The Press., 1884-07-17
From The Religious Herald1 THE REVEREND MISTER FREHMORk'S
 CREED.

From The Religious Herald.l
 TIE REVEREND MISTER PASSWORDS
 CREED.
 Calvin Edwards Freshmore, B. A. Har- yard, s. T. B. Yale Divinity, was an ex- ceptionally brilliant young man. So much so, in fact, that he knew it himself. H 8 college and seminary record, now just con . pleted, not one in score could rlval And aside from purely intellectual abilities he had many of those attractive qualities of apparent interest in the well-being and happiness of others, which qualities are commonly called @great personal magnet ism." s LII
 Mir. Freshmore had received a call, up- on completing his theological studies, t. the Fourth street church of Ridgeford, one of the smaller but wide awake and prosperous New England cities. This church in many respects was very q : sirable one, from the material welfare point of view and hence the call having been prayerfully considered" was in due tim accepted A council of the prominent Congregational clergy of Rid seford and Old Harbor, the neighboring university town, had been duly summoned. Ihe ln- sallntion servIce was looked forward to with great interest, and Rev. Mir. Fresh more was to submit his creed to the ap- proval of the council.
 He was in the study at his fathers home in the quiet old town of Westbrook, and had pleasant quiet place with leisure to formulate his creed. Though he would not have admitted it to himself his thoughts rln about like this "I must sustain my record for bright original thinking. My creed must show my own personality d B. will 1n fn aSCant fn the old formulas. That is, without moditica- tion or reserve. To do that would be to bury myself among the unknown. But l can assent to the new creed for substance of doctrine, and fix up certain points so as to leave everybody in doubt as to wheth- CT am not really a Unitarian, Universa- list or agnostic. The more nearly can make people think am progressive, ultra liberal and even heterodox, the better my chances for notoriety Just see how those who assent to the old iron-clad creeds in their entirety, and do it without wincing, are never heard of but those who are wise enough not to do this, the men who can get new and grand theology out of the bible, these are heralded throughout the length and breadth of the land."
 With these preliminary thoughts he got his copy of the new creed and with pen and paper got to work. -...l :.
 The first point he made was to fix his statement of the doctrine of the trinity so that it did not show whether he believed or not that '"There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal ill power and glory" It gave the impression however that Christ in a mysterious way partakes of the Fathers nature, but is distinct, and in no sense appreciable by ordinary meth ods of thought, is of the same substance, equal in power and glory. This seemed Unitarian, but MT. Freshmore was pre- pared to show the council how this was not so.
 The doctrine of inspiration gave ample opportunity for showing how "the Scrip lures were written by men. Spirit" and yet contained many minor er- TOTS of word and statement errors, how ever, which do not affect its integrity but which are non-essential. What these er- TOTS are each man is at liberty to settle with himself, his conscience and his God.
 The doctrine of the atonement received elaborate treatment, too long to enter in to aere. The idea seemed to be that if one believed in salvation through the death only of Christ, such a one was on a sure foundation. And if he did not he was probably on just as good a founda- tion provided however this latter view were held in accordance with special state of conscience and as the result of peculiar course of reasoning which wns presented in detail to the council.
 Future probation, MT. Freshmore says, is not denied in the bible and he suppos- ed would be extended at least twice to heather and idiots from three to five times to moral men of character, as pro- portionally more deserving than heathen and upwards of five times to the best hon christians. E5E#55s
 The resurrection and the future life pre- scented grand fields for unintelligible spec ulations and were titled for all they were worth.
 Space forbids details or further mention of MT. Freshmore's peculiar views. He gained his point magnificently. The coun- cil had long, warm controversy. Voted however to approve and install. The church was delighted to get a live, pro- gressive. man. The newspapers advertised extensively and MT. Fresh more's name and creed were brought to the particular notice of scores of people, in scores of different cities and towns, who would never have heard of him had he been straight, according to the old fash toned view of straig ghtness, in the matter of belief and creed. vyr
 Are the reverend gentlemen of MT. description becoming too nu- merons in the Congregational churches or are they "filling 8 long-felt want, , and shall we pray for more?' a$ t-~5 tt