orthodox that they
lay great stress on the knowledge and recep-
tion of truth; that they consider it as neces-
sary to holiness; that they deem an essential

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 39

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 contrary, it is almost as invariable a cha-
racteristic of modern heretics, and more espe-
cially 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
naturally reprobate, and even vilify, all faith-
ful attempts to oppose heresy, and to separate
heretics from the Church. From those, then,
who have either far departed, or at least begun
to depart, from " the faith once delivered to
the saints," almost exclusively, do we hear of
the " oppression," and the " mischief" of
Creeds and Confessions. And is it any mar-
vel that those who maintain the innocence of
error, should be unwilling to raise fences for
keeping it out of the Church? Is it any mar-
vel that the Arian, the Socinian, the Pelagian,
and such as are verging toward those fatal
errors, should exceedingly dislike all the
evangelical formularies, which tend to make

40 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

visible the line of distinction between the
friends and the enemies of the Redeemer?
No; "men," as has been often well observed,
"men are seldom opposed to Creeds, until
Creeds have become opposed to them." That
they should dislike and oppose them, in these
circumstances, is just as natural as that a cul-
prit arraigned before a civil tribunal, should
equally dislike the law, its officer, and its
sanction.

Accordingly, if we look a little into the
interior of Church history, especially within
the last century, we shall find these remarks
often and strikingly exemplified. 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 begin-
ning, that they had no objections to the doc-
trines themselves of the Confession which
they had subscribed, but to the principle of
subscribing Confessions at all. Soon, how-
ever, was the melancholy fact gradually un-
folded, that disaffection to the doctrines which

OP CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 41

they once appeared to love, had more influence
in directing their course, than even they them-
selves imagined, and that they were receding
further and further from the " good way" in
which they formerly seemed to rejoice. Truly
that cause is of a most suspicious character to
which latitudinarians and heretics, at 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 ecclesiastical proceedings.

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 com-
munion, is invariably abandoned 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 Calvinism, knowing
him to be such ? But why not, on the princi-
ple adopted, or at least professed, by Unita-

42 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

rians? The Calvinist surely comes with his
Bible in his hand, and professes to believe it
as cordially as they. Why is not that enough ?
Yet we know that, in fact, it is not enough for
these advocates of unbounded liberality. Be-
fore they will consent to receive him as their
spiritual guide, they must be explicitly in-
formed, 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 re-
jected. Here, then, we have, in all its extent,
the principle of demanding subscription to a
Creed; and a principle carried out into prac-
tice as rigorously as ever it was by the most
high-toned advocate of orthodoxy.

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 altogether 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,

OP CREEPS AND CONFESSIONS. 43

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 document, 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, without appeal ;
and further, that, while they really act upon
this principle, they disavow 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 can-
not get along a day without them. It is in
vain to say, that in their case no Creed is
imposed, but that all is voluntary, 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,
without any exception. No less vain is it to
say, again, that in their case the articles insisted
on are few and simple, and by no means so
liable to exception as the long and detailed
Creeds which some churches have adopted,

44 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

It is the principle of subscription to Creeds
which is now under consideration. If the
lawfulness and even the necessity of acting
upon this principle can be established, our
cause is gained. The extent to which we
ought to go in multiplying articles, is a secon-
dary question, the answer to which must
depend on the exigencies of the church
framing the Creed. Now the adversaries of
Creeds, while they totally reject the expedi-
ency, and even the lawfulness, 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 dictated by good sense and prac-
tical 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 I am confined in this Lecture, forbid
me further to enlarge.

It were easy to show that Confessions of

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 45

Faith, judiciously drawn, and solemnly adopt-
ed by particular churches, are not only invalu-
able as bonds of union, and fences against
error; but that they also serve 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 suffi-
ciently close, to draw from the sacred writings
themselves a consistent system of truth. It is
of incalculable use to the individual who has
but little time for reading, and but little ac-
quaintance with books, to be furnished with a
clear and well arranged compend of doctrine,
which he is authorized to regard, not as the
work of a single, enlightened, and pious di-
vine; but as drawn out and adopted by the
collected wisdom of the Church to which he
belongs. There is often a satisfaction, to
plain, unsophisticated mind, not to be descri-
bed, 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 whe-
ther the things which it teaches are so or
not."

46 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

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 pre-
cious legacy transmitted to their children, and
to all that may come after them, in a succeed-
ing age, not only bearing their testimony in
support of the true doctrine 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 argu-
ments in favour of written Creeds, justice to
the subject requires that we

II. Examine some of the principal objec-
tions which have been made to Creeds by
their adversaries.

1. And the first which I shall mention is,
that forming a Creed, and requiring subscrip-
tion to it as a religious test, is superseding the
Bible, and making a human composition in-
stead of it a standard of faith. " The Bible,"

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 47

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 sub-
scribe, any other Creed than this plain, in-
spired, and perfect one? Every time we do
this we offer a public indignity 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 catalogue. And although it is be-
lieved that a sufficient answer has been fur-
nished by some principles already laid down;
yet the confidence with which it is every day
repeated, renders a formal attention to it ex-
pedient; more especially as it bears, at first
view, so much the appearance of peculiar vene-
ration for the Scriptures, that many are capti-
vated by its plausible aspect, and consider it as
decisive.

The whole argument which this objection
presents, is founded on a false assumption.
No Protestant ever professed to regard his

48 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

Creed, considered as a human composition, as
of equal authority with the Scriptures, and far
less of paramount authority. Every principle
of this kind is, with one voice, disclaimed, by
all the Creeds, and defences of Creeds, that I
have ever read. And whether, notwithstand-
ing this, the constant repetition of the charge,
ought to be considered as fair argument, or
gross calumny, the impartial will judge. A
church Creed professes to be, as was before
observed, merely an epitome, or summary ex-
hibition of what the Scriptures teach. It pro-
fesses to be deduced from the Scriptures, and
to refer to the Scriptures for the whole of its
authority. Of course, when any 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 lan-
guage of an orthodox believer, in subscribing
his ecclesiastical Creed, is simply of the fol-
lowing import: — "While the Socinian pro-
fesses to believe the Bible, and to understand
it as teaching the mere humanity of Christ: —
while the Arian professes to receive the same

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 49

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-Pela-
gian 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 I read and believe — the deplorable
and total depravity of human nature — the essen-
tial divinity of the Saviour — a Trinity of per-
sons in the Godhead — justification by the im-
puted righteousness of Christ — and regenera-
tion 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

50 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

are the fundamental principles of the plan of
salvation."

