THE NICENE CREED. I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And of all things visible and invisible: And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, Begotten, not made, Being of one substance with the Father, By whom all things were made; Who, for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered, and was buried; And the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures; And ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of the Father; And he shall come again with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; Who proceeds from the Father and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, Who spake by the Prophets; And I believe one Catholic and Apostolic Church; I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins; And I look for the Resurrection of the dead; And the Life of the world to come. Amen. (308) THE SCRIPTURAL AND CATHOLIC CREED OF BAPTISM.* 1. THE INTEREST OF THE SUBJECT. "I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins " -so the echo of the old creed has sounded through fifteen Christian centuries. "Their ministers have given up baptism for the remission of sins". such not long ago was the report of a provincial Baptist journal about a body of preachers who, in this century, notably have reaffirmed this design of baptism. In the light of the voice of the old creed from Nicæa, and in the light of the gossip of the Baptist newspaper, there may be a true interest in this subject. It may rightly be a subject for candid and critical study. The Baptist organ seemed to report with relish that the aforesaid preachers had practically recanted any further doctrine of baptism for the remission of sins. The Baptist organ itself, while glorying in a denominational name that is thoroughly wet with baptism, evidently holds a theory of baptism that yields no sense of a purpose of the remission of sins. Still there is the Nicene Creed, fifteen hundred years old, whose confession concerning baptism is solemnly chanted to-day in assemblies of believers; and there is the fact that, especially in the last half century, a body of preachers, Reprinted from the "Christian Standard" A. D. 1890. who profess to go back of Nicæa to Jerusalem, back of the authority of a human council to a Divine Apostleship, back of the wording of a human creed to the sound doctrine of an inspired commandment, have reaffirmed, with all the enthusiasm of edifying a critical historical need, the truth of baptism for the remission of sins. The gossip of the Baptist editor has done us all good-us who repeat the Nicene note with hearty assent. It has set us thinking. It has called out editorials and contributions, questions and answers, essays and replies and rejoinders, testimonies and confessions. We have had, indeed, but another proof how each generation needs to refresh its mind on truth for itself, whether truth of Bible or Nature. Our very knowledge of truth will fade and become dim, except as we think it over for ourselves and study its bearings on duty, and mark its new help for new needs, and learn its good amid the ever-widening experiences of thought and life. We may be thankful for the indirect benefit occasioned by misunderstandings and misreports if, apart from the heat and smoke of debate, we are aroused to investigate again any Scripture doctrine for its meaning and profitableness. It is a signal, indeed, for gratulation when we look up and begin to see that there is truth for us. There may rightly be an assurance of truth to us in tenderly remembering those of whom we have learned it. A traditional truth is none the less necessarily rational and eternal truth. Nevertheless, all truth seen possible for us, whether in sacred traditions of the heart's own sweet memories or unmistakably proved in crises of history, can become truth in us only as we receive it anew in vital, personal appre |