[BBC List] daily living

[Mike Abendroth]

The Practical Importance of the Doctrine (of Calvinism)


>From Loraine Boettner-Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, The


1. Influence of the Doctrine in Daily Living


This is not a cold, barren, speculative theory, not an unnatural system of
strange doctrines such as many people are inclined to believe, but a most
warm and living, a most vital and important account of God's relations with
men. It is a system of great practical truths which are designed and
adapted, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, to mould the affections of
the heart, and to give right direction to the conduct. Calvin's own
testimony in this respect is: "I would, in the first place, entreat my
readers carefully to bear in memory the admonition which I offer; that this
great subject is not, as many imagine, a mere thorny and noisy disputation,
nor a speculation which wearies the minds of men without any profit; but a
solid discussion eminently adapted to the service of the godly, because it
builds us up soundly in the faith, trains us to humility, and lifts us up
into an admiration of the unbounded goodness of God toward us, while it
elevates us to praise this goodness in our highest strains. For there is not
a more effectual means of building up faith than the giving our open ears to
the 

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election of God, which the Holy Spirit seals upon our heart while we hear,
showing us that it stands in the eternal and immutable goodwill of God
towards us; and that, therefore, it cannot be moved or altered by any storms
of the world, by any assaults of Satan, by any changes, by any fluctuations
or weaknesses of the flesh. For our salvation is then sure to us, when we
find the cause of it in the breast of God." These, we think, are true words
and much needed today.

The Christian who has this doctrine in his heart knows that he is following
a heaven-directed course; that his course has been foreordained for him
personally; and that it is a good course. He does not yet understand all of
the details, but even amid adversities he can look forward, confident of the
future, knowing that his eternal destiny is fixed and forever blessed, and
that nothing can possibly rob him of this priceless treasure. He realizes
that after he has finished the course here, he shall look back over it and
see that every single event in it was designed of God for a particular
purpose, and that he will be thankful for having been led through those
particular experiences. Once convinced of these truths, he knows that the
day is surely coming when to all those who grieve or persecute him, he shall
be able to say, as did Joseph to his brothers, "As for you, ye meant evil
against me, but God meant it for good." This exalted conception of God as
high and lifted up, yet personally concerned with even the smallest events,
leaves no place for what men commonly call chance, or luck, or fortune. When
a person sees himself as one of the Lord's chosen, and knows that every one
of his acts has an eternal significance, he realizes more clearly how
serious life is, and he is fired with a new determination to make his life
count for great things.


2. A Source of Security and Courage


"It is the doctrine of a particular providence," says Rice, "that gives to
the righteous a feeling of security in the midst of danger; that gives them
assurance that the path of duty is the path of safety and of prosperity; and
that 

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encourages them to the practice of virtue, even when it exposes them to the
greatest reproach and persecution. How often, when clouds and darkness seem
to gather over them, do they rejoice in the assurance given by their
Saviour, 'I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.'" The sense of security
which this doctrine gives to the struggling saint results from the assurance
that he is not committed to his own power, or rather weakness, but into the
sure hands of the Almighty Father-that over him is the banner of love, and
underneath are the everlasting arms. He realizes that even the Devil and
wicked men, regardless of whatever tumults they may cause, are not only
restrained of God, but are compelled to do His pleasure. Elisha, lonely and
forgotten, counted those who were with him more than those who were against
him, because he saw the chariots and horsemen of the Lord moving in the
clouds. The disciples, knowing that their names were written in heaven, were
prepared to endure persecutions, and on one occasion we read that, after
being beaten and reviled, "they departed from the presence of the council
rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name,"
Acts 5:41 <http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Ac+5%3A41> .

"The godly consideration of predestination, and our election in Christ,"
says the seventeenth article in the creed of the Church of England, "is full
of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons." Paul's
injunction was, "In nothing be anxious." And it is only when we know that
God actually rules from the throne of the universe, and that He has ordained
us to be his loved ones, that we can have that inward peace in our hearts.

Dr. Clarence E. Macartney, in a sermon on Predestination, said: "The
misfortunes and adversities of life, so called, assume a different color
when we look at them through this glass. It is sad to hear people trying to
live over their lives again and saying to themselves: 'If I had chosen a
different profession,' 'If I had taken a different turning of the road,' 'If
I had married another person.' All this is weak and unChristian. The web of
destiny we have woven, in a sense, with our own hands, and yet God had His 

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part in it. It is God's part in it, and not our part, that gives us faith
and hope." And Blaise Pascal, in a wonderful letter written to a bereaved
friend, instead of repeating the ordinary platitudes of consolation,
comforted him with the doctrine of Predestination, saying: "If we regard
this event, not as an effect of chance, not as a fatal necessity of nature,
but as a result inevitable, just, holy, of a decree of His Providence,
conceived from all eternity, to be executed in such a year, day, hour, and
such a place and manner, we shall adore in humble silence the impenetrable
loftiness of His secrets; we shall venerate the sanctity of His decrees; we
shall bless the acts of His providence; and uniting our will with that of
God Himself, we shall wish with Him, in Him and for Him, the thing that He
has willed in us and for us for all eternity."

Since the true Calvinist sees God's hand and wise purpose in everything, he
knows that even his sufferings, sorrows, persecutions, defeats, etc., are
not the results of chance or accident, but that they have been foreseen and
foreappointed, and that they are chastisements or disciplines designed for
his own good. He realizes that God will not needlessly afflict His people;
that in the divine plan these are all ordered in number, weight and measure;
and that they shall not continue a moment longer than God sees necessary. In
sorrow his heart instinctively clings to this faith, feeling that for
reasons wise and gracious, though unknown, the affliction was sent. However
keenly afflictions may at first wound, a little reasoned thought quickly
brings him to himself again, and the sorrows and tribulations, in great
measure, become pointless.

And in accordance with this the Scriptures say: "To them that love God all
things work together for good," Rom. 8:28
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Ro+8%3A28> ; "My son, regard not
lightly the chastening of the Lord, Nor faint when thou art reproved of Him;
For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, And scourgeth every son whom he
receiveth," Heb. 12:5 <http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Heb+12%3A5>
,6 <http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Heb+12%3A6> . "It is Jehovah:
let Him do what seemeth Him good," I Sam. 3:18
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=1Sa+3%3A18> . "For I reckon that
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed to us-ward," Rom. 8:18
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Ro+8%3A18> . "Blessed are ye when
men 

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shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against
you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your
reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you,"
Matt. 5:11 <http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Mt+5%3A11> ,12
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Mt+5%3A12> . "If we endure (suffer
with Him) we shall also reign with Him," II Tim. 2:12
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=2Ti+2%3A12> . "Jehovah gave, and
Jehovah hath taken away; Blessed be the name of Jehovah," Job
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Job+1%3A21>  1:21. When someone
slanders us, we shall at least not be so angry if we remember with David
that "the Lord hath bidden him curse," II Sam. 16:11
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=2Sa+16%3A11> .

Our predestination is our one sure guarantee of salvation. Other things may
give us comfort, but only this can give us certainty. It makes the Gospel to
be what the word really means, "Good News." Any other system which holds
that Christ's sacrifice did not actually save anyone, but that it merely
made salvation possible for all if they would comply with certain terms,
reduces it to good advice; and any system which carries with it only a
"chance" for salvation, also carries with it, of logical necessity, a
"chance" to be lost. And what a difference it makes to fallen man as to
whether the Gospel is good news or good advice! The world is full of good
advice; even the books of heathen philosophers contained much of it; but the
Gospel alone contains for man the good news that God has redeemed him.

This system, logical and severe though it may be, does not make one sad and
silent, but courageous and active. Knowing himself to be immortal until his
work is done, courage is a natural result. Smith's estimate of the Calvinist
is expressed in the following words: "His feet plucked from the horrible pit
and planted on the Eternal Rock, his heart thrilled with an adoring
gratitude, his soul conscious of a Divine love that will never forsake him,
and a Divine energy that in him and through him is working out eternal
purposes of good, he is girded with invincible strength. In a nobler sense
than Napoleon ever dreamed, he knows himself to be a 'man of destiny.'" And
again he says, "Calvinism is at once the most satisfying and the most
stimulating of creeds." 

Yet, along with these motives for courage are to be found 

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others which keep the person properly humble and grateful. In the present
stage of the world he sees himself as a brand plucked from the burning.
Knowing himself to have been saved, not by any merit or wisdom of his own,
but only by God's grace and mercy, he is deeply conscious of his dependence
on God, and has the greatest incentive to right living. All in all no surer
way will be found to fill the mind at one time with reverence, humility,
patience, and gratitude than to have it thoroughly saturated with this
doctrine of Predestination.


3. Calvinistic Emphasis on the Divine Agency in Man's Salvation


He will be only a very imperfect Christian who does not know these deeper
truths which are brought to light by the doctrine of Predestination. He can
have no adequate appreciation of the glory of God, nor of the riches of
grace which are given him through redemption in Christ; for nowhere else as
brightly as in the predestination of the elect to life does the glory of God
shine out in its full-orbed splendor, undimmed and unsullied by human works
of any kind. It shows us that all that we are and all that we have that is
desirable, we owe to His grace. It rebukes human pride and exalts Divine
mercy. It makes man to be nothing and God to be everything, and, thus,
preserves the proper relation between the creature and the infinitely
exalted Creator. It exalts one absolute Sovereign, who is the universal
Ruler, and humbles all other sovereigns before Him, thus showing that all
men, in themselves and apart from God's special favor, are on the same
level. It has championed the rights of mankind wherever it has gone, in the
State as well as in the Church.

The doctrine of Predestination emphasizes the Divine side of salvation while
its rival system emphasizes the human side. It impresses upon us the fact
that our salvation is purely of grace, and that we were no better than those
who are left to suffer for their sins. It, thus, leads us to be more
charitable and tolerant toward the unsaved, and to be eternally thankful
that God has saved us. It shows us that in our fallen state our wisdom is
folly, our strength 

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weakness, and our righteousness of no account. It teaches us that our hope
is in God, and that from Him must come all our help. It teaches us that
lesson of which so many are fatally ignorant, the blessed lesson of
self-despair. Luther tells us that he "used frequently to be much offended
at this doctrine," because it drove him to self-despair; but that he
afterward found this kind of despair was profitable and near of kin to
divine grace. In fact, we may say that it solves more questions, it involves
fewer difficulties, it gives more solid ground for faith and hope, and it
more exalts and glorifies God than does any doctrine which contradicts it.
We do not go too far in saying that it is fundamental to the religious
conceptions of the Biblical writers, and that to eradicate it from either
the Old or the New Testament would transform the entire Scriptural
representation. The matter was well put by Dr. J. Gresham Machen when he
said, "A Calvinist is constrained to regard the Arminian theology as a
serious impoverishment of the Scripture doctrine of divine grace; and
equally serious is the view which the Arminian must hold as to the doctrines
of the Reformed Churches." 

It must be evident that there are just two theories which can be maintained
by evangelical Christians upon this important subject; that all men who have
made any study of it, and who have reached any settled conclusions regarding
it, must be either Calvinists or Arminians. There is no other position which
a "Christian" can take. Those who deny the sacrificial nature of Christ's
death turn to a system of self salvation or naturalism, and cannot be called
"Christians" in the historical and only proper sense of the term.

By way of comparison, we may say that the Lutheran Church emphasizes the
fact that salvation is by faith alone; the Baptist Church emphasizes the
importance of the sacraments, particularly baptism, and the right of
individuals and of congregations to exercise private judgment in religious
affairs; the Methodist Church emphasizes the love of God to men, and man's
responsibility to God; the Congregational Church emphasizes the right of
private judgment and of local congregations to manage their own affairs; the
Roman Catholic Church emphasizes the unity of the Church, and 

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the importance of a connection with the Apostolic church. But all of these,
while good in themselves, are paled by the great doctrine of the sovereignty
and majesty of God which is emphasized by the Presbyterian and Reformed
Churches. While the others are more or less anthropological principles, this
is a theological principle, and it presents to us a GREAT GOD who is high
and lifted up, who is seated upon the throne of universal dominion.

Dr. Warfield has given us a good analysis of the formative principles which
underlie the Lutheran and the Reformed Churches. After saying that the
distinction is not that the Lutherans deny the sovereignty of God, nor that
the Reformed deny that salvation is by faith alone, he adds: "Lutheranism,
springing from the throes of a guilt-burdened soul seeking peace with God,
finds this peace in faith, and stops right there. . . . It will know nothing
beyond the peace of the justified soul. Calvinism asks, with the same
eagerness as Lutheranism, the great question: 'What shall I do to be saved?'
and answers it precisely as Lutheranism answers it. But it cannot stop
there. The deeper question presses upon it, 'Whence this faith by which I am
justified?' . . . It has zeal, no doubt, for salvation, but its highest zeal
is for the honor of God, and it is this question which quickens its emotions
and vitalizes its efforts. It begins, it centers, and it ends with the
vision of God in His glory; and it sets itself before all things to render
to God His rights in every sphere of life activity." And again he says: "It
is the vision of God in His majesty, in a word, which lies at the foundation
of Calvinistic thinking," and after a man has seen this vision he "is
filled, on the one hand, with a sense of his own unworthiness to stand in
God's sight, as a creature, and much more as a sinner, and, on the other,
with adoring wonder that, nevertheless, this God is a God who receives
sinners." All dependence on self is gone, and he casts himself on the grace
of God alone. In nature, in history, in grace, everywhere, from eternity to
eternity, he sees the all-pervading activity of God.

If God has a definite plan for the redemption of man, it is very important
that we shall know what that plan is. The 

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person who looks at a complicated machine, but who is ignorant of the
purpose it was designed to accomplish and ignorant of the relation of its
several parts, must be unable to understand or to usefully apply it.
Likewise, if we are ignorant of the plan of salvation, the great end aimed
at, or the relation of the several parts, or if we misunderstand these, our
views will be confused and erroneous; we shall be unable properly to apply
it to ourselves or to exhibit it to others. Since the doctrine of
Predestination reveals to us so much concerning the way of salvation, and
since it gives so great comfort and assurance to the Christian, it is a
great and blessed truth.

We have no hesitation in affirming that this system of belief and doctrine,
as given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is the true and final system of
Philosophy. Furthermore, Theology studies God Himself, while the physical
sciences and liberal arts study only His garments. In the very nature of the
case, therefore, Theology must be the "Queen of the Sciences." Philosophy,
as it has usually been studied by the different schools of thought, is,
indeed, the ground and mistress of the merely human sciences, but is itself
only an auxiliary science in the study of Theology.

Calvinistic Theology is the greatest subject that has ever exercised the
mind of man. Its very starting point is a profound apprehension of the
exaltation and perfection of God. With its sublime doctrines of God's
sovereign grace, power, and glory, it rises to far greater heights than does
any other system. In fact, the one to whom it is presented is moved to cry
with the psalmist, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I
cannot attain unto it," or to exclaim with the apostle Paul, "O the depth of
the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are
His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" (Ps. 139:6
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Ps+139%3A6> ; Rom. 11:33
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Ro+11%3A33> ). It is a subject
which has challenged the intellects of all great thinkers in earnest times,
and there is little wonder that we are told that these are things which
angels desire to look into. To pass from other systems to this one is like
passing from the mouth of a river and launching out on the mighty ocean. We
leave 

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the shallows behind and feel ourselves out on the great broad deep.


