The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-11-17

acCly Cne same DlDle tnat we nave, Cney
did not perceive with the same clearness
some of the truths of that revelation, as
we now understand them The fault was
in them not in the revelation The doc
trine of the Trinity was as much in the
Bible before the time of Athanasius and
the Council of Nice as it was when the
faith of the Church was defnitively form
ulated at that time with regard to it,
The doctrine of Justification by Faith
was just as plainly written in the Epis-
tie to the Romans before the time of
Luther as since; but it had been obscured
by the teachings of corrupt Church.
1t undoubtedly took time to fully di-
gest and formulate the doctrines laid
down in Revelation. 1t was not all done
in moment. But eighteen hundred
years have now passed since the close of
the Apostolic Age, and all the great
principles of theology have been gone
over again and again by succeeding ages
and for the same period we have had the
benefit of the Christian Experience of
thousands and thousands of godly men
and we may regard all the fundamental
points as long ago fully and definitely
settled. The great doctrines of Original
Sin, of the Vicarious Atonement of Christ,
of the Personality and Work of the Holy
Spirit, of Justification by Faith, of Re
generation, of Sanctifcation, of the Di-
vine Sovereignty, were just about as well
understood by Augustine as by Calvin or
Chalmers
The whole subject was again carefully
gone over at the Reformation and again
in the 18th century by the Presbyterians
and Puritans in England And from
that day to this the same questions have
been discussed and re-discussed
The text of Scripture is like the text
of written constitution of government
like the Constitution of the United States
for example. The text of the constitu-
ton does not grow; and after it has been
well considered and discussed for num-
Der of generations by acute and able
minds, its meaning is essentially set
tied. In this case, new principles may
be developed by practice, by the exigen-
cies of the situation; or construction
of particular clause may be settled by
the sword. This, however, does not
change the phraseology of the original
document, nor the meaning of its Ian
guage. The document is the same al
though it may have been enormously in
terpreted in Difference to prejudice self
interest, or the changed conditions of So
ciety.
The text of the Bible cannot be wrested
in this way. No wars nor national pre-
JUDGES, nor revolutions in commerce, can
affect the construction of the message de-
livered by the prophets and apostles. 1t
stands the same for all ages. We are to
be saved now precisely as men were saved
when Paul or Clement or Justin pro-
claimed the gospel at the first. There
has been no change in the terms There
are no new data to modify our interpre-
tation of the Epistle to the Romans or
the Epistle to the Hebrews.
We may learn something with regard
to the Interpretation Of prophecy; we
may have light thrown on certain pas
sages bearing on questions of geography
ethnology, chronology, and the like. We
may discover that we have been in error
with regard to the sites Of Sodom and
Gomorrah, or the date of our Lord S birth,
or as to the authorship Of the Pentateuch,
or the route of the Israelites from Egypt;
or we may realise that we have misread
the statement that the sun rises and sets !;
we may have side-lights thrown upon the
text by the progress of knowledge; but
that we shall learn anything new about
Gods method of salvation we utterly re-
pudiate.
We have no objection to studying the
Bible and studying Nature with an eye
to profounder knowledge A study Of
Nature may add something to our views
in Natural Theology; we may thus reach
profounder views as to the unity of Ma