fifty distinct ecclesiastical organizations of Protestant Christendom, among them many scholars and ministers of the highest Christian standing in their respective Churches and countries. Those who took the most active part in the proceedings were Sir Culling Eardley Smith (President), E. Bickersteth, B. W. Noel, W. M. Bunting, J. Angell James, Dr. Steane, Wm. Arthur, T. Binney, O. Winslow, Andrew Reed, of England; Norman Macleod, W. Cunningham, W. Arnot, R. Buchanan, James Begg, James Henderson, Ralph Wardlaw, of Scotland; Drs. Samuel H. Cox, Lyman Beecher, W. Patton, Robert Baird, Thomas Skinner, E. W. Kirk, S. S. Schmucker, of the United States; Drs. Tholuck, W. Hoffmann, E. Kuntze, of Germany; Adolphe Monod, Georges Fisch, La Harpe, of France and Switzerland. The meeting was one of unusual enthusiasm and interest. One of its most eloquent speakers, Dr. Samuel H. Cox, of New York, characterized it as an assembly

'Such as earth saw never,

Such as Heaven stoops down to see.'

The late Dr. Norman Macleod wrote during the meeting, in a private letter recently brought to light:' 'I have just time to say that our Alliance goes on nobly. There are one thousand members met from all the world, and the prayers and praises would melt your heart. Wardlaw, Bickersteth, and Tholuck say that in their whole experience they never beheld any thing like it. . . . It is much more like heaven than any thing I ever experienced on earth.'

THE DOCTRINAL BASIS.

The part of the proceedings with which we are concerned here is the attempt made to set forth the doctrinal consensus of evangelical Christendom as a basis for the promotion of Christian union and religious liberty.

The Rev. Edward Bickersteth, Rector of Walton, Herts, and one of the leaders of the evangelical party in the Established Church of EngLand, moved the adoption of the doctrinal basis, and Dr. S. H. Cox, a Presbyterian of New York, supported it in a stirring speech, on the third day (Aug. 21). After considerable discussion and some unessential modifications, the basis was adopted on the fifth day (Aug. 24),

Memoir, by his Brother, 1876, Vol. I. p. 260 (N. Y. ed.). The letter to his sister dated Aug. 4, 1846, should be dated Aug. 24.

nemine contradicente; the vast majority raising their hands in ap proval, the rest abstaining from voting. The chairman then gave out the hymn,

All hail the great Immanuel's name,
Let angels prostrate fall.'

It was sung by the Conference with a depth of devotional feeling which, even during the meetings of the Conference, had never been surpassed."

The doctrinal basis is expressly declared 'not to be a creed or confession in any formal or ecclesiastical sense, but simply an indication of the class of persons whom it is desirable to embrace within the Alliance.' It consists of nine articles: (1) the divine inspiration and su preme authority of the Holy Scriptures; (2) the right and duty of private judgment in the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures; (3) the unity and trinity of the Godhead; (4) the total depravity of man in consequence of the fall; (5) the incarnation of the Son of God, his atonement, and his mediatorial intercession and reign; (6) justification by faith alone; (7) the work of the Holy Spirit in conversion and sanctification; (8) the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, the judgment of the world by Jesus Christ, with the eternal blessedness of the righteous and the eternal punishment of the wicked; (9) the divine institution of the Christian ministry, and the perpetuity of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

The basis is merely a skeleton: it affirms' what are usually understood to be evangelical views' on the nine articles enumerated. To give an explicit statement of these views would require a high order of theological wisdom and circumspection. For the practical purpose of the Alliance, the doctrinal basis has upon the whole proved suffi cient, though some would have it more strict, others more liberal, since it excludes the orthodox Quakers. It has been variously modified and liberalized by branch Alliances in calling General Conferences. The American branch, at its organization in New York, Jan., 1867, adopted it with a qualifying preamble, subordinating it to the more general consensus of Christendom, and allowing considerable latitude in its construction.2

1 Proceedings, p. 193.

* See Vol. III. p. 821.

a

§ 115. THE CONSENSUS AND DISSENSUS OF CREEDS.

