Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1886-04-24

| ly defines the tendency tow ard the rejection
OF all scholastic tOrmulatiOnS as articles of
| faith or Us matters of obligation. Some may
attempt to stand as Il bar to this stream of
tendency, hut they will be worn away by its
| resistiess sweep. as they ought 10 be. stuart
Robinson thought the existence of 4 visible
church Oh earth impossible without a dOgmat-
IL creed. DIR. shields, also a Presbyterian,
says, "they often exclude more Christians
than they iacIuIe." What men are seeing
and utterinS to-day, with no uncertain
sound. Mr.. Campbell and his fellow work
erS battleu for tlty years ago against fearful
odds, but the stern battle has been won at last
Beside the recognition of creeds as impossible
bases of union, they are frankly conceded to
be actively divisive and schismatic. Phar
celluS Church. 4 venerable and distinguished
minister of the Baptist church, writes, "Or-
| thodOXy of the creeds being thus of the head
| ard NOT OF the heart cannot be made u test in
receiving members to the church, since many
| are converted without knowing q single article
in them. Instead of the unity which the
| fathers Of the church sought to effect by
creeiS, HEY have been for fifteen hundred
! years the great dividing forces in the Chris
tian brotherhood. One thing Is certain, the
| age of creed-making is past" Having no
saving power. dividing IN their tendencies as
here admitted by this venerable man OF long
| experience, how utterly hopeless and vain
any attempt tn restore the shattered body OF
| Christ on such IA basis. Keeping clearly in
|
| Elent and Its grounds, Mr.. Campbell wrote
| this sentence: IN o human creed in Protestant
| Christendom can be found that has not made
i division for every generation OF Its eXls-
tence." Does not the history of creeds es-
| ta5iish Indu pitabiy this charge! lfit be true,
| and il is. who can expect to bring together
the numberless varieties of ChrstendOm into
one grand, unbroken brotherhood upon "a
platform utterly destitute of saving and unit
| ing power. pray that they may be 0ne-one
|
resting upon the church, aud if the oneness
| OF Gods people is Il necessary precedent con-
ditiOn of this conversion, and if union is i'm
possible on creeds in the sense OF dOgmatif
| statement, the question still comes, how shalr
| the church he delivered from ecclesiastical
chaos. out of all this conflict and doubt and
| despair! Is there no way: Has !nhhte
| Wisdom provided no common ground upon
which the men redeemed out OF every KIN
dred and tongue. and people, and nation can
stand in glorious brotherhood with one mind,
one heart and one soul?
| THE TRUE BASIS
| Next came i'm the order of development.
| After it was clearly seen aud felt that no
| Inetaphysi tenets symbols could form
| the basis of the restoration. came this declara-
tion,'The word or testimony Ofthe apostles is
itself all sufficient and alone sufficient to the
union of all Christians"
at was necessary" says Thomas Campbell,
|
| church stood at the beginning" In the be-
| ginning the platform was wide enough, not
only for the andifferentIated. but for the diff
erentiated race of Adam without regard to
numerical multipcatiOnS broad enough for
this-'.there is neither Jew nor Greek; there
| is neither bone nor free; there is neither male
nor female for We are all one in Christ Jesus"
As Luther began in sweeping away the canons
and decretals, PiatOnism or Aristoteism, 90
the Campbells began by ''disentangllng the
Z f.f,:, fna niarr
intervening ages" and ended in this: "The
bible contains complete revelation OF the
will of God in the person of Jesus Christ. y
They amp!Itied this general proposition In
the following:
1. The reputation of all human authority
as to matters of faith standards of mOrali.
ty or tests of Christian fellowship. AL
things related to the great questions o
Christian life, were held to be obligatory OIL
one of these grounds: That it should be ex'
; pressly enjoincd by the scriptures, have Al
approved precedent, or rest upon the au
, thOrIty of apostolic examples. In the a0
scnce of these nothing was held as obligatory
: upon the mind, or conscience. or life OF any
man. have never seen any reason to revise th
famous saying of Thomas Campbell:' her,
The bIbie speaks we speak. where Inc DiDl'
is silent. We are silent, where it has respec
To the redemption OF my soul and blessed con
| tnuity of my being in endless ages" Thi'
{. was, saws Dr. Richardson, the formal ant
actu Al commencement of the great mOvemen
here discussed to-day.
