Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1900-08-30
MOVE FOR CREED REVISION.



The Church Committee Sends seRrching
Queries to tho rresbyterics.
The creed revision COMMITTEE OF the
Presby terian Church has semitic all the
presbyteries set Of questions, to which
IL asks answers as soon as possible. The
questions are: 4
|. Do you desire a revision Of our
confession Of faithG or
2. Do you desire a supplemental, ex-
planatory statement? or
3 DO You desire to supplement our
present doctrinal standards with .
briefei statement OF the doctrines
most surely believed among US, y ex-
pressing 10 simple language the fnith
OF the church 10 loyalty to the syatem
Of doctrine contained In the Holy
Scriptures and held by the reform
churches? or
4. Do you desire the dismissal Of the
whole subject, so that our dootrinal
standards shall remain as they are,
without any change whatever. whether
revisionsi, supplemental or substitu-
tionali
5. ii your preference is for revisional
action state In what direction and 70
what extent you would have revision
undertaken. The revision reported to
the assembly Of 1892 might here be
helpful as hasis FOR judgment.
6. II your preference 10 for an OK.
planstory statement indicate what
specific points In the confession the
explanation should corer. The COM
mittee asks for the votes In The presby-
teries for Or against anything that il
recommended to it,
The revision committee was appointed
by the moderator, the Rev. DR.. Charles
| A. Dickey of Philadelphia, in pursuance
OF a General Assembly resolution, passec
May 23d last. About 40 preshyteriss
asked that some action BIO taken, anc
the action OF the General Assembly
was, not to set revision In motion, hu
to find out what the other 200 presby
teries think Of the matter.
In the report OF the General Assembl,
of 1892, to which the Saratoga meeting
calls the attention Of presbyteries a
this time, two paragraphs of the CON
fession, to which the Rev. Or. Hill
called attention and so brought Of
again the present movement for re
vision, were proposed TO pc stricken
out. They are:
by the decree Of God, for the mani
festatioE of His glory, come men aIt
angels are predes'ined unto everlasting
life and others are foreoi dained to ever
lasting death.
"These angels and men thus pre-
destined and foreordsiped are particu
larly aud unchaugeably designed, an,
their number is 60 certain and detinit
that 1T canrot either be increased o
diminished. !"
The conservatives on the 1892 con,
mittee, led by President Patton G
Princeton University, excepted tn
proposition to strike out these paru
graphs. They also objected to the cut
ting out of the words quoted In the fol
lowing paragraph, the alteration recon,
mended by the rest of the committee !:
All those whom God has predestine
unto life, land those only" He
pleased in His appointed and accepte
u time etfeotually to call by His word an
spirit out Of TINT statp OF sin and deaf
, In which they are by nature to grac
and salvation by Jesus Christ.
OF the 40 presbyteries which aske
the last assembly TO take up tho Z,
vision matter again many expressed th
conviction that there should be-, rs
, concession to modern thought, SON
, modification Of the old aud harsh o,
preston. The 1892 conrnittee whic
the Saratoga meeting refers to suggssto
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