PHILIE SCHAFF: The Antagonisms of Creeds, in the "Contemporary Review," London, Oct. 1870 (VĚL II. pp. 836-850). The Consensus of the Reformed Confessions, in the "Proceedings of the First Gen. Pres. Council," Edinburgh, 1877; separately issued, New York, 1877.

The Creeds of orthodox Christendom have passed before us. A concluding summary of the points of agreement and disagreement will aid the reader in forming an intelligent judgment on the possibility, nature, and extent of an ultimate adjustment of the doctrinal antagonisins which are embodied and perpetuated in the symbols of the historic Churches. The argumentation from Scripture, tradition, and reason belongs to the science of Symbolics.

A. THE CATHOLIC CONSENSUS OF GREEK, LATIN, AND EVANGELICAL

CHRISTENDOM.

The Consensus is contained in the Scriptures, and in the œcumenical Creeds which all orthodox Churches adopt. It may be more fully and clearly specified as follows:

I. RULE OF FAITH AND PRACTICE.

The Divine Inspiration and Authority of the Canonical Scriptures in matters of faith and morals. (Against Rationalism.)

II. THEOLOGY.

1. The Unity of the Divine essence. (Against Atheism, Dualism, Polytheism.)

2. The Trinity of the Divine Persons.

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the Maker, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. (Against Arianism, Socinianism, Unitarianism.)

3. The Divine perfections.

Omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, wisdom, holiness, justice, love, and mercy.

4. Creation of the world by the will of God out of nothing for his glory and the happiness of his creatures. (Against Materialism, Pantheism, Atheism.)

5. Government of the world by Divine Providence.

VOL. I N N N.

1. Original innocence.

III.-ANTHROPOLOGY.

Man made in the image of God, with reason and freedom, pur and holy; yet needing probation, and liable to fall.

2. Fall: sin and death.

Natural depravity and guilt; necessity and possibility of salva tion. (Against Pelagianism and Manichæism.)

1. The Incarnation of the eternal Logos or second Person in the Holy Trinity.

2. The Divine-human constitution of the Person of Christ. 3. The life of Christ.

His superhuman conception; his sinless perfection; his crucifix ion, death, and burial; resurrection and ascension; sitting at the right hand of God; return to judgment. 4. Christ our Prophet, Priest, and King forever. 5. The mediatorial work of Christ, or the atonement. 'He died for our sins, and rose for our justification.'

V.-PNEUMATOLOGY.

1. The Divine Personality of the Holy Spirit.

2. His eternal Procession (ikπópevσic, processio) from the Father, and his historic Mission (réus, missio) by the Father and the Son.

3. His Divine work of regeneration and sanctification.

VI.-SOTERIOLOGY.

1. Eternal predestination or election of believers to saivation. 2. Call by the gospel.

3. Regeneration and conversion.

Necessity of repentance and faith.

4. Justification and sanctification.

Forgiveness of sins and necessity of a holy lite.

5. Glorification of believers.

VII.-ECCLESIOLOGY AND SACRAMENTOLOGY.

1. Divine origin and constitution of the Catholic Church of Christ.
2. The essential attributes of the Church universal.

Unity, catholicity, holiness, and indestructibility of the Church.
Church militant and Church triumphant.

3. The ministry of the gospel.

4. The preaching of the gospel.

5. Sacraments: visible signs, seals, and means of

6. Baptism for the remission of sins.

7. The Lord's Supper for the commemoration of the atoning death.

5. Judgment of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ.

6. Heaven and Hell.

The eternal blessedness of saints, and the eternal punishment of the wicked.

7. God all in all (1 Cor. xv. 28).

B. CONSENSUS AND DISSENSUS OF THE GREEK AND ROMAN CHURCHES.

(a) CONSENSUS.

I. The articles of the œcumenical Creeds, excepting the Filioque of the Latin recension of the Nicene Creed and the et filio of the Athanasian Creed.

II. Most of the post-œcumenical doctrines, which are not contained in the cecumenical Creeds, and from which Protestants dissent, viz.: 1. The authority of ecclesiastical tradition, as a joint rule of faith with the Scriptures.

2. The worship (riμntikǹ tpoσkúvnois) of the Virgin Mary, the Saints, their pictures (not statues), and relics.

3. The infallibility of the Church—that is, the teaching hierarchy (ecclesia docens).

The Roman Church lodges infallibility in the papal monarchy,