Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-04-20
For Sunday Reading.
Al sorss Of Opinions.
Remaking Creeds.

/
| "Metfodism has never had a state
ment of her faith and one Is much
needed says the Christian Advocate,
Nashville, and adds: "Methodism, tho
adhering to a very definite faith, has
no summary of it. The twenty-five
! articles are not such a summary. They
have always been coupled with GER
tain vague and underlined standards
But they are a precious heri-
tage Let them stand. They are the
sixteenth century and earlier in
| terpreted now by the twentieth CEN
tury Still they are not enough; they
| never We're enough"
| The Baptist Argus says, in comment:
In every denomination there seems to
| be a growing demand for a brief, def1n-
| ite, unmistakable summary of what the
denomination really believes. Along the
| line of the axioms of religion the
Baptists are getting ready for such
statement"
Creeds. supplemented by articles of
faith, have been the source Of many
unchristian acts and much unchristian
| feeling during the centuries since the
| Reformation. The Methodist church
has grown in grace without creed"
as England has grown in power and in
! liberty without written constitution.
Creeds and political constitutions are,
in fact, limitations, and must contain
within themselves the power Of amend
ment or revision-the power OF regen-
eration-to warrant their permanence.
However carefully and succinctly,
and with whatever self-confest short
comings, the council may state the be-
| lief of the period and establish the
rules OF discipline its statements will
be taken by the masses of the denomi-
nation for which it is made as ex
cathedra, and in long use without re-
vision to meet changing conditions will
become invested with an underlined idea
Of infallibility.
A creed, to endure, must be stated
automatically. Its acceptance by any
large number of adherents and by sue
cessive generations depends upon its
i catholicity, its brevity, and its truth.
In the stating of creeds in the past,
there has perhaps been a disposition
to cover too much ground. and as a
result the bounds of truth have been
unwittingly overstepped, and the days
of that creed have been numbered by
the revelations which God makes to
men in what we term human progress.
For instance: it might have served at
one time for the church to declare that
the teachings Of Calico or Of Vesalius
Ewere error, but such subjects were ex-
traneous to the simple truth that God
| is the Father and Christ, our elder
brother, is His Son; and "a creed that
| included negations Of such physical
discoveries would have been predes-
tined to become WORKOUT" because it
overstepped the bounds of truth.
In the creed-making of the present
| day, when the desire of earnest Chris
tians is centered in a union of factions,
| the elemental truth must be stated in
| the plainest language.
Articles of UNCONVENTIONAL faith and
government which are much like mile
posts, marking the change from one
state of human need olanother could
\ perhaps be vitalized by a compulsory
periodical revision. Let the new creed,
however, be univesal and eternal.
Gentle and Effective.
| A well known Manitoba editor
writes: "As an inside worker / find
Chamberlain's Stomach and Liver Tab
llats inval,iarla for the touches of bill