The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1881-02-02

One step that / touk more than thirty years ngo was
to DECLARE hat the medieval creeds, though they pos
sessrt. much virtue, and had like unch"rs been vry
useful indeed In pnst storms, like anchors were not
good for anything when the snip WAS tied up In the
hartur. And more, 1 have held, from the beginning,
that The creeds which have come U to US from tlie
medieval ages, Or fr"ln Two hundred years ago, nail
in them much that WIS solid and noble, and that would
be ong 10 MI time. Yet the most mOmentols part o!
thcm-thnt which touched upon the character OF God.
upun the work Vi the DIVINE spirit In the human soul,
upon the grace If the Lord jesus Christ, upon Ills SAC
rihce and death, and upon the t0neInent-%a OK.
pressed in language which not only did not interpret
Scripture correctly, but stund right over aguinst 1t,
hiding and hindelirg IL and have taken the ground
that It Was TIL duty uf the ministry that huid such
crecls to get them ont or the way US stumbling bloc. :
before tho Wurd nf the Lord. In ordvr chat men could
come a. the real truth; and 1 think that under divine
providence the Thoughts Of men have Travelled about
10 that point They have travelled for nifty or u hum
drrd years. from the days OF Edwards, and Spring.
and Hopkins, and Bellamy, aud Backus. and q h"st "l
men such ~ these. and they have cune at last to the
Conclusion that those crceds do mot express the truth
rs II Is held by the Christian public within the range
II Congregational churches.
Now, thrrc IL one strr further that ] have taken
lhd do take. snd shall insist upon; and that IL, That
We ABE NOT IN A CONDITION AZ YET TO FORMULATE
A CREED.
The world has not lived long enough. Gods mode oil
working consists In making men live great truths hrss
and then tell what they have got by their actual llir.
III StlTllndl EUlGEIfIS' lNN luk ktIG t' u.s.
r. and OF development which Is necessary t0 disclose
the Ihilnsnphy Of mind und II you do not understand
the philosophy III mind sou cannot understand Inc
philosophy VI God. We have no other light than our
own cnn.ciunsnrss. II say TINT God Is JUST, ana
have never had any consciousness OF justice mysclt
IL Is nothing. or II Is as . dark lantern In 4 dnrk hole 10
me. We have had given to US rcason. Judgment ana
moral scnse-th the sense VI truth, the sriIse OF honor
and rectitnac, the sense Of purity and l"vei ana a.
these IRE developed In low.r grades among men they
are types, they are single lrtters; and by putting the
vaiiuus rxp-lirn es ut men Together We get the s:n:
trnccs OF what tiuth, ard homer, and r%eciitId,, uhd
purity and love arr In tho divine nature but IN the
jne.rnt state OF ignorance, or nrsciehce. or scionce. u
yru chUosu 10 call It SO. to unfold The whole theory oil
the divine nature. OF the origin or men, Of the source
Of evil and Tin. Of motive and desire, Is o task that
neither individual men, nUr Neil in association In the
family or In ~s0ciety. have 81 far been nble 10 perform.
The truths that are cunning upon the world have not
yet been nl evolved sid there ae one or two
questions lhat would naturally cnme Up before the
COMMITTEES that are appointed for the founding oi the
new creed.
QUESTIONS FOR THE UNDERSTANDING.
Arc they e Ing to undertake to give such nm inter.
or tuition 10 lhr Old formula AS will make II palatabl"
without essential change? Are they going 10 pnlcl
tho nd char!olf or are they going To build O new "hel
When WAY arc they woTkingf with their fucr to The
pnst aud their back to the future, or with their back tn
the past and tbeir face to the lu,urrt Are they going
tuinvitc into the number Of those that are TO give e2.
p.rssiuu to a new creed the men that are trv"utly md
thoroughly ~scientifcf Are they going to include nrn
that Will give some sort Of eXpr. ssinn to the PRESENT.
tendency OF mems belief upon the subject Of the "ri'
gin Of SPECIES In this world! Arr they g"ing to have
arn0ng these men sume " no will express their vie~s
"a TO whnt God has actually done ns revealed BY the
manuscript 81 rocks hy gro "ryf Are the, going To
have soni, expression III rr2nrd to the nature Of Scrip
turc ia The light that modern learning and interpreth'
ton have brought to bear upon It. 81 Us TINT a plain
common man will know Irrcisrly what the best men
of The church believe In regard to the Biblrf Or, ARE
they going to put = glow upon the old creed, and s~al
low It like a sIgar.c"ated phi!
