The above is the heading of an article which appeared recently, dated from New Haven, Conn. It reads as follows:
" A new confession of faith, which drops the Apostles' Creed and requires no formal expression as to the divinity of Christ, has been adopted by the deacons, and will be presented for adoption by the Center Church (Congregational) of this city. The church has strictly held to Puritan orthodoxy for more than two and a half centuries, having been founded in 1638. New members will only have to pledge themselves to believe in a higher life and to moral purposes. The old confession of faith will be spread upon the records of the church as a historical relic.
" As explained by the church officers, the purpose is to make the confession of faith absolutely non-theological, and to gather into membership those who have hitherto been debarred by slight theological scruples."
This is only one of the many signs of the times. It is not the fig-tree putting forth its leaves-for the Christian heart can only rejoice at any and every indication of Israel's approaching restoration-but such movements as the above must surely sadden the spirit of every true believer in Christ, for they show only too plainly how near to complete apostasy the Gentiles of Christendom are.
It has been a well-known fact for years that the Congregational Church, especially in New England, is honeycombed with Unitarianism. But it was always more or less of a veiled form; but now it has become emboldened, and unblushingly shows its head, as in this Center Church of New Haven.
And what are these people really doing ? They are selling Christ over again for pieces of silver. It
is "to gather into membership" those who will not confess Jesus Christ come in the flesh. These churches, whose candlesticks have long since been removed, see themselves declining, and about to become extinct. And in the hope of gathering in any kind of nondescript membership, "new members will have only to pledge themselves to believe in a higher life and to moral purposes." Any semi-civilized pagan would subscribe to such a belief. It sinks lower than Mohammedanism, which requires a belief in the existence of a personal God at least. This "new confession of faith" does not even ask this much of applicants for membership. It comes the nearest to Antichrist-denying the Father and the Son-of anything we have ever seen. They are thereby giving up Christianity; soon they will also give up the name "Christian," when their apostasy will be complete.
"The old confession of faith (in the deity of Christ) will be spread upon the records of the church as a historical relic." And the new confession, be assured, will be spread upon the books of God as evidence that these men did not like to retain His Christ in their knowledge; so they allure into their sinking ship people who have '' slight (!) theological scruples," and are thus willing to sacrifice Him again into the hands of the unholy. Oh, the shame of it! And it was from the bosom of these very churches that such men as Jonathan Edwards, Brainerd and Nettleton came forth to tell to lost men the saving power of Him who was here '' God manifest in the flesh."
Let these departures from the "faith of God's elect" stir up all true Christians to hold the vital and
blessed truth of Christ's person in power and all boldness in face of a scoffing world. And let it not be mere "orthodoxy" of belief, but the affections engaged and the soul enjoying the blessed knowledge that the Christ who is ours is "God over all, blessed forever."
Soon all this insult and rejection which God now permits men to offer His beloved Son will be terminated forever, and all created intelligences in heaven, earth, and under the earth, will ascribe to the Lamb "blessing, and honor, and glory, and power" (Rev. 5:13). It is only a little while and God will show who is "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords" (i Tim. 6:15).
Until then may we be willing to suffer the shame and scorn and reproach which the confession of what He is sure to bring upon us from the world. C. K.