New Series, Vol.
IW6 15ju1) 69
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER '3, 1868.
SINGULARITY OF FAITH.
There ever has been, and for ages, perhaps,
there will be, a singularity in the position of the
true believer. The call addressed to the, father
of the faithful, summoning him from his country,
from his kindred, and from his father's house,
rings through the ages, and is heard in much the
same significance to-day as it was then. , Most
extraordinary and unlike all extant examples
was the conduct of Abraham. While great mi
grations were taking place all over the world,
and the ancient foundations of kingdorns and em
pires were being laid by " mighty hunters" and
enterprising men of the world, the childless
Abram, in his old ago, with his nephew Lot, went
forth at the divine command, not knowing
whether he went; he came out, not only froM his
own kindred, but from all the idolatrous world,
to found a people and to obtain a country, for the
purpose of maintaining and handing, down to la
test times the truths and the institutions of reli
gion. His object drew a broad line between
himself and all the worldly colonizers of his day.
His mode of seeking that object, without arms or
worldly accessories, illustrating the strength and
simplicity of his faith, made the peculiarity of
his position still more marked. He was a pil
grim and a stranger on the earth. Nay more.,
He was singular among those ,who show zeal for
the establishment and present success of the
kingdom of God on earth. He waited a quarter
of a century, in unshaken faith, for the first re
motest event in the long series needed for the
fulfilment of the promise. He lived and died
without owning a foot of the soil, save as a bury
ing place, of the promised land. He showed, irr
deed, that the final object of his faith was no mere
earthly development of the kingdom of God.
" But now," says the writer of the ,Hebrews,
chap. xi.: 16, "they seek a better country, that
is a heavenly." The mere expectation of the
earthly glory or success of the ;divine kingaem:
could not explain the steadfaltims ,of 4ai ith
of men who could have no ahare•:in that prosperi
ty. They " looked for a city which hath foun
dations, whose builder and maker is God. .
Wherefore, God is not ashamed to bacalled their
God; for He hath prepared for them a city."
How true it still remains that the act of faith
makes the believer a singular person! He comes
out from the mass of the world, as truly as
Abram came from Ur and from Haran. He• be
comes an "emigrant" (Hebrew) from the Meso
potamia of worldly ease and idolatry, and a stran
ger and a pilgrim on the earth, finding no per
manent, satisfactory resting place, even in the
earthly Canaan of the Church. Sometimes he
must imitate Abram by a literal forsaking of
home and kindred and father's house. Of one
thing he may be sure : he will find himself placed
iy his faith in positive antagonism to some of the
l irevalent tastes, opinions, maxims , and practices
if the world. At some time, at many times in
he life of faith, it will be necessary to take an
ttitude of marked opposition to what is fashion
ble and popular among men.
It is of the very nature of faith to link the soul
an object above the world, and singular 4n the
•orld's estimate. Faith is the activity of the
spiritual principle, which cannot be satisfied with
j iresent, common, worldly objects, and which
eaches out after an object that can bestow spill,-
ual good. Abram knew that all the, worldly
°cements going on around him, fashionable
ad popular as they were, could not satisfy the
1)` ants of man, who, in his inner heart, longs for
Seed of the woman to bruise the Serpent's
'head. His faith kept alive in man this. hope,
,which natural corruption and the Serpent him
-e continually laboring to overwhelm and
t der unpopular. And while sin abounds,'
who now cherish faith in Him who was to,
must be singular among the masses, who
1 and blinded by worldly desires, by passion,
ishness and sense. The believers' interest
he spiritual nature of man. They desire
lvation of the soul from guilt and sin and
through a Redeemer. In the favor and
hip and communion of God through the
)f His Son; they find their true and their
pleasure. 'The Most piecions words of
tion, and the most pie= declarations of
;ty, they find in the Word of God. Even
the triumphs of the kingdom of Christ on
they look and long for the city hath
aims whose buihler sand maker ,is ~God;
mit, with earnest expectation, for the ,mani-
Lon of the Sons of God, for the; adOption,--
mrrection of the body.
who dares not be singular is net fit be
numbered among the• followers of faithful Abra
ham. Ile who refuses to encounter the disappro
val of the fashionable world, the love of populari
ty, the frown and estrangement of friends and
family, must not expect to accomplish anything
in the service of the Master. There are fair
weather Christians, who seem, like Lot, to have
chosen the path of the faithful, but who, When
trial comes, prefer the tents of ease in the fertile
but godless vales of Sodom, rather than the con
tinued 'mar& ihrOuo'h unknown tracts at the call
a
of duty.