4. Only Calvinism Will Stand All Tests


The harmony which exists between all the branches of Scriptural doctrine is
such that truth or error in regard to any of them almost inevitably produces
truth or error, in a greater or less degree, in regard to all the
others-which means that only Calvinists hold views which are, in all
respects, Scriptural in regard to any of the leading doctrines of
Christianity. This does not mean that the main substance of the most
important doctrines, such as the Divinity of Christ, His sacrificial death,
His resurrection, the work of the Holy Spirit, etc., are not held by others;
but that the general tendency of mistaken views in regard to these
distinctively Calvinistic tenets is to lead to greater departures from sound
doctrines on other subjects. As a general rule, anti-Calvinists so seriously
impoverish doctrines such as the atonement, the agency of the Holy Spirit,
the guilt and inability of man, regeneration, etc., that these are often
little more than empty words; and along with this impoverishment goes the
tendency to neglect them entirely. Anti-Calvinists commonly make little
distinction between the objective work of Christ for us, and the subjective
work in us; and, for all practical purposes, the atonement is reduced to
little or nothing else than an exhibition and proof of God's indiscriminate
love to men, through which it is shown that God is ready and willing to
forgive. The tendency of other systems is to the "moral persuasion" theory
of the atonement, while Calvinism holds that the suffering of Christ was a
full satisfaction made to the justice of God-that his sufferings were a full
equivalent of those which were due to His people for their sin.

We are living in a day in which we see practically all of the historic
Protestant churches attacked by unbelief from within. Many of them have
already succumbed; and the line of descent has invariably been from
Calvinism to Arminianism, and from Arminianism to Modernism or Unitarianism;
and this latter state has proved to be self-destructive. We firmly believe
that the fortunes of Chris-

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tianity are bound up with the fortunes of Calvinism. Certainly the history
of Modernism and Unitarianism in this country has proved that they are too
weak to maintain themselves. Where the principles of Calvinism are
abandoned, there is a powerful tendency leading downward into the depths of
Naturalism. Some have declared-and rightly we believe-that there is no
consistent middle ground between Calvinism and Atheism.

These distinctions which we have set forth between Calvinism and Arminianism
are broad and important; and until one has made a special study of these
truths, he does not realize what a large amount of heresy has been
incorporated into the Arminian system. If one system is true, the other is
radically false. As strict Calvinists we believe these doctrines to embody
final truth and to be eternally right. We believe this to be the only system
of Christian truth which is taught in the Bible, and the only one that can
be logically and respectably defended before the world. And certainly it is
much easier to defend a type of Christianity which is in harmony with both
Scripture and reason than to defend any other type. We believe that
Calvinism and consistent theism do not merely have points of contact, but
that they are identical, and that to fall away from Calvinism is to fall
away by just so much from a truly theistic conception of the universe. Dr.
Warfield has said that Calvinism is "Theism come to its rights," that it is
"Evangelicalism in its pure and only stable expression," that it is
"religion at the height of its conception." We believe that the future of
Christianity-as its past has done-lies in its hands, and that as
Christianity progresses in the world, this system of doctrine will gradually
come to the front.

Because of the inconsistent position of Arminianism as a half-way measure
between a religion of grace and a religion of works, it has been able to
offer but little resistance to the naturalistic tendencies of the last few
years. Practically all of the professedly Arminian churches have been
swallowed up by the present day Liberalism.

"If we are not only to defend Christianity against modern attacks," says Dr.
S. G. Craig, "but to commend it with any hope of success to the modern
world, we must undertake 

338

the task armed with a consistent and scientifically conceived life and world
view that rests on Christian facts and principles. . . . I hold with those
who believe that such a consistent Christian life and world view is given us
only in Calvinism, and, hence, that a renaissance of Calvinism is an
outstanding need of the times if we are successfully to defend even what we
call common Christianity in the forum of the world's thought." The late
Henry B. Smith was right, at least in principle, when he wrote, "One thing
is certain-that infidel science will rout everything excepting
thorough-going Christian orthodoxy. All the flabby theories, and the
molluscous formations, and the immediate purgatories of speculation will go
by the board. The fight will be between a stiff, thorough-going orthodoxy
and a stiff, thorough-going infidelity. It will be, e.g., Augustine or
Comte, Athanasius or Hegel, Luther or Schopenhauer, J. S. Mill or John
Calvin." The fight is between the naturalism of science and the
supernaturalism of Christianity; all compromising schemes are doomed to
failure. (Let it be understood at this point that we have no quarrel with
true science as such. We recognize the great value of Biology, Chemistry,
Physics, Astronomy, etc., and realize that much of our twentieth century
progress has been possible only through the contributions which these
sciences have made. We welcome truth from whatever source it comes, and
believe that in the end it will be seen to substantiate Christianity. The
psalmist declared, "The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament
showeth His handiwork," Ps. 19:1
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Ps+19%3A1> ; and again, "O Jehovah,
our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth," Ps.
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Ps+8%3A1>  8:1; and certainly the
more we know about these things, the better we shall understand God. Our
quarrel, rather, is with certain unbelieving scientists who attempt to bring
their anti-Christian, or even atheistic theories, over into the spheres of
religion and philosophy, and who profess to speak with authority on subjects
concerning which they are ignorant.)

It is very interesting to notice how, in the history of the Church, other
systems of theology have risen and fallen while this system has steadily
endured. Arminianism, in its present form at least, is of comparatively
recent date. From the time of the Reformation until late in the eighteenth
century, it was consistently outlawed by Protestant church 

339

counsels and creeds. Nor has it fared much better in the Catholic Church. In
the fourth century Augustine succeeded in making his doctrine of
Predestination the recognized doctrine of Christendom, and at no time has
the Catholic Church consistently and officially adopted the tenets of
Arminianism. Likewise, Nestorianism, Arianism, Pelagianism,
Semi-Pelagianism, Socinianism, etc., have risen, have had their day, and
passed out; while this system, known in different ages as Augustinianism or
Calvinism, has remained fundamentally the same in its basic principles. Is
not this in itself a strong proof that it is the true system? In regard to
the Calvinism of the Westminster Confession, Dr. C.W. Hodge has said: "The
newer modifications of Calvinism have passed away, and this pure consistent
form of supernaturalism and evangelicalism stands as an impregnable barrier
against the floods of naturalism which threaten to overwhelm all the
churches in Christendom."

In Calvinism alone does the logical and consistent mind find rest. That it
is a logical system is admitted even by its opponents. A man who is
acquainted with Calvinism will either love or hate it, but even if he hates
it, he cannot but speak respectfully of it. The criticism is sometimes made
that it places too much stress on logic and too little on emotion. It is
true that this anthracite Calvinism does not blaze up like straw; but it is
also true that, once afire, it produces an intense and steady heat.
"Calvinism," says Prof. H. H. Meeter, "bears the distinction among religious
groups of being highly intellectual. Calvinism is known for its dialectics.
The Calvinists are recognized as the logicians par excellence among
theologians. Oliver Wendell Holmes even went so far as to satirize this
aspect of Calvinism in his burlesque: 'The Deacon's Masterpiece.' The old
one-hoss shay, which was so well constructed that every nut and bolt and bar
and spoke was of equal strength and collapsed all at once before the meeting
house, was to him the story of Calvinism. As a masterpiece of logic it had
continued for ages, but was supposed to have collapsed completely when
transcendentalism gained the ascendancy in New England." 

The objection, however, that it over-emphasizes logic, 

340

has no adequate basis, as anyone who approaches the system from a
sympathetic standpoint can readily see. Yet, if we are to err on either
side, it is probably better to err on the side of the intellect than on the
side of the emotions. But who ever heard of a system being thrown out
because it was too logical? Instead, we glory in its logical consistency.


5. These Doctrines not Unreasonable when Understood


Perhaps no other system of thought has been so grossly and grievously and,
at times, so deliberately misrepresented as has Calvinism. Many of those who
have criticized Calvinism have done so without making any adequate study of
the system, and it may truly be said that our opponents, in general, know
little of our opinions, except what they have picked up by hearsay in which
there is neither connection nor consistency. The doctrine of Predestination
especially makes the wisdom of the world a laughing stock, and, in turn, the
wisdom of the world scoffs at Predestination. If any doctrine is to the Jews
a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles foolishness, certainly this one is.
Nakedly stated, the doctrine of Predestination seems paradoxical; and those
who are acquainted with no more than the mere statement of it are likely to
feel surprised that it could have been maintained by the pious and
thoughtful minds that have maintained it. But in this case, as in many
others, when we carefully examine its ground and construction, its
paradoxical character is at least diminished, if it does not disappear
altogether.

