It is admitted, that we may receive less, or that we are not bound to receive everything in any one of them.
It is universally admitted that they may be altered and amended.
It is admitted, that no creed but the Bible, constitutes a “perfect law of liberty,” hence, those who use other creeds are frequently altering or amending them.
It is admitted, that no creed but the Bible, was given by the infallible wisdom of God.
These are undeniable truths, admitted by all Protestants, as must be seen by the most common observer. Now we ask any man in his right mind, how it can be, that it is safe to receive a creed, not containing all that a christian is bound to receive, containing also some things that may be rejected, one that may be altered, one admitted not to be a “perfect law,” and one not given by the wisdom and authority of God; and yet unsafe, to receive as our only creed that Book, containing all that a Christian dare receive, no less than he must receive, one that dare not be altered, that is “the perfect law of liberty,” and was given by the wisdom and authority of God?
[GLORYING IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST.]
THE Apostle Paul says, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ.” Why glory in the cross?—or, why not glory in his miracles, in his feeding five thousand, his calming the sea, raising the dead, opening the eyes of the blind, or giving hearing to the deaf?—or, why not glory in his own resurrection, his ascension, coronation, and being crowned Lord of all? Because it was not at any of these points Peter denied him; it was not here that he was condemned; it was not here that he suffered—that he was put to shame—that he was mocked, derided and despised. But Paul looks at him when he was on trial, when Peter denied him, when he was condemned; when he was delivered into the hands of enemies, despised and degraded; when he was nailed to the cross, crowned with thorns, and buffeted; when all his friends had forsaken him; when all the angels had withdrawn, and the Almighty Father had turned his face away—had forsaken him—and he was in his blood—in the agonies of death, with the sins of the world upon him; we say, Paul looked upon him here, and gloried in him. It was not the cross that he gloried in, literally. The expression is metonymical. The cross stands for Him who hung upon the cross. “God forbid that I should glory, save in him who hung upon the cross.” We are not to glory in men; neither in Paul, Apollos, nor Cephas, but in Christ.