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 not, on the contrary, in
the whole language and spirit of such a decla-
ration, an acknowledgment of God's word as
of ultimate and supreme authority; and an ex-
pression of belief in certain doctrines, simply
and only because they are believed to be re-
vealed in that word? Truly, if this be dis-
honouring the Scriptures, or setting up a stand-
ard above them, there is an end of all meaning;
either of words or actions.

But still it is asked — " Where is the need of
any definitive declaration of what we under-
stand the Scriptures to teach? 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 explicit test
than He who gave the Bible has thought pro-
per to frame: — an attempt, as vain as it is
presumptuous?" To this pica it is sufficient

OP CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 51

to answer, 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 possibly 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 ortho-
dox man — or for a pious church, to exhibit,
and endeavour to recommend to others, their
mode of interpreting the sacred 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 Scriptures, 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?
Surely it cannot. Yet this is neither more nor
less than precisely that formation and mainte-
nance of a scriptural Confession of Faith for
which I am pleading.

Still, however, it may be asked, what right
has any man, or set of men to interpose their

52 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

authority, and undertake to deal out the sense
of Scripture for others? Is it not hoth impious
in itself, and an improper assumption over the
minds of our fellow men? I answer, this
reasoning would prove too much, and there-
fore proves nothing. For, if admitted, it
would prove that all preaching of the gospel
is presumptuous and criminal; because preach-
ing always consists in explaining and enfor-
cing Scripture, and that, for the most part, in
the words of the preacher 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 do more in the pulpit than
simply to read or repeat the very words of
Scripture; but it is equally evident, that he
must read or repeat Scripture to his hearers,
only in the languages in which they were
given to the Church. For, as has been often

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 53

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 objec-
tion before us be admitted, no man is at liberty
to teach the great truths of revelation in any
other way than by literally repeating the He-
brew text of the Old Testament, and the
Greek of the New, in the hearing of the peo-
ple. So extreme is the absurdity to which an
erroneous principle will not fail to lead those
who are weak enough, or bold enough, to fol-
low it to its legitimate consequences!

But, after all, what language do facts speak
on this subject? Are those individuals or
churches, who have been most distinguished
for their attachment and adherence to creeds,
more regardless of the Bible than other pro-
fessing 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
5*

54 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

Creeds or Catechisms, for either authority or
illustration, in the pulpit, do they not, noto-
riously, 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 Hol-
land, 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 attachment 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 abundant quo-
tations from Scripture for both purposes?
Can the same incessant and devout recurrence

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 55

to the sacred oracles be ascribed with equal
truth to the great body of the opposers of
Creeds, in ancient or modern times ? I will
not press this comparison into further detail;
but have no apprehension that even the bitter-
est enemy of Creeds, who has a tolerable ac-
quaintance 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 interfere 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 sur-
render the right of private judgment."

There would be some ground for this objec-
tion, if a Creed were, in any case, imposed by
the civil government, or by an established
Church; if any were obliged to receive it, un-
der heavy pains and disabilities, whether they
approved it or not. But as such a case does
not, and, happily, cannot exist in our favoured
country, the objection is surely as illegitimate

56 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

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 manufac-
tured to their hands, by persons living under
civil governments and ecclesiastical establish-
ments of an oppressive character; and view-
ing 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 in-
habitants of another planet.

It will not, surely, be denied by any one,
that a body of Christians have a right, in
every free country, to associate and walk to-
gether upon such principles as they may
choose to agree upon, not inconsistent with
public order. They have a right to agree and
declare how they understand the Scriptures;
what articles found in Scripture they concur
in considering as fundamental; and in what
manner they will have their public preaching
and polity conducted, for the edification of
themselves and their children. They have no
right, indeed, to decide or to judge for others.

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 57

nor can they compel any man to join them.
But it is surely their privilege to judge for
themselves; to agree upon the plan 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 har-
mony. 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, accountable for the use
which they make of it, and solemnly account-
able, to their Master in heaven; but to man
they surely cannot, and ought not, to be com-
pelled to give any account. It is their own
eoncern. 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, demonstration
itself cannot be more incontrovertible than
these positions.

58 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

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 admitted into their num-
ber; is it not equally manifest that they have
the same right to refuse admittance to those
with whom, they believe, they cannot be com-
fortably connected?

Let us suppose a church to be actually asso-
ciated upon the principle laid down; its Creed
and other articles adopted, and published for
the information of all who may wish to be in-
formed; 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 believe
the doctrines which you profess to embrace,
nor consent to be governed by the rules
which you have agreed to adopt." What an-
swer 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 cannot pos-

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 59

sibly 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 principles." Such an answer
would undoubtedly be deemed a proper one
by every reasonable person. Suppose, how-
ever, this applicant were still to urge his de-
mand; to claim admission as a right; and,
upon being finally refused, to complain, that
the society had "persecuted" and "injured"
him? Would anyone think him possessed of
common sense? Nay, would not the society
in question, if they could be compelled to re-
ceive such an applicant, instead of being op-
pressors of others, cease to be free themselves?
The same principle would still more strong-
ly apply, in case of a clergyman offering him-
self 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 government and of
worship which they had unanimously adopted,
and to say — " This is what we believe. We
pretend not to prescribe to others; ' but so we

60 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

have learned Christ;' so we understand the
Scriptures; and thus we wish ourselves, our
children, and all who look up to us for guid-
ance, to be instructed. Can you subscribe to
these formularies? Are you willing to come
among us upon these principles, 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 candidate cannot, or will
not, accept of the test, he will be, of course,
rejected. But, in this case, no judgment is
passed on his state toward God; no ecclesias-
tical 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 religion with themselves.
And is this an unreasonable demand? Are
not the rights of conscience reciprocal? Or
do they demand, that while a church shall be
prohibited from " oppressing" an individual,
an individual shall be allowed to " oppress" a

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 61

church? Surely it cannot be necessary to
wait for an answer.

