02.00. Of Creeds and Confessions

of Creeds and Confessions by Samuel Miller Arguments in Favor of Creeds

Creeds and confessions defined; the need to maintain unity in the church; the Church’s responsibility as a witness for the truth; the candor which each church owes to both other churches and the world; the obligation to study Christian doctrine; the historic necessity of creeds; the opponents of creeds generally latitudinarians and heretics; creeds inevitably employed by their opponents.

Answers for Objections to Creeds The objection that creeds supercede the Bible as a standard of faith; the objection that creeds interfere with the rights of conscience; the objection that creeds discourage free inquiry; the objection that creeds fail to achieve their purpose; the objection that creeds promote discord and strife. The Extent of Creeds

Whether the creeds of the Church may, or should, include articles other than those which are fundamen tal; the importance of doctrines respecting church government and the sacraments.

Concluding Remarks

Creeds not to be feared as instruments of oppression; subscription of creeds a solemn transaction; the obligations which rest upon men who have subscribed a creed; a warning: how a single unsound minister can produce extensive harm in the Church; the duty of members, and ministers, of the Presbyterian Church to spread a knowledge of the doctrinal standards; the mistake of those who wish to abandon all creeds and confessions.

Adherence to Our Doctrinal Standards by Samuel Miller

Letter 1

Extremes to avoid; the meaning of public subscription to the Confession of Faith; minor differences among the Westminster divines; the Calvinistic system of the Confession; the difference between the essential nature of Christian doctrine, and different modes of expounding it; the exclusion of Pelagians, Arminians, and other heretics; false subscription a solemn perjury; evasive subscription a base deception; Pelagian philosophy a dangerous and corrupting influence; the duty of church courts to guard against loose subscription.

Letter 2 The lack of adherence to the doctrinal standards in some presbyteries; the scriptural priority of doctrinal purity; examples of erroneous teachings: denial of original sin, denial of human depravity, belief in free will, denial of human inability, denial of sovereign grace; false subscription; Pelagian and Arminian heresies discussed and refuted; the biblical doctrine of salvation; the foolish claim that these systemic differences are merely a dispute over terminology; the Presbyterian Church a Calvinistic church; Pelagian and Arminian errors poisonous to genuine spirituality.

Letter 3

Doubtful practices within church judicatories: presbyteries formed upon the principle of "elective affinity," licensing candidates previously disapproved by another presbytery; the presbyterial right, and responsibility, to judge the qualifications of candidates for the ministry; fraternal relations between Presby terians and Congregationalists; Congregationalist approval of men previously disapproved by a presbytery; the impropriety of allowing fraternal delegates to vote in church judicatories; a concluding admonition to preserve truth and oppose error ­ to maintain the confessional standards of the Presbyterian church.