Hence, we ask that this system shall be examined without passion, and that
it shall be studied in its relations and logical consistency. We have
already seen that it is abundantly established on Scripture authority; and
when we add to this the evidence which comes from the laws of Nature and the
facts of human life, it becomes altogether possible, probable, just, and
righteous. Viewed in this light, it ceases to be the arbitrary, illogical,
immoral doctrine that its opponents delight to picture, and becomes a
doctrine which sheds glory on the divine Majesty. These, of course, are not
the doctrines which the natural man expects to find. Salva-

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tion by works is the system which most naturally appeals to unenlightened
reason; and if we had been left to develop a system ourselves, there is
hardly one chance in a thousand that we would have developed a system in
which a redeemer, acting in his representative capacity, would have earned
these blessings, and graciously given them to his people. Says Zanchius,
"The judgment of the flesh, or of mere unregenerate reason, usually starts
back from this truth with horror; but, on the contrary, the judgment of a
spiritual man will embrace it with affection," (p. 152). "If Arminianism
most commends itself to our feelings," says Froude, "Calvinism is nearer to
the facts, however harsh and forbidding those facts may seem." It is plain
that Calvinism makes its appeal to Divine revelation rather than to man's
reason; to facts rather than sentiment; to knowledge rather than
supposition; to conscience rather than to emotion.

As stated before, many people see nothing in this system but a strange sort
of foolishness. But when studied with a little care, these doctrines are
found to be neither so uncertain, nor so difficult as men would lead us to
believe; and the uncertainty and difficulty which does attach to them is due
largely to our pride, love of sin, and ignorance of the real state of our
heart. Those who have come to accept this system almost feel that they are
living in a different world, so different is their outlook upon life.
"Wherever the sons of God turn their eyes," says Calvin, "they behold such
wonderful instances of blindness, ignorance and insensibility, as fills them
with horror; while they, in the midst of such darkness, have received Divine
illumination, and know it, and feel it, to be so." 

If we may paraphrase the words of Pope, we can most fittingly say of this
subject: "A little Predestination is a dangerous thing; Then drink deep, or
else touch not the sacred spring." Here, as in some other instances, first
draughts confuse and unsettle the mind, but deeper draughts overcome the
intoxicating effects and bring us back to our right senses.

This sublime philosophy of God's sovereignty and man's freedom is found in
all parts of the Bible. No attempt, how-

342

ever, is made to explain to us how these two factors are related. The
unvarying assumption is that God is the Sovereign Ruler who governs even the
intimate thoughts, feelings and impulses of men; yet, on the other hand, man
is never represented as anything else than an intelligent, free, moral agent
who is responsible for his actions. The doctrines of foreordination,
sovereignty, and effectual providential control, go hand in hand with those
of the liberty and responsibility of rational creatures. It is not claimed
that the doctrine of Predestination is free from all difficulties, but it is
claimed that its denial is attended with more and greater difficulties. That
a Being of infinite wisdom, power and goodness would create a universe and
then turn it adrift, like some huge vessel without a pilot, is a supposition
which subverts our basic ideas of God, which contradicts the repeated
testimony of the Scriptures, and which is contrary to our daily experience
and common sense. Charles Hodge prefaces his discussion of "The Decrees of
God," with the following statement: "It must be remembered that Theology is
not Philosophy. It does not assume to discover truth, or to reconcile what
it teaches as true with all other truths. Its province is simply to state
what God has revealed in His word, and to vindicate those statements as far
as possible from misconceptions and objections. This limited and humble
office of Theology it is especially necessary to bear in mind, when we come
to speak of the acts and purposes of God. 'The things of God knoweth no man;
but the Spirit of God' (1 Cor. 2:11
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=1Co+2%3A11> ). In treating,
therefore, of the decrees of God, all that is proposed is simply to state
what the Spirit has seen fit to reveal on that subject." 


6. The Westminster Assembly and the Westminster Confession


This system of Theology, which is usually referred to as Calvinism or the
Reformed Faith, finds its most perfect expression in the Westminster
Confession. The Westminster Assembly was called together by the English
Parliament. Its work extended over a period of five and one half years, and
was finished in 1648. It was a representative

343

body, made up of one hundred and twenty-one ministers or theologians, eleven
lords, twenty commoners, from all the counties of England and the
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, with seven commissioners from
Scotland. And whether judged by the extent and ability of its labors, or by
its influence upon later generations, it stands first among Protestant
councils. The most important production of the Assembly was its Confession
of Faith, a matchless compendium of Biblical truth which was the noblest
achievement of the best period of British Protestantism. It has rightly been
called the theological masterpiece of the last four centuries. Dr. Warfield
said of the Westminster Confession that it was "The most complete, the most
fully elaborated and carefully guarded, the most perfect, and the most vital
expression that has ever been framed by the hand of man, of all that enters
into what we call evangelical religion, and of all that must be safeguarded
if evangelical religion is to persist in the world."

Dr. F. W. Loetscher, in an address before the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., 1929, referred to the Westminster Standards as,
"these incomparable works of religious and theological genius;" "those
noblest products of the great religious revival that we call the
Reformation; those matchless formularies which at least English-speaking
Christendom has come to regard as the most comprehensive, precise, and
adequate embodiment of the pure Gospel of the grace of God." And in the same
address he also said, "I realize that such a characterization of these
venerable documents will appear to many, even among those whom I have the
honor of addressing on this occasion, as an unwarranted exaggeration, if not
a sheer anachronism. For the fashion of the day minimizes the value of
creeds, and our Confession, like many others, must often undergo the
sorrowful experience of being damned with faint praise even in the home of
its reputed adherents."

Dr. Curry, who for a time was Editor of the "Methodist Advocate" of New
York, in an editorial on Creeds, called the Westminster Confession "the
ablest, clearest, and most 

344

comprehensive system of Christian doctrine ever framed-a wonderful monument
to the intellectual greatness of its framers."

In these standards we have the grandest conception of theological truth that
has ever entered the mind of man. As a system, it exhibits far more depth of
theological insight than does any other, and it is worthy the admiration of
the ages. It is a system which produces men of strong doctrinal convictions.
The person who holds it has a definite basis for belief and is not "tossed
to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of
men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error."

But while the Westminster Confession is so logically wrought out, so clear
and comprehensive in its statements, how sadly it is neglected today by the
members, and even by the ministers, of the Presbyterian and Reformed
Churches! "The Confession of Faith," says Dr. Frank H. Stevenson, the first
president of the Board of Trustees of Westminster Theological Seminary,
"remains in the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church, neglected,
well-nigh forgotten, but unamended, untinkered with in twenty-five years of
doctrinal confusion. It is the creed of the church, and every line sustains
a courageous stand. Not for its own sake alone, but because it gives full
honor to Christ, it is a worthy standard beneath which to carry on what Paul
prophetically called 'the good fight of faith.'" With those words we fully
agree.


7. These Doctrines Should Be Publicly Taught and Preached


The doctrine of sovereign Predestination, as well as the other distinctive
doctrines of the Calvinistic system, should be publicly taught and preached
in order that true believers may know themselves to be special objects of
God's love and mercy, and that they may be confirmed and strengthened in the
assurance of their salvation. What a misfortune it is for the truth, which
reflects so much glory upon its Author, and which is the very foundation of
happiness in man, to be suppressed or to be confined merely to those who are
specializing in Theology! For the Christian this should 

345

be one of the most comforting doctrines in all the Scriptures. Furthermore,
there is scarcely a distinctive Christian doctrine that can be preached in
its purity and fullness without a reference to Predestination. These
doctrines are so reciprocally related and interwoven that any one has a
bearing on others; and this doctrine of Predestination is the one which
unites and organizes all the others. Apart from it the others cannot be seen
in their true light, nor their relative importance properly estimated.
Concerning the place of the doctrine of Predestination in the Christian
system, Zanchius writes as follows: "The whole circle of arts have a kind of
mutual bond and connection, and by a sort of reciprocal relationship are
held together and interwoven with each other. Much the same may be said of
this important doctrine; it is the bond which connects and keeps together
the whole Christian system, which, without this, is like a system of sand,
ever ready to fall to pieces. It is the cement which holds the fabric
together; nay, it is the very soul that animates the whole frame. It is so
blended and interwoven with the entire scheme of Gospel doctrine that when
the former is excluded, the latter bleeds to death." 

