The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-05-17
A Notable Gathering.

The Evangelical Alliance, under whose
auspices it is proposed to hold in New York
City, during the coming fall, sert of Pro-
testant Gcumenical Council, in rivalry or if
not in opposition to, that of tive Vatican, is
voluntary organization, embracing mem'
bers of various Protestant religious denoml-
nations They come together ostensbly to
effect certain objects held in common by ALL
at the foundation of which lies the promo
ton of what the Alliance assumes to be evan
gelical religion, in contradistinction to Ro-
man Catholicism, acknowledged irreligion,
atheism and infdelity. But in defining
what constitutes evangelical religion, the
Alliance,may trench on dangerous ground,
and weaken its bond of union.
The Alliance is based on what is supposed
to be the consensus Of the various confes-
sons of faith adopted by different Protestant
denominations mutually recognizing each
other rs evangelical This summary was
originally adopted in London in 1916. 1t
embraces the following cardinal principles:
L, The divine inspiration, authority and suf-
ficiency of the Holy Scriptures.
H. The right and duty of private judgment
in the Interpretation of The Holy Scriptures.
III. The unity of the Godhead and the Trim
ity Of the Persons therein.
Nv. The utter depravity of human nature in
consequence Of the fall
V. The incarnation of the Son of God, His
work of atonement for sinners of mankind,
and His medatorial intercession and reign.
VI. The justification Of the sinner by faith
alone
VII The work of the Holy Spirit in the con-
version and sanctifcation of the sinner.
VIII. The immortality Of the soul, the resur-
rection Of the body, the judgment OF the world
by our Lord Jesus Christ, with the eternal
blessedness of the righteous, and the eternal
punishment of the wicked.
TX. The divine Institution of the Christian
ministry, and the obligation and perpetuity
of IT,. ordinance of Baptism and the Lords
Supper.
The Alliance, however, in adopting this
summary, as if foreseeing threatened danger,
is careful to protest that it does not accept
or adopt it as creed or confession, but
merely as an indication of the class of per-
sons whom it is desirable to embrace within
the organization.
The Alliance has encountered opposition,
even among Protestant denominations, to
its efforts to assemble its grand Gcumenical
Council The summary Of faith or basis Of
union at one blow cuts of the large ard infu-
entail denominations of Christians, called Uni
tarians and Universalists, and is not espe-
cially acceptable to the different schools OF
Lutherans. Theologians OF the Beecher
school, who have been charged with tenden-
cies averse to Trinitarianism-or at least
with undue sympathy with Unitarianism =
will hardly take kindly to the basis. Ritual
stic or High Church Episcopalans, who in
yariably stand aloof from oil unions, may be
expected to have nothing to do with this Al
lance or its General Conference. But there
is another element, particularly in the Church
of England, which at present is repelled by
the rigidity OF the Alliance platform. This
is that influential body represented by Dean
Afford, of Canterbury, who withholds his ac-
ceptance of an invitation 20 participate in
the conference until the extreme Calvinism
of the basis is modified or satisfactorily ex-
pained.