The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-08-02
DEED WITHO UT CREED.


Ethical Culture" is erecting building
In Fifty-fourth Street, near the Sixth
Avenue, of vast dimensions, which will
furnish accommodations for more than a
thousand children.
The founder of this Society, Professor
Adler, discarding revelation and the SUI
pernatural, does not propose to waste
any time in speculations about God, if
there be one, or our relations to Him, if
we have any, but will devote his ener-
gies to the amelioration of humanity; to
the task of making the race stronger,
healthier, happier" toward "the elimi
nation OF sorrow, sickness, and sin :" in
word, if he cannot have new heaven.
he will content himself with a new earth,
wherein dwelleth Professor Adler and
The Society for Ethical Culture" The
motto Of the Society is" Deed without
Greed" That is, Professor Adler pro-
poses to give US plenty of good fruit
without any regard to the tree on which
it grows-so we have pears, peaches, and
plums, what does it matter whether they
grow upon the trees which produce those
fruits, or upon other trees, or indeed upon
any trees at all Deed not Greed" is
his motto; effect is what he goes for, cause
Is not worth his consideration. So he
can keep full stream on the wheels of
his Ethical mill, he is not going to bother
himself whether the fountain is regular
or intermittent, or whether there is any
fountain at ALL
Yet, strange to say, the Professor had
to have creed before he could start the
Society, the sole end of which is deed.
He firmly believes that speculations about
God and future life are idle. He is
equally sure that the efforts of man should
be directed toward making the race
stronger, healthier, happier" toward the
elimination of sorrow, sickness, and sin"
and that "The Society for Ethical Cul-
ture" gives at once the promise and the
potency" for the regeneration of human
ty. If asked to give his assent to these
articles, one by one, to each Prof. Adler
would say, Credo; then the Professor,
like Monsieur Jourdain, who talked prose
all his life without knowing it, has
creed.
Nothing can be more absurd than the
popular cutlery against creeds. The man
who processes to act without creed,
confesses that he acts without any i'm
polling conviction There is no reason
for his acting at all if he admits no prin-
ciPle Of action.
We would not like to go to sea with a
captain who had no fixed opinion about
the points Of the compass, the direction
OF the Gulf stream, or the value of charts,
but whose motto was, {" A quick and safe
voyage without scientific navigation
Deed without Creed! No society can
be organized, no corporation can exist
without some principles about which its
members are agreed, and when these
principles are expressed in words they
constitute the creed of the association.
A Church can no more do without a
creed than a body without soul. A
Church creed is concise, orderly, SYM
metrical summary Of the essential truths
o. the Bible. 1t is idle to say, We pre-
fer to take the Bible itself for our creed
away with human statements Of the
things to be believed" This will not do.
Persons of the most conflicting opinions
on the subject Of religion, profess to be-
lieve the Bible, and the use of an ortho-
dox creed is to enable the Church en-
bracing it to say, This is our under
standing of what the Bible actually
teaches; this is our testimony to the great
truths Of the gospel upon which our faith
rests; and while our bond of union is the
great Head Of the Church, our Christian
fellowship is promoted by the fact that
we hold harmonious views with regard
10 doctrine and to duty.
The true motto is, Creed and deed.
The fact is, your men Of creed8 and con-
LESSONS have been the great doors, the
mighty workers in the world-the men
who have maintained and advanced the
empire of truth and riohteouenees arJ