Docetism

“ Hence a system of logic, of philosophy, of expressed belief, of doctrine, inevitably grows up in a thinking community, a thinking Church.
The statement of an ecclesiastical system of doctrine may not be the absolutely true one, nor the final one. Doctrine changes, even as scientific theories change with fuller information. Doctrine also expands, with the growth of the human spirit and understanding. To-day, in one's library, one has a thousand books. ”

“ We thus arrive at the complete nature of the work called "The Didache, or Teaching of the Apostles," and find it to be in reality a combination of two systems of teaching, perhaps of two treatises, the Duæ Viæ or Judicium Petri, and the διδαχαὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων or the doctrines of the Apostles. From the first comes the doctrine of the two paths; from the second, the directions for the administration of the Sacraments and the appointment and maintenance of ministers of religion. ”

“ It will prove a mere fine-weather religion. Nothing, in short, will do in that solemn hour but clear, distinct doctrine, embraced by our inward man, and made our own. "Earnestness" then proves nothing but a dream. Doctrines such as those set forth in the Articles are the only doctrines which are life, and health, and strength, and peace. Let us never be ashamed of laying hold of them, maintaining them, and making them our own. Those doctrines are the religion of the Bible and of the Church of England! ”

“ Now, the doctrines which proceed from man are neither pure nor holy; seeing that "God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all." Therefore, none but the doctrines of God are the truth in religion; all others are lies.
Think you, then, that those are doctrines of God, which are not contained in His Book, but are opposed to the sacred precepts of His holy Word? Have you ever compared the doctrines taught in primitive times with those of later ages? Have you ever compared the dogmas of the Decretals with the doctrines of the Bible? ”

“ Study, therefore, to be established in the doctrines of the Lord and the apostles, that so all things, whatsoever ye do, may prosper both in the flesh and spirit; in faith and love; in the Son, and in the Father, and in the Spirit; in the beginning and in the end; with your most admirable bishop, and the well-compacted spiritual crown of your presbytery, and the deacons who are according to God. ”

“ If it be received as doctrine and acknowledged that the Lord is one with the Father, and that His Human is Divine from the Divine in Him, light will be seen in the least particulars of the Word,—for what is received as doctrine, and acknowledged from doctrine, is in the light when the Word is read,—even the Lord, from whom is all light and who has all power, will illuminate them. ”

“ It is inseparably connected, one part with the other, in all the doctrines that have been revealed to man, which are now called the various doctrines of Christianity, of which all the professors of religion believe a portion; but severally reject, or desire to reject, other portions of the truth: each sect or individual taking to themselves portions of the Bible, portions of the doctrine of salvation, that are the most pleasing to them, rejecting all the rest, and mingling these doctrines with the tenets of men. ”

“ As to the practical observations, I have not obliged myself to raise doctrines out of every verse or paragraph, but only have endeavoured to mix with the exposition such hints or remarks as I thought improvable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, aiming in all to promote practical godliness, and carefully avoiding matters of doubtful disputation and strifes of words. It is only the prevalency of the power of religion in the hearts and lives of christians, that will redress our grievances, and turn our wilderness into a fruitful field. ”

“ There are many doctrines which must be allowed to be true, that are not of equal importance with others; nor so much adapted to promote the work of salvation, and the glory of God therein. There are some doctrines which the apostle calls the present truth, 2 Pet. i. 12. in which he instructs those to whom he writes. Accordingly, those truths are to be frequently inculcated, which are most opposite to the dictates of corrupt nature and carnal reason; because of their holiness, spirituality, beauty, and glory. ”

“ They who teach and learn only the literal sense of the Word, without the regulating doctrine of the church, comprehend only those things that belong to the natural or external man; while those who teach and learn from true doctrine which is from the Word understand also the things that belong to the spiritual or internal man. The reason is that in the external or literal sense the Word is natural, and in the internal sense it is spiritual. (A. C. n. 9025; also 9424)
All the Doctrines op the New Church are Essentials. ”

“ These are such doctrines as have a tendency to advance the glory of God, and do good to the souls of men, that are relished and savoured by sincere Christians, who know the truth, as it is in Jesus; and are nourished up, as the apostle says, in the words of faith and of good doctrine, 1 Tim. ”

“ But a second reason why we dislike doctrinal preaching is because we confound it with dogmatic preaching. Doctrinal sermons are those which deal with the philosophy of religion. They expound or defend or relate the intellectual statements, the formulae of religion. Such discourses differ essentially from dogmatic sermonizing. For what is a doctrine? A doctrine is an intellectual formulation of an experience. Suppose a man receives a new influx of moral energy and spiritual insight, through reading the Bible, through trying to pray, through loving and meditating upon the Lord Jesus. ”

“ If we are trained by a regular course of proper teaching to understand the distinct yet united truths of the Bible—the evidences by which they are supported, and the arguments by which objections to them are refuted—we are then prepared to withstand the shocks of heresy without being startled into scepticism by the imposing dogmatism or subtle plausibilities of its advocates. ”

“ All Doctrines that set up our own Righteousness, whether of Morality, or Sanctification, in the room of Christs Righteousness; That place good works in the throne of Christ, are Doctrines of Antichrist, and not of Christ. For the Gospel teacheth us, [158] that all our best works are imperfect, and that we are justified, not by our own inherent Righteousness, but by the Righteousness of Christ only, made ours by Faith: this Rule will keep you from much of the poyson of Popery. ”