We are commanded to go and "preach the gospel," but in so far as any part of
it is mutilated or passed over in silence, we are unfaithful to that
command. Certainly no Christian minister is at liberty to take his scissors
and cut out of his Bible all of those passages which are not to his liking.
Yet, for all practical purposes, is not that the effect when important
doctrines are deliberately passed over in silence? Paul could say to his
Christian converts, "I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was
profitable," and again, "I testify unto you this day, that I am pure from
the blood of all men. For I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole
counsel of God," Acts 20:20
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Ac+20%3A20> ,26
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Ac+20%3A26> ,27
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Ac+20%3A27> . If the Christian
minister today would be able to say this, let him beware of withholding such
important truth. Paul repeatedly referred to these doctrines. His letter to
the Romans (chs. 8 <http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Ro+8-11> -11)
and to the Ephesians (chs. <http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Eph+1>
1 and 2 <http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Eph+2> ) are the most
prominent in this respect. In writing to the Romans he was in effect
bringing these things before the whole 

346

world and stamping a universal imprimatur upon them; and if he considered
them so important that they should be written to the primitive Christians in
the young church at Rome which he had not visited, we may be sure that they
are important for Christians today. Christ and the apostles preached these
things, and that not merely to a few people, but to the multitudes. There is
hardly a chapter in the Gospel of John which does not either mention or
imply election or reprobation. When a plain, straight-forward, common-sense
man asks, "Is the doctrine of Predestination taught in the Bible?" the
answer certainly should be in the affirmative-that it is constantly taught
in both the Old and the New Testaments. Furthermore, the Westminster
Confession states it very explicitly. Hence, we are to teach it and to
explain it in so far as that is possible. Paul urges us to "put on the whole
armor of God," yet what a large part of that armor a person lacks if he is
ignorant of this great doctrine of Predestination!

Augustine rebuked those in his day who were passing over the doctrine of
Predestination in silence, and when he was sometimes charged with preaching
it too freely, he refuted the charge by saying that where Scripture leads we
may follow. Luther, and especially Calvin, strongly emphasized these truths,
and Calvin developed them so clearly and forcefully that the system has ever
since been called "Calvinism." Not only in the countries where the
Reformation was at its best, but later in Holland, Scotland, England at the
time of the Westminster Assembly, and America during the earlier periods of
her history, these doctrines were commonly preached and were the means of
developing deep religious convictions in all classes of people.

It was Calvin's conviction that the doctrine of Election should be made the
very center of the Church's confession, and that if it were not thus
emphasized, the Church should be prepared to see this wonderful doctrine
buried and forgotten. The correctness of his views is shown by the fact that
those groups which did not emphasize it, whether in England, Scotland,
Holland, the United States, or Canada, have, for all practical purposes,
lost it completely.

347

The one who is entrusted with a message from the King must give it as he has
received it; and surely the greatest of all messages, that of predestination
unto life, should not be passed over in silence. "An ambassador," says
Zanchius, "is to deliver the whole message with which he is charged. He is
to omit no part of it, but must declare the mind of the sovereign he
represents, fully and without reserve. He is to say neither more nor less
than the instructions of his court require, else he comes under displeasure,
perhaps loses his head. Let the minister of Christ weigh this well." These
are doctrines which have been expressly given by divine revelation. They
make wholly for the divine glory, bringing comfort and courage to the elect,
and leaving sinners without excuse. True, man does not like to be told that
he is a sinner and unable to help himself. Such doctrine is too humiliating.
But if he is lost without Christ, the sooner he knows it the better. For us
to refuse to preach it is to be false to our Lord and negligent in our duty
to our fellow men. To ignore it is to act like a doctor who refuses to
operate to save the life of a patient because he knows the operation will
cause the patient pain. If these truths were fearlessly and courageously
preached, Modernism and unbelief would not creep into our churches as they
are doing. The group of professing Christians would perhaps be smaller, but
more loyal and effective in Christian works.

The preaching of these doctrines will, of course, stir up some controversy.
But controversy is not to be looked upon as an unmixed evil. As long as
error exists there must be controversy. The attacks which were made upon the
doctrines of the Church by the pagans and heretics during the early
Christian centuries and in the Middle Ages forced the Church to reexamine
her doctrines, to work them out, to explain, purify and fortify them. They
compelled a closer study of the Bible. A number of brilliant churchmen arose
who wrote books and articles on the Christian Faith, and, as a result, the
Church was greatly enriched by the intellectual and spiritual fruits thus
produced.

It is a mistake to say that people will no longer listen to doctrinal
preaching. Let the minister believe his doctrines; 

348

let him present them with conviction and as living issues, and he will find
sympathetic audiences. Today we see thousands of people turning away from
pulpit discussions of current events, social topics, political issues, and
merely ethical questions, and trying to fill themselves with the husks of
occult and puerile philosophies. In many ways we are spiritually poorer than
we should be because, in our theological confusion and bewilderment, we have
failed to do justice to these great doctrinal principles. If rightly
preached, these doctrines are most interesting and profitable. The author's
experience as a Bible teacher has shown him that no other subjects so
electrify and hold the attention of students as do these. Furthermore, we
may ask, What excuse has the Presbyterian Church for its continued existence
as a separate denomination if Calvinism is to be discarded as a
non-essential? Much of our present-day weakness is due to the fact that our
people have had but little instruction concerning these distinctive
doctrines of the Presbyterian system, and this lack of instruction has led
directly into the ecumenical movement in which attempts are being made to
unite churches of very different types with only a minimum of doctrine.

The doctrine of Predestination is a doctrine for genuine Christians.
Considerable caution should be exercised in preaching it to the unconverted.
It is almost impossible to convince a non-Christian of its truthfulness,
and, in fact, the heart of the unregenerate man usually revolts against it.
If it is stressed before the simpler truths of the Christian system are
mastered, it will likely be misunderstood and, in that case, it may only
drive the person into deeper despair. In preaching to the unconverted or to
those who are just beginning the Christian life, our part consists mainly in
presenting and stressing man's part in the work of salvation-faith,
repentance, moral reform, etc. These are the elementary steps so far as
man's consciousness extends. At that early stage little need be said about
the deeper truths which relate to God's part. As in the study of
Mathematics, we do not begin with algebra and calculus, but with the simple
problems of arithmetic, so, here, the better way is to first present the
more elementary truths. Then after the 

349

person is saved and has traveled some distance in the Christian way, he
comes to see that in his salvation God's work was primary and his was only
secondary, that he was saved through grace and not by his own works. As
Calvin himself put it, the doctrine of Predestination is "not a matter for
children to think much about," and Strong says, "This doctrine is one of
those advanced teachings of Scripture which requires for its understanding a
mature mind and a deep experience. The beginner in the Christian life may
not see its value or even its truth, but with increasing years it will
become a staff to lean upon." But while it is true that this doctrine cannot
be adequately appreciated by the unconverted, nor by those who are just
beginning the Christian life, it should be the common property of all those
who have traveled some distance in that way.

It is worthy of notice that in developing his "Institutes," Calvin did not
treat the doctrine of Predestination in the early chapters. He first
developed the other doctrines of the Christian system, and deliberately
passed over this, even in several cases where we might naturally have
expected to find it. Then, in the last part of his theological discussion,
it is developed fully, and is made the crown and glory of the entire system.

It may be further said that, in preaching this doctrine, care should be
taken not to exaggerate any statements, and also to show that it is founded,
not upon arbitrary will, but upon infinite wisdom and love.


