p. 8 | CREED BOUND by L. A. P.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 6, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 23.

CREED BOUND.

By L. A. P.

A WAVE of dissension has again struck the ranks of Presbyterians; and, while its main force has subsided, its rise reveals one of the serious evils attending creeds. Not long since, Dr. Hillis, Presbyterian pastor of the Plymouth Congregational Church, Brooklyn, gave utterance to his disbelief in the doctrine of the election of a certain and definite number of human beings to everlasting death, which is one of the teachings of the Westminster Confession. Realizing that he could not consistently continue to declare against a doctrine appearing to him hateful, and remain in the church, Dr. Hillis has withdrawn from the Presbyterian denomination. No doubt he should have withdrawn before publicly assailing one of the standard creeds of the church.

The episode has given occasion for much discussion pro and con, and it is very evident that the particular doctrine in question is believed by very few who subscribe to it. Objection has been long raised to it, but thus far the majority has refused to change it, preferring to retain the Confession in its entirety as a relic and memory of the rise of Presbyterianism. The remarkable thing is that any man can by any process of mental reservation excuse his action in subscribing to that in which he does not believe.

All this only illustrates the evil of the creed idea. But, having once subscribed to it, the minister is morally bound to hold himself to its limits in his teaching, as long as he remains in the church whose doctrines are thus humanly and ultimately defined. A creed is a rut, a high wall, a narrow lane, an iron track. Its Gospel opposite is not anarchy, not lawlessness, not blind wandering, as some conclude, but divinely directed freedom in the great universe of truth, with the Guide the Word of God, which leads from truth to truth. Man may think he has arrived at the safe place to define belief; but he has only begun his journey. It is safe only to testify to the revelation of the hour, and go on, trusting in God.

L. A. P.