WHAT SOME PROTESTANT CREEDS SAY.
THE thirty-nine articles of the Protestant Episcopal Church declare:— "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 the faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation."—Article 6. "No Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral."—Article 7. "It is not lawful for the church to ordain anything that is contrary to God's Word written."—Article 20. The Methodist Episcopal Church is to all intents and purposes the same in its articles 5 and 6; and in Catechism No. 2 of the same church, p. 38, the moral law is defined as follows:— "86. What is the rule of our obedience?
"The moral law. 'If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.' Matt. 19:17.
"87. Where is the moral law given?
"In the Ten Commandments.' Ex. 20:1-17." "It was not the design of Christ to revoke any part of the law. It can not be broken. Every part of it remains in force upon all men in all ages. Neither time, place, nor circumstances make it liable to change." Our Baptist brethren declare:— "We believe the Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired, and is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction; that it has God for its Author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter; that it reveals the principles by which God will judge us, and therefore is, and shall remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried."—Baptist Convention of New Hampshire. From the "Advance Almanac for 1894 and Manual of Congregationalism," we take the following:— "5. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the record of God's revelation of Himself in the work of redemption; that they were written by men under the special guidance of the Holy Spirit; that they are able to make wise unto salvation, and that they constitute the authoritative standard by which religious teaching and human conduct are to be regulated and judged."—P. 56 Creed of 1883. The Presbyterian Confession of Faith thus speaks on the same point:— "The Bible contains the whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, or man's salvation, faith, and life.
"The moral law doth forever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof; and that not only in regard to the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God, the Creator, who gave it. Neither doth Christ in the Gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen, this obligation."—Article 5. "Neither are the aforementioned uses of the law contrary to the grace of the Gospel, but do sweetly comply with it, the Spirit of Christ subduing, and enabling the will of man to do that freely and cheerfully which the will of God, revealed in the law, requireth to be done."—Article 7. Other Protestant declarations are similar. The great fact is that Protestants are face to face with these principles in the Sabbath question. Will they follow the Word? or will they repudiate both that and their articles of faith?