Men that are reading the Bible are pointing ou'
place after place and thing after Thing that seem incon
%sstrnt; and our refuge from these u: saults Is to ray
Will. they ale inhlels." MIN reHd ub"ut David!
imprrcatory songs; they read Of the slaughter o
lhuus1n'is and hundreds 0f thousands OF people,; they
read 81 the terrible woridlinrss and nniinniish thai
possessed even the best OF neu Of certain generations;
sp~iratinn Of Scripture they supI'ose that theyha- ri'hr'
got to eject the " hnle BIBLE. or to accept T. nil; and
declaration of what the Bible really Is In Its simp!.
Origin-is that going into the creed? I'm Is not
what Is the use Vi il! Is It going to meet the cxi:er'
cy II present thought! or is It going ~ bra creed tina
wi substitute the machinery Of religion for religion II
sell3 The conception that inns parallel with th'
teaching Of Scripture, and with the declaration Of lh'
phasrs OF experience that . man goes through In pass
Ing from the lowest carnal state up to the highest rr4cl
Of spiritual life and spiritual jny-namrly, the ev"lu
ton Of the soul under divine guidance from self hines
and Gin and w"rldlinrss, up. etrI, BY step. TO scrabble
Oi:6S ala spiritual unity Win oOu- tuut ID Spo
pei aud l., there going to he a ere, d that will sci iortl
the spiritual life VI inrnf
IS THIS TEUE CHRISTIANITY?
To-day a IN IN may GU to the Coz lunnlon Tnbl
who yesterday eSplpdcd oaths, " be has saii hi
prayers. and Is sorry for his profanity. a man ma.
have all the week long not violated the Law Of th
land. hut violated he Inv OF charity at love 10 hi
dru:ing with his fellow-nIan; he may have trod dow
The weak: he may have "u;run the feeble; he ma
have made all Inrn his servants, instead Of be
Ing the &c. want Of all men, being stronger md smartr
THAN they; aud he believes In The Thirty.nine Ait
Giles. or ia the Greed and Confession Of the I hmrcIrt
Brd han violated nurc OF them, b. may sit unretukr
ut the table nf the Lord, Men say, "On, well. there ,
weakness alnang the 6rethr"n;" but no sense q
shock comes to them. II he gives literally I" variou
IN. rs AMI benevolent -iovcinrnts; " lo brib"s low
aud nrfldrE c.. the fact hat he Is u:tler the intiur nc
of carns', beltsh, wicked lassi"ns, from time 70 tiins
d.. . not dsrranchisr him. A man may be harsl
cuul 50, .rvrrr. very wicked, and tho oh the XII gdut
Of God my not have shOne upon his lattleinents 10
years. ana though he may b. plunged into rnfuun
la, kn-ss, yet II be- would give his body to b. burne
rather than have At article altered IN the Greed, and
hr stand. up for his chu cb, he Is COZ sidcrrd q faith
rul Christian BY his hrclh' en-. u he IL n good secta
rini, they experience no shock ut any thing he mn.
do. But II l were to deny tile nlnneincnt 81 Christ
might live Just liku Christ, II men would put M
out Of the church. II | denied the Historical state
mrnts Of the life and death VI Christ, and srt aside q!
commercial, the nyunstic. the fsen.ic theory In re
gard t. C1iis', bat laugh. the inward ani spirttua
theory of his lie and ,'rath, and Of hi. love for th
snnIs OF men, vUiding and vacating tho old churr
theories Of ntnnenirpt, md substituting In lhri
place \ spiritual fnrt, though | were to live us Chris
lived | pnuuid bc call ID to account as o dangerous ma
and u her-slarth.
Is THIS TO IE A DRIED IN TIE CHURCH?