: =. The substitution of facts for dOctrina
$ fOrmulationS, and out of both of these AS
: cOrrOliry:
). The destruction of denominationalisn
and its tyranny by allowing the exercise of in
e dividual thought in the Investigation of al
questions, by admitting diversity Of opinion
. while demanding unity of faith.
y Mr.. Campbell groups all these in this fin
S and comprehensive statement: "Let the bibl
=, be substituted for human creeds; facts 70
e definitions; things Tor words; faitA for specu
latiOn; unity of faith for unity OF opinion; tn
4 positive commandments of God for huma
4 legislation and tradition; piety for ceremony
morality for partisan zeal; the practice of re
q ligion tor The mere profession of it, and tn
: work is done" rhis brings us to what we deer
Z. the distinctive mark above all others OF Ou
4 preaching and our mission, VIZ: the cOmpre
:. hensiOn and expression of the creed of tn
j church in one truly biblical formula-one fac
:. fundamental to Christianity, tO-wt:
: JESUS Is THE CHRIST.
= The original and apostolic church,kn NJ
e other creed but this. says Neander: "At III
= beginning when it was important that til
i church should rapidly extend itself, thos
1t who confessed their belief in Jesus as tn
o Messiah (among the Jews), or their belief i
e the one God and in Jesus the MessIa
If (amons the Gentiles), were Immediately bar
IS uiZed as appears frOm the New Testamen
= Let Us recOiect that the faith in Jesus rs th
y promised Messiah was the fundamental do
a, tiine which the whole structure of til
p church arose. Accordingly the first Chris
y tian church was formed of very heterOgeneOu
1t materials. 1t was composed of such di
n fered from other Jews only in the acknow
TT edgng of Jesus the Messiah Ii this SIN
10 Pile confession of the Messiahship of Jesus d
1t gather and iuse the heterogeneous materials
'e and widely d,scordant elements of the ancieI
Is world into one, p rfecty articuated an
lr c0mpacted body why not now! Are we mol
Is differentiated than they, or has the Gospel Z
10 the Messahship lost its power! The distin(
'r tive marks nf the ancient Christian Was tha
he he had made this confession. This was tru
.e necessarily of all those in the body for who's
m slncttication and sloriti :ation Jesus praye
y that they believe on Me, and second thrOug
h | their word. The facts OF the case aSSum
r. that this creed was ineligible, comprehend
W ing all necessary truth, having inherent sa,
Il ing efficacy. broad enough for all, therefor
u Catholic, enumerated as such by the Maste
! and therefore authoritative. The dogmaL
Is creedS are largely unlntelligible, cOntainiu
> only partial truth, absolutely destitute of sa,
" ing power, narrow aud sectaran and not on
II | Witbpat any vestige of divine authority, bl
l. ayIiast it, and doing despite to the whol
i spirit and structure of the religion of Chris
e tianity. We went to the world with only tn
| and nothing beside it. asking men not to at
te cept something about HIM, but to beliey
r and trust. and hope ill Him, even in Him i
I'd whom God Wa. to realize all his gracOu
al purpose, in Him in whom all prophecit
l. we're fulfilled, in whom every type al
81 shadow and institution of the divine order r.
We iled through ages met. In Him centers a
I'd history. all PHILOSOPHERS, all Civilizations Il
IL growth. In other iys we were treated ft
5e this with marshes; scorn, aud counted as b,
In levers in one fact. AMI ever, body did thu
IN a little over L half century ago, Il scho
81 teacher,n Pennsylvania, studying wita all I'll
IS energy of an earnest soul the redemption ,
u Christianity from warring factions and tt
IL endless changer of competing and conflict i'm
ic creedS, wrote i'll chalk above his SchOoihou,
H. door = singular device for such plac
er 'Jesus the Christ. the son Ofthe living God
Is The eye of Walter Scott piercing the veal
er with strange provision, say the mighty on
III coming battle win It's gathering hosts. who.
ci battle cry >hou'd be thlL Lchaik-writlcn lcgen,
l.. Jesus theC christ, hoii ng Witain IL mpl!cit
s. power 10 lit man from the aJys!nal blackne.
ne of sin into tnv perfection .! BENG and be-.
r, ! edne>s. In tne ;iI,"u:lcy OF this truth, ho'
Dc far in making 1t the destructive Different:
=. feature Of wndt has proved no meau NOV,
lc meni, in how iar o: much have they conurit
en- u,ed to mJu.d or direct the Ieuiencie. Of on
IN age. In how Tar they aided IN forming tt
l. existing modes OF thought and he an! histC
id ~, we leave others 10 answer. We stat
~ facts when We stale that fifty years ago oul
le SaS the only people organized with the di
lie tinc;iy ayOwed piirpOse Gi rejecting Il
:: human authority i'll religion, the deStruc!i,
'if of all denOmnationilI>u, the re-as>erIiun
IL the personal center Of Cnri>tianity-Je>u II
lc the Christ--ihc church's only creed. VIII;
ld do we see to-day: The creeds begotten