bly of divines affirmed that the whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture; unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of men.'

"The scheme of union now under consideration contemplates the practical as against the merely theoretical restoration of the religion of the Son of God as he gave it to man, 'its doctrine, its ordinances, its fruits.' Then Christ was infallible. His thought and speech and conduct were always right. His apostles spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. It is proposed, therefore, to unite the divided people of God on the following basis:

"1. The original creed of Christ's church; 2. The ordinances of his appointment; 3. The life which has the sinless Son of man as its perfect exemplification.

"The creed of the church of which the Son of God was the builder is simply this: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. When Simon Peter declared this truth in the presence of the Master, then Christ expressed himself as pleased with it, and said that on this basis he would build his church. With this creed he is doubtless pleased to-day. Why longer delay the visible union of the people of God by a search for a better creed than this, so emphatically approved by our blessed Lord?

"The ordinances of Christ's appointment are baptism and the Supper of the Lord. Baptism is an immersion in water of penitent believers in the name of the Lord Jesus, and into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. That this is Christian baptism is denied by none. Its acceptance is universal. The region of controversy is left by accepting this as the one baptism.'

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Affusion, as a mode of baptism, is in dispute; immersion, as baptism, is not in controversy. The way to peace at this point is clear.

"In the Lord's Supper the Christ appointed the use of bread and the fruit of the vine to symbolize to his disciples through the ages his body broken and his blood poured out for the sins of the whole world.

"The life of the Christian is to be lived with a continual reference to the man Christ Jesus. To be a Christian is to drink in his spirit of love and loyalty, reproducing in our associations with men, as far as possible, aided by divine grace, the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the standard of right living, both Godward and manward.

"This, in brief, is the basis on which we, who desire to be known as Disciples of Christ, or as simply Christians, believe that the church of the living God may be so visibly united as to move on compactly to the conquest of the world.

"There is a necessity for the exercise of a large charity toward all who profess and call themselves Christians, while maintaining an unswerving loyalty in all things to the Head of the body-Christ Jesus the Lord. In matters of human ordering or human choice, relating to modes of worship and discipline or to traditional customs, we are ready, in the spirit of love and humility, to forego all preferences of our own to secure the union for which the Son of God so fervently prayed.

"Finally, realizing, as we think we do, the hindrance to the successful evangelization of the nations in obedience to our Lord's final command, occasioned by our denominational divisions, we hereby declare our desire to enter into fraternal conference with our brethren from whom we are separated by denominational differences, with a view to the earnest study of the conditions under which a more

manifest union among the people of God may be brought about.

"And now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great and good Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make us perfect in every good work to do his will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."

On motion, the report was adopted and the committee continued, Jabez Hall leading the convention in prayer for union.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE CREED QUESTION.

ONE of the earliest points discussed was the expediency of humanly devised creeds as tests of fellowship and bonds of union among Christians, the Disciples maintaining that such creeds as bonds of union and terms of communion

are necessarily heretical and schismatical. This was one of Mr. Campbell's affirmations in his debate with Mr. Rice in Lexington, Ky., in the year 1843.

The word "authoritative" is an important word, and is to be borne continually in mind in any attempt to understand the position of the Disciples on the creed question. Their objection was and is to authoritative human creeds. That is to say, they object to creeds of this character as conditions of Christian and church fellowship. "By an authoritative creed is meant an abstract of human opinions concerning the supposed cardinal articles of Christian faith, which summary is made a bond of union or term of communion." ("Millennial Harbinger" for 1832, p. 344.)

The Disciples do not object to publishing what they understand to be the teaching of Holy Scripture on any subject of faith or duty as a matter of information. They protest only against using such statement as a condition of fellowship.

In an early period of the discussion attention was called to the fact that Unitarians, for example, warred against human creeds because those creeds supported Trinitarian

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ism. Arminians too were hostile, it was said, to creeds because those creeds supported Calvinism. The controversy of the Disciples is to be distinguished from all previous controversies on this subject in that their opposition to creeds arose from the conviction that whether their contents were true or false they were hostile to the union, peace, harmony, and purity of Christians, and so were hindrances in the way of the conversion of the world to Christ. ("Christian System," p. 9.)

The principle which in the beginning was heartily accepted, and to which the Disciples have been and are devoted, may be expressed in the following words: “Faith in Jesus as the true Messiah, and obedience to him as our Lawgiver and King, the only test of Christian character and the only bond of Christian union, communion, and coöperation irrespective of all creeds, opinions, commandments, and traditions of men." ("Christian System," p. 8.)

The constitutional principle in the organization of the Christian Association of Washington, Pa., is expressed in the following words: "That this society, formed for the purpose of promoting simple evangelical Christianity, shall to the utmost of its power countenance and support such ministers, and such only, as exhibit and manifest conformity to the original standard in conversation and doctrine, in zeal and diligence, only such as reduce to practice the simple original form of Christianity expressly exhibited upon the sacred page, without attempting to inculcate anything of human authority, of private opinion, or inventions of men as having any place in the constitution, faith, or worship of the Christian church or anything as matter of Christian faith or duty for which there cannot be produced athus saith the Lord,' either in express terms or by approved precedent." ("Memoirs of Thomas Campbell," p. 28.)