Accordingly, the transactions of secular life,
furnish every day a practical refutation of the
objection which I am now considering. Does
the head of a family, when a person applies 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 uncomfor-
table 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 parents, an ac-
knowledged right to determine what qualifi-
cations they will require in a preceptor for
their children; and, if so, to bring all candi-
dates to the test agreed on, and to reject those
who do not corrrespond with it? And if a
candidate who fell totally short of the qualifi-
cations required, and who, of course, was re-
jected, should make a great outcry, that he
was " wantonly" and " tyrannically" depriv-
6

62 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

cd of the place to which he aspired, would
not every one think him insane, or worse
than insane ? The same principle applies to
every voluntary association, for moral, lite-
rary, or other lawful purposes. If the mem-
bers have not a right to agree on what princi-
ples they will associate, and to refuse mem-
bership to those who are known to be entirely
hostile 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 difference between any
one of these rights, and the right of any com-
munity 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
unfriendly 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 indeed!

It will probably, however, be alleged, that
a church cannot, properly speaking, be con-
sidered as a voluntary association; that it is
a community instituted by the authority of
Christ; that its laws are given by Him, as its

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 63

sovereign Head and Lord; and that its rulers
are in fact only 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, doubtless, all true. The
church of Christ certainly cannot be regarded
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 basis and the law of its establish-
ment, and, of course, none can be either ad-
mitted or excluded but upon principles which
his own word prescribes. This, however, it
is conceived, 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 volun-
tary, then those who form it, must certainly
be supposed to have a right to follow their
own convictions as to what their Divine Mas-
ter has revealed and enjoined respecting the

64 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

laws of their union. If they are not to judge
in this matter, 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 purity 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 particular case? to the
applicants or delinquents themselves; or to
the church in which membership is desired?
If to the latter, on what principle is she bound
to proceed ? As her members have voluntarily
associated for their mutual instruction and edi-
fication in spiritual things, have they not a
right to be satisfied that the individual who
applies to be received among them, either as a
private member or minister, entertains opin-
ions, and bears a character, which will be con-
sistent with the great object which they seek?
Can any such individual reasonably refuse to
satisfy them as to the accordance of his reli-
gious sentiments with theirs, if they think that
both the law of Christ, and the nature of the

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 65

case, render such accordance necessary to
Christian fellowship ? If he could not reason-
ably refuse to give satisfaction verbally on this
subject; could he, with any more reason, re-
fuse to state his own sentiments in writing,
and subscribe his name to that written state-
ment ? Surely to decline this while he con-
sented to give a verbal exhibition of his Creed,
would wear the appearance of singular caprice
or perverseness. But if no rational objection
could be made to his subscribing a declaration,
drawn up with his own hand, would it not be
exactly the same thing, as to the spirit of the
transaction, if, with a view, simply, to ascer-
tain 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 individual 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,
6*

66 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

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 com-
munion ? I fully grant, indeed, that, as her
authority rests entirely on the declared will of
Christ, she has no right, in the sight of God,
to propose to a candidate, any other than a
sound orthodox Creed. She cannot possibly
be considered as having a right, on this prin-
ciple, 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 member, or deposed
from office as a minister, is not here " oppres-
sion?" Is it not inflicting on a man a " heavy

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 67

penalty" for his " opinions;"' "punishing"
him for* his " sincere, conscientious convic-
tions ?" 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, and 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 pri-
vate member from the communion of a church,
or deposing a minister from office, in the regu-
lar and scriptural exercise of discipline, she
deprives neither of any natural 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 edifica-
tion, be a minister or a member with us. You
may be as happy and as useful as you can in
any other connexion; but we must take away
that authority and those privileges which we
once gave you, and of which your further
exercise among us would be subversive of

68 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

those principles which we are solemnly
pledged to support." Is this language unrea-
sonable ? Is the measure which it contem-
plates 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, con-
trary to its wishes; to the subversion of its
faith; to the disturbance of its peace; and
finally to the endangering of its existence;
and all this contrary to his own solemn en-
gagements, and to the distinct understanding
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, tbe
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 bar-
rier against what it deems heresy; and in
conformity with what it conscientiously be-
lieves 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 enlight-

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 69

ened manner, and on the largest scale, main-
taining the rights of conscience; and that for
such a church, instead of doing this, to give
up its own testimony to the truth and order of
God's house; to surrender its own comfort,
peace, and edification, for the sake of comply-
ing with the unreasonable demands of a cor-
rupt 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?

3. A third objection often urged against
subscription to Creeds and Confessions is, that
it is unfriendly to free inquiry. " When a
man," say the enemies of Creeds, *' has once
subscribed a public formulary, and taken his
ecclesiastical stand with a church which re-
quires 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 volunta-
rily to place himself in circumstances of so
much temptation; willingly to place himself
within the reach of strong inducements to

70 UTILITT AND IMPORTANCE

tamper with conscience, and to resist convic-
tion?"

In answer to this objection, my first remark
is, that when a man takes on himself the so-
lemn and highly responsible office of a public
instructer of others, we must presume that he
has examined the most important of the va-
rious Creeds, called Christian, with all the de-
liberation, sincerity, and prayer, of which he
is capable, and that he has made up 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 wavering 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, consider a state of
entire indecision with regard even to leading
theological doctrines, as the most laudable and
desirable state 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 equi-
librium of mind with respect to the most im-
portant doctrinal opinions, which shall amount

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 71

to perfect indifference whether he retains or
relinquishes his present sentiments. This they
eulogize, as " openness to conviction/' " free-
dom 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 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 commu-
nity, is firm in the principles which he has
professed, and will not be very apt, essentially,
to alter his Creed.

