HUMAN CREEDS VS. DIVINE.
By George B. Thompson
THE Presbyterian Church is again being agitated over the question of revising their creed. The New York Times recently said:— The recent revival in the Presbyterian Church of the not very manly sport of heresy hunting, has had consequences that could not have been anticipated by the hunters. It is likely to be they who are to become the hunted. Dr. Parkhurst, of this city, and a number of other Presbyterian ministers of similar standing, have not only made known their sympathy with the particular quarry of the hunters, but have said plainly that it is time that the creed of the Presbyterian Church should be revised, and that the Westminster Confession should be put in its proper place as a historical document, reflecting the state of mind of some more earnest than enlightened men of the sixteenth century, and not as a confession of faith binding forever upon the Christian church or the Presbyterian branch of it. That the creed needs revising we have no doubt. It is only a human document at best, and of course is subject to human limitations. The fact is it should never have been made. To formulate what John Calvin, or any other man, believed into a creed and set it forth as the faith of a church, shuts off all further scriptural investigation. It reminds me of my experience when a boy. My father purchased a farm in Illinois, and, while working it, before any fences were built, in order to pasture our horses, we had to tether them with a long rope. Having driven the stake to which the rope was fastened securely into the ground, we left them tied till morning. During the night they would eat and tread down every blade of grass to the utmost limit of the rope. Round and round they would walk and strive to reach the beautiful, tender grass almost within reach, but the rope was inexorable, and, no matter how much they turned, they could only secure the residue, fouled beneath their feet. Thus it is with a creed. Once we are tethered to that, no matter how many gems of truth may be presented to us from God's Word, we can not accept them unless they are in the creed. The woman at the well appealed to "our father Jacob," and so we appeal to the creed as the end of all controversy. The precious light of God's Word appears good and inviting, and our souls hunger for this heavenly manna; but, O, the creed! What is the matter with the Bible? Why not adopt that as our creed? It is able to thoroughly furnish us unto every good work, and is not subject, like the faith of men, to human limitations. With this for our creed, whatever comes to us from its sacred pages we can receive, and do not need to hesitate before doing so till some church council shall alter or revise the creed. G. B. THOMPSON.