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England, Wesley's Sermons, with a liberal right of interpreting them; in America, Wesley's Abridgment of the Anglican Articles, reduced to the most simple and most essential postulates of religious belief. . . . There are few, if any, devout minds which do not pass through crises, and sometimes profound struggles of opinion; the best creed is not that which, by presenting the minutest dogmatic demands, presents to such minds proportional provocations to dissent, but that which, waiving minute subtleties, holds out the great, essential, steady lights which can guide the earnest but wavering soul, holds them out with earnest but indulgent sympathy. Such, we think, is the creed of Methodism, and such one of its securities against heterodoxy.

"But there has been another and more important protection to its theology. It has aimed more to ascertain and promote the spiritual life than the theological ideas of its people. Whether consciously or not, it has thus given an example of the best philosophy of religious orthodoxy. Most sects have seemed to assume that orthodoxy must secure the spiritual life of the Church; Methodism has, practically at least, assumed that evangelical life will secure evangelical orthodoxy. 'If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God' (John 7. 17).”1

Some persons object to the adoption of Articles of Faith upon the following grounds, namely: that they infringe Christian liberty, and supersede the Scriptures by substituting in their place a number of humanly formed propositions; that to exhibit the Christian faith in any limited number of statements is virtually to declare that all besides is superfluous; that such Articles nourish hypocrisy and hinder advancement in divine knowledge.

1 Editorial, quoted by Dr. Buckley in Christian Advocate, Sept. 13, 1906.

Against this view it is contended that the design of such Articles is not to sum up the whole of Christianity, but merely to set forth the belief of a given Church upon the leading truths of religion, as well as touching those matters that have been subjects of heretical corruption or controversy, and respecting which it is necessary that there be, for the sake of peace, agreement among members of the same Church. Articles of Religion are not intended to be guides through all the voyage of Christian inquiry, but beacon lights to inform the mariner where lie those rocks and shoals in which preceding voyagers have made shipwreck.1 A rational religious faith without dogma is impossible; that is, some authoritative formula is indispensable for that which is to be believed as true and defensible doctrine. Articles of Religion form a brief summary of truth which will serve as a guide to those lacking time and capacity for original investigation. Such persons, by them, will be encouraged and given confidence that they are standing on firm foundations laid by wise master-builders with materials taken from the Word of God.

1 See McClintock and Strong, Cyclopædia, article “Articles of Faith.

WESLEY'S ABRIDGMENT COMPARED WITH THE ORIGINAL THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES

To give a correct account of the Twenty-five Articles of Religion of the Methodist Episcopal Church, it is necessary to show the omissions made by Wesley in his abridgment of the original Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England. In this way may be traced the change that had taken place in his ecclesiastical and theological opinions. In his early life he was a HighChurchman, and from this viewpoint interpreted the standards of the Anglican Church, and accepted all her statements of belief. As he advanced in life he became more liberal and moderate in his opinions. He made the abridgment when in his eighty-first year. At that time, as his writings show, he had lost no clearness or vigor of mind. For years thereafter he carried on his stupendous work with unabated zeal, and made some of the most important arrangements for the extension and perpetuity of the denomination he founded.

The portion of the original Articles which Wesley retained and those which he omitted are equally significant. As the Articles now stand they show that the theology of American Methodism is essentially that of the Church of England. Nothing has been added to the American symbols that would distinguish Methodism from the great evangelical bodies of Protestantism, and nothing has been omitted that separates it from them. Such omissions as were made are justified by changed conditions, by progress of thought and advancement in learning, and give clear evidence of the wisdom of the founder of Methodism.

In the different editions of the Methodist Articles as they have appeared in the Discipline, changes, for the most part typographical, have been made from time to time. Occasionally modern terms of expression have been substituted for those which have become antiquated. Of these no further notice need be taken. The original and the abridged Articles, as approved by the Conference of 1784, follow:

Original

ARTICLES

I. Of Faith in the Holy Trinity There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom and goodness; the Maker, and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and - eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Abridged

I. Of Faith in the Holy Trinity

There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body or parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the maker and preserver of all things, visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there are three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Of this Article Wesley made no abridgment. It was copied entirely by him, but was changed by the Conference by the omission of the word "passions"; in this form it was printed in 1786, and has been retained unchanged to the present time.

II. Of the Word, or Son of God, which was made very Man

The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, and of one substance with the Father, took Man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, of her substance: so that two whole and perfect Natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one Person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God and very Man; who truly suffered, was

II. Of the Word, or Son of God, who was made very Man

The Son, who is the Word of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin; so that two whole and perfect_natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one person, never to be divided; whereof is one Christ, very God and very Man, who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a

crucified, dead and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men.

sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for the actual sins of men.

Of this Article Wesley omitted but one brief phrase, the words "of her substance." The phrase is borrowed from the controversies of the first four Ecumenical Councils as to the relations of the two natures in the one Divine Person of Christ. It may be that Wesley deemed them superfluous, as the nature of Christ is unequivocally stated without them: "So that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one person." The words "begotten from everlasting of the Father" were omitted by the Conference. See Article II, note, p. 68.

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This Article Wesley omitted. It is based upon Psa. 16. 10: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell"; and upon 1 Pet. 3. 19: "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison." Hell may be taken to mean the place to which all souls, whether good or bad, are carried after death. The Greek word so rendered was at the time of the writing of the New Testament used by Greek writers in this sense. There has been much controversy as to the interpretation of the passage quoted from Saint Peter, "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison." The Scriptures teach plainly that Christ went to paradise, taking the penitent thief with him to come forth on the third day for the resurrection. The doctrine of the descent into Hades did not appear

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