But further; the same objection might be
urged, with quite as much force, against a
man's making any public declaration of his
sentiments, either by preaching, or by writing,
and printing; lest he should afterwards obtain

72 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

more light, and yet be tempted to adhere, con-
trary to his conscience, to what he had before
so publicly espoused. 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 after-
wards 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 connexions.
The same thing would happen, if a change the
converse of this were to occur, and an ortho-
dox 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?

Nay, this objection, if it prove any thing,
will be found to prove by far too much even
for our opponents themselves. The adversa-
ries of Creeds acknowledge, with one consent,
that every one ought to be ready to profess

OP CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 73

his belief in the Bible. But is not even this
profession just as liable to the charge of being
" unfriendly to free inquiry" as any other?
Suppose any one, after solemnly declaring his
belief in the Bible, should cease to believe it?
Would he be bound to consider his old sub-
scription as still binding, and as precluding
further examination? Or would it be reason-
able in any man to decline any profession of
belief in the Bible, lest he should, one day,
alter his mind, and feel himself embarrassed
by his profession?

There can be no doubt, that every public
act, by which a man pledges himself, even as
a private member, to any particular denomi-
nation of Christians, interposes some obstacle
in the way of his afterwards deserting that
denomination, and uniting himself with ano-
ther. And, perhaps, it may be said, the more
delicate and honourable his mind, the more
reluctant and slow he will be to abandon his
old connexions, 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 so, shall a man
therefore, never join any Church; never take
7

74 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

one 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 differ-
ent 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 heathenish, that
no parent ought ever to instruct his child in
what he deems the most precious truths of the
Gospel, lest he should fill his mind with pre-
judices, 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 obstacle, in the way
of a subsequent change of opinion, on those
subjects which that instruction embraced. Yet
our Father in heaven has expressly com-
manded us to instruct our children and to en-
deavour to pre-occupy their minds with every
thing that is excellent both in principle and
practice. In short, if the objection before us
be valid, then no one ought ever to go for-
ward 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

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 75

principle, to disobey some of the plainest
commands of God, lest he should afterwards
entertain different views of those commands,
from those which he at present entertains.
Nay, if this be so, then every book a man
reads, and every careful, deep inquiry he
makes concerning the subject of it, must be
considered as tending to influence the mind,
and to interfere with perfect impartiality in
any subsequent inquiry on the same subject;
and, therefore, ought to be forborne!

Surely no man in his senses judges or acts
thus. Especially, no Christian allows himself
thus to reason or act. In the path of what
appears to be present duty, he feels bound to
go forward, leaving future things with God.
If subscription to a correct Creed be really
agreeable to the will of God; if it be necessa-
ry, both to the purity and harmony of the
Church; and, therefore, in itself a duty; then,
no man ought any more to hesitate about dis-
charging this duty, than about discharging any
of those duties which have been mentioned,
or any others which may be supposed. There
is no station in life in which its occupant does
not find some peculiar temptation. But if he

76 UTILITY AND IMRORTANCE

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 faith-
ful 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 his-
tory 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 re
proach, but also beggary, imprisonment, and
even death itself, in their most frightful forms,
rather than abandon the truth, and subscribe
to formularies which they could not conscien-
tiously adopt! On the other hand, how many
instances have occurred, within the last fifty
years, of unprincipled men, after solemnly sub-
scribing orthodox Creeds, disregarding their
vows, and opposing the spirit of those Creeds,
and still retaining their ecclesiastical stations,
without reserve! It is plain, then, that this
whole objection, though specious, has not the
least solidity. Truly upright and pious men
will always follow their convictions; while,

OP CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 77

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 intended by them. " 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 mention
only two examples: the Church of England,
for nearly three centuries, has had a set of
Articles decisively Calvinistic, to which all her
candidates for the ministry are required to
subscribe; but we know that more than a hun-
dred and fifty years have passed away, since
Pelagian and Semi-Pelagian tenets began 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,
7*

78 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

which has had, for nearly two centuries, the
most rigidly and minutely orthodox Confes-
sion on earth, is generally supposed, at this
hour, to have a ministry far from being unani-
mous in loving and honouring her public
standards. Now, if Creeds have not in fact,
been productive of the great benefit intended
by them, even in some of the most favourable
cases that can be produced, why be perplexed
and burdened with them at all ?"

This objection evidently proceeds on the
principle, that a remedy which does not ac-
complish every thing, is worth nothing. Be-
cause 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 rea-
soning? 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 completely defended
our country from all political animosity and
strife, is it, therefore, worthless? Or should
we have been more united and harmonious
without any constitutional provisions at all?
Because the system of public law does not an-

OP CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 79

nihilate all crime, should we, of course, be as
well without it. No one will say this. Nay,
may not the objection be retorted on those
who urge it? They contend that Creeds are
unnecessary; that the Bible is amply 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 continually warring
against the peace of the world.

But I go further, and maintain that the his-
tory 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 re-
markable degree, for the greater part of a
hundred years. In the reign of James I.,

80 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

very few opponents of Calvinism dared pub-
licly to avow their opinions; and of those who
did avow them, numbers were severely disci-
plined, and others saved themselves from
similar treatment, by subsequent silence and
discretion. The inroads of error, therefore,
were very powerfully checked, and its tri-
umph greatly retarded by those public stand-
ards. 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 guardedly brought in, in
consequence of which the faithful application
of the thirty-nine articles, as a test of ortho-
doxy, and of admission to the ministry, was
discontinued. 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 predomi-
nantly Arminian. We may truly say, then,
that the Creed of the Church of England con-
tinued to operate effectually as a bond of
union, and a barrier against the encroach-
mentsof heresy, as long as it continued to be

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 81

faithfully applied, agreeably to its known ori-
ginal purport. When it ceased to be thus
applied, it ceased to produce its wonted effect.
But can this be reasonably 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 Scot-
land. Her pre-eminently 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 subscription, heresy came in: — at
first, with reserve and caution, but afterwards
more openly. But even to the present day,
as all know who 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

82 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

churches of Great Britain yet accomplished
all the benefits to the cause of truth and right-
eousness which they are destined to confer.
Though their genuine spirit has been long
since forgotten by many; this is by no means
the case with all. There has constantly been
in both those churches, a body of faithful wit-
nesses to the truth. This body, thanks to the
Almighty and all-gracious King of Zion! is
increasing. Their " good Confessions" form
a rallying point, around which numbers are
now gathering; and those far-famed formu-
laries, the favourable influence of which has
been supposed by many to be long since ex-
hausted, and more than exhausted, will again
become, there is every reason to believe, an
" ensign to the people," to which there shall
be a flocking of those who love the "simpli-
city that is in Christ," more extensive and
more glorious than ever before.

