Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" --Jeremiah 6:16

 

3 June, 2006   comments: (0) Postmodernism   No New Novelties: Truth is Never Antiquated In the 19th century, Horatius Bonar admonished believers to remember the danger of seeking novelties in religion, doctrine, or experience. For the sake of being original or singular, we may perhaps refuse to borrow or to imitate from the past, and we may end up filtering God's words through the corrupting medium of human intellect. There is no new revelation to be given us, but the old revelation which we have had from the beginning; only taught us in God's way, by God's Spirit, and not simply acquired by the reason and research of man. We can warn men against a borrowed religion on the one hand, and yet beseech them to be on their guard against novelties, on the other hand. We can say, "Beware of taking your creed or your experience from men or books;" and yet with equal honesty we can add, "Beware of seeking after new doctrines, and of cherishing a spirit of speculation and restless search after the ingenuities of intellect or fancy". We are to beware of stealing our words from our neighbor, and thereby taking on a borrowed and second-hand religion; but we are at the same time to ask for the old paths and the good ways, that we may walk therein, and find rest for our souls. The age is setting out upon a new career of thought and action, and it seems to think that for this it requires a new outfit of ideas, the old being worn-out and tame. It would fain make a complete disjunction between the past and the present, treating the former as obsolete, and endeavoring to make the latter the era of originalities, or at least of novelties. To "lag behind the age" is one of the most approved sarcasms of the day, and for a man to have this sentence passed upon him is equivalent to entire condemnation, and consequent dismissal from all further notice. But to pass on from truth to truth is one thing, and to bury past truth out of sight, or treat it as antiquated, is another. There are some things which never grow obsolete or out of date. These it should be our endeavor not to supplant, but to reproduce; for, after all, the best things of earth are, in a certain sense, but reproductions or repetitions. The tree but reproduces itself from the seed, and has been doing so ever since God planted it by His hand upon this soil. Nor has this been thought a fault to be amended, but rather a thing to be thankful for, inasmuch as we have still before our eye the beauty, the greenness, and the fruitfulness in which the men of other ages rejoiced. And the rainbow bends over us the same arch as in ages past - true to the primeval curve and colour. Nor do we despise its want of originality, nor wish for changes suited to the age - we are content with it as it is: nor do we blame its Maker for poverty of conception, nor are weary with seeing its fair fringe upon the dark cloud, however often it comes. And the sun repeats itself - yet we love the repetition. And the stars repeat themselves - yet we do not count the repetition stale. And night repeats itself with its solemn vastness; and day repeats itself with its freshening glow; and the flowers repeat themselves with ever-changing hue and fragrance; and the seasons repeat themselves in their glad succession; and the sea repeats itself alike in the unmeasured roll of its waves, and in the measured motion of its tides. Yet do we blame Creation for its repetitions, as if an original age like ours could no longer bear them; or do we speak slightingly of its beauty as stereotyped and antiquated? Nay, do we not rejoice that it does so faithfully repeat itself, stereotyping all its eldest forms, and reproducing each one of its primeval glories? Nor do they lose by repetition. They are as fresh and new in these last days as when God first pronounced them good. The stars are as keen in their sparkle, and the sky as fair in its blue stretch as at the first. The sea has not grown tame, nor the mountains commonplace, nor the forest wearisome, nor the streams monotonous. We are satisfied without originality in these: we would not have them otherwise. The old suits us well. Not only do we recognize repetition as the law of the universe, but we see in it that very law which makes creation so goodly, so perfect, so suitable for us. If so, is there not something unhealthy, something false and unnatural, in the tendency to set aside old truth as obsolete, in the restless craving after what is new? And is there not something suspicious in the dislike of the old forms of doctrine - the ancestral moulds of venerable truth? We claim no uninspired declaration of truth as perfect, and we are always glad to have it amended, and made more correct; but we tremble for the feeling unfolding itself in many quarters, that theology must keep pace with the age, and spurn the straitened limits and narrow formula of other times. What was true in Reformation theology is true now, even as then. Truth has not altered with the age or with the climate. What was scriptural in Puritanic doctrine, is still scriptural and Divine. We may add to it, or we may illustrate it, but we cannot supersede it. We may follow it out, but we cannot supplant it. It is not Christianity that is to keep pace with the age, but it is the age that is to keep pace with Christianity. To say that the movements of theology are to follow the march of intellect - that Christian doctrine must shape and adapt itself to the progress of the age - that old channels of truth must be burst, and old moulds broken, in compliance with the spirit of the age - that the Divine must bend to the human, the infinite to the finite, is to give utterance to the mingled pride and infidelity which says, "Our lips are our own, who is Lord over us?" and to take at least the first step in doing homage to Satan, as an angel of light, the usurper of the glories of Him "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge". ... God is most willing to teach us, and all the more willing when we cast ourselves unreservedly upon Himself, allowing no interposition of any kind between us and Him. "If we lack wisdom, let us ask it of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him". Let us go direct to Him; for what teaching is like His? or who is there that can really understand our case, or master our untractableness and folly? We must study the Bible on our knees; we must acquire theology in our closets; we must learn experience in communion with God, in cultivating intimacy with Christ, in submitting ourselves to the discipline of the Holy Spirit, in fighting with the flesh, in wrestling with the devil, in overcoming the world. This is true philosophy, as well as true religion. He who can instruct us best in the Scriptures is He who wrote them. And as the Lord opened the understanding of His disciples to understand His word, and made their hearts to burn within them while He talked with them by the way, and opened to them the Scriptures, so does He still to every soul that thus gives itself into His hands. It is the want of this Divine teaching that causes so many to be led astray, or to receive unfelt and unconsidered the truths of the circle in which each man may be moving. The remedy for the world's many evils, and the correction of its many errors, lies here. But, alas! it does not understand this. In its eyes, it is folly or fanaticism. The cure, also, for the professing church's many maladies lies also here. To have a creed, a true creed, and yet A CREED NOT TAUGHT OF GOD, is one of the deepest roots of bitterness in these last days. To restore health to the churches, to elevate thousands from a mechanical profession to the living power of godliness, to promote unity of faith as well as harmony of action, to present to the world the spectacle of a vigorous and unearthly spirituality, recourse must be had to this direct dealing with the great Fountain of Light. If this be neglected or spurned, there must follow worse errors, looser principles, sadder formalism, and a more repulsive religion. "Acquaintanceship with God" - it is this that is the world's great want. It does not indeed feel it, but not the less on that account does it suffer from the loss of this Divine companionship. He who would make a happy world and a noble church - he who would secure a true philosophy and a living religion, must not hesitate continually to urge this foundation-text, "Acquaint thyself with God." All that comes short of this must end in foolishness and error. Whatever does not lead us to God Himself, and form the link of realized fellowship between our souls and Him, must set us down in formalism or fanaticism or self-delusion, if not in infidelity itself. --Horatius Bonar, Man: His Religion and His World Related Information and Resources: Learn how 'forgetfulness' is always pre-requisite to idolatry Stay anchored to the old creeds, catechisms, and confessions. Read Part 1 of Why We Need The Puritans Today Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.268   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism