Naismith History of the RP Church VIII.
James Dodson
CHAPTER VIII.
PRINCIPLES OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Works published on this subject—Formulas—Distinctive Article submitted to Joint Committee of four Churches—Statement of Principles made to Free Church Committee on Union—Principles of the two Churches virtually the same—No change required on either side.
INQUIRIES have been recently made in regard to the principles or distinctive principles of the Reformed Presbyterian Church now so happily united with the Free Church of Scotland.
Such inquirers might be directed to works that have been published in connection with that Church, at different times, such as:—
Short Account of the Old Presbyterian Dissenters.
Explanation and Defence of the Terms of Communion adopted by the community of Dissenters.
Act, Declaration, and Testimony for the whole of our Covenanted Reformation, &c.
Reformation Principles exhibited by the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.
Plain Reasons for Presbyterians Dissenting from the Revolution Church in Scotland.
History of the State and Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, from the Restoration to the Revolution, by Cruickshanks.
History of the Church and State of Scotland, by Stevenson.
Testimony of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland, Historical and Doctrinal, authorised by Synod, May 1837.
Lectures on the Principles of the Second Reformation by Ministers of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, published 1841.
Book of Ecclesiastical Government and Discipline. 1852.
In the end of the book last mentioned may be found the formula of questions to be put at the ordination of ministers, the licensing of probationers, and ordination
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of ruling elders. These questions were modified in matter and modernised in phraseology by the Synod, a few years before the union. For the admission of young communicants and others to the communion of the Church, the following terms of ministerial and Christian communion were agreed upon by the Reformed Synod, though these were afterwards modified in a simpler form, which ministers might use.
‘The acknowledgment of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and the alone infallible rule of faith and practice.
‘The acknowledgment of Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, Larger and Shorter, to be founded upon and agreeable to the Word of God.
‘The owning of the Divine right and original of Presbyterian Church government.
‘The acknowledgment of the perpetual obligation of our Covenants, National and Solemn League. And in consistency with this, the duty of a minority adhering to these vows, when the nation has cast them off; and under the impression of Solemn Covenant obligations, following our worthy ancestors in endeavouring faithfully to maintain and diffuse the principles of the Reformation.
‘The owning of the Scriptural testimonies, and earnest contendings of Christ’s faithful witnesses, whether martyrs under the late persecution, or such as have succeeded them in maintaining the same cause; and especially of the Judicial Act, Declaration, and Testimony emitted by the Reformed Synod.
‘Practically adorning the doctrine of God our Saviour by walking in all His commandments and ordinances blamelessly.’
ALTERED FORM AS SANCTIONED BY SYNOD, MAY 8, 1872.
‘QUESTIONS which may be proposed to Applicants for Admission to the full communion of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scotland.
‘Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the
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Son of God and only Saviour; and do you receive and rest upon Him for salvation, as He is freely offered in the Gospel?
‘Do you acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and only infallible rule of faith and practice?
‘Do you approve and accept, as founded upon and agreeable to the Word of God, the views of truth and duty set forth in the doctrinal standards of this Church, and more particularly in the Westminster Shorter Catechism?
‘Do you acknowledge the Presbyterian form of Church government to be in accordance with the Word of God, and promise submission to the oversight of the session of this congregation in the Lord; and do you engage that you will give regular attendance on the worship of God, as you have opportunity and contribute of your substance, according to your ability, for the support and diffusion of the Gospel?
‘Do you promise that, by the grace of God, you will study to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, by walking in all His commandments and ordinances blamelessly?’
The principles of the Reformed Presbyterian Church were already stated in a summary way in the statement of principles submitted to Joint Committee on Union in 1867 (page 89), and Articles of Agreement on principles held in common by the negotiating Churches (as stated p. 92). To these Articles of Agreement, the Union Committee of the Reformed Presbyterian Church added the following:—
DISTINCTIVE ARTICLE.