Nor are we without significant attestations
to the efficacy of Creeds, and to the mischief
of being without them, in our own country.
Of the former, the Presbyterian church in the
United States, is one of the most signal exam-
ples. Conflicts she has, indeed, had; but they

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 83

have been such as were incident to every
community, ecclesiastical or civil, adminis-
tered by the counsels of imperfect men.
Amidst them all, she has, by the favour of
her Divine Head, held on her way, substan-
tially true to her system of doctrine and
order; and though constituted, originally, by
members from different countries, and of dif-
ferent habits, she has remained united to a
degree, considering all things, truly wonder-
ful. Of the latter, the Congregational churches
of Massachusetts, furnish a melancholy memo-
rial. 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
union, and equally destitute of the means of
maintaining it, if it had been possessed, they
have fallen a prey to dissension and error, to
a degree, equally instructive and mournful.

5. The last objection which I shall consider
is, that subscription to Creeds, has not only
failed entirely of producing the benefits con-
templated by their friends; but has rather
been found to produce the opposite evils; — to
generate discord and strife. " Creeds," say

84 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

some, "instead of tending to compose diffe-
rences, 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 harmonious."

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 the contrary, it would be
easy to show, by an extended induction 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 want 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 period; without exhibiting, before the end

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 85

of it, either that stillness of death, which is the
result of cold indifference to the truth; or that
miserable scene of 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 connected with conflict and conten-
tion in the Church ; it would form no solid
argument against them. Ardent attachment
to what they deemed truth, is the principle, in
all ages, which has led Christian communities
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 defence, 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
u contend earnestly, for the faith once deliv-
ered to the saints," and to hold him " accurs-
ed" who preaches " another gospel" than that

86 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

which the Scriptures reveal. But when such
"contention" becomes necessary, who is to
blame for it ? Surely not truth, or its advo-
cates; but those who patronise 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 con-
flict, much unhallowed temper may be mani-
fested. Not only on the part of the advocates
of error ; but also, in some degree, on the part
of the friends of truth. They may contend
even for the truth, with bigotry and bitter-
ness. Still, this does not render the truth
itself less precious; or the duty of contending
for it less imperative; or those summaries of
it which Christians have been led to form, less
valuable, as testimonies for God.

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 in-
nocent; and that all classes of religionists
were equally safe. But when the religion of
Jesus Christ was preached ; when his minis-
ters proclaimed that there was no other system
either true or safe; that there was no other

OP CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 87

foundation of hope ; that all false religions
were not only highly criminal, but also eter-
nally destructive; and that the followers of
Christ could not possibly countenance any of
them; — thenj a scene of the most shocking
persecution and violence, on the part of the
Pagans, 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
the 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 dread-
ful persecution which they were called to en-
dure.

The only additional remark, therefore,
which I have to make on the objection before
us, is, that it can have no force, excepting
upon the principle, that 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

8© UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

for the truth," must, of course, disturb that
cold and death-like tranquillity which indif-
ference to the purity of faith tends to intro-
duce. We are commanded, " 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 must not be at
peace with error or wickedness. The Divine
authority makes it our duty to oppose them
to the utmost at our peril. And if, in the dis-
charge of this duty, the peace of the church
is, for a time, disturbed, the sin lies at the
door of those who rendered the conflict neces-
sary. Those summaries of truth, which par-
ticular occasions make it important to embody
and to publish, are no more to blame for the
struggle, than the wise and wholesome law of
the land is to blame for that agitation which
necessarily attends the seizure, the trial, and
the execution of a malefactor.

But admitting Creeds to be lawful and ne-
cessary, it has often been asked by some who
profess to be their friends, whether they ought
ever to contain any other articles than those
few which are strictly fundamental ; — in other

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 89

words, whether we ought ever to insert among
the members of a Creed intended to be sub-
scribed by all candidates for office in a church,
any more than some half a dozen articles,
the reception of which is generally considered
as absolutely essential to Christian character?
This is a question of real importance, which
certainly deserves grave consideration, and a
candid answer. And for one, I have no hesi-
tation in saying, that in my opinion, church
Creeds not only lawfully may, but always
ought, to contain a number of articles besides
those which are fundamental. And to estab-
lish this, as it appears to me, no other proof is
necessary than simply to remark, that there
are many points confessedly not fundamental,
concerning which, nevertheless, it is of the
utmost importance to Christian peace and edi-
fication, that the members, and especially the
ministers of every church should be harmo-
nious in their views and practice. As long as
the visible church of Christ continues to be
divided into different sections or denomina-
tions, the several Creeds which they employ,
if they are to answer any effectual purpose at
all, must be so constructed as to exclude from
8*

90 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

each those teachers whom it conscientiously
believes to be unscriptural and corrupt ; and
whom, as long as it retains this belief, it ought
to exclude.

