The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1874-12-30
THoRNWELL AND CALVIN.


:, declares that the Institutio" is the mos
important work in the history of theological
science, occupying in that science the plac,
which it requires both the "Novum Organ
um" of Bacon and the "Principia" of New
ton to fill up in physical science. He says
: that conveys the finest idea of the way and
manner in which the truths of Gods WORD
ought to be classified and systematised, and
at the same time actually claSsifes and Sys'
tematises them in way that has not since
received any very material or essential I'M
provement And yet he maintains that Cal
wins contributions 20 the establishment OF
prirciple j the development trOsh were
greater in regard to Church organisation
than in regard to any other department of
discussion, The principles which he main
tains that the Church owes to Calvin more
than to any other man, as having brought
them out from Scripture with distinctnesS
and pressed them on the general attention
are:
l. The unlawfulness of introducing any,
thing into the government or worship of the
Church which has not the positive sanction
of Scripture
2. The obligation which rests on the
Church as a visible society to be organised
in all things as far as possible, as to Office
bearers, ordinances, ETC., in accordance with
what the New Testament indicates on these
points.
3. That the leading features of Presbyte-
rian Church government are indicated in the
New Testament as permanently binding on
the Church.
4. That the Church should be independent
of civil control.
5, That human laws, whether civil or &C.
clesiastical, do not, per Sc, that is, irrespec-
tive of their being sanctioned by the author
ity of God, impose an obligation on the con-
science.
Cunningham does not say that none of
these had been enunciated before Calvin, but
they had never been by uninspired men SO
fully declared, and especially they had not
been presented in combination and expounded
with go much at once of ability and modera.
ton. No man before him ever settled per-
manently the constitution of the Christian
Church, by bringing out from Scripture the
great leading principles bearing on its or
gaDisation. Elsewhere the eminent Scotch
man points out how Calvin took the best
practicable means for putting an end to ex-
isting corGptons and abuses and preventing
their recurrence, [1) by abolishing all mon
| archy in the Church-alE independent power
vested officially in one mantle origin and
root of the Papacy; (2) by falling back on
the combination of aristocracy and democra-
cy which prevailed in the first two centuries
when the Church was governed by the COM
mon council of presbyters; (9) by providing
against mere priestly caste by associating
with ministers in ecclesiastical affairs class
Of ordained presbyters engaged in the ordi-
nary occupations of life; (4) by trying to
prevent recurrence of Prelacy and Papacy
through the perverSon of the one-man power
by fastening these principles on the consci-
ence of the Church as binding by divine
right
1t has often occurred to us that there was
very strong resemblance between Calvin
and our own DR.. Thornwell as to the pecu-
liar structure of their mental constitution,
and as to the direction providentially given
to their labors for the Church. Both these
great men were called to die when about fifty
years old, both were gifted with specula-
tive genius of the first order, and at the same
time with the finest kind of practical sense.
The great Princeton Professor is no doubt
justly pronounced the first living Theologian.
We thankfully acknowledge the goodness of
God in raising up such mighty defender Of
the Calvinistic Pauline Theology
But Dr. Hodge is Dotoriously unhappy al
ways in his treatment of practical Church
questions. He cannot deal with the princi-
pies of our system in their application to
concrete cases. The combination which ex-
listed in Calvin and in ThornWell is notable
But Calvin completed his system of Theo-
logy, which Thornwell did not live to accom-
plish. The seventeen lectures he has left
behind him are very grand-we really do
not know anything comparable with them
from uninspired pen. Yet Of course they
are far from covering the ground. With
the more truth, therefore, it may be said of
him than of the immortal Gsnevese, that his
chief labors for the truth related to the Pol
ity of the Church. The theological discus.
sions of his lifetime turned mainly on ques-
tions in this department., and he was like
Calvin great here, as he was also like Calvin
great in Theology and in Criticism. Pos
sessed likewise of q training in Philosophy
which Calvin could not have had, and of
powers of analysis unrivalled in our time,
and at the same time of the synthetic ability
by which the light of truth is brought to a
burning focus, what a theological system he
could, with Gods blessing, have produced,
had it been his privilege in Providence to
teach fifty successive classes in Theology,
and then to give forth his Lectures under
his own eye through the ess!-SOmhern