Singularity, not needlesqy aasumed, but re
sulting from the consistent, prayerful following,
of gospel yrinciples, always- accompanies great
achievements for 'God. Men Who are not afraid
to be Mailed by the world's disdain, are needed
for the serious work of the world. How like
Abram in' faith, in purpose, and in the work they
accomplished, were the, Pilgrim Fathers ! Like
them, like Abram, like Moses, we must really
come out from a wicked world and dare to be
singular, if we,would save our souls and l contribute
to advancing the spiritual welfare of mankind.
SACRAMENTAL GRACE AND THE WEST-
MINSTER CONFESSION.
The last war-cry of the obstructive party in the
Old School Church is " Give us the Standards,
pure and simple, as.the. Basis of Union. Away
with safe-guarda `which mean nothing, which are
a nose,of Wax in the hands of each party to the
•
contract. We know what the Confession is
,and
means, and what, union on that Basis implies.
Who knows what union on the Assembly's Basis
implies ?" Such is the burden of the Pittsburgh
Circular movement, by' which many men, not
themselves obstructives, hive been deluded—we
can use no milder *cud—into cooperation with a
plan, whose result will be the temporary and pos
sibly' final
,defeat of.the Re-union movement
We mightvery well take exception to-the ex
pression " the - standards, pure and simple," as
conveying an Utterly false impression at the out
start. That is, a platform upon which the Old
School never stood. Dr. Hodge himself assures
us, that if it were the Ilaw of the bOdy.that assent
should', be reiluire4-.o.!eiery,,akte#tent , -in-
WeitininfiteiOiMf4sion; the Old School Church
would not hold together for twenty-four hours.
•
The terms of ministerial.pommunion prescribed.
by the Constitution-require assent to the-Confes
sion, net purely and simply; but as embodying
" the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scrip
tures," which is something very different. It
has been urged that' the proposed Basis which is
to be eipressed'in , the',ahove words, will be more
acceptable to Presbyterians of the minor Bran
ches (or twigs) of. the Church. But the new
term is just as objectionable to them as the old'
one was. They would not, nor would any of the,
British Presbyterian Churches, except the U. P.
Church of Scotland, admit to ministerial stand
ing one who could go no farther in his accep
tance of the Standards than is required by the
question prescribed in the ordination ceremony.
The organ of one of'our Psalm-singing Churches
confesses that it can see no difference between
" system of doctrine " and " substance of doc
trine." . -
In a word, none of our Old School - brethren
really propose to adopt "'the Standarda, pure and
simple " as a Basis of Union, either among them
selves or with us. They ask us to accept simply
the old form s lila P,rescribed by ,both" churches in
their " Constitutional Questions," a formula
which just carries us as far away from " the
Standards pure and simple," as do the clauses in
the Assemblies' Basis, which they find so objec
tionable. Those clauses add nothing and take
away nothing from that formula. Taken, in con
nection with the concomitant deliverances of the
two Assemblies, they give it a definite and ex
plicit meaning, guarding against excessive rigidi
ty on the one hand, and excessive laxity on the
other. They furnish a Basis of Union alike
equitable and practicable, a Basis on which we
insist as• the only one before the Presbyteries, and
on which 'we trust our Church will insist as her
ultimatum on this vexed question.
Behind all this out-cry for " the Standards
pure and simple," th,ere lies an assumption of an,
entireaccord between,the theology ofthe Confes
sion and that taught at Princetdn, and the other
Seminaries of the Old School Church. We are
not disposed to concede the' triitli of thisassump
tion on any point. Even °il l the heacl so, recently
mooted by The Western Presbyiekan, the "Fede
ral Headship " doctrine,; Princeton , takes but
half the Westminsler dOctrine and leaves half.
The Westminster divines set themselves to Com
bine two theorie4,—the old Augustinian •realistic
doctrine of actual identity, and. the then :new,
fanaied' CoCceian federal doctrine of a - legal
,
tity, existing• between 'Adam and his poster 4.
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1868.
Prof. Shedd and other modern realists, like Cal
vin, take the first half of the doctrine; Dr.
Hodge accepts the second; Dr. BreCkenridge tries
to accept' both and, in true Westminster style, to
sit,on two, stools. And yet the Princeton men
ccintinually , talk as if the Confession were their
private property, though when called on to prove
property, they have dike Hodge on the Romans)
to stick in a "putatively" here, a ;" legally"
there, and a- "lerenSically" elsewhere..