To exemplify my meaning. The Presby-
terian church, and most other denominations,
who have a regular system of government,
believe that the Christian ministry is a divine
ordinance, and that none but those who have
been regularly authorized to discharge its
functions, ought by any means, to attempt to
preach the Gospel, or administer the Sacra-
ments of the church. Yet there are very
pious, excellent men, who have adopted the
sentiments of some high-toned Independents,
who verily think that every " gifted brother,"
whether ordained or not, has as good a right
to preach as any man ; and, if invited by the
church to do it, to administer the Sacraments.
Now, no sober minded Presbyterian will con-
sider this as a fundamental question. Funda-
mental, indeed, it is, to ecclesiastical order;
but to the existence of Christian character, it
is not. Men may differ entirely on this point,
and yet be equally united to Christ by faith,
and, of course equally safe as to their eternal

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 91

prospects. But would any real, consistent
Presbyterian be willing to connect himself
with a church, calling itself by that name, in
which, while one portion considered none but
a regular minister as competent to the dis-
charge of the functions alluded to, as many of
the other portion as chose, claimed and actu-
ally exercised the right, to rise in the congre-
gation, and preach, baptize, and dispense the
Lord's Supper, when and how each might
think proper; and not only so, but when the
ordained ministers occupying the pulpit, in
succession, differed no less entirely among
themselves in reference to the disputed ques-
tion; some encouraging, and others repressing,
the efforts of these " gifted brethren ? I do
not ask whether such a church could be tran-
quil or comfortable; but whether it could pos-
sibly exist in a state of coherence, for twelve
months together ?

Take another example. No man in his
senses will consider the question which di-
vides the Pedobaptists and the Antipedobap-
tists as a fundamental one. Though I have
no doubt that infant baptism is a doctrine of
the Bible, and an exceedingly important doc-

92 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

trine; and that the rejection of it is a mis-
chievous error; yet I have quite as little doubt
that some eminently pious men have been of
a different opinion. But what would be the
situation of a church equally divided, or nearly
so, on this point; ministers as well as private
members constantly differing among them-
selves; members of each party conscientiously
persuaded that the others were wrong; each
laying great stress on the point of difference,
as one concerning which there could be no
compromise, or accommodation; all claiming
and endeavouring to exercise the right not
only to reason, but to act, according to their
respective convictions; and every one zealous-
ly endeavouring to make proselytes to his
own principles and practice? Which would
such a church most resemble — the builders of
Babel, when their speech was confounded; or
a holy and united family, "walking together
in the fear of the Lord, and in the consolations
of the Holy Ghost, and edifying one another
in love?"

Let me offer one illustration more. The
question between Presbyterians and Prelatists
is generally acknowledged not to be funda-

OP CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 93

mental. I do not mean that this is acknow-
ledged by such of our Episcopal brethren as
coolly consign to what they are pleased to call
the " uncovenanted mercy of God," all those
denominations who have not a ministry epis-
copally ordained; and who, on account of this
exclusive sentiment are styled by Bishop An-
drews, "iron hearted," and by Archbishop
Wake, "madmen:" but my meaning is, that
all Presbyterians, without exception; a great
majority of the best Prelatists themselves;
and all moderate, sober-minded Protestants, of
every country, acknowledge that this point of
controversy is one which does by no means
affect Christian character or hope. Still is it
not plain, that a body of ministers entirely
differing among themselves as to this point;
though they might love, and commune with,
each other, as Christians; could not possibly
act harmoniously together in the important
rite of ordination; whatever they might do in
other religious concerns ?

In all these cases, it is evident there is no-
thing fundamental to the existence of vital
piety. Yet it is equally evident, that those
who differ entirely and zealously concerning

94 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

the points supposed, cannot be comfortable in
the same ecclesiastical communion. But how
is their coming together, and the consequent
discord and strife, which would be inevitable,
to be prevented ? I know of no method but
so constructing their Confessions of Faith as
to form different families or denominations?
and to shut out from each those who are hos-
tile to its distinguishing principles of order.

It is plain, then, that unless Confessions of
Faith contain articles, not, strictly speaking,
fundamental, they cannot possibly answer one
principal purpose for which they are formed,
viz. guarding churches which receive the pure
order and discipline, as well as truth, of
Scripture, from the intrusion of teachers, who,
though they may be pious, yet could not fail
to disturb the peace, and mar the edification of
the more correct and sound part of the body.

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 judi-
cious and excellent Mr. Dunlop, in the able

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 95

Preface to his " Collection of Confessions:" to
" The Confessional," by Mr. Blackburn, one
of the most zealous and formidable opposers
of Creeds; which will prepare you for peru-
sing some of the best of the many valuable
answers to that far-famed work: to "Walker's
Vindication of the Church of Scotland," &c:
and, finally, to Mr. Dyer's " Inquiry into the
Nature of Subscription to Articles of Reli-
gion."

The subject, beloved Pupils, on which I
have been addressing you, is eminently a
practical one. It enters 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 from the foregoing
principles and reasonings, which appear to me
to deserve your 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 op-
pression.

There is something so perfectly visionary
and unreasonable in the very thought of " ty-

96 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

ranny," 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 attempt to do it? Is any man in the
United States obliged to profess any belief;
to subscribe any Creed; or to join any church
whatever? 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 either. But is any man
bound by human law, ecclesiastical or civil, to
do any of these things? Is any man in the
United States, after he has subscribed a 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 con-
duct, as he thinks proper? Everlasting thanks
to Him who gives us this freedom! 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

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 97

those who wish for more. They demand, in
effect, that the church should be willing to
take all manner of heresy, as well as ortho-
doxy, to her bosom, and to act as if she
regarded both with an equal eye. Nay, they
ask that heretics be freely allowed to impose
themselves upon her, whether she be willing
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 individu-
al who intrudes; but what becomes of the
liberty of the ecclesiastical body which he
thus enters, contrary to its wishes and com-
fort, and to its real injury? It is, evidently,
the same sort of privilege in the church, as the
privilege of invading the retreat of private
families, or disturbing the peace of civil soci-
9

98 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

ety, at pleasure, and with impunity, would
be regarded by the 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 transaction,
which means much, and infers the most seri-
ous obligations. 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
transaction, 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 become custom-
ary, to consider Articles of Faith as merely
articles of peace; in other words, as articles
which he who subscribes, is not considered as
professing to believe; but as merely engaging
not to oppose — at least in any public or offen-
sive manner. Whether we bring this princi-
ple to the test of reason, of Scripture, of the