We have had ~treatises on h"ly living and holy dy
Ing ID there ever ~ be- a stitrInrrt Of the TACT tim
tr~Isi;irrs aud musI tran Iire In one why or sInlh,i
when q crnsciuus soul under the inspit ntUn Of G"d
rpirit Is going up frrin darkness ~ light, and passin
on from death un,.ltr! l. that tn BE- n creed In tn
church! Is DO lie In holy mon to tc the NAL
creed III the s' cIuary: ahrr the drclai ution Of li
ap ,stlr, Neither circumcision nor uncii c:i'cisiu
uvaiIr,h any thing is this h.wn II, ss If HE ever to be
cnu.. II ductrinai abatement 81 that in.n slnll com
int0 the church feeling in their innrrIio"t snnl tt
pressure Of the desire and OF the Ub.igatisn to live /
that spiritual love which arose from the bosom q
Car
know not what these twenty five mon arc going t
do ,ut | Enow what Is going Ia be done. without BE-
ins q prophet or the son or q prophet. l am surr,
do know, that n"re and more IS the years So on, n
virtue grows purrr In the lnuschuld-and 1t Is grow
ing purer there rs philanthropy becomes la ger Ill
nnblrr-and II Is btcoliiing larger md n"Ilrr as be
n-vulrncc takrs on n, " cnslnical proportions, and
spread between nation AMI nation. betweeI nrlnhboI
hood md u, igllhUrh00d. and between individual an
,ndiridul as the moral element 10 incorporate
more and mure into laws, and institutiOna, and CHS
toms, the old scholastic atrmen mist 20 undel
and there will b. o restutemrnt Of the truth whic
shnll teuclI the world the marrow OF love.
TIE cukisrIASITy Or TIE FUTURE.
Prayer Is not ricty !; praise Is no, picty belief !
mot Iiety. All these til, e. may be auxiIiaiy to firl
Us q schnOlma>tc, IL auxiliary To learning but as
schoulmastel IS not learning In ihc pupil, 50 religion
vbscrvurces NJ. not picLy IN the Individual and "
are GINNING u the time ~h"n We shall have The min
Of Christ when that mind Of Christ shall be domIian
Uver every other thing, und when We shall cease I
lnnk u eXternalitics. Ind shall look entirely to the In
ward md spiritual elements.
Thrn lh ut will come to pass which men have MOI
begun to 81 ek by blind and devious ways. Whe
Christianity b,c"inrs .U largely d, - clnped It produce
what is called tho principle III elective ullnity
Chem Sis Of the old sclluol lcheihtstry haa been .rrvt
iutionized, rs everything q IL has and l do not khn'
how II Is In the new srhvOD taught thut certain ole
nIrntS being DR. uGht intu near hrighborli"od, had NJ
affinity for each other, and rushed Logrthe'. IN
thing Is very sure there IL an elective affinity be
tween ~guodurss and guDdness, brliey0lehce and 6rnev
uIrnce, u n,pathy and bymlruthy, purity nnd purity
If YOU want to units Chrialiars, you do not unit
them any more by swerring AWAY their %chnrchr,
supI"se you wanted 10 bring two Provinces t"grtlr
In harmonious relations, IN civic huiIty IN peaceful In
trrcuu. &c with eucl other, and buI pose You shpul
propose to do 1t by pulling down Nil The fUrts, by ov
erthruwing al the wall, tliht ~slrrolJld the cities, an
by destroying all the weapons Of war, thus le'Vin
the people Just as they sers before thsy hAu a,
tIuus does not change the true interior conditions
Changing outward ubsrrvanceS does not change th'
inward disposition.
CHANGE IN HUMAN NATURE NECESSARY.
You might lake away oil the medieval hanieWori
OF the Roman church you might take away sill tn
n. WY -Iushiuned framework OF the Anglican clurch
you might take away all the laws uf the Calti histi
I'M. Arm, nlan SYSTEMS Vi thcol,gJ ; Iou might tax
away Irrtly much oil the oruinnnces u The cliurche;
and get all CIR. s.ians To write their names In blUuL,
it mer. necessary, in league and GOV, nnnt that the
would come together In unity, by q sinking OF al
tho u things that t ended to sepatals them; and II blu
nun nature WAS not changed they would not 6u on
particle n. arer together, and there would be no inur
u nit, than there was before. Ihe!e can be no uhit
In M re ju1tupositiou. You cannot crowd n.eh tosrth
ct IN Tint way. YOU cannot have unity OF cIurcht
In the srnse that every Christian on the glubo Wi
accept what every other Christian does. You hav
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