But letus look at another side of the West
minster theology—the doctrine dt the.' Sacra-
Ments. This queition is one, whose: iniportenee,,
until a very, recent_ period, has been much less
than in thefinies of the Reformers: It, was dis-,
cussed with "'such fury in , the earlier days of the
Protestant :Churches that "one mighti 'Mike; al='
most e'ipected this sacrament of Christian leire,,
this feast of charity, by the common ,consent
of mankind and in the interests of Christian
charity, to be at once and for ever alrlished. l
Subtlety of distinction, vehemence '-of spirit, the
zest of scholarly research, and all thlit can give an,
interest to controversy seem to have been so lav
ishly,imployed, and in time souttely exhausted,
that men ceased to wrangle through• utter weari
ness with the contest, and in such a barrenness of
soul, as laid the churches open to the first Inroad,
of rationalism. Of the four prevalent theories,
we Shall speak only of the two which found a
place in the Reformed or Presbyterian Churches.
The oldest of these, that of Zwiagle; regards the,
Sacraments not as the channels,of a supernatural
divine grace, .but; simply: as outward symbols and,,
witnesses of the reality of that grace.. Baptism is
simply an outward sign, by which children are ,
admitted to the fellowship of the visible Church;
not having in 'itself, nor being asseciated with
any, purifying influence. The Lord's Supper is
simply a memorial.feast; designed by its solemn
associations and simple rites, to liringthe truths'
of the gospel befOre our minds, and by its trans
mission from age to age, to witness to the reality
and, historic truth of the .redempti7ec •work of
Christ. If this doctrine is the oldest, it: is also,
the most widely disseminated. It sn'far '`as'
we know, held by every branch of tie Presbyte r
riad fq,mily, Wherever the English-. ,
ispokon: l IS taught 11i:their books, fore ed ini
their tracts, proclaimed' from their pulpits, Scat
tered broad-cast by their press. Every attempt
to 'make more than this . o i f the Sacraments is'
frowned upon, as is sufficiently,, evinced by their
attitude towards the High Church parties in the
German Reformed and -Episcopalian Churches.
" And," perhaps our " Standards-pure-and-sim
ple" friends would add, ." it is avowed in, our
Confession and Catechisms." , • ~
I, Before proceeding•to ask whatlthe teachings
of our standards on this point are, let us note what
the probabilities - of the ease, -in a historical point
of view are: For many people' take this matter for
granted, and' ook upon all questioning of -it as
purely absurd.
It is not, probable' An view of the historical
facts that the Westminster •Confession teaches
our current ZWinglian doctrine. (a.) 'The
Church of Scotland,, up to her adoption of the
Westminster Standards had a ,Confession of her
own; one of such an origin as to command her'
highest, respect : The Scottish Confession of
1560, sometimes " John Knox's Confes
sion." In that • document Zwinglian doctrine
receives very full and , eixtphatic notice. It says :
We utterly condemn the vanity . of those that'af
firm the sacraments to be .nothing but naked and
bare signs ; no, we assuredly believe that by baptism
we are,. engrafted in Christ Jesus, ,to Inade parta
kers of, His justice [Tighteousness], whereby our, sins
are covered and remitted : and also that in the, Sup
per, rightly used, Christ Jesus is'so joined to us that
He becotneth very nourishment and food to our
souls : . . • this union and conjunction, Whiclk we
have with the body and blood of Christ. Jesus, in the
rightuse of the•sacrainents, [is] wrought by the ope
ration of the Holy Ghost, who by true faith carrieth
us above all things which are visible, carnal and
earthly, and maketh ua to' feed upon
,the body and
blocid of. Christ Jesus, which was once broken and
shed for us, which' is now' in heaven, and . . .
. . and yet notwithstanding thefar distance of place
. . yet we most assuredy believe that the bread
which we break is the , communion of the body and
blood of Christ;' 4m.
Such is ,the 'statement of the t faith of the
Church of Scotland at'• the date of the • assem
bling of the Westminiter divines: It is not a
statement of • Zwi;icilianitim for it - conden:ins as
"vanity" our current,doctrine. It
,is=a statement
of the opposite Reforme&dootrine, or of. Calvinism,
and will save' ti the trouble of .settink that be
lief before ' ur reddeis fp on `own t w,ords. Now,
are we to suppose that, the . Scottish Church
changed het%beliel in„the tvyinkling of=an
that on the evening, of the day on which she
adopted the Westminster Standards, she accepted
doctrine which ini,he Moinina'shi lied denounced
as " vaeityr .
( 6 .)"}gine'l or thwsltefOrtned Churches with
whom she held close comnimmatroh; Ina Whom,
in titi'Vtir4til'ii'Os . tell, = .6::dsMillAy","'ir'
,
ers insisted . on as models of what a Refo
Church ought to be, held that Zwinglian
trine of the sacraments. Our current doctrine"
was confined to German Switzerland. Reformed
France and Germany united with Holland and
Geneva in teaching the Calvinistic doctrine con
tained in the above extract.