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 99

original design of Creeds, or of the ordinary
import of language among honourable men; —
it seems equally liable to the severest repro-
bation, 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,
publicly avow their adoption of this principle;
admit the correctness of it; keep each other
in countenance; and thus escape, as they ima-
gine, the charge of hypocrisy. What would
be thought of a similar principle, if generally
adopted and avowed, with respect to the ad-
ministration of oaths in civil courts? Suppose
both jurors and witnesses, feeling it a griev-
ance 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 themselves any
such obligation; that they did not so under-
stand 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 juror, in such a case be

100 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

exempt from the charge of perjury, or the
judge from the guilt, of subornation of per-
jury? I presume not, in the estimation 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
principles 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 subscription 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 subscri-
bing, 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 not but that here, insince-
rity, concealment, double dealing, and mental
reservations, are, to say the least, quite as
mean and base as they can be in the transac-
tions of social and civil life.

You will, perhaps, ask me, what shall be

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 101

done by a man who loves the Presbyterian
Church; who considers it as approaching
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 arti-
cles, that he knows; and who yet, in some of
its minor details cannot entirely concur? Can
such an one honestly subscribe, without any
previous explanation 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 principles, 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 proceed-
ing in such a case as this, which Christian can-
dour, and a pure conscience will justify, than
the following: Let the candidate for admission
unfold to the Presbytery before which he pre-
sents 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 dis-
tinctly to understand, that if he subscribe the

102 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

Confession of Faith, he must he understood to
do it in consistency with the exceptions and
explanations which he specifies. If the Pres-
bytery, after this fair understanding, should be
of the opinion, that the excepted points were
of little or no importance, and interfered with
no article of faith, and should be willing to
receive his subscription in the usual way, 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
sincerely and faithfully to that Creed, in pub-
lic and in private; and to make it his study to
promote, by all means in his power, the peace
and purity of the body with which he has con-
nected himself. And if he should, at any time,
alter his views concerning any part of the
Creed or order of the Church in question, it
will be incumbent on him to inquire, whether
the points, concerning which he has altered

OP CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 103

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 reconcile this with an en-
lightened sense of duty, he may remain in
peace. But if the points 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 peaceably withdraw, and join
some other branch of the visible Church, with
which he can walk harmoniously. Such he
may find almost every where, unless his views
be singularly eccentric. But, at an)' rate, he
has no more right to insist on remaining, and
being permitted publicly to oppose, what he
has solemnly vowed to receive and support;
than a member of any voluntary association,
which he entered under certain engagements,
but with which he no longer agrees, has a
right obstinately to retain his connexion with
it, and to avail himself of the influence which
his connexion gives him, to endeavour to tear
it in pieces.

It is no solid objection to this view of the

104 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

subject, to allege, that every man is under ob-
ligations to obey the great Head of the Church,
altogether paramount to those which bind him,
in virtue of any ecclesiastical engagements, to
obey the Church herself. 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 re-
main in connexion with the ecclesiastical body
which he now joins; yet he may safely pro-
mise that he will be a regular and orderly
member of the bod}^, as long as he does re-
main in connexion with it. When he ceases
to be able to do this, without sinning against
God, he will, if he be an honest man, imme-
diately withdraw. If he remain, and suffer
himself habitually to violate his engagement,
under the pretence of benefitting the body to
which he has vowed allegiance, he will be
chargeable with the sin of treacherously and
basely " doing evil that good may come."

To illustrate my meaning by a familiar ex-
ample. Every student of this Seminary has,

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 105

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 specified in the
plan for its instruction and government, so far
as the same relate to the students; and further,
that he will obey all the lawful requisitions of
the Professors and Directors/' &c. As this
engagement 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 ability. Suppose, however,
that one of your number should become per-
suaded, that some of the " regulations speci-
fied in the plan" of the Seminary, are not
only unwise, and inconvenient, but also im-
moral; what ought he to do? Ought he to
remain in the institution, and habitually vio-
late the regulations to which he excepted,
pleading that he could not conscientiously
obey them, because, though he had solemnly
engaged to do so, he felt himself under a prior
and paramount obligation to "obey God rather
than man?" This, surely, no Christian would
approve, nor any faithful government tolerate.
No; every principle of honour and integrity

106 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

would dictate, that he should immediately
withdraw from the Seminary; 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 con-
science, resume his place in the institution.

4. We are led to reflect, from the represen-
tation which has been given, how easy it is for
a single imprudent or unsound minister to
do extensive and irreparable mischief in the
Church. Such an one, especially if he be a
man of talents and influence, by setting him-
self, either openly or covertly, against the
public standards of his Church; by addressing
popular feeling, and availing himself of popu-
lar prejudice; may do more, in a short time,
to prepare the way for fatal error, than all his
usefulness, 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 character

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 107

of the ministry of any particular Church, will
be, generally speaking, the character of the
Church itself. On the one hand, if the minis-
ters of religion be generally enlightened, or-
thodox, holy, diligent, and faithful men, the
Church to which they belong, 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, corrupted,
divided, and ruined, but the mischief was
done by its ministers. However humiliating
or painful this assertion may be, it is undoubt-
edly confirmed by all Scripture, and all expe-
rience. 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, turbulent
minister. If, in every walk of society, " one
sinner destroyeth much good," how much
more wide spread, deplorable, and fatal is the
mischief, when the criminal individual is a
minister! By erroneous opinions; by corrupt
habits; by a love of innovation; by embracing
himself, and extensively imparting to others,
pernicious delusions; — he may do more in
five or ten years, to agitate, divide, corrupt,

