Methodism, Campbellism, etc.
In an article in the Methodist Review, with the title “The Creed of Methodism: Where Can It Be Found?” Bishop E. E. Hoss of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, makes the following clear statement:— First, then, the creed of Methodism is contained primarily in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. There is no church in the whole world that appeals more distinctly and directly to these Scriptures than ours does. Our Fifth Article declares explicitly: “Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation, so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.” If anybody should venture to say that this is Campbellism, my reply would be that it is nothing of the sort; for Campbellism, while professing to appeal to the Scriptures solely, does really appeal to a specific interpretation of the Scriptures, an interpretation which is none the less fixed in character for not being reduced to a written formulary. This is the true Protestant position, but we suggest to Bishop Hoss that the application of this Fifth Article, apart from the taint of Campbellism, must inevitably lead to the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath “according to the commandment,” as well as to the rejection of some other doctrines now finding advocates in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. We greatly wish that this Fifth Article were operative in all professedly Protestant churches.