,(c.) The great philosophic revolution which
made , the Zwinglian doctrine popular—the es
tablishment of the philosophy of "'common sense"
by'Johu'Locke,—was not accomplished until Pu
ritanism had beCome Dissent and the Stuarts
were, about to yield the throne,—not till long
after, the Westminster Assembly were in their
graves.
11. The phraseology and doctrinal statements
of the Westminster Standards are Calvinistic,
and not Zwinglian. What we, mean by " Cal
vinistic," the reader will note is expressed in
the extract' given above : by Zwinglianism we
mean our current explanation of the sacraments
as Mere symbols and memorials. The Westmin
ster Confession teaches us that the sacraments
are " holy signs and sealt of the covenant, . . .
instituted ... to confirm onr interest iti'Christ."
It tells us that "There fain every sacrament a
spiritual ielation or sacramental union between
the' sign and the thine signified," &o. It speaks
of " grace conferred by" and of " grace exhibi
te,d* in or by'the sacraments rightly used;" of
an "efficacy" which "depends not on the piety"
of the minister, "but on the work of the Spirit
and the 'word of institution, which contains . .
,
a promise of benefit to, worthy receivers." So,
the Larder` CateMism teaches us that a sacra
ment is designed' to "exhibit '[i. e. apply, as in
the Shorter Catechism,] unto those that are within
the covenant of grace the bencfite of his ,media
don 'to strengthen and increase their faith and all
other graces," Sze also that " the parts of a sacra
ment are; two .. . outward and seneible sign,
s,
an inward and s piritu al . grace." Both Cate
chisms enumerate the sacraments among " the
outward and ordinary means," which " are made
effectual to the elect for their salvation" and
whereby Christ 'communicates to" His Church
the benefits of His inediation." '
The 'Confession calls Baptism " a seal ofingrat
ting iiito Christ, but that it attaches the idea of
spiritual efficacy to this now eviscerated term, is
seen by the rest of, the chapter (xxviii) where
"grace and salvation" are said not to be
separably annexed to it as that no person can be
saved and regenerated 'without it, or that all bap
tized are undoubtedly regenerated,"—:statements
the correlates of which any reader can supply
for himself. It fUrther speaks of " the efficacy
of 'baptism," as . not tied to " the time of admin
istration," and affirms that" the grace` promised"
is really "exhibited [applied], and conferred, by
the right use of this ordinance" upon the elect.
The Larger Catechism' requires us to `" improve
ourliptism by consideration of the nature of it,
and of the priiileges and benefits conferred and
sealed thereby."
On. the Lord's Supper the teaching is still
more explicitly Calvinistic. The Confession
enumerates as among the ends , sought in its in
stitution " the sealing all benefits of Christ's sac
rificial death unto true believers" and " their
spiritual nourishment and growth in him." Nay
—tell it not in Mercersburgh nor, whisper'it in
Oxford ! the Westiminster divini:e teach the
REAL PRESENCE OF CHRIST'S BODY
AND BLOOD in this sacrament, fencing
that statement with the usual Calvinistic safe
guards: " Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking
of the visible elements in this sacrament, do then
alsoinwardly t by faith, really and indeed, yet not,
carnally, and corporally, but. spiritually, receive ,
and feed upon Christ crucified, , . . . the. body`
and blood of Christ being then not corporally'or
carnally, in, with, or under the bread and wine;
yet as really but spiritually present to the faith,
. . as = the elements to the outward senses."
So, too, the Catechisms.
These' quotations are quite sufficient to show
that the authors of the Westminster Standards
held the Calvinistic doctrine of efficacious sacra
mental grace,—that they.taught a real connec- ,
tion between the outward =ordinance and the
workings of 'God 'a Sprit,—that while they'did
.
not absolutely confine; it,.,on either hind, by de
.
ckring there was , no grace without the sacrament
or no sacrament without= grebe, they yet held
that the sacraments iverein ordinary 'cases the
means" of grace, the channels by which it; was
itupartad to„the seuls of , the elect. They held
to a regene.rating efficacy in, baptism and areal
presence of the body. and, blood Of theglorified
humanity las well as the' omnipresent dOirtity
' 1: : • Eucharist.
CErist, in the Eueharn,_
How much . may be said in defenyl of : these
doctrines we shall hot n ow.intiuilv.; nor .yet how
Used here in tpe oc dense, which it , retrains
in medioine, as apilfed.",
e-vsee Evangelist, No. 1163
1 Ministers $2.60 H. Kiss. *2.00,
1: -,Address:----1334' Chestnut Street.
s'C'T'eift
‘",Stan,ards-simple"-and-simpie,,
, , • We ' have every re
L.f...p. , ..__
d .
