Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-08-11

conflict between Christianity and
the non-religi0us State, between the
conscience of Christians,
and the heterogeneous mass which,
under the name of majOrities, con-
trclled civil government. 1t was
evident that the logical tendency OF
modern national education was to
Capitalization and uniformity, to the
and systematic uni
fication of all grades of schools,
from the common school to the Uni
versity; to a uniformity of course,
textbooks, literature, quail
ificatiOn and character of teachers,
the whole enforced by law and rem
dered compulsory. If to these inn
perial schemes they added the
principle of the absolutely nom
religious character of civil govern
ment, and its independence OF Scrip
ture and Of the mediatorial authOri-
ty of Christ, it was evident that
new literature must be created,
purged of all religious thought or
dictionaries eXpurgated
of religious words, history rewritten
with all traces of providence, grace,
or faith eliminated, and philosophy,
mental and moral, reduced TO a de-
partment of molecular mechanics.
That system already emerging in
history, and al
most Everywhere foreshadowed, was
a new thing upon the earth, and
promised to be the cOnsummate in
strument of Satan for the propaga-
ton of atheism and practical ire
ligiOn, and ranked equal to the
greatest of the many antichristS. As
to the bearing of Presbyterian prin-
ciples upon the general conditions
and tendencies Of modern society,
they must ever keep in mind the
triangular nature of the conflict,
which had just been indicated. Ale
ror, from its partialand exaggerated
character, was always liable to very
violent reactions from one extreme
to another, and was capable of the
most incOngruous and unexpected
compromises. The loyal advocates
of the truth, however, must admit
no compromise with error of any
kind, except when, upon occasion,
she appeared under the guise of an
ally, and offered her assistance in
resistance to a common foe. If, in
reconstructing or developing their
national systems, they opposed the
Papal SubOrdinatiOn of the State to
the infallible Church, on the other
hand, the Erastian subsection of the
Church to the civil authority, they
must never accept the easy but fall
laciOus solutions which implied that
that the State is any the less subOr-
dinate to Christ than the Church, or
any the less subject to His personal
supremacy, or to His law as revealed
in His Word. If they were laying
the foundations of the great system
of national education which is to
form the character of future gener-
atiOns, in opposing sectaTian educa-
ton in a Papal or prelatical sense,
they must never consent to cOmpTO-
mise with the principles or to coop
crate in the methods of those whose
real purpose it is to render all cdu-
cation absolutely secular, under the
absurd pretenCe that religion can be
ignored and yet not denied, and
that religion can be simply nOn-re-
ligious, and yet the whole mass of
human knowledge not be rendered
positively anti-theistic. The same
principles Of historical Presbyterian
ism which in the past had effective
ly cOmbated human traditions and
hierarchical abSOlutiSm, remained
their only effective opponent in the
present, and at the same time the
only hopeful agency fOrresisting the
false humanitarianism the heather
rationalism which constitute the
chief peril Of modern times, Gap
pluuse.)
CHURCHLInEss OF CALVANIsM.
DIR. Stuart Robinson read extracts
from a long paper on The Church
illness of CalVinism." He said the
venerable DIR. HOge, of Princeton,
once related to him ON a certain Oc-
casiOn pressing DR.. j. Alexander to
write a brief treatise on the Church,
as he hal some time previous prom
ised to do, under the title, " Presby-
terry Tested by Scripture" that re-
markable man responded in his
peculiar way, IF you will write the
first chapter, and tell me what the
Church IS, viii finish the work"
(Laughter.) Such an answer from
so prOfOumda schOlarand thinker as
DIR. Alexander was very significant,
rs indicating that three centuries
after the Protestant Reformation the
leaders of Professionalism had not
yet determined what the Church is,
they had so clearly deter
mined three hundred wears ago what
it is -(laughter)-in overthrow
ing the mOnstrOus spiritual corpora
ton which Rome had sent up under
a SO-called vicar of Christ, and de
it to be no Church, but the
synagogue of Satan. (Applause.)
The suggestion Of the Princeton
Professor went to confirm the ObSer-
walton of the philOSOphic German
thinker, who had suggested that of
the four great departments of re-
vealed truth-theOlOgy, anthrOplO-
gy, sOteriOlOgy,a land ecclesiOlOgy-the
first three had been developed sue
first by the labor of Athan-
asiUs, second Of Augustine, and third
of Luther and Calvin, leaving the
fourth vet to be developed. And it
was a noteworthy fact, in cOntirma-
ton Of both suggestions, that while
evangelical Professionalism, or what
they might call the original PrOteS-
tantism, had since the Reformation
period benin the main a unit in re-
gard to theology, anthrOpOlOgy, and
and a unit also in the
protest against the ecclesiastical the
DRY OF Rome, there has been little
unity i'm regard to the question of
the visible Church; nor, indeed,
much toward settling the idea, ma
ture, functions, and relations Of the
Church of Christ ON earth. No
broad platform of ecclesiOlOgy had
vet been found upon which all Pro-
testants may stand rs substantially
agreed. The speaker then adverted /
at length to various theories Of the !
olOgy, and then cOntinued-NOt on |
Iy is the creed and the subjective |
faith of the Church for four thOus-
and years the same, eVincing it to |
be one and the same body under all |
dispensatiOns, but the principle of |
its government is the same under |
every variety of dispensatiOn. The |
invisible King carries GA the COVER |
ment through visible officers of His |
own appointment, whom yet the |
people shall call to the exercise of |
their office. The David formally APP |
by Jehovah must yet strug- |
Gle on through long years of toll and |