3d, _The few act for the whole_.--Look to the history of the Christian Church--the Council of Nice, Chalcedon, &c. Who acted in these conferences? _Ans._ A few bishops. They got together; resolved that they were the Church, or its representatives; made creeds, and then imposed them on the flock. This has been the policy of Rome; for hundreds of years her Popes and Cardinals, Bishops and Priests, have been humbugging the people, hurling their anathemas at a Luther and a Cranmer. Why is this? _Ans._ Because they dared to dissent from the decrees of those councils. But we do not stop here; that spirit, or desire to lord it over God's heritage, which characterized the councils of Rome, has been transferred to the various synods of our time. It is often the case, that a few persons get together, take into consideration the _wants of the cause_, as they call it, reduce them to one or more propositions, and then bring them before the meeting. Perhaps one of this number makes a motion, and another of them seconds it; it is accepted, then adopted by the votes of ten or a dozen, more or less; half of whom are the very persons who concocted it. It is then blazoned abroad, and O! what a bluster! When the merits of the case are known, it reminds one of the fable, "The mountain laboured, and brought forth a mouse." 4th, _It evinces a want of faith and confidence in God_.--Creeds are never talked of, until persons begin to grow cold in their minds. "The Church, during the whole of the first century, had no creed but the Bible;" but when she departed from the simplicity of the Bible, and lost her faith in God, then she began to legislate.--They (the church) felt, as many express themselves at the present time, that we must keep the Church together. Yes, and here was, and still is, the very trouble: WE MUST DO IT. This is not our work; it belongs to the Great Head of the Church; and if we had faith and confidence in God, and in His word, we should be willing to let Christ do His own work. Every effort to keep the Church together by making creeds, is an innovation.--There were divisions in the apostles' day, and there have been divisions in every age since that time. Every effort on our part to steady the Ark, when such effort has not been put forth in accordance with the plan of God, has been frowned upon by the Almighty. It is often the case that those who seem to have so much anxiety, and manifest so much zeal to hold and to "build up the cause," as they are pleased to term it, are, when the truth is known, trying to build up themselves. While it is our duty to do all we can, under the blessing of Heaven, to promote the welfare of the cause with which we are associated, we must be careful not to indulge a thought that its prosperity depends upon our feeble efforts: for _it_ will live, whether we do or not. Christ stands at the helm, and, if we abide in the ship, we shall be safe. But the creed-power, or