4. " It is a matter of congratulation that our grow- ing S3'mpathy with the Apostles' Creed is attended witii a growing power of appreciation among us also for that christological way of looking at the doctrines of Christianitv which has come to characterize all the evangelical theology of Germany in our time, and by which only, it would seem, the objective and subjec- tive (in other words, the churchly and experimental) sides of the Gospel can be brought into true harmony with each other."
These theses were adopted without dissent. The}' show with what unanimitj' the mother sj-nod stands, in doctrinal apprehension, upon an Iiisiorica! And ca/ho- /jc basis, and protests both against all the sectarian and rationalistic tendencies of Protestantism, and against the errors and corruptions of the Roman and Greek churches.
Taking as a general principle the idea enunciated in these theses, that tlic Church refers her life not onh' to the epoch of the-Reformation, but through this also to the original form of Christianity as it existed in the first ages, and that the Apostles' Creed is to be consid- ered of fundamental authoritv for the Reformed faith,
GERMAN REF. CH. IN AMERICA 829 GERMAN REF. CH. IN AoVIERICA
we proceed to state in few words some of the principal doctrinal views which the Palatinate Catechism, thus interpreted, teaches and involves :
1. Adam, created in the image of God, was endowed witli capacity to resist temptation and abide in his orig- inal state of life-communion with God ; but he trans- gressed the command of God b}' a free act of liis own will through the instigation of the devil, the head of the kingdom of darkness.
2. The fall of Adam was not that of an individual onl}', but the fall of the human race.
3. All men are born witli the fallen nature of Adam, and are thus under the power of the kingdom of dark- ness, inclined to all evil, and unapt to any good ; and are subject to the wrath of God, who is terribl}' dis- pleased witli their inborn as well as actual sins, and will punish them in just judgment in time and in eter- nity-.
4. The eternal Son of God, incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mar}', true God and true man in one person, is the principle and substance of the new creation.
5. In the mystery of the 'Word made flesh, the hu- manity which the Son of God assumed into organic and eternal union with himself is the most perfect form of supernatural revelation, and the only medium of di- vine grace.
G. All the acts of Christ are not those of God or of man separately taken, but the acts of the God-man.
7. His baptism, fasting, and temptation ; his mira- cles and his word ; his agon}', passion, and death ; his descent into Hades; his resurrection from the dead, ascension to heaven, and session at the right hand of God ; the coming of the Holy Ghost, and his second advent — all derive their significance and saving virtue from the mysterious constitution of his person.
8. The atonement for the sin of man is the reconcil- iation of God and fallen humanity in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is not simpl}' the offering of himself on the cross, but the whole process of resuming human nature into life-communion with God, and in- cludes both perfect satisfaction to the law by suffering the penalty and all the consequences of sin, and com- plete victory over the devil. The full benefit of the atonement inures to the believer, because by faith he is a member of Christ and a partaker of his anointing, and thus stands before God in the life and righteous- ness of Christ.
9. The Church constituted bj' the coming of the Holy Ghost is the mystical body of Christ, a new, real, and objective order of existence, and is both super- natural and natural, divine and human, heavenly and earthly, the fulness of him that filleth all in all; in whose communion alone there is redemption from sin and all its consequences, fellowship with God in Christ, and the hope of complete victory over death and hell, and of eternal glory. The relation which the new, regenerated hunianitj', his mystical body, bears to Christ the head, the second Adam, is analogous to the organic relation which the old, fallen, accursed hu- manity bears to the first Adam.
10. The sacraments are visible, holj' signs and seals, ■wherein God, by an objective transaction, confirms to sinners the promise of the Gospel. They are the means whereby men, through the power of the Holy Ghost, are made partakers of the substance of divine grace, that is, of Christ and all his benefits.
11. Holy baptism is a divine transaction, wherein the subject is washed with the blood and spirit of Christ from all the pollution of his sins as certainly as he is washed outwardly with water ; that is, he is re- newed bj' the Holy Ghost, and sanctified to be a mem- ber of Christ, that so he may more and more die unto sin, and lead a holy and unblamable life.
12. Baptized persons do not attain imto the resur- rection of the dead and eternal life in virtue simply of holy baptism, but only on the condition that, improv-