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PROGRESS IN KNOWLEDGE

This is the law of the church’s progress and growth. When a Christian, or a church, becomes convinced that it has nothing more to learn, there follows stagnation and decay. And yet what else than this is the prevalent assumption that all Bible truth is locked up in our Confession of Faith, and that it is a heresy and crime to think beyond it? No greater mistake was ever made by Reformed churches than this quenching of the Spirit in the body of Christ, by the denial to its members of the liberty of progressing beyond the limits of their creeds. Confessions are good for purposes of instruction, but not to bind the conscience. Enforced creeds should content themselves with stating only the great facts and primary beliefs of Christianity, as they are given in the language of Scripture, such as “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” “I believe that He died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures.” Human formulas, founded upon these facts, and explanatory of them, should always be held open to amendment, as God may bestow increasing light until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the perfect knowledge of the Son of God.—Words of Reconciliation.

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— October, 1887 —