The Value of a Creed by K. C. Russell

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 11, 1906

The Value of a Creed

By K. C. Russell

K. C. RUSSELL

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT in a speech which he delivered on a recent Sunday at Oyster Bay, outlined his idea of the worth of a creed as follows:—

“The worth of any creed must in the long run be judged largely by the conduct of those who profess it. The most effective service for Christianity that can possibly be given is to show in actual life that those who profess it do give in their conduct an approximate expression to the faith that is in them. It is the conduct of the average Christian, not on Sunday, but on week-days, not in the church alone, but in his family and in his relations to his neighbors and to the state, that will more than anything else determine in the eyes of the general public the worth of the creed that man professes. Of course, all this applies in little things which, in their sum, are so big. The man is not a good Christian

if his domestic conduct is such that when he returns to his home, his wife and children feel a sense of uneasiness at his having come.”

The President’s statement as to the worth of a creed is what many are longing to see exemplified in the lives of professed Christians in these times when pride, love of the world, and selfishness are sapping the vitality from the professed church of Christ.

The condition will never be attained by the teaching of moral ethics or simply an outward conformity to certain moral maxims. It will require nothing short of the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit in the soul in order to produce the fruits outlined by the President.

Takoma Park, D. C.