8. Ordination Vows and the Minister's Obligation


Every minister and elder who is ordained in the Presbyterian and Reformed
churches solemnly vows before God and men that he sincerely receives and
adopts the Confession of Faith of his church as containing the system of
doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures, (Pres. Ch. USA, see Form of
Government, XIII:IV; XV:XII). Since these confessions are thoroughly
Calvinistic, this means that none but Calvinists can honestly and
intelligently accept this ordination. An Arminian has not the slightest
right to be

350

a minister in a Calvinistic church, and any Arminian who does become a
minister in a Calvinistic church lacks good morality as well as good
theology. To declare one thing and believe the contrary is hardly consistent
with the character of an honest man. And, yet, while our ordination vows are
so thoroughly Calvinistic, how few ministers there are who proclaim these
doctrines! One could scarcely tell from the pulpit utterances of the
nominally Calvinistic churches today what the essentials of the Reformed
Faith really are. Our pulpits as well as our church publications, our
schools and seminaries, ring with the Arminian doctrines of merit and
free-will. The present day Presbyterian and Reformed Churches seem to have
no adequate conception of the fundamental importance of their great
doctrinal heritage. The writings of Calvin and Luther, of the great Puritan
divines, and of the great theologians since that time should be better known
to our young theologians than merely by their titles. The scholastic form
and cumbersome style of these works has perhaps deterred many from making a
thorough study of them, but we should remember that the study of Theology is
not indulged in merely for the pleasure it affords. We do not expect to find
novels when we take up the folios of the old masters in Theology.

Many young men enter the ministry without any real acquaintance with the
doctrine of the Church in which they intend to serve, and when they hear of
any who preach agreeably to the Westminster Standards, they consider them as
"setters forth of strange doctrines." The great need of the Church today is
for men of firm convictions and settled minds rather than the latitudinarian
type of Modernists or Liberals who wander to and fro, rejoicing that they
have no dogmatic opinions and no theological preferences. It seems that the
majority of our ministers no longer believe these Calvinistic doctrines, and
that many of them, contrary to their solemn ordination vows, are putting
forth by crafty and unfair methods their strongest efforts to destroy the
faith that they have solemnly sworn they have been moved by the Holy Spirit
to defend. If these doctrines are true, they should be clearly and
aggressively taught and defended in our churches, seminaries, and colleges.
If they are not 

351

true, they should be stricken from the Confession of Faith. Honesty is as
important in theology as in trade or commerce, as important in a religious
denomination as in a political party. A Presbyterian minister is not a free
lance, but is a presbyter who has pledged himself to this system of
doctrine. Those who deny these doctrines in Presbyterian pulpits are being
false to their ordination vows, and should withdraw to denominations holding
their views. Certainly no church officer has a right to accept the honors
and remunerations which come from the outward acceptance of a creed which he
does not believe or teach.

"The creed of a Church," says Shedd, "is a solemn contract between
church-members: even more so than the platform of a political party is
between politicians. The immorality of violating a contract some people do
not seem to perceive when a religious denomination is concerned; but when a
political party is the body to be affected by the breach of the pledge, none
are sharper to see, and none are more vehement to denounce, the
double-dealing. Should a faction arise within the Republican party, for
example, and endeavor to alter the platform while still retaining the
offices and salaries which they had secured by professing entire allegiance
to the party, and promising to adopt the fundamental principles upon which
it was founded and by which it is distinguished from the Democratic and
other political parties, the charge of political dishonesty would ring
through the whole rank and file of Republicanism. And when, in the exercise
of party discipline, such factionists are turned out of office, and perhaps
expelled from the political organization, if the cry of political
heresy-hunting and persecution should be raised, the only answer vouchsafed
by the Republican press would be that of scorn. When political dishonesty
would claim toleration under cover of more 'liberal' policies than the party
is favoring, and would keep hold on party emoluments while advocating
different sentiments from those of the mass of the party, it is curtly told
that no one is compelled to join the Republican party or to remain in it,
but that if a person does join it or remains in it, he must strictly adopt
the party creed and make no attempts, secret or open, to alter it. That a
Repub-

352

lican creed is for Republicans and no others, seems to be agreed on all
sides; but that a Calvinistic creed is for Calvinists and no others, seems
to be doubted by some . . .

"If in the heart of the Democratic party a school should arise which would
claim the right, while remaining in the party, to convert the body to
Republican principles and measures, it would be told that the proper place
for such a project is outside of Democracy, not within it. The right of the
school to its own opinions would not be disputed, but the right to maintain
and spread them with the funds and influences of the Democratic party would
be denied. . . . They would say to the malcontents, 'We cannot prevent you
from having your own peculiar views, and do not desire to, but you have no
right to ventilate them in our organization.'" 

Calvinistic churches are sometimes accused of intolerance or persecution
when departures from the church creed are made the subject of judicial
inquiry. We submit, however, that this charge is unjust, and that such a
church is entirely within her rights when she requires her ministers and
teachers to conform their preaching and teaching to the denominational
standards.

>From these considerations it will be clear why many of us have so little
enthusiasm for church union movements which would unite groups holding
widely different systems of doctrine. We believe the Calvinistic system to
be the only one set forth in the Scriptures and vindicated by reason, and,
therefore, the most stable and influential in the production of
righteousness. Yet, to all who differ from us, we cordially allow the right
of private judgment, and sincerely rejoice in the good which they are able
to accomplish. We rejoice that other systems of theology approximate ours;
yet, we cannot consent to impoverish our message by setting forth less than
what we find the Scriptures to teach. If a union could be consummated in
which Calvinism would be accepted as the system of truth taught in the
Bible, we should be delighted to enter into it; but we believe that for us
to accept anything short of that would be to surrender vital truth, and that
anything vague enough to embrace 

353

Calvinism and other systems of doctrine would not be worth propagating. We
believe that the superficial advantage of numbers which would result from
such a union would amount to but little when balanced against the spiritual
discord which would inevitably follow. Hence, we wish to remain Presbyterian
until the doctrines of the Reformed Faith, which are simply the doctrines of
the Word of God, become the doctrines of the Church universal.

These doctrines, now so disregarded or unknown, if not openly opposed, were
universally believed and maintained by the reformers, and following the
Reformation were written into the creeds, catechisms, or articles of every
one of the Protestant churches. Any one who will compare the printed pulpit
utterances of our own day with those of the Reformers will have no
difficulty in perceiving how contradictory and irreconcilably hostile they
are to each other.


9. The Presbyterian Church Is Truly Broad and Tolerant


While the Presbyterian Church is pre-eminently a doctrinal Church, she never
demands the full acceptance of her standards by any applicant for admission
to her fold. A credible profession of faith in Christ is her only condition
of Church membership. She does demand that her ministers and elders shall be
Calvinists; yet, this is never demanded of lay members. As Calvinists we
gladly recognize as our fellow Christians any who trust Christ for their
salvation, regardless of how inconsistent their other beliefs may be. We do
believe, however, that Calvinism is the only system which is wholly true.
And while one can be a Christian without believing the whole Bible, his
Christianity will be imperfect in proportion as he departs from the Biblical
system of doctrine. In this connection Prof. F.E. Hamilton has well said: "A
blind, deaf and dumb man can, it is true, know something of the world about
him through the senses remaining, but his knowledge will be very imperfect
and probably inaccurate. In a similar way, a Christian who never knows or
never accepts the deeper teachings of the Bible which Calvinism embodies,
may be a Christian, but he will be a very imperfect Christian, and it should
be the duty 

354

of those who know the whole truth to attempt to lead him into the only
storehouse which contains the full riches of true Christianity." "The
Calvinist," says Dr. Craig, "does not differ from other Christians in kind,
but only in degree, as more or less good specimens of a thing differ from
more or less bad specimens of a thing." We are not all Calvinists as we
travel the road to heaven, but we shall all be Calvinists when we get there.
It is our firm conviction that every redeemed soul in heaven will be a
thorough-going Calvinist. Christians, in general, must admit that when we
all "attain unto the unity of the faith" (Eph. 4:13
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Eph+4%3A13> ), and know the full
truth, we shall be either all Calvinists or all Arminians.

It must always be kept in mind that Calvinism includes much more than those
peculiar features which distinguish it from Arminianism. It holds firmly to
the great doctrines of the Trinity, the Divinity of Christ, the Miracles,
the Atonement, the Resurrection, the Inspiration of the Scriptures, etc.,
which form the common faith of evangelical Christendom.

In regard to the truly broad and tolerant nature of the Presbyterian Church,
we shall now take the privilege of quoting rather extensively from Dr. E.W.
Smith's admirable little book, The Creed of Presbyterians-more than
sixty-five thousand copies of which have already been distributed.

"The catholicity of Presbyterianism, its liberality of thought and feeling,
its freedom from sectarian narrowness and bigotry, is one of its crowning
characteristics. . . . The catholicity of Presbyterianism is no mere
sentiment. It is not a thing of individual profession or platform
declamation. It is rooted in our creed. It is proclaimed in our Standards.
It is embodied in our doctrine of the Church. 'The visible Church,' says our
Confession, 'consists of all those throughout the world who profess the true
religion, together with their children.' (Conf.
<http://www.crossbooks.com/book.asp?pub=8&book=116&bookmark=25-2>  of Faith,
XXV:2). Thus, formally and publicly, do we repudiate the name of 'the'
church and claim only to be a church of Jesus Christ. Not only do our
Standards contain no denunciation of the antagonistic views of sister
Evangelical churches, they are said to be the only church Standards in
existence which make explicit and 

355

authoritative recognition of other evangelical churches as 'true branches of
the Church of Jesus Christ' (Book of Church Order, Chap. II, sec. II, par.
II). To the 'Communion of Saints,' our Confession devotes an entire chapter.
We are there taught that our 'holy fellowship and communion,' in each
other's gifts and graces, in worship and mutual service of love, 'is to be
extended unto all who in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus.'
(XXVI:2 <http://www.crossbooks.com/book.asp?pub=8&book=116&bookmark=26-2> ).

"The catholicity of our standards finds beautiful expression in the
Presbyterian attitude toward all sister evangelical churches. While a branch
of evangelical Christendom unchurches all sister denominations, such action
is abhorrent to Presbyterian feeling and unknown to Presbyterian practice.
Members and ministers of other evangelical churches we treat as in all
respects true members and ministers equally with ourselves of the Church of
Christ.

"While several of these churches decline giving letters of dismission from
their own to other communions, we make no distinctions. We dismiss members
to Baptist, Episcopal or other Christian congregations, in precisely the
same form, and with the same affectionate confidence, as though we were
transferring them to churches of our own name.

"Some evangelical denominations deny the validity of ordinances performed by
sister churches, and when a minister or a member would come to them from a
sister denomination, the one must be re-ordained, the other re-baptized.
Such denial is utterly contrary to the Presbyterian spirit and usage. We
never repeat the rite. The ordinance of a sister church we accept as no less
valid than if performed by ourselves.

"While from many evangelical pulpits, the ministers of sister churches are
shut out, or from co-officiation in sacred ceremonies, such exclusion is
never practiced by us. It is alien to the Presbyterian heart and habit. We
are as free and cordial in asking Episcopal, Baptist, or other evangelical
ministers to occupy our pulpits, or assist us officially in administering
the Lord's Supper, as in asking our own pastors.

"We unchurch no true Christian. We reject no ministerial ordination. We
repudiate no administered scriptural 

356

sacrament of a sister church. Returning good for evil, we recognize our
high-church fellow clergyman as a true minister of Christ, and our
immersionist brother as having been validly baptized. We respond with all
our hearts to the 'Amen' of the Methodists; we join with our brethren in any
psalmody that puts the crown upon the brow of Jesus; and most lovingly do we
invite our fellow Christians of every name and denomination to partake with
us of the emblems of His broken body and His shed blood. We have no
prejudice, no peculiarity, no crotchet of any kind, to restrict our
Christian sympathies and dig a chasm between us and other servants of our
Master. Our catholicity is wide as evangelical Christendom," (pp. 189-193).

And again he says: "The catholicity of the Presbyterian Church appears in
her one condition of church membership. She demands nothing whatever for
admission to her fold except a confession, uncontradicted by the life, of
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The applicant is not asked to subscribe to
our Standards or assent to our theology. He is not required to be a
Calvinist, but only to be a Christian. He is not examined as to his
orthodoxy, but only as to his 'faith in and obedience unto Christ.' (Conf.
<http://www.crossbooks.com/book.asp?pub=8&book=116&bookmark=28-4>  of Faith,
28:4). He may have imperfect notions about the Trinity and the Atonement; he
may question infant baptism, election, and final perseverance; but if he
trusts and obeys Christ as his personal Saviour and Lord, the door of the
Presbyterian Church is open to him, and all the privileges of her communion
are his.

"When churches prescribe conditions of membership other than the simple
conditions of salvation, they are guilty of making it harder to get into the
Church than into heaven. To such ecclesiastical tyranny and exclusiveness
the Presbyterian Church stands in utter contrast. Her Standards declare that
as simple faith in Christ makes us members of God's family, so 'those who
have made a profession of faith in Christ are entitled to all the rights and
privileges of the Church.' (Bk. Ch. Order, III, 3.) Thus, with a broad and
beautiful catholicity the gates of our Presbyterian Zion are flung wide as
the gates of Heaven for all the children of God," (pp. 199, 200).

357

After declaring that the Presbyterian and Reformed constitute the largest
Protestant family in the world, Dr. Smith, in eloquent language, gives the
following grand summary of her missionary achievement: "More catholic and
imposing even than the Presbyterian numbers is the worldwide range of the
Presbyterian empire. While the adherents of other Protestant communions are
more or less massed in single countries, the Lutherans in Germany, the
Episcopalians in England, the Methodists and Bapists in the United States,
the line of the Presbyterian Church is gone out through all the earth. She
thrives this hour in more continents, among a greater number of nations and
peoples and languages than any other evangelical church in the world. As her
witness in Continental Europe, she has the historic Presbyterian Reformed
Churches of Austria, Bohemia, Galicia, Moravia, Hungary, Belgium, France,
Germany, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, of Russia, and Switzerland and
Spain. She is rooted and fruitful in England, Scotland, the United States,
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Dutch East Indies-the people of this
faith and order gird the earth. Presbyterianism possesses a power of
adaptation unparalleled by any other system. It has furnished an unduly
large proportion of the outstanding preachers, evangelists, editors,
authors, educators, statesmen, and civic leaders; and from its abundant
spiritual life are going forth the mighty forces of Christian missions into
all the heathen world," (p. 211).


10. Reasons for the Depressed Fortunes of Calvinism Today


What reasons are we to assign for the present day defection from Calvinism?
That the celebrated five points of the Calvinistic star are not shining so
brightly today will hardly be disputed by any one. When we consider the
trend of present day thought, we readily conclude that the fortunes of
Calvinism (if we may change the figure) are not at their flood. In many
places where it once flourished it has now almost disappeared. There are
practically no "Calvinists without reserve" left among the acknowledged
leaders of religious thought in France, Switzerland, or Germany where 

358

Calvinism was once able to give such a good account of itself. In England
Calvinism has practically disappeared. In America there is no longer any
large church in its corporate capacity aggressively maintaining the
Calvinistic heritage. In Scotland, however, we are glad to say that the
heroic Free Church still raises its voice amid the sad defection of the
larger bodies. And in the great free church of Holland, the "Gereformeerde
kerken," we have a truly Calvinistic church in the modern world-one in which
the Christian religion is aggressively set forth on the basis of Holy
Scripture in the Reformed Faith.

History shows us quite plainly, however, that periods of spiritual
prosperity alternate with periods of spiritual depression. But above all, we
believe in the invincibility of truth. "Truth crushed to earth shall rise
again; The unending years of God are hers."

That Calvinism has many adversaries is not to be wondered at. As long as the
fact remains that, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God; for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because
they are spiritually judged" (I Cor. 2:14
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=1Co+2%3A14> ), so long will this be
a strange, foolish system to the natural man. As long as fallen human nature
remains as it is, and as long as the decree stands that Christ Himself is to
be "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence" to the natural man (I Peter
2:8 <http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=1Pe+2%3A8> ), these things will
be an offense to many. Nor was it to be marveled at that the immortal Swiss
reformer, who was called to such a prominent place in the development and
defence of these doctrines, has been, on the one hand, the most passionately
loved and admired, and, on the other, the most bitterly hated and abused
among all the outstanding leaders in the Church.

