movement has advanced-chiefly through the articles written by Luther and Melancthon, and later adapted by Cranmer, and then by Archbishop Parker, and still later reduced and clarified by Wesley-until at last it holds the pledge of completion in Methodism. This pledge is being met by Methodism, not only in the maintenance of its own marvelous spiritual life and teaching, but also in its modification of the doctrinal system of almost every other Church of Christendom, especially those of the Calvinistic school. Methodism is therefore to be reckoned a child of Providence not alone in the matter of its spiritual ministry to all conditions of men, but also in the fact of its having been made the depository of that chastened formulary in which history and faith collaborated in a time when each sought to be free. It is this belief in the historical fitness, confessional sufficiency, and prophetic destiny of the Twenty-Five Articles that has emboldened me to undertake a task which my own sense of lack, as well as of loyalty to the cause itself, has made me wish might have fallen to other hands. Nevertheless, the work has been prosecuted with diligence and painstaking to know the truth, and in the conviction that the arguments are so abundant and self-assertive that even indifferent skill could not fail of putting them into effective setting. As to how thoroughly I have met the possibilities of this situation, I leave to the judgment of general Methodism, to which the cause of the Wesleyan Articles has been appealed. I trust that the hope is not too ardent that, in addition to the use indicated above, this volume may be found to possess at least a modest permanent value as an interpretation of the teachings of the Articles. Outside of some works too bulky for ordinary handling, I know of no treatise of a like purpose now in print. I believe I correctly expound my motive when I say that the latter office, rather than the former, has been more constantly in my thought during the prosecution of this work. Nashville, TENN., April 23, 1907. H. M. Dʊ BOSE. |