The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1877-09-06
Creeds Of ChristendOm.

trpeds Of thrIstend0m.
The Interior makes the following com
ments on DIR. Schaff's recent and grea
work
The publication at this time OF DIR
Schaff-s great work, entitled the "Creed
of Christendom, will do good servic
TO the cause OF evangelical christianity
in more ways than one. IL will show
the outside world, so far as the worlC
has any disposition to learn, precisely
what those famous creeds are, agains
which so much is said in our day as hav
ing long enslaved the minds of men. II
will serve to expose the popular fallacy
which so many have embraced, and some
who ought to have known better, thai
there can be no individual liberty OF
rights of conscience compatible with a
creed. 1t will both illustrate and vim
dictate the great Protestant principle, so
fully recognized by all the Protestant
4 confessions, and in fact pracGced by
every evangelical church in Christendom
in essentials unity, and Don-essentials
liberty, in all things charity. 1t will
prove, as DR.. Schaff we'll remarks, that
there has been broader and deeper har-
mony of scripture doctrine among the
manifold creeds of the Protestant
churches since the reformation, even
when they have been most divergent,
than ever existed in the boasted unity of
the church of Rome. And 1t ought to
put an effectual quietus to the senseless
hue and cry which is raised from time
TO time, and never more than now, against
the whole evangelical church, that her
ministers and members are grooming I'M
der the cruel bondage of the ironbonnd
creeds of the past.
A man must be dreadfully afraid of
compromising bis intellectual freedom,
or strangely fascinated with the idea
that he stands head and shoulders above
all other men, when he can find no single
ono of all these Christian creeds broad
enough to satisfy his cravings for per-
sonal liberty. In so wide range of
choice as to existing creeds and church
es, in case a man cannot find anchorage
for his opinions in any,we should suspect
that his individualism is abnormal, and
that the difficulty is more 10 the heart,
which does not like the truth, than in |
the head, which cannot assent to it. In our |
observation OF men and reading of his
tory, il has generally been found that
creedless Christian is O Chrstless one. /
There is no part of the Christian lit
erature Of the grand period inaugurated
by the reformation, and extending to |
our day, moro remarkable for nature,
condensed thought, and more worthy of
profound respect than these great Prot
estant confessions. They contain the
rest Christian thought of the ages-not
the thought of one man, but Of whole
bodies of men, consulting and agreeing
together as to the teachings of tho word
of God. Every one knows, or ought to
know, that they are not, and never have
been, the ultimate standard and rule of
faith. All Protestant churches, from
the beginning till now, have always pro.
claimed and held their creeds, not as the
supreme authority, but as the suboIdin-
ate to the word of God. They are
simply symbols of common faith and
agreement among Christians, the truest
and best interpretations of the word of
God which the age could give, author
lied testimonials against prevailing er-
rors, and formulated statements of the
great cardinal doctrines Of the Christian
system.
It is to be hoped that this great
scholarly work of DR.. Schaff will do
something to cool the belligerent ardor
of those seifappolnted public censors
who appear TO feel that, through the {
pulpit or the press, they are called to the
task Of overthrowing the church creeds. I
The Christian Intelligencer,in reviewing {
the last deliverance of Scribner's Mont I
", may we'll ask off it is not time that c
cultivated meu and leading editors Z
should cease this sensational drivel about q
the bondage of the creeds of Christen. q
dom whenever a new theory IS preached, I
or some dissentient breaks loose from
his VOWS and from the faith of his faith
ers y And we can not but admire the
success with which our able contemporary I
has carried the war into Africa in the I
following passage:
But the creedless Christianity for !.
which this editor contends has never
had any historical standing in the uni.
versal Christian church. Wherever il
las been attempted il has produced only :
new and greater divisions. Ii repre-
'ents the anarchy of beliefs and doubts. !.
We need Only instance the bitter con- :.
licts of the Society of Friends and the ut. !. :
er separation between the orthodox and .
and tho progressiveFriends. !"
The most recent manifestation of the z
principle of universal liberty of thought ="
md of speech which this patronizing :,
rite advocates is 10 be found within tn Q y
anks of so called Liberal Christian u
y" But even there the result has been
o develop the widest and widest diff. =
erences, ranging from the baldest old. :.
ashioned SocinIanism to the deism of ~
Nhedore Parker and the more advanced
culture of rockingham "
nj Bartol. But there is no unity, no :,
omnon faith. and We may add no New -
religion in that school of free ~
h,nkers.
The TRANSMISSION Of Blood. =,
A good degree of success has attend N