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Show I I : ' - . . . ..... v ... I J- . J . . vj--. 4 - ' 1 i - , ' I i::;:riy cf Ministers en Wr.3' t: General Assca-tly.'FuVc'r Assca-tly.'FuVc'r ricfemizinj Ccfession cf Faith. Much interest attaches to the qucs- tion of creed revision which wU come before the general assembly of the Presbyterian church which will begin its session at Los Angeles, Cal., next Thursday. The matter of revising the "Westminster "Westmin-ster confession of faith has been agl- tated among the Presbyterian ministers of -this country for several years, and at the laat general assembly Dr. Henry Van Dyke submitted a revised confession confes-sion of faith to be acted upon by the church at large. This was -in answer to a general demand de-mand for a modernising of the creed which came from all Quarters of the American Presbyterian church. . Creed Is an Old One. V . The Westminster confession of faith, r which it is desired to change, was adopted in 1619 and has remained practically prac-tically Intact until now. In this creed are many things which have become : obsolete and are highly objectionable, owing to broader thought in the church which has come with 254 years of advance ad-vance and culture and education. TITe ancient confession of faith occupies occu-pies more than sixty pages of an ordinary ordi-nary octavo volume, and is cumbersome, cumber-some, prolix, and in some particulars, fanatical.; The new creed proposed by Dr. Van " Dyke covers only five pa gas in the same volume, and while it does not depart radically : from the fundamental principles prin-ciples of the former, omits much that Is considered objectionable in the old. The question of revision was submitted submit-ted to the- presbyteries of the country for an expression, and the great majority major-ity have voted for the change. Revision! Is Imperative. This change is felt to be not only necessary but Imperative by the ministers, min-isters, who believe that there must be repeated changes in any creed as every creed ia formed under conditions of thought or its own age, and nearly all creeds have been formed in the face of opposition which has resulted In giving a somewhat polemic aspect to some of the statements of doctrine. These are seen after the church emerges from the conflict to have been r.ot fully in keeping with the spirit of the gospel, or else have given undue emphasis to one side of the truth. This Is now recognized generally to be true of the Westminster confession. 1 Han's Tnought Broadens. ' Another; reason for the revision is that ,with the Advance of the study of the Scriptures on which the confession is f based, there comes a fuller comprehension comprehen-sion of the truth. ' There Is scarcely any opposition to the changes outside of Pennsylvania and Princeton, university. The American church is behind the church In Scotland, which revised its creed a number of ' years agot . .The revision will, it Is believed, be-lieved, be a great step in advance and will have great effect "on the growth and prosperity of the church. |