'zziii‘ v t i l' ili al! the PrasesobnyttherPibaee:
declare
integrity Of
consistency 646 - '7..'.gh Would havehhaivlue
‘
whvd -Wuniptialiwr
What hesitate to assentl , ilr '" es
on other points,
scriptural figment of a z. 101: W :
with Adam, or any other ' ttse Who
which the systeniatizers ofo:lards'
Princeton may deetiressential - to ' in
the edifice ? If'' tine iiiay pick ands,
not another
There is anothet i aspeot of the case
of far greater practical' importance- We live
a day of sudden and`stupendous ecclesiastical rev
olutions, which have hien brought about—some
by those who contemptuously reject the doctrinal
statements of the 'fathers,=some by those who
profess a superstitious , reverence for them. It is
in keeping free from either of the tendencies—
in avoiding alike the looseness of the Broad
Church, and the rigidity of the narrow Church,
that the safety of Presbyterianism lies. The great
"Churchly and Catholic" revival which has largely
revelntionized the Reformed Church of England,
the Lutheran Church of Germany and America,
and Denmark, and the German Reformed Church
of America, gives warning of a not impossible
danger to us also. There are signs enough on
every, side, on this and the other side of the At
lantic, that the peculiar aesthetic temperament
to which it appeals is no stranger among us. To
idolize a Confession`of Faith which embodies so
largely the saeramentarian element as does that
of Westminster, is to strengthen the hands of our
minor Puseys, Gruntvigts and Nevins, to make
sure their success in revolution. The tendencies
toritualism and ecelekaSticiszn are plain enough to
any one who 'his read the sine of the times.
Their advocates will ask for ten years to be toler
ated; for; ten, more they will ask equality; and
befere the generation hai passed, they will demand
the mast4Y. Are we prepared ,to, help them ,by
fox li the ,Standaids; pretend simple"?
. Religious Intolerance is not' qirite dead
yet, rts recerit'events in both ,hemispheres, show.
In, Spain, a schoolmaster is imprisoned for
teaching his pupils Protestant doctrine; in Por
tugal a British .subject is subjected to a vexatious
prosectition for holdiirglneetings among the Ro
manist& In Bavaria an editor is imprisoned for
saying that the Church's holidays are too numer
ous and foster. indolence, In Morocco the Sultan
has to interpose to preokint the Jews from being
Islas 'ruthlesslessly butchered as'are unionists or ne
groes in Texas. In Chili the priests stir up "lewd
fellows Of ,the baser sort " to assail the missiona
ries of the American and Foreign Christian Union.
In Texas a member is prosecuted before his
church for radicalism, in taking office under the
military authorities, and failing to appear, is
expelled.
NW. A movement has been set on foot to es
tablish a church in Raleigh, N;C., in connection
with the _Northern 0, A.ssembly, and at the
first meeting ,in the Hall of the. House of Repre
sentatives A5OO was raised for the purpose. The
North Carolina .freilly Cerictn Aigmatizes this as
"a political rather than a religious ,movement"
and "cannot find. language in which to
,express
[its] condenanat[ion of such wiekeduess.",,
bar Dr. N. L. Rice hal accepted the Presi-'•
.deney of the College of the 'iDeclaration and
Testimony" Synod of 114hisouri, although as .The
Western, Presbyterian shows, he `voted for and de
fended the very measure' of 'the Old 'School
,As
sembly, on which that famous ,manifesto poured
At, vials of wrath. To save hisponsiStency he denies
the right of the Church to decid,eAhe question of
allegiance, as between two hostile governments,
and yet holds that it "is her right and duty to
bear w#netis'againsi rebellion,"
_which is nothing
but the setting up of, a new government in oppo
sition, to the lawful one.
stir "'Pie Wickedest Man in New York," (so
called) has at last, it is aniitinaced; closed his low
dance-house ,and ,turned it into a sort of Magda
len Asylum, a prayer-meeting having held in, it
last Sunday evening. We are glad afterbeen all
the tronble taken over his conversion, that it has
not proved a mare's nest.
ber In the Mary Anne Smith abduction case,
the priestly kidnappers, not content with trying
to tin the rePuta,tion of the girl whom they have
imprisoned' among, bad characters in the Newark
louse' of the Good Shepherd," have been
amusing themselves with forgery: They have
pnblialied as tiers,' letters; which. the girl 'could"
not possibly have written, and which.' even the
secular Press stigmatizes as falsehoods..,