Consideración del plan de estudios del diplomado Trabajo en Equipo

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fiTRODUCTIO.

the results with the Scripture, we shall be able to see what parts of its sacred truths have been least discussed, what problems yet remain to be solved, what is still to be done in order that our Divine system of faith be wholly reproduced in the life of the church, in order that all its

truth and doctrines stand out as distinctly and majestically in the history of the race as they do in that revelation which was given to control and determine this history. — Dr. H. B. Smith. (3) Church doctrine traced to its source by •way of identifyin;T; the true Jaith.

[12233] Let the whole bodyof dogmatic truth, as taught in the visible church of Christ, whether it be true or whether it be false, be considered together. Whatever we may think of the doc- trine, let us view the whole as one stream ; then let us trace it backward to its fountain-head, iind see what happens. The process is the same as tracing a river to its soutce. We wish to know whence it derives its waters ; we there- fore trace it carefully up the stream, and note where every branch separates, to the right hand or to the left. o stream that falls in along the

course can form any part of the original waters ; we therefore let it alone, and steadily pursue the central current, till we reach the spot where it flows out of the broad lake or the precipitous mountain's side. Let us do the same thing with the dogmatic teaching of the church ; we shall then see which branch traces its original furthest back and forms part of the parent stream.

We scarcely commence the process before

two doctrines are separated from the mass and fall behind us. The dogmas of the infallibility of the pope, and of the immaculate conception of the Virgin, reach no further back than our own memories. The dogma of purgatorial flames branches off" about the middle of the sixteenth century, and dies away as a formal doctrine about the middle of the twelfth. In the early part of the fifteenth century the muti- lation of the Lord's Supper, by taking away the cup from the laity, disappears. At the begin- ning of the thirteenth century, we find transub- stantiation for the first tiir.e dogmatically taught, and in another two or three centuries all traces of it are lost again. In the twelfth century

five of the sacraments disappear, and the two "ordained by Christ Himself" alone survive. In the ninth century the power of canonization for the first time falls into the stream of doctrine, although the tendency to saint worship and

Mariolatry reaches further backward. In the beginning of the sixth century the papal supre- macy is left behind, and with it the last formal trace of the corrupt dogmas of the East and the West. Three hundred years must be traced

back to the Council of ice. But we have already left behind all that separates us from Greece and Rome. We have seen at what dates their doctrines arose, and where they fell into the central stream. We now stand far above them, and yet the river itself has become no scanty stream, weak and shallow. It yet flows on, a river of truth, deep, broad, and strong,

only the swifter because the truths have nar- rowed on either side. Still we trace it back, and yet at icea we have not arrived at the fountain-head. Thirteen creeds or fragments ol creeds still lie between us and the first parent spring of all, bearing the same general cha- racter, reflecting the same truths. Further back, therefore, flows the river. The original spring is still beyond us ; although every voice now loudly proclaims where it is, and what. Still we take no man's word, but from saint to saint carefully trace the current to its source. Further back than the time of Irenajus the line of descent for a brief period becomes compara- tively obscure. Intimations of a formal derinite creed may be found in Ignatius, Clemens Ro- manus, Folycarp, and Justin Martyr, but they are fragmentary and uncertain. The period is like some reach of the earthly stream, where, amid the precipitous rocks and overhanging woods, its exact course cannot be positively traced. A little further on and the full river breaks into view again. We tread with reverent hearts and holy fear, for we are close to the

fountain-head. We are looking into the first century of the Christian era, and here we find the abysmal depth whence the glorious river flows. It may be traced yet further back indeed even than this, but it is through secret channels, through type and symbol and ceremony and prophecy, with the clear light of day breaking upon it here and there ; rather like a river flow- ing underground than like a river in the full light of day, challenging by the strength of its first rush and the loud music of its flowing depths the eyes and ears of men. We are look- ing into the first century. Let us as it were go round, and get, so to speak, at the back of the cavernous profound whence the stream of truth rushes into the daylight. Let us go back to the year 750 of Rome, and behold 1 the open river is not. Somehow in that mysterious century it has its earthly birth. Here, explain it how you will, here, for an historical certainty, the faith begins. The proofs that the articles of the

icene Creed are deduced from the Scriptures exist in familiar text-books. Whatever may be concluded as to the character of the Scriptures, it is certain that they and the faith sprang into being together ; and their birthday is in the period to which step by step I have traced the genealogy back. We stand, as it were, looking at the depths mysterious, yawning beneath and before the eye, inscrutable and unfathomable, whence the waters spring into the daylight. Look and watch and wonder. What spring is capacious enough to have given them birth ? The channel itself we can see to be human as ourselves, though of finer and purer soil, as if

the ever-gushing fountains of truth close by had clothed it with perennial beauty and verdure. Whence it issues the outward eye cannot see. The sprino' is there where no human hand can reach, no human foot can tread. It lies in the unseen, not the seen. Stand and watch the waters. All the dear familiar truths are there, known to us from our childhood, almost the

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