108 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

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 individuals, of popular talents,
in Massachusetts, more than fifty years ago,
in gradually undermining orthodoxy, and in
reconciling the public mind to heretical opi-
nions, is as well known, as it is deeply de-
plored, by many who are acquainted with the
ecclesiastical history of New England. The
authors of this mischief have long since gone
to their account; but their works have sur-
vived 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 com-
mitted 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 prin-
ciples are essentially wrong. But, 0, think
not that mere frigid orthodoxy, however per-

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 109

feet, is all that is needed. Labour to diffuse,
in every direction; the holy and benign influ-
ence of truth. If " the household of faith"
be corrupted 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 honour,
your own fancies, or your own speculations,
but " the things which are Jesus Christ's."
If you cannot benefit the Church, (and no
man has a right to say that he cannot, if
he have a heart for the purpose) at least, do
not lend your influence to the unhallowed
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 perch
and the altar, and saying, spare thy people,
0, Lord, and give not thine heritage to re-
proach ; save them, and lift them up forever!"
5. We may infer, ^om what has been said,
the duty and importance of all the members,
10

HO UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

and especially the ministers, of the Presbyte-
rian Church, exerting themselves to spread a
knowledge of her public standards. I say,
her "public standards?' notwithstanding all
the sneer and censure which have been cast
on this language. For every intelligent 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 inter-
pret the Bible. These formularies — if they
be really an epitome of the word of God, and
surely we think them so — 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 con-
tains their articles, forms, and offices, in every
family within their reach, which belongs to
their communion, or can be considered as

OP CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. HI

tending towards it. Our Methodist and Bap-
tist brethren, with no less diligence, do the
same, with respect to those books which ex-
hibit the doctrines and order of their respec-
tive denominations. All this is as it should
be. It bespeaks men sincere in their belief,
and earnest in the dissemination of what 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 apostoli-
cal practice than that of any other Church on
earth, are yet so negligent, not to say so in-
different, as to the circulation of these formu-
laries ? 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 ac-
count for the peculiar frequency of this negli-
gence in the ministry of our Church ? It
would be far from being true, I trust, to say,

112 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

that our clergy are more unfaithful in the ge-
neral discharge of their duties, than those of
any other communion. May we not rather
ascribe the fact in question to another fact,
from which it might be expected naturally to
arise? The fact to which I allude is, that, in
the Presbyterian Church, at the present 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
esprit du corps, than in any other ecclesiasti-
cal body among us. We are in truth, if I do
not mistake, so excessively free from it, as to
be hardly ready to defend ourselves when
attacked. We are so ready to fraternize 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 excel-
lent; 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 head of a
family, in the ardour of its exercise, feels no
more concern or responsibility respecting his
own household, than he does about the house-

OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 113

holds of others, he acts an unreasonable part,
and, what is worse, disobeys the command of
God. Something analogous to this, I appre-
hend, is the mistake of that Christian, or that
minister, who in the fervour of his Catholi-
cism, loses sight of the fact, that God, in his
providence, has connected him with a particu-
lar branch of the visible Church, the welfare
and edification of which he is peculiarly bound
to seek. If his own branch of the Church
have any thing of peculiar excellence in his
estimation, on account of which he prefers
it — which is always to be supposed — can it
be wrong for him to desire that others should
view it in the same light ? And if he be jus-
tifiable 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 accre-
dited publications ?

Happy will it be for our Church, then, if
her future 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 recom-
mend a sacred regard to this duty. Resist,
10*

114 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

always, to the utmost of your power, the lit-
tleness of sectarian bigotry, and strive to banish
it from the Church. But, at the same time,
cherish 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 acquaintance with
our Confession of Faith, and Form of Govern-
ment and Discipline, as well as our Catechisms,
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 public formularies on trust; but dili-
gently 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 forming solid, intel-
ligent Christians. Thus may you 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

OP CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 1 15

render the Church an essential service; 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 dis-
pensation 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 prostra-
tion of most of those fences, and the dissolu-
tion of most of those ties, which have hereto-
fore been regarded as indispensable to the
maintenance of unity and harmony 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 edi-
fying the Church, by laying aside all the
means of grace; as of promoting its purity and
peace, by abandoning those methods of bind-
ing its members together, which have been
found necessary ever since the days of the
Apostles.

The apostle Peter thus exhorted the Chris-
ians in his day: "Be sober, be vigilant, be-

116 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

cause your adversary, the Devil, as a roaring
lion goeth about seeking whom he may de-
vour." And another apostle, reminded those
to whom he wrote, that this adversary often-
times " 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 progressive harmony of the
different evangelical denominations; their in-
creasing 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 for-
mer barriers to be broken down. But re-
member my young friends, that a similar
notion has been entertained, and afterwards
abandoned, in almost every century since the
incarnation of Christ. Remember, too, that
even when the Millennium shall arrive, human
nature will still be depraved, and will still

OP CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. H7

stand in need of law and regulation, not, per-
haps, as much, 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 experience have so long given their
sanction.

While I exhort you, then, to hail with de-
light the spirit of harmony, of union, and of
active co-operation, which is among the most
precious and animating " signs of the times"
in which we live; and while I earnestly hope
that no student of this Seminary 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,
intreat you always to temper your zeal with
soberness. I say soberness; for this is a
quality, not always found associated even with
great vigour of talent, and great warmth of
piety. Many a man of admirable endow-
ments in other respects; endowments which
qualified him, if they had been happily di-

118 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE

rected, 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 impelled by the ap-
proaches of others, as anomalous as himself;
that, like the comet of the infidel philosopher,
he has only been able to strike off a few wan-
dering stars from the parent luminary, while
he himself, given up to an orbit more and
more eccentric, never returned, either to regu-
larity 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 im-
provement. Happy are they, who, taking
the word of God for their guide, and walking
in " the footsteps of the flock," continually
seek the purity, the peace, and the edification
of the Master's family: — Who, listening with
more respect to the unerring Oracle, and to
the sober lessons of Christian experience, than
to the delusions of fashionable error, hold on
their way, " turning neither to the right hand

OP CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. H9

nor the left," and considering it as their high-
est 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, for ever! Amen!

THE END-

1. 1012 01144 7762

-<

A

\J