The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1871-05-18

gwen Oy inspiration or UOu, anu Is prOUlaOle iVA
doctrine for reprOOf for correction, for instruc-
are profitable though not fundamental Inc
preacher is expressly eDjoined to make tu PROOF
Of his ministry" Tim. " 5. So that no herald
of Christ does his duty, who keeps back any known
divine truth Its suppression may ruin some SOUL
and must mar to some degree, the Sanctlheaton OF
all whom he guides.
AN Protestants admit the sacred right OF private
Judgment and most of all must the latitudinarians
do so since their popularity is to urge 1t into an
excess Then the meaning OF the Scriptures IS to
each man the Scripture: and this meaning each
must deduce for himself In other words: each
mans honest judgment must be his own standard
in Interpreting what the word contains. There IS
no intalhbe umpire, as In the Apostles days, De-
tween competing interpretations. The reason even
in renewed men, can be only an imperfect agent,
so that good men will sincerely differ to partial
extent. The only honest preaching then, is that
in which each man delivers all that which ne be-
heves, when judging in the fear of God, He lnten-
ded to deliver in his word.
These admitted truths will be found to contain
two differences: first, that there must be different
determinations Of Christians, amicable respecting
each others liberty in doctrines not fundamental,
within the visible Church Catholic second that
each denomination Is bound to bear full witness
for God, according 70 It's agreed understanding OF
God message.
But here We are met by a rival conclusion,
adopted BY those who style themselves advocates
of comprehension, and sometimes by less truth
tul euphemism, advocates OF liberal subscription
in doctriual beliefs They claim that the doctrinal
standards OF the church shall be so lowered as to
embrace in one denomination all whom we recog-
nize within the Church Catholic, and as holding
the truths fundamental to salvation. Let the advO
Gates Of strict doctrine, say they, preach all their
higher creed, II their eOnsclences lmpel them ana
let the moderate have equal liberty to propagate
their lower system, all in the same communion. LII
the more strict are the more correct the truth has
thus they claim as full opportunity to assert ITSELF
and 10 diScredit the OOSer and erroneous code, as
1t can have: unless men ready 20 recur to vlo-
lence and persecution BY this method charity
would. according to them, be much promoted, the
scandals and weakness OF the divisions OF the sects
removed, and the unity Of Protestant Christianity
DISPLAYED In support of such comprehension they
attempt also to array Scripture against US. They
remind Us that when the Apostle enjoined minis
ters under the penalty Of exclusion, to consent to
the doctrine which is according to goodness, or
20 hold fast the form of sound words 1t was
even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
the pattern received from him. But they
urge the strained hyper orthodoxy OF the sees can
claim no thus saith the Lord, for its peeulari-
ties. To the fair mind, the reply to this shallow
plausibihty is clear: We think zoe hare a thus
saith the Lord. We are as honestly convinced,
that every point of our orthodoxy is received from
Christ and his Apostles, as they are concerning
their different creeds-(whieh are always found,
by the way, to include at least as many points OF
detail, and to assert them at least as tenaeiously
as orthodoxy does It's peculiar features.) But our
conscientious conviction Of what our Lord hath
delivered unto us must be our imperative rule IN
the absence Of an infaiible umpire between US and
them. And when they seek to enforce their dit
ferent convictions upon US, who have as much
right TO Judge for ourselves as they for themselves
what is this. but eevating their latitudinarianisn
into the starkest spiritual deSpotismI
These advocates of comprehension also reeite
very confidently all the precepts OF the Epistles,
where Christians are exhOrted " to mind the same
things" to leave no divisions among them :"
not to be called by the names of men and to avoid
strifes and schisms. The express command OF the
Apostle Titus iii l0,) to reject the man that is
an hereto after the first and second admonition,
is transmitted, by a species of exegetiea jUgglery,
20 an opposite meaning, namely that every friend
Of orthodoxy who seeks to reject hereto, shall
be himself rejected hereto, for doing so. The
only refutatiOn which this needs is the obvious re-
mark that it cOntradets itself: the proposition
commits a logical 'telo de Sc. Grant that the
"heretical man of the text Is a "sect.maker,
rather than speculative errOrlst; 1t is impossible
TO exclude the fact that it is always the doctrnal
error which generates the sect whence, the crinl-
naty arises out Of the false doctrine its SQUIRE.
The issue being thus developed between the Scrip
tural and the latitudinarian theory Of Church OBJ
legation to the truth proceed in the second place
70 reinforce our view.
H. From the fact visible Church, in its organic
capacity, is as truly a witnessing body, an indi
vidual herald of the gospel For He established
a testimony in jacob and appointed law in Is
rael which he commanded our fathers, that they
should make them known to their children, that
- II.
the children which should be born: who should
arise and declare them to their children Ps. rs:
5, g. This is my covenant with them, saith the
Lord My Spirit that is upon thee, aRdnly l10rds
iChicb 1 hare PET az thy mouth, shall not depart
out of thy mouth nor out Of the mouth Of thy seed
nor out Of the mouth Of thy Seed seed" Is. lix:
2l. Go We therefore, and teach all nations
teaching them to observe all things t0hdtSOeUer
haze commanded OU, Matt. xviii; 49, 20. 1.-The
Church of the living God is the pillar and ground
Of the truth" Tim. iii Is. The dragon was
wroth with the woman. and went to make war with
the remnant Of her seed which keep the command
ments Of God, and have the testimony of Jesus,
Rev. XII: IT, And hear above all, that dying tes-
timony which the divine Head of the Church sealed
with his martyrdom: :" 10 this end was born,
and for this cause came | into the world that
should bear witness unto the truth, Jno. xviii 81.
II these declarations of the word need any eon6r-
nation, it is found in a very short deduction. The
end Of the Churehs corporate existence is unques-
tiOnably the gathering and perfecting of Gods
elect. But the instrument OF this work is Gospel
trHth.
Now we saw, few moments ago, that the in.
dividual minister is indisputaby bound to declare
the whole counsel of God, according to his honest
conviction. His commission is from Christ: but
it is through the Church. Moreover, the church
organ through which she officially performs her
witnessing function as a body, IS her ministry
Their official testimony Is her testimony. Is not
the church ordained by her Head TO have an or
ganc life and action? Surely: and the practical
object is as obvious: that the truth may receive all
the additional force of associated or combined sup
port. By this divine law all Christians, who would
otherwise contend only with the dSjointed strength
Of separated integers, are trained to the might of
a disciplined army, multiplying many fold their
natural forces The Church then must bear an
official witness, which is the act Of the body, and
not merely Of the individual agents. Hence it
must follow that the body, and also each ruling part
thereof is responsible to God for the tolerated Off
cal acts Of each member Ii | then, ruler in
this body, lend to an officer or member of it, any
portion Of my official WEIGHT eouptNpanee 70 aid
him in pr0claimlng religious error, contradctng IN
any point more or less essential that code OF re-
deeming truth which Christ has committed to US,
am to that extent recreant to my obligations: I'M
faithful to my Master. | am prostitutng power
with which He has clothed me for the edi6cation
and guardianship of His Redeemed sheep. Nor
can the force Of this conclusion be evaded by say
ing, that, on the theory of comprehension, the
public distinctly understands that each minister in
the Church is alone responsible for the details of
his own dOctrinal system Practically it is not so
it cannot be So l ask with emphasis, when
minister Of the most latitudinarian communion in
the land stands up in her pulpits, as her ordained
minister, does the public receive his declarations
as worth absolutely no more than his individual
word? Is he practically no more her representative
to them, than the unOrdained ay-preaeber who