(1.) That, while friendly alliance ought always to be kept in view as the normal relation of the Church and the State, the question whether or to what extent the realisation of it in any given case ought to be attempted cannot lawfully or safely be determined without taking
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into account the circumstances, character, and attainments of both, particularly the degree of unity, which the Church has attained, and the extent to which the State has become Christian. (2.) That while the Church is bound to uphold civil government founded on right principles, and directed to its appropriate ends, nevertheless, as a public witness for the truth and claims of Christ, it ought to testify against whatever is immoral in the civil constitution or iniquitous in public policy. (3.) That when the civil magistrate sets himself in habitual opposition to, and abuses his power for the overturning of, religion and the national liberties, he thereby forfeits his right to conscientious allegiance, especially in countries where religion and liberty have been placed under the protection of a righteous constitution. (4.) That while it is not lawful for the magistrate to grant aid to the Church from the national resources, merely from motives of political expediency, it is competent to the Church to accept aid from these resources, provided that the terms on which it is given do not involve the Church in approbation of what may be evil in the constitution of the State; but the national resources cannot lawfully be employed for the support of truth and error indiscriminately.’
In the Act of Union between the Free and Reformed Presbyterian Churches reference is made to statements of principles exchanged by the two Committees on Union and mutually agreed to. As the statement submitted by the Committee of the Reformed Presbyterian Church was approved of, virtually, in the overture agreed to by the Synod and its Presbyteries, it may be regarded as the most recent exhibition, in a summary form, of the distinctive principles of this Church. It was presented to the Joint Committee on Union on 20th January 1875, and virtually approved by Synod passing the overture referring to it into law in March 1876.
It is as follows:—
I. ‘Since its origin as a distinct denomination, the
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Reformed Presbyterian Church has always cherished a warm attachment to the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of the Reformed Church of Scotland, believing these to be in a remarkable degree conformable to the Word of God. While this conviction of their Divine authority has always been the primary ground of the attachment thus cherished, its influence has been fortified by considerations springing out of the dealings of God with the Church and nation; more particularly by the consideration that the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of the Scottish Church was matter of solemn national covenants, and thereafter of sufferings even to death, on the part of a long succession of martyrs, whose memory and testimony have ever been dear to us.
II. ‘The fathers of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, while thankful to God for the release from arbitrary power and grievous sufferings, vouchsafed by Him at the Revolution of 1688, and while far from deeming it either necessary or lawful to make such a stand in opposition to the new Government, as they had been obliged in self-defence to make against the preceding tyranny, nevertheless were constrained in conscience to take up a position of dissent from the new order of things in Church and State. In the altered circumstances of our times, we do not hold ourselves obliged, or even at liberty, to maintain, in all respects, the position thus taken up by our fathers. In contemplating union, however, with our honoured brethren of the Free Church, we desire it to be understood that we still abide by our objections to the Revolution settlement; nor do we commit ourselves to an approval of an alliance of the Church with the British State as at present constituted, having in view especially the unscriptural character of its ecclesiastical relations.’
In the history and contendings of the Free Church we have witnessed with great admiration very much which encourages us to submit with all frankness the statement now given of the historical position of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and which suggests the hope that
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there is nothing in this position which need occasion difficulty, on either side, in the way of union now contemplated. We are much confirmed in this hope by the views set forth in the Act and Declaration adopted by the General Assembly of the Free Church in 1851, and printed along with the subordinate standards, and other authoritative documents of the Church. We refer to the following passages among others:—
With reference to the Second Reformation—
‘When the Parliament of Scotland was at last moved to own the Reformation work of God in the land, this Church obtained a ratification of her spiritual liberties much more full and ample than had ever previously been granted. . . . The principles of religious liberty not being so thoroughly understood in that age, as they are now, it is not surprising, however much it is to be lamented, that our fathers should have given some occasion to the charge of intolerance, in the laws enacted, though seldom enforced, with a view to inflict civil penalties for offences partly, if not entirely, religious. . . . But notwithstanding those evidences of the hand of man in the transactions connected with the Second Reformation, we would grievously err and sin were we not to recognise, in the substance of what was then done, the hand and spirit of God ; and were we not to discern in it such an adaptation to the exigencies of the times, and such an amount of conformity to the Divine mind and will as must ever be held to give to the attainments then made by this Church and nation a peculiar force of obligation, and to aggravate not a little the guilt of subsequent shortcomings and defections.’