“ The Doctrine of the Gospel, is a Doctrine [155] according to Godliness; It is a Mysterie of Godliness; It teacheth to deny all ungodlinesse and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.
2. You must reject all such Doctrines, as hold forth a strictnesse above what is written. Papists teach many strict Doctrines, of self-whippings, and voluntary povertie, vows of continency, and many such like; but the Apostle gives you an Antidote against them, Col. 2.18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. And so also our blessed Saviour, Matth. 15.1. ”

“ He referred, first, to the false association which those words of world-wide meaning, ‘religious education,’ are almost sure to induce, when restricted, in a narrow, inadequate sense, to the teaching of the schoolmaster; and next, to the divine commission of the minister of the gospel. ‘Perverted as human nature is,’ he remarked, ‘there are cases in which, by appealing to its sentiments and affections, we may derive a very nice evidence respecting the divine origin of certain institutions and injunctions. ”

“ If the happy effects of true doctrines, and the true principles of the Gospel were not great—why are they to be preached—why is there so much said about holding fast the form of sound words—of being sound in the faith—of sound doctrines,—of contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints—of abiding in the doctrine of Christ? ”

“ From whom and through whom, when and to whom, was that discipline by which men become Christians delivered? For wherever the truth of that which is the Christian discipline at once and faith be shown to be, there will be the truth of the Scriptures, of their exposition, and of all Christian traditions. ”

“ Doctrines are to the soul what the streets which lead to the house of a friend who has invited me to dinner are to the body. They will lead me there if I take the right one; but if I remain in the streets my hunger will never be satisfied. Feeding on doctrines is like trying to live on dry husks; and lean indeed must the soul remain which partakes not of the Bread sent down from heaven. ”

“ Thus, the preacher who has doctrine—i.e., who uses the doctrine given him by God, and diligently preaches it, and communicates it to others;—doctrine and words, which he may speak and preach, will never fail him, for God will suggest them. ”

“ The one is the golden roof that is cast over us; the other is too often but the spiders’ webs that are spun across and darken its splendour. It is a sign of a wholesome change in the whole sentiment and attitude of the modern Christian mind that the word ‘doctrine,’ which has come to mean men's inferences from God's truth, should have been substituted as it has been in our Revised Version of my text, by the wholesome Christian word ‘teaching.’ The teaching is the facts with the inspired commentary on them. ”

“ Doctrine does not save from hell, but it does save from many a snare that besets the feet of man. It is a steadier of life, a strengthener of hope, a stalwart aid to a practical, devout, and duty-doing life. A catechism is a system of doctrine expressed in its simplest form. Therefore, for the intellectual and moral training of the Church, let us have sound doctrine in the pulpit, and the catechism in the home and Sabbath-school. ”

“ Now we learn from the use which the apostle makes of his doctrines, that whatsoever teaching comes from God leads to a holy and useful life. And if we hold any doctrine that does not excite us to labor after the strictest conformity to the will of God in all our tempers, spirit, and actions, we may rest assured that either that doctrine is not of God, or we make an improper use of it. He that knows God best, loves and resembles him most. ”

“ The building-up of doctrine is superb. Into doctrine are woven the intellectual beliefs, the emotional experiences, and the spiritual struggles of mankind. Doctrine is an attempt to classify the spiritual problems of the race and to present a theory of redemption which shall be adequate, spiritually progressive, and the exact expression, so far as yet revealed, of the will of God for man. All Christian doctrine is centred about one point: the redemption of the race from sin. Dealing with such great and fundamental themes, each system of doctrine is an intellectual triumph. ”

“ What becomes of the defined DOCTRINES, when the asserted FACTS themselves turn out to be mere shadowy non-entities?
Will a house continue to stand, when its foundations are removed? Can doctrines remain secure, when their professed basis of facts proves to be nothing better than the fabric of a vision? ”

“ By whose authority do some religious teachers now lead the suffering through such a round-about, intricate, or arid path of things to be done and doctrines to be accepted before bringing them to Christ? ”

“ But if, as the source and inspiration of practice, doctrine has been the foundation of a new state of the world, and of that change which distinguishes the world under Christianity from the world before it, miracles, as the proof of that doctrine, stand before us in a very remarkable and peculiar light. Far from being mere idle feats of power to gratify the love of the marvellous ”

“ To explain Holy Scripture from the religious and dogmatic standpoint forms no part of our warrant. Subject above all things to the hierarchic order, we surrender theology to the doctors of the Church and we render to human science whatsoever is included in the domain of experience and reason. ”

“ Doctrines and practices are spirits that must be tried, and where there is occasion, must be carefully separated and distinguished; and as we must not swallow corrupt doctrines for the sake of any laudable practices of those that teach them, so we must not imitate any bad examples for the sake of the plausible doctrines of those that set them. The scribes and Pharisees boasted as much of the goodness of their works as of the orthodoxy of their teaching, and hoped to be justified by them ”

“ These conceptions, as the Creed arranges them, are imparted to us in youth. They are the doctrines of our religion, and in so far as the individual rests his faith on these doctrines and feels them to be the truth, he has all he needs as a Christian. ”

“ We have the faculty to make discoveries, we have the faculty to discover, we have the faculty to learn and understand the first principles of the doctrines of Christ. Faith, being the first principle of our religion, is established in the mind by hearing, it is established in the mind by evidence and by testimony. ”

“ Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandments of God, ye hold the tradition of men. Ye reject the commandment of God that ye may keep your own tradition. Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered ”

“ Every later type of Christian life and teaching is to be judged, not by the standard of Scripture as a whole, nor even by the authority of the words of Christ as a whole, but by the content of this one discourse. ”