Since faith and repentance are special gifts from God, we should not be
astonished at the unbelief of the world; for even the wisest and acutest of
men cannot believe unless they receive these gifts. It is very appropriately
written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the
discerning will I bring to naught" (I Cor. 1:19
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=1Co+1%3A19> ); and again, "The
wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh
the wise in their craftiness; and 

359

again, The Lord knoweth the reasonings of the wise, that they are vain.
Wherefore let no one glory in men," (I
<http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=1Co+3%3A19-21>  Cor. 3:19-21). The
cause of any person believing is the will of God; and the outward sound of
the Gospel strikes the ear, but in vain, until God is pleased to touch the
heart within.

This is a system which has always been strongly opposed by the world, and it
is as strongly opposed now as ever. Indeed, how could it be otherwise when
man by nature is at enmity and war with Him from whose mind it has emanated?
It is not to be expected that God in His wisdom, and man in his folly, would
agree. God is an all-wise and all-holy sovereign; man unchanged is a
sin-blinded rebel, who wants no ruler, and most certainly not an absolute
ruler. Since the enmity of man's heart toward the distinctive doctrines of
the Cross is as great and as intense as ever, a system such as Pelagianism
or Naturalism, which teaches salvation by our own good works, or such as
Arminianism, which teaches salvation partly by works and partly by grace,
strikes a quicker response in the unregenerate heart. When the Gospel
becomes palatable to the natural man, it ceases to be the Gospel that Paul
preached. And it is worth remembering here that in nearly every town in
which Paul preached, his Gospel did cause either a riot or a revival, and
not infrequently both. "Calvinism may be unpopular in some quarters," says
McFetridge. "But what of that? It cannot be more unpopular than the
doctrines of sin and grace as revealed in the New Testament."

Another reason for the depressed fortunes of Calvinism today is its
tremendous emphasis upon the supernatural. In all events and in all things,
from eternity to eternity, Calvinism sees God. His hand is visible in all
the phenomena of nature, and in all the events of history. Through all
occurrences His one increasing purpose runs. We live in an age which is
anti-supernaturalistic; hence, it is distinctively hostile to Calvinism. The
emphasis today is upon the physical sciences, upon rationalism in thought
and sentiment. Even in present day Christianity the tendency is to take the
Bible merely as a human production, and to look upon Christ merely as the
outstanding man. Present day Modernism, which in its consistent form is pure
naturalism and 

360

autosoteric, is the very antithesis of Calvinism. All of this has produced a
naturalistic religion which says, "Hands off," to God; and it is not strange
that Calvinism, with its great emphasis on the supernatural, is not popular
in our day. We need not be surprised, then, when the adherents to these
doctrines are found to be in the minority. The truth or falsity of Scripture
doctrines cannot be left to the outcome of a popular vote.

In the following words Dr. B.B. Warfield, that giant of thought and action,
has given us a good analysis of the attitude which the world has taken
toward Calvinism in recent years. After saying that Calvinism is "Theism
come to its rights," that it is "religion at the height of its conception,"
and that it is "Evangelicalism in its pure and only stable expression," he
adds: "Consider the pride of man, his assertion of freedom, the boast of
power, his refusal to acknowledge the sway of another's will. Consider the
ingrained confidence of the sinner in his own fundamentally good nature, and
his full ability to perform all that can be justly demanded of him.

"Is it strange that in this world-in this particular age of this world-it
should prove difficult to preserve not only active, but vivid and dominant,
the perception of the everywhere determining hand of God, the sense of
absolute dependence on Him, the conviction of utter inability to do even the
least thing to rescue ourselves from sin-at the height of its conception? Is
it not enough to account for whatever depression Calvinism may be suffering
in the world today, to point to the natural difficulty-in this materialistic
age, conscious of its newly realized powers over against the forces of
nature, and filled with the pride of achievement and of material
well-being-of guarding our perception of the governing hand of God in all
things, in its perfection; of maintaining our sense of dependence on a
higher power in full force; of preserving our feeling of sin, unworthiness,
and helplessness in its profundity? Is not the depression of Calvinism, so
far as it is real, significant merely of this-that to our age the vision of
God has become somewhat obscured in the midst of abounding tri-

361

umphs, that the religious emotion has in some measure ceased to be the
determining force in life, and that the evangelical attitude of complete
dependence on God for salvation does not readily commend itself to men who
are accustomed to lay forceful hands on everything else they wish, and who
do not quite see why they may not take heaven also by storm?" 

Yet, there is no occasion for Calvinists to feel discouraged. The easy going
religion of today, with its emphasis on social problems rather than on
doctrine, has brought into the Church multitudes which in other ages would
have remained outside; and the mere fact that Calvinists are not so
conspicuous in the congregation does not necessarily mean that their actual
numbers have decreased. "There are very likely more Calvinists in the world
today than ever before," says Dr. Warfield. "Even relatively, the
professedly Calvinistic Churches are, no doubt, holding their own. There are
important tendencies of modern thought which play into the hands of this or
that Calvinistic conception. Above all, there are to be found everywhere
humble souls, who, in the quiet of retired lives, have caught a vision of
God in His glory and are cherishing in their hearts that vital flame of
complete dependence on Him which is the very essence of Calvinism." And
again, "I fully believe that Calvinism, as it has supplied the sinews of
evangelical Christianity in the past, so is its strength in the present, and
is its hope for the future."

And in close conformity with this, Dr. F. W. Loetscher has said: "It is no
wonder that our age, distraught by its very knowledge, irreverent of
antiquity, impatient of creeds and dogmas, intolerant alike of human and
divine authority, overborne by the currents of atheistic Naturalism and
pantheistic Evolution, is directing its heaviest artillery of unbelief
against Calvinism as the strongest citadel of supernatural revelation and
redemption. And as Professor Henry B. Smith prophesied a generation ago:
'One thing is certain-that infidel science will rout everything excepting a
thorough-going Christian orthodoxy.' Let us, then, resolutely accept this
challenge. And let us be of good cheer; for Calvinism can no more perish
from the earth than sinful 

362

man can utterly lose his sense of dependence upon God, or the Almighty can
abdicate the throne of His universal dominion."

James Anthony Froude, the distinguished professor of Church History in
Oxford University, England, said of the rather lifeless religion which had
become so common in his day: "This was not the religion of your fathers;
this was not the Calvinism which overthrew spiritual wickedness, and hurled
kings from their thrones, and purged England and Scotland, for a time at
least, of lies and charlatanry. Calvinism is the spirit which rises in
revolt against untruth, the spirit which, as I have shown you, has appeared
and reappeared, and in due time will appear again, unless God be a delusion
and man be as the beasts that perish."

"Calvinism not only has a future," said Dr. Abraham Kuyper, "it has the
future. Everything else crumbles and melts away. Theologically there is much
a-wearying of one-self all around us, and there is much needless toiling
before the people, because Calvinism is too much for them. But just because
it is such a power, it captures the spirits and will not let them go." 

It may be proper at this point to say that the author of this book was not
reared in a Calvinistic Church, and he well remembers how revolutionary
these doctrines seemed when he first came in contact with them. During one
Christmas vacation of his College course he happened to read the first
volume of Charles Hodge's "Systematic Theology," which contains a chapter on
"The Decrees of God," and which stated these truths with such compelling
force that he was never able to get away from them. Furthermore, he takes
some pride in the fact that he has reached this position only after a rather
severe mental and spiritual struggle, and he feels deeply sympathetic toward
others who may be called upon to go through a somewhat similar experience.
He knows the sacrifice required to withdraw from the church of his youth
when he became convinced that that church taught a system which contained
much error. Most of his closest relatives and friends belonged to that
church, and he will perhaps be pardoned if he betrays a bit of intolerance
toward those "born Presbyterians" who remain members of the Presbyterian
Church while openly opposing or ridiculing these doctrines.

-Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, The

 

Thanks.

 

For the King's honor,

 

Charis,

 

Mike Abendroth

 

 <http://www.bbcchurch.org> www.bbcchurch.org

 

Ephesians 3:21 auvtw/| h` do,xa evn th/| evkklhsi,a| 

 

2 Tim 1:2b  "Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord."

Thomas Watson, "[Jesus] alone is the Prince of Preachers.  He alone is the
best of expositors."

 

 

 

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