The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-02-09
For the Central Presbyterian
The Revised Directory for Wor-
ship.
No. 2.


No. 9.
Chapter Ill "Ihe administration of
Baptism" HIRE we find an entirely new
feature in the Presbyterian Form of Wor-
ship, viz, the Greed, which is to be re-
peatedin the administration of baptism
to ADULTS. 1t is we'll known bv those who
are familiar with the service of the Epis-
copal and Lutheran Churches, that this
creed is repeated in these Churches every
Sabbath day; but it has never been used
In the Presbyterian Churches of America,
although it is bound up with our "Con-
fession of Faith, and forms part of it,
Various reasons might be given for this,
some regarding it as very defective as a
rule of faith; not word or hint being
found In 1T concerning repentance, the
melO birth, or the atonement of Christ
Others look upon some of it's articles as OBJ
jectionable-tor instance that of Christ's
descent into hell; which is thought to
be inconsistent with his own declaration
to the dying thief" this dav shalt thou
be with me in Paradise; and the article
about the Holy Catholic Church" Edu-
Gated people know that the word catholic
means universal; but it is not so easy to
make plain people understand this; and
when they hear the Church of Rome
spoken of as the Catholic Church, and
know it is one of her boasts that she is
the only Catholic and true Church, it is
calculated to produce some doubt AID
confusion of mind. Martin Luther made
this point of objection to the Apostle
Creed, and in the Liturgy of the Lutheran
Churches in this country this article is
expressed in the words, The Holy Chris
tian Church" This "Creed" is form
ula or summary of the Christian faith,
drawn up, according to some of the early
fathers, by the apostles themselves, and
hence sometimes called the Apostles
Creed; but the weight of authority and
better opinion is, that while this creed
may be said to be that Of the apostles in
regard to the more important doctrines
contained in it, yet it cannot be referred
to them as the authors certainly not in
the form and in the sense that the Church
of Rome (from which the Reformed
Churches have derived it) holds some of
Its points of doctrine. The best author
tiles on the subject inform us that the
primitive Christians did not recite the
"Creed" except at boptiSneS, and that the
constant repeating of it was not intro
duced into the Church until the end of
the fifth century. 1t may be that the
Committee of Revision had an eye to this,
In making it part of the service in "the
administration of baptism for adults "
BE this as it may, [ cannot but think that
it would have been better to omit it alto
gether True, the article which is more
distasteful to many persons than any
other has been left out, viz the words,
He descended into hell and those
other words which are sometimes used as
meaning the same thing" He went into
the place of departed spirits. This may
have been intended as concession to
those who look on this article in the
creed as "rag of Popery," and an inter-
potatton which the Papist have made use
of to sustain their odious doctrine of pur-
gatory. At best, it is disputed article
IN the Greed, and has been the subject
of much controversy Our Episcopal
friends sometimes jeer us with the re-
mark that we do not repeat the creed in
our public worship, as though we rejected
1T. But the reply to such remark is
that this article of the descent into hell
Is as dlstasteful to some Of their best peo-
pie as it is to ours; and like that other
article about the "holy Catholic Church
needs to be repeated, if repeated at ali
with some sort Of mental reservation. An
aged and intelligent member of the Epis-
copal Church-the mother of three Epis-
copal ministers-once said to me that she
never repeated that article in the Greed, "
but passed over it in silence, as it was no
part of her creed that Christ descended
into hell"
Chapter VI "Of the Burial of the
Dead. While this may be said to be an
Improvement on our present Directory,
there are some obvious if not glaring de-
fects in it which cannot buf hone will
be corrected before its adoption bv the
Presbyteries; for while I am not an advo-
cate for set and invariable forms of PRAYER
or form Of any kind, it seems to me that
If we are to have Directory at all. il