1889 Watch Tower - A2Z.org

so he had added a new set of harmonies to his mental organism,to which the discourse quoted from gives the tone and key;--andhe declared that it should be heard frequently during the pastoralyear just begun.====================R1157 : page 5THE PRESBYTERIAN CREED.The New York Herald, discussing the proposed change of thecreed of the Presbyterian Church, makes the following editorialcomment on the subject:--"If the Christian of a century ago were to return to New York hewould find almost nothing to remind him of his own time exceptthe creed of the Presbyterian Church, and he would wonderwhy, in the progressive evolution, visible everywhere else, thatalone remains unchanged. If he caught the spirit of our time hewould see that we are just as eager for the eternal verities, farbroader in our charities, more generous in our bequests, andquite as earnest in our pleas for public and private morality as heand his contemporaries were. For that matter he would discoverwith mingled surprise and gratitude that the chief reason whyyoung men turn away from a clerical career is that they are tooconscientious to subscribe to doctrines which neither brain norheart will allow them to accept."Here, for instance, is an illustrious example of the sterntheology of the old school. We take it from Edwards' works, andfrom a sermon which curdled the blood of the last generation.The preacher singed the sinner with the flames not of anavenging but rather of a revengeful justice. Dr. Edwards says:--"'The God that holds you sinners over the pit of hell, much asone holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhorsyou. He will crush you under his feet without mercy. He willcrush out your blood and make it fly, and it shall be sprinkled onHis garments so as to stain all his raiment.'"After a sermon on that line of thought it would seem to besomewhat difficult to repeat the Lord's Prayer. The Fatherhoodof God would not be easily established on that statement, andthe parable of the shepherd wandering in the dark over hill andthrough dale to find the one lost sheep after the ninety nine hadbeen safely folded is robbed of all its significance."Imagine, if you can, Dr. John Hall or Dr. Howard Crosby, thesoundness of whose faith is beyond question, indorsing suchlanguage and pronouncing it a fair description of God's relationto the human race. And yet it is strictly within the limits of thecreed of a century ago, a creed which the younger Presbyteriansdesire to have modified. If it is true, why not emphasize it