4. The Christian Association of Washington is not a church, but an organization of “voluntary advocates for church reformation.” 5. The association will support only such ministers as conform to “the original standard.” 6. A committee of twenty-one, chosen annually, shall transact the business of the association. 7. Meetings shall be held twice a year. 8. An order of business for the meetings. 9. The association agrees to support those ministers whom it shall invite to assist “in promoting a pure evangelical reformation, by the simple preaching of the everlasting gospel, and the administration of its ordinances in an exact conformity to the Divine Standard.” The Address opens, and for many pages continues, with a picture of the “awful and distressing effects” of division among Christians, an impassioned plea for unity, an argument that conditions in America are uniquely favorable for a union effort, and a restatement of the causes of division and the basis of union. Mr. Campbell revealed the central principle of his endeavor, the ground of his hope for its success, and the breadth of his tolerance, when he wrote: It is, to us, a pleasing consideration that all the churches of Christ, which mutually acknowledge each other as such, are not only agreed in the great doctrines of faith and holiness; but are also materially agreed, as to the positive ordinances of Gospel institution; so that our differences, at most, are about the things in which the kingdom of God does not consist, that is, about matters of private opinion, or human invention. The Address then lays down thirteen numbered propositions, which, in condensed form, are as follows: 1. “The church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one.” 2. Congregations locally separate ought to be in fellowship with one another. 3. Nothing ought to be an article of faith, a term of communion, or a rule for the constitution and management of the church except what is expressly taught by Christ and his apostles. 4. “The New Testament is as perfect a constitution for the worship, discipline and government of the New Testament church, and as perfect a rule for the particular duties of its members; as the Old Testament was ... for ... the Old Testament Church.” 5. The church can give no new commandments where the Scriptures are silent. 6. Inferences and deductions from Scripture may be true doctrine, but they are not binding on the consciences of Christians further than they perceive them to be so. 7. Creeds may be useful for instruction but must not be used as tests of fitness for membership in the church.