8/12/2019 1989 Issue 1 - What is Calvinism?: Presbyterianism of the Reformers - Counsel of Chalcedon

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of

Yahweh's sovereignty over those

who persecuted

his servant. It

is not

a

case

of

a

petty

vendetta waged against

Jeremiah's persecutors,

but

rather a

display

of

Yahweh's positive action

to

restrain the evildoers and

to

enable his

servant to

continue the task

to

which

Yahweh

had

called

him.

-Thompson

3. God's

words (vs. 16)

were

found in Jeremiah's mouth, .having

been

sovereignly placed there

by God

himself. Jeremiah did

not

question

them.

He

digested

and

proclaimed them,

and

in

his suffering, they became the

joy and

delight

of

his

heart

B.

(15:19-21)

Til

ANSWER OF

JEHOVAH

1. (15:19)

God

calls upon Jere

niiah

to

repent, a fter Jeremiah

had

been

calling

Judah to

repent.

The

bitterness

of

Jeremiah's experience

had

almost

closed

his mouth and

brought

him

close

to

abandoning his divine mission. God

calls

upon

him

to tum back

to

God

and to

renew

his trust

in him God

says:

i you utter what is precious

without uttering what is worthless, you

will be y spokesman. This is a re

buke for

questioning God's character.

2. (15:20-21)

God reafftrmS

his

promise to

Jeremiah th

at he

would

be

invincible

in

his divine calling.

a.

This

renewed promise moti

vated Jeremiah to

persevere in his mis

sion for years with renewed vigor.

b. 1lris

p r o ~

contrlns three

significant O.

T.

verbs of deliverance:

(1). save hosia), which word

stresses bringing

out of

those under op

pression into freedom.

(2). deliver hissil), which

word pictures

the

activity

of

someone

who

snatches

his

prey

from the grasp

of

a powerful captor.

(3).

redeem pada),which word

is

used in

reference to liberation

from

the possession

of

another

by the

giving

up

of

a ransom.

D

Biblical Counseling

Continued from page 19

selors whose

mes

sage and methods

are

consistent with the teachings

of

the

Bible.

Above

all, let us

who

believe

the

Bible

continue

to

counsel

from the

STUDIES IN BIBLICAL DOCTRINE

What

is Calvinism

or the Confession

of

Faith in Harmony

with the Bible and Common Sense

In

a series of dialogues between a Presbyterian

minister and a young convert

by William

D.

Smith, D.D.

DIALOGUE

XXll

Presbyterianism

of the

Reformers

Convert.-In

our

former conversa

tions I have not noticed, that among the

officers of the Presbyterian church,

you

said

anything respecting Deacons,

yet

they are frequently mentioned

in the

New

Testament;

and I fmd

, also, men

tion made of

them

in the Confession of

the

Waldenses.

They are

also,

I

believe,

in

most

Presbyterian churches that I

am

acquainted with.

Minister.--The office

of

Deacon is a

very important one,

and

should

be

found

in

every church, where circum

stances require and

admit

of it; still,

however,

it is

not an essential part of

Presbyterianism, that is, a church

may

exist,

and act

upon Presbyterian princi

ples,

in

which they are

not

found.

The

want

of

this office does

not

desrroy

its

Presbyterianism; whereas, a Presbyter

ian

church

cannot

exist without Elders.

Deacons existed

in the

synagogues, and

were

afterwards introduced

by the

apos

tles into the primitive church, as soon

as circumstances seemed to require it.

We

find

the

church

had

existed for some

time,

and

when the number of disci

ples was multiplied,;, circumstances

seemed

to

call

for the

ap

pointment

of

some,

whose

special business

it

should

be

to

attend

to the

temporal concerns

of

the church, especially to superintend

her

benevolent operations.--Acts 6. So in

every church

in

which this

part of

its

business requires much

of the

attention

Word of

God.

It is our

duty, and

God

will bless

us and our

counselees i f

we

are

faithful in performing that duty to

His glory.

of he minister and elders, i f he i r c u m ~

stances

at all admit of

it, they should

have Deacons

set over

the work, who

should be solemnly ordained by prayer

and the laying on

of

hands, in the same

way

that the other officers ~ ordained.

The

importance of the office to the

church you

can

easily perceive,

and it

shows in a very clear light the wisdom

of

the Great

Head of

the church,

in

arranging all things necessary to her

peace, comfort and prosperity. Hence,

we

find, that though the office

of

Deacon has

not

been uniformly found

in

all Presbyterian churches, yet

it

has

been generally contended for

by

those,

who

seek

entire conformity to the order

of

the primitive church.

Con.-Was Calvin the first of the

Reformers who sought to establish

Presbyterianism according to the order

of the

primitive church?

I

have thought,

that perhaps this gave rise

to

the idea,

that

he

originated it. f he was

the

first

of

the Reformers .

who

adopted it, the

more ignorant

might

conclude that

it

originated with him.

Min.--

The allegation that Presbyter

ianism originated with Calvin, has not

even that foundation. Ulric Zuingle, the

leader

of the Reformation

in

Switzer

land, who

lived

long before CalvQl, and

died before ever Calvin saw Geneva,

or

had

appeared among the prominent

Re-

formers, thus speaks on the subject of

Ruling Elders: The title of Presbyter,

or

Elder, as used

in

Scripture, is

not

[This article is reprinted,

by

p e r r n i s

sian,

from

the November,

1988

issue

of

The Presbyterian Witness]

0

P ~ e 2 2 ~

'l'he Counsel

of

Chalcedoti., January, 1989

8/12/2019 1989 Issue 1 - What is Calvinism?: Presbyterianism of the Reformers - Counsel of Chalcedon

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rightly understood by those, who con

sider it as applicable only to those who

preside in preaching: for it is evident,

that the tennis also sometimes used to

designate Elders of another kind, that is,

Senators, Leaders, or Counselors.

Oecolampadius, whom D'Aubigne in

his history mentions

as

one of the

bright stars of the Refonnation, and

who was contemporary with Luther,

but died before Calvin came on the

stage of action, thus speaks of Ruling

Elders: But it

is evident, that those

which are here intended, are certain Se

niors or Elders, such as were in the

apostles' days, and who of old time

were called Presbuteroi whose judg

ment,

being

that of the most prudent

part of

the

church, was considered

as the

decision of the whole church. The testi

mony of Bucer, Lasco, Peter Martyr,

and others,

is

equally clear

as

to the

fact, that Presbyterianism was one of

the grand principles of the Refonnation.

Luther, himself,

in

speaking of the

Bohemian church, says: There hath not

arisen

any

people since the times of the

apostles, whose church hath come near

er to

the

apostolic doctrine and order,

than the brethren of Bohemia.* *In

the ordinary discipline of the church

they use and whereby they happily

govern the churches, they go far beyond

us, and are in this respect far more

praiseworthy. Now,

in

view

of

the fact

before stated, that the Bohemian Church

was strictly Presbyterian, the senti

ments of Luther are plain. Melancthon,

Farel, Viret and others might be added

to

the list of eminent Reformers, who

all agree on the great principles of

Presbyterianism, viz: equality of rank

among ministers, and the government

of the church by Ministers and Elders.

Calvin, when he frrst settled at

Geneva, found the church there in great

need of discipline, and for attempting to

establish a system that would exclude

gross offenders from the sealing ordi

nances of the church, he was banished

from the city and retired to Strasburg.

While

there

feeling the great want of

some regular system of church dis

cipline, he opened a correspondence

with some of the principal men of the

Bohemian church. Comenious, in his

history of the Bohemians, gives some

extracts from some of his letters, in

which he speaks in high terms of their

form of church government, as being

not only wise and wholesome, but also

in accordance with the apostolic order.

Near four years afterwards he was re

called to Geneva, and made it one of the

conditions of his accepting the pastoral

charge of

the

church, that

he

should be

permitted to have a bench of Elders, to

conduct the discipline of the church,

according to the plan in use among the

Bohemians. Thus, Presbyterianism was

established in Geneva, and became

general in the Reformed Churches

in

Switzerland, Germany, Holland, France,

Hungary, Scotland, and throughout

Europe generally, with the exception of

England.

Con. Why

was it not received and

adopted

in

England?

Min. In

the reformation from

Popery in England, the kings and

bishops mostly took the lead. To them,

as

a matter of course, the simple repub-

. licanism of the Presbyterian system

would not be agreeable. Ecclesiastical

pre-eminence had long been established,

and it is not surprising that they should

wish

to

retain it. Accordingly, while

they adopted the system

of

doctrine

taught by the Reformers generally, they

retained

many

of the features of Popery

in

their system

of

church government.

This, however, was contrary to the ex

pressed opinion of many of their most

learned and pious divines.

Not

a few of

the brightest stars of the Church of

England have given their decided

opinion in favour of Presbyterianism.

The truly venerable and pious Dr.

Owen, gives his opinion on I Tim.

5:17, in the following unequivocal lan

guage: This is a text

of

uncontrollable

evidence, if it had anything to conflict

withal, but prejudice and interest. A

rational man, who is unprejudiced, who

never heard of

the controversy about

Ruling Elders, can hardly avoid an

apprehension, that there were two sorts

of Elders, some who labour in the word

and doctrine, and some who do

not

so

do. The truth is it was interest and pre

judice which frrst caused some learned

men to strain their wits to fmd out

evasions from the evidence of this testi

mony. Being found out, some others of

meaner abilities have been entangled by

them. * There are, then, Elders

in the church. There are, or ought to be

so, in every church. With these

Elder.s

the whole rule of the church is en

trusted. All these, and only they, do

rule in it This, from

an

Independent

divine of

so

much eminence and piety

as

Dr. Owen, is

as

strong human testi

mony in favour of Presbyterianism, as

any one can wish.

Dr. Whitely bears the same testi

mony, in language equally plain.

Thorndike, Whitaker, and others, clearly

express the same opinion; and even

Archbishop Cranmer, once proposed the

introduction of Ruling Elders into the

Church of England. From all this

testimony

it

is plain, that though Pre

lacy was established in the national

church, many of her most eminent men

were in favour of Presbyterianism,

as

being in accordance with apostolic

order. I have purposely avoided quoting

the opinions of Presbyterians, because

they might

be

considered partial to their

own system. But when we find the sys

tem supported by the arguments of

Episcopalians and Independents, partiali

ty to Presbyterianism cannot be alleged.

I might add testimony, equally plain,

from many others, both Episcopalians

and Independents, but I think I have said

enough to convince you, that the order

of the Presbyterian church,

as

well

as

her doctrine, is in accordance with the

Bible and common sense, and has

received the suffrages of the wise and

good in every age. Did time permit, it

would

be

a pleasant task to trace with

you the history of the Presbyterian

church more at large. Millions of her

martyrs have sealed the truth

of

her

doctrines with their blood; and though

persecuted in every age, she still lives,

and witnesses for the truth.

But

for this

I must refer you to history.

THE END

[Editor's note- For those readers who

may not have been with us when we

began

this series of articles some two years ago, we

reiterate that Dr. William D. Smith, the

author

of

the book

from

which these chapters

were

taken,

was a Presbyterian minister

of

the mid-nineteenth century

n

America.]

The Counsel

of

Chalcedon, January, 1989 Page 23