that creed.

The Evangelical Alliance, made up of all orthodox denominations of the
world, met only a few years ago, and here is their creed: They believe
in the divine inspiration, authority, and sufficiency of the Holy
Scriptures; the right and duty of private judgment in the
interpretation of Holy Scriptures, but if you interpret wrong you are
damned. They believe in the unity of the Godhead and the trinity of
the persons therein. They believe in the utter depravity of human
nature. There can be no more infamous doctrine than that. They look
upon a little child as a lump of depravity. I look upon it as a bud of
humanity, that will, under proper circumstances, blossom into rich and
glorious life.

Total depravity of human nature! Here is a woman whose husband has
been lost at sea; the news comes that he has been drowned by the
ever-hungry waves, and she waits. There is something in her heart that
tells her he is alive. And she waits. And years afterwards as she
looks down toward the little gate, she sees him; he has been given back
by the sea, and she rushes to his arms and covers his face with kisses,
and with tears. And if that infamous doctrine is true, every tear is a
crime, and every kiss a blasphemy. It won't do. According to that
doctrine, if a man steals and repents, and takes back the property, the
repentance and the taking back of the property are two other crimes if
he is totally depraved: It is an infamy. What else do they believe?
"The justification of a sinner by faith alone," without works, just
faith. Believing something that you don't understand. Of course God
cannot afford to reward a man for believing anything that is
reasonable. God rewards only for believing something that is
unreasonable, if you believe something that you know is not so. What
else? They believe in the eternal blessedness of the righteous, and in
the eternal punishment of the wicked. Tidings of great joy! They are
so good that they will not associate with Universalists. They will not
associate with Unitarians. They will not associate with scientists.
They will only associate with those who believed that God so loved the
world that He made up his mind to damn the most of us. Then they say
to me: "What do you propose? You have torn this down; what do you
propose to give in the place of it?" I have not torn the good down. I
have only endeavored to trample out the ignorant, cruel fires of hell.
I do not tear aw