THEOLOGICAL QUAKfERLY.

Transcription

1 THEOLOGCAL QUAKfERLY. VOL.. APRL No. 2. BBLOLOGY. 'fhs chapter of theology was by our earler dogmatcans commonly dealt wth. n ther Prolegomena, where they treated of the nature and the prncples and source of theology. t was not unreasonable to dwell on the source of doctrne before exhbtng the substance of Chrstan doctrne as comprsed n Theology proper, Anthropology, Chrstology, Soterz"ology, and Eschatology. Ths was the more pertnent as the prncpal postons of Bblology, especally the dvne orgn and authorty of the Bble, were generally conceded, and to mpugn the nspraton of the canoncal books of the Old and New Testaments would have been looked upon as preposterous by theologans of all churches and schools. The great ancestors of modern Protestant theology, Zwngl, Calvn Melanchthon, never theoretcally or dogmatcally assaled ths stronghold of scrptural theology. Even Calxt, the Noah of the present generaton of neologsts n what s called the Lutheran Church, dd no more than plant the frst germs of unscrptural Bblology for future development and would probably have been amazed and appalled at the growth of thorns and thstles gone nto seed n these latter days. 9

2 250 'l'e PULPT, ~h.e ~ulpt. SERMON ON THE CHRSTAN AMENDMENT QUESTON. TEX'!': Ps, 72, 11 : "All kngs shall fall down before Hm; all natons shall serve Hm.'' "Chrst Jesus Lord of Natons," ths s the ttle of a small pamphlet ssued by the Natonal Reform Assocaton. The object of ths lttle pamphlet s to show that we, the people of the Unted States, ought to acknowledge the dvne authorty of our Savour Jesus Chrst n our Consttuton and make Hs Word, the Bble, our fundamental law, and ts moral and cvl code the bass of all cvl legslaton. t appeals to all true Chrstans n the land to use ther endeavors for the achevement of such results, and ponts out the great benefts that must necessarly result from such a change n the character of our Government. t says: "As the Consttuton now s, the vlest men may be elected to offce. A relgous test s forbdden and no moral test s requred. Slaveholders used to be presdents. So f the people now see ft to elect adulterers, drunkards, Sabbathbreakers, profane and godless poltcans, or even bulldog prze-fghters, the Consttuton now opens the door of offce to them. But conform the human Consttuton to the q vne and we would hope to see every department of State under the admnstraton of good men and then a regn of rghteousness.'' Two years ago the Assocaton brought nto the halls of the Unted States Congress a monster petton, sgned by thousands upon thousands, askng Congress to nsert n the preamble of our Consttuton a clause by whch the people of the Unted States acknowledge Jesus Chrst as the Lord of our naton. And though ths petton was lad

3 SERMON ON THE CHRSTAN AMENDMENT QUESTON. 251 on the table by the commttee n charge, they do not gve up hopes, but stll expect a day to come, when ths naton wll, as a people, acknowledge the authorty of the Lord Jesus Chrst. The ntentons of the Natonal Reform Assocaton people are sncere. They would lke to stem the torrent of ungodlness and depravty whch they see growng wth alarmng rapdty n our beloved country. They would lke to secure rghteous legslaton for the suppresson of crme. They would lke to rase the standard of the gospel and see all the nhabtants of the land rally around that standard and everybody be a professed Chrstan. And, above all thngs, they clam to be backed by Scrpture. n ther lttle pamphlet they quote more than ten passages of Holy Wrt n defence of ther poston, and they ntroduce them by the followng words, "Our frst and fundamental proposton s ths, Chrst Jesus, the dvne Medator, s Lord of natons-of all natons-and so of ths naton. No truth s more clearly and generally taught n the Word of God. Here are specmens of ts testmony, some prophetc, some mandatory, and some nferental from ttles belongng to our Kng." They call attenton to the fact that Chrst s especally called "Kng of natons,'' '' Ruler over the natons,'' '' Prnce of the kngs of the earth," "Kng of kngs and Lord of lords." Now the queston s, Are they really backed by Scrpture n demandng of us to change the character of our Consttuton by acknowledgng theren the dvne authorty of our Savour Jesus Chrst, or not? When God says of Jesus Chrst n the words of our text, '' All kngs shall fall down before Hm; all natons shall serve Hm,'' does He mean to say that every government, as such, should pay homage to Jesus Chrst and make Hs Word the bass of secular legslaton, or does He mean somethng else? t s certanly manfest from ths passage n the seventy-second Psalm that Chrst s the Lord of natons. For f they are l '! r V,' ' "1_. \, l \.!

