40 years ago — August 23, 1976
“I have long hoped that our church could produce a declaration of faith to stand alongside of, and to supplement, the Westminster Confession, which, partly because of its archaic language, partly for other reasons, does not at every point adequately articulate the faith of the believing community today. I am therefore in principle in favor of our church’s having a new confession. I believe one is needed. The present document certainly has many virtues. … True, there are statements that could be improved; this is probably inevitable … . But I suspect that, all in all, the virtues outweigh the faults. … Moreover, one may doubt that, at the present time and under the present circumstances, our church is capable of producing a document markedly superior to it. Yet I find myself wondering if … it … will in future years stand up well alongside the other great confessional documents … .” So goes the discussion about the proposed Declaration of Faith from the southern branch of the PC(USA) family.
From the article “Virtues outweigh the faults” by John Bright