With reference to the Revolution settlement—
‘That the Revolution settlement by which the liberties of the Church were secured, under the reign of William and Mary, was in all respects satisfactory, has never been maintained by this Church. On the contrary, various circumstances may be pointed out as hindering the various
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Church from realising fully the attainments that had been reached during the Second Reformation. Not only were the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland unprepared for prosecuting the work of “reformation and uniformity in religion” to which they had pledged themselves; but even in Scotland itself the reluctant concessions of statesmen were limited to what a people, worn out by long and heavy tribulation, were barely willing to accept, as a relief, and did not thoroughly undo the mischief of an age of misrule.
‘Thus, for instance, in the civil sanction then given to Presbytery, the Parliament of 1690, overlooking altogether the higher attainments of the Second Reformation, went back at once to the Act 1592, and based its legislation upon that Act alone, as being the original charter of the Presbyterian establishment. Accordingly, it left unrepealed the infamous “Act Recissory” of King Charles, by which all that the Church had done, and all that the State had done for her, in the interval between 1638 and the Restoration, had been stigmatised as treasonable and rebellious. Thus the Revolution settlement failed, in adequately acknowledging the Lord’s work done formerly in the land; and it was besides, in several matters of practical legislation, very generally considered by our fathers at the time, to be defective and unsatisfactory. Some, and these not the least worthy, even went so far as to refuse all submission to it. But, for the most part, our fathers, smarting from the fresh wounds,’ &c.
IV. The Reformed Presbyterian Church has been led to bear witness with special emphasis to the truth and value of the principle that the Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed Mediator, besides the sole Headship pertaining to Him in and over the Church which is His body, has been invested with moral dominion over all things, and particularly over the nations; and that it is accordingly the duty of nations, enjoying the light of Revelation, to frame their constitution and laws according to the Word
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of God. With regard to the scope and bearing of this far-reaching principle, it seems unnecessary to make any more specific statement in this place, or to do more than refer to the ‘Articles of Agreement,’ drawn up by the Joint Committee of the four Churches, lately negotiating for union, together with the ‘Distinctive Article,’ drawn up by the Reformed Presbyterian Committee. These articles, both common and distinctive, have been expressly approved by the Reformed Presbyterian Synod, and contain the latest statement of our belief on this subject.
On this head also, the Reformed Presbyterian Committee refer, with great satisfaction to the declaration made by the General Assembly of the Free Church, in finding of date 29th May 1873, in which the venerable Assembly recognises as a ‘great fundamental principle’ of the Free Church, ‘the prerogative of the Lord Jesus, as Head over all things to His Church, and supreme over nations and their rulers, who are consequently bound, collectively and officially, as well as individually and personally, to own and honour His authority, to further the interests of His holy religion, and to accept the guidance of His Word, as making known His mind and will.’
V. The questions put to office-bearers in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, before ordination, are not quite the same as those in use in the Free Church and the relative formula; but there seems to be such an agreement in substance, as to leave little doubt that, if it should please God, to open up the way, in other respects, to the union now proposed, the questions and formula of the Free Church, may consistently and with good conscience be accepted by the Reformed Presbyterian Church without alteration. It has been already stated that the Confession of Faith has, from the first, been accepted by us, subject to the explanations specified by the Scottish Church in 1647; and a similar explanation has subsequently been added in our Church’s Testimony with the design of guarding the principle of religious liberty;
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this latter explanation being to the same effect as that given by the Free Church, in the Act of 1846, ‘Anent Questions and Formula.’ It might, perhaps, have been more satisfactory to us if the Free Church formula had contained a more explicit reference to the explanations which the Church has from time to time given regarding certain parts of the Confession, and particularly to those contained in the above named Acts of 1647 and 1846. But it is presumed that a sufficient reference to these is intended, in the words of the formula, which describe the Confession as ‘The Confession of Faith approven by former General Assemblies of this Church.’
Such, in a summary way, were the principles of the Reformed Presbyterian Church at the date of the union.
There was really no change of principle in either Church. With cleared vision, the representative committees came to see their principles to be really the same. In fulfilment of prophecy and of promise, they had divinely given to them ‘one way,’ as well as one heart. This commencement of reunion in the Presbyterian Churches of Scotland has been the blessed result.
[Ornament.]