giving heed to false doctrines, to fables and endless genealogies, 1 Tim. i. 3; vi. 3, 4; Tit. i. 14; iii. 9; to rightly divide the word of truth, 2 Tim. ii. 15; to convince gainsayers by sound doctrine, Tit. i. 9; to speak the things that become sound doctrine, in which they are to show uncorruptness, Tit. ii. 1, 7, 8. The end and design, as well as the terms of this commission, imply an authority in the commissioned ministers to promulgate what they conceive to be the true evangelical doctrines; which they cannot faithfully execute without proposing to their flocks that interpretation of the Scriptures which their judgment approves. Whether it be delivered in many or few words, in the form of articles, or in a continuous discourse, it is essentially the same; they are obligated ex officio to propose it; and this interpretation their hearers are to receive with deference, Matt. xxiii. 2, 3; 1 Cor. xvi. 16; Heb. xiii. 7, 17. Now, what ministers may do individually, they may conjointly; they may after mutual deliberation assent to the same interpretation of the Bible, and agree to be guided in their ministrations by the same system of doctrines and of worship. The commission, therefore, to preach the Gospel is virtually a commission to deliver a creed for the observance of the flock of Christ.

6. A confession of faith, being a Christian duty, ought to make a part of public worship. Our Saviour says, "whosoever shall confess me

before men, him will I confess also before my Father, which is in heaven," Matt. x. 32. St. John says, "whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God; God dwelleth in him, and he in God," 1 John iv. 15, 16. The following passages which, for the sake of brevity, are merely referred to, supply the like evidence, Acts viii. 37, 38; Rom. ix. 10; 2 Cor. ix. 13; Phil. ii. 10; 1 Tim. vi. 22; Heb. iv. 14-x. 21. 23. A general belief of the Scriptures must be vague and indistinct, since upon them all the widely-varying sects pretend to found their respective opinions; without the help of creeds and recognized formularies, a confession of faith cannot be made in the congregation with that fulness and particularity, that unanimity and deliberate assent, which the duty requires.

7. The use of creeds is sanctioned by our Saviour, whose constant practice it was, before conferring any signal favour, to require a confession of faith. "Believest thou this?" "Dost thou believe?" were his usual interrogatories previous to the performance of a miracle. Short and simple as they were, containing often but one article of faith, they were really forms, were as much and as truly creeds, as any that have been subsequently adopted in the Christian church.

8. "Let all things be done unto edifying," is the apostle's direction to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. xiv. 26. But it was impossible for them to see

that all things were done for edification, until they had first decreed what was edifying and it was equally impossible for them to decree this, unless they had ample power and authority'. The injunction, therefore, implies that the Church of Corinth not only had power and authority to determine what doctrines and instructions would contribute to the edification of its members, but was in duty bound to exercise it; which is in reality authorizing and commanding the Corinthian Church to promulge a public standard of faith. The same conclusion may in the same way be drawn from Rom. xiv. 19; 1 Cor. xiv. 5; 2 Cor. xii. 19; Ephes. iv. 12, 16. 9. St. Paul directs Timothy to ❝ charge some that they teach no other doctrine," &c., 1 Tim. i. 3, 4. Without some public and authorized test the presbyters could not have known what would be regarded by the governors of that church as the true doctrines of the Gospel ; nor would Timothy have been able to decide whether their preaching was sound or heterodox. There must, consequently, have been some authenticated creed for the Church at Ephesus, or a compliance with this admonition would have been impracticable.

10. The command to Titus is, "A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition, reject;" Tit. iii. 10. Some test must have

1 See Beveridge, Expos. of the xxth Art.

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existed whereby to judge of those who broached heretical notions; the apostle's injunction, therefore, implies the right to form such a public test, and to enforce it on pain of exclusion from communion with the church. No matter what the particular test might have been, either in this, or in the case of Timothy just cited; the argument rests upon the fact, that some public and well-known standard of faith existed by which the doctrine of the teachers was to be judged; for the actual existence of such a standard, recognized by the apostle, involves a right in the church to propound a creed for such as she receives within her pale.

11. St. Paul says to Timothy, "These things I write to thee-that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth," 1 Tim. iii. 15. An elaborate discussion of this much controverted passage is not demanded by the argument intended to be built upon it, depending as it does upon the following positions; namely, that the metaphorical expressions, "the pillar and ground," convey the idea of maintaining, guarding, supporting; that "the truth" means the Gospel truth; and that these expressions refer to "the church of the living God," which is here designated "the pillar and ground of the truth." From these positions, which will be generally acknowledged, it may be inferred that

the church cannot maintain, guard, and support the truth without the power, in the first place, of distinguishing and deciding what the true faith really is; and in the next place, without avowing, declaring, and making an open profession of it. It is of no consequence how this decision, declaration, and public profession of the Gospel truth are made; it is the power and authority of doing so, which forms the basis and principle of all creeds, and which the apostle here ascribes to the church 1.

12. Timothy is commanded to "hold fast the form of sound words," 2 Tim. i. 13, where the word rendered "the form" denotes a sketch, delineation, concise representation; and consequently "the form of sound words" or doctrine may signify an outline of sound doctrine, a summary of Christian faith, such as is now called a creed. A formulary of faith, then, existed in the age of the apostles, delivered by an apostle to Timothy, with an admonition to hold it fast, to retain it with fidelity and Christian

1 This text is fully discussed by Suicer. Thesaur. voc. σrúλos; a summary of which may be found in Deylingius, Obs. Sacræ. P. i. Obs. 66. p. 317. See Wolfius, Macknight, Pref. to 1 Tim. In our xxth Art. the Church is stated to be "a witness and keeper of Holy Writ;" which corresponds with the doctrine above deduced from 1 Tim. iii. 15. The church can in no other way keep in custody and bear witness to the saving truth, than by making a public profession of it in her creeds, and by her

officers.

2 See Wetstein in Tim. i. 16. Rose's Parkhurst, in voc. ὑποτύπωσις.