, 1891-06-03
now TO READ THE CREED.
Sensational Sermon by the Rev. IL.
Heber Newton.

itbti Nt"Aohs
New YORK, June 1.-The interest felt
in the series of d~iscourses on creeds being
delivered by Rev. r. Heber Newton was
attested Sunday by the presence OF a con-
gregation which filed All Souls church
to the limit of its capacity. Mr.. New
toms sermon wa entitled How to Read
the Greed. aud based on the text:
"Understandest thou what thou read
est?'-Acts viii. 80.
He said: Let ne try to help YOU to a
recognition of the simple principles by
which we are to interpret our form of
faith and read Alright our creed. A creed
is to be read as understanding its true
authority. No creed rests upon the
authority of Christ himself. Creeds do
rest apparently on the authority of the
councils which issued them. But this is
not all that might be desired. A unIver-
sal council is not a synonym for the Al
mighty. Creeds are not transcripts of
some heavenly manuscript set up from
copy brought down by little angels. Con-
stantine, indeed, commanded the assem-
bled bishops to receive the DEGREES of the
Council OF Nice as dictates of the Holy
SPIRIT" but then Constantine is open to
the suspicion OF not being an expert in
things OF the spirit" The story OF many
OF the councils is a tale OF violent and
acrimonious disputes, of metaphysical
halr-spltung and theological jugglerY, Of
political intrigue and ecclesiastical mum
merry. OF bitter passions breaking forth
into words of execration, with anathe-
mas instead of benedictions. a
scene OF clinched fists and drawn
swords. of soldiers keeping bishops from
each others threats, OF bloody massacres
and stealthy a-ssassinations. The DEGREES
of such councils are plainly not matters of
plenary inspiration by any spirit whose
dominating characteristic is holiness. One
thing Is thus made p~rovIdentially clear,
that the truth OF the creed rests not on
tie authority Of the body setting it forth,
but on its own intrinsic truthiullness, its
Interpretation of the Christian conscious
ness. Its authority will last so long, and
only SO long. as 1t continues to express the
Christian consciousness, and to interpret
satisfactorily the problems of nature and
man in the light of the spirit of Jesus
Christ.
A creed is read Alright as it is continually
carried back TO its sources. The Nicene
creed was an attempt to state logically
and philosophically the teachings of the
New Testament. 1t can only continue to
stand as it Is seen to rest Enthusiastically on
this foundation. Tbs forces on the church
the continual duty of showing that every
confirmation of the creed cannot be
proved from Scripture, and OF stretching
her authority gently whenever there is
any question on this point. The Script.
ures are not the bed rock of the founda-
ton of the faith. Reason and conscience
tested them and stamped them as divine.
A creed must be ever brought back to
this mint OF man for assayinR. IL must
be shown not to have deprecated. No
creed can long stand which does not square
with fact, which does not rest on the gran
lite rock of reason. which does not stand
plumb with the line of eternal righteous
ness.
A creed. to be read Alright. must be
read in the light OF the larger life Of faith,
out OF which it springs. of which it is a
part As you see the truth IN your
neighbOrs creed you will better see the
truth in your own creed. To know the
creeds OF other religions is to gain many
a clew to the meaning of our Christian
creeds What is the prospect for an
intellectual understanding OF its great
creeds if a church practically reissues that
edlct of the fourth council of Carthage,
mo bishop shall read n Gentle book?
A creed is TO be read as dealing with
themes trauscending all human thought,
and therefore its afhrmations are not to be
read as exact statements. The themes
with which n creed deals are the pro
fOundest problems which can take a mans
mind, the most massive mysteries which
t%asclnate his intellect, the riddles over
which successive generations have puzzled
themselves YEARLY. What, then, must
be the nature of all his thoughts upon
such high things2 Words thrown out
at tra%nscendent mysteries. Attempts
to express the inexpressible, to define the
in~defnable, to know the u~nknowable. The
true meaning of a creed is to be found,
not in what it states. but what it suggests.
A dictionary will not adequately interpret
a creed.
A creed is to be read as including a phil
osophy which can be rightly interpreted
only by the p~hilosophically minded. The
language ofthe Nicene creed concerning
the incarnation is pure philosophy. We
know this from the character of the words
employed. They are the technical .erms
OF metaphysics. They can be traced up
to the philosophers of paganism, by whom
they were minted. In the works of the
Nicene fathers we see men of acute and
sometimes deep metaphysical powers,
wrestling with the very problems which
have always furnished the materials for
philosophy, reaching philosophical con-
illusions by philosophical methods. and
expressing them in philosophical terms.
Technical terms of a science or of a phil
osophy turned out of their native region
and u ed in the every day speech of men
must not be expected to convey much
meaning. The popular prejudice against
the doctrine of the Trinity is mainly due
to this failure TO recognize it as philosophy.
A creed is to be read as a form of sound
words, which may not only be said but
sung. A creed dealing with t~ranscendent
themes must not only philosOphize. it
must pOetizs-thus to interpret through
the Imagination the mysteries of the faith.
God is declared to be The Father of
Heaven and Earth" Yet the Almighty
is no celestial carpenter. Creating is not