4 252 TH!: PULPT. to serve Hm, He must be ther Lord. But the queston s, n what sense s Jesus Chrst the Lord of natons? Let us consder ths queston wth the ad of God's Holy Sprt. N WHA'r SENSE S CHRS1' JESUS 'rff; LORD OF NATONS? The answer s,. Not -n the sense of a worldly ruler.. But -n the sense of Hs majesty and savng power.. '' All kngs shall fall down before Hm; all natons shall serve Hm.' ' Does ths mean that kngs and rulers shall place ther temporal power nto the hands of Chrst? that natonal governments should be relgous organzatons wth Chrst at the head as a worldly ruler? Verly not. 'rhere s not the slghtest ntmaton n our text to justfy such an explanaton of ts words. Moreover, such an explanaton would be n drect contradcton to the Word of God and altogether nconsstent wth the clearest passages of Scrpture. When the eternal Son of God came nto the flesh, when He became man and declared Hmself the Messah who was to come and who had been promsed to the patrarchs and by the prophets, what dd the Jews-not even excludng the dscples-expect of ther Messah? They expected n Hm a worldly ruler, a soveregn, a kng who would subdue the Romans that had taken away the sceptre from Judah, would drve them out of the land, and restore the glorous kngdom of srael. And what dd Chrst do? Dd He comply wth the wshes of the Jews? Dd He tell them openly or secretly, am the ruler of the Jewsh naton, shall restore the throne of Davd and Solomon? Dd He make an attempt to eject the Roman ntruders and to wrench from ther hands the government of the people? Not n the least. Scrupulously, as t were, He kept Hs hands clean from poltcs. When, at a certan tme, He

5 SERMON ON '!'HE CHRSTAN AMENDMENT QUESTON. 253 had fed thousands of people wth a lttle bread and a few fshes, and they wanted to crown Hm Kng, He wthdrew and concealed Hmself so that they could not fnd Hm. When the Pharsees desred to test Hm on ths very queston and entangle Hm n Hs talk, when they asked Hm, "s t lawful to gve trbute to Caesar or not?" what dd Chrst answer? He made them produce a penny and, pontng to the mage and superscrpton thereon, told them, ''Render unto Caesar the thngs that are Caesar's, and unto God the thngs that are God's,'' thus declarng church and state to be two dstnct domans that should not be ntermngled and confounded. Jesus would not have the least thng to do wth temporal matters that were properly to be decded by the courts. When, at a certan tme, some one asked Hm, "Master, speak to my brother, that he dvde the nhertance wth me,'' dd Chrst feel nclned to do so? dd He take upon Hmself the dutes of an mpartal temporal judge? Far from t. He resented the very dea emboded n that man's presumpton, and sad, ''Man, who made me a judge or a dvder over you?'' And, fnally, when Chrst was arragned before Plate on the very charge of havng declared Hmself a worldly ruler, on the charge of clamng to be the kng of the Jews, then and there was the tme for Chrst to defne Hs poston on ths poltcal queston, then and there was the tme for Hm to state unambguously whether He had anythng to do wth the Jewsh government as such, or not, and, n general, whether He s to be regarded by the natons and governments of ths earth as ther worldly ruler n temporal affars, or not. Dd Chrst before Plate make any statement to ths pont? He dd n the most unambguous terms. And what was t? He sad, "My kngdom s not of ths world: f my kngdom were of ths world, then would my servants fght, that should not be delvered to the Jews; but now s my kngdom not from hence.'' "My kngdom s not of ths world." Oh that the ms-

6 254 THE PULPT.! guded people who vanly magne that Chrst's name n our Consttuton and the enforcement of sprtual laws by worldly magstrates, nflctng temporal punshment upon the transgressors, would prove benefcal. -Oh that such people would bear n mnd that Chrst's kngdom s not of ths world, that the worldly government and the kngdom of our Savor are two dfferent realms, strctly to be kept apart and not to be ntermngled! T'hey would, then, perceve that they are not fghtng for the Lord, but drectly aganst Hm, that they are constantly ms-applyng Scrpture n defence of ther erroneous poston, that they are actually adoptng the prncple of the papacy, whch s, to promulgate the gospel not by means of the Word alone, but by means of the sword and temporal power, and that no good wll result, f they should succeed, but that they wll only rear a race of hypocrtes and run the church of God. Not n the sense of a worldly ruler s Chrst Jesus the Lord of natons. 2. But He s the Lord of natons n the sense of Hs dvne majesty and savng power. '' All kngs shall fall down before Hm; and all natons shall serve Hm.'' He s Lord of natons n the sense of Hs dvne majesty. He s God. He s above all. Kngs and rulers of natons are sometmes vested wth great power and surrounded wth grandeur and splendor. But no Solomon n all hs glory, no Alexander the Great wth all hs conquered terrtory can compare wth Chrst Jesus. He s more than Solomon and more than the most powerful earthly ruler. n ths sense He s the Kng of kngs and the Lord of lords, and the Prnce of the kngs on earth. '!'here were and there are stll powerful natons, frmly establshed governments. But what became of the Egyptan, the Babylonan, the Persan government? What became of the proud Roman empre that once boasted of rulng the earth? '!'her

7 SERMON ON THE CHRSTAN AMENDMENT QUESTON. 255 tme has expred long ago. There s a Lord of natons, a Supreme Governor who rules over all n Hs dvne majesty, who establshes and agan dethrones kngs and rulers, who bds natons come and go, and who, accordng to Hs dvne Provdence, rnaketh Hs sun to rse on the evl and on the good, and sendeth ran on the just and on the unjust. n ths sense He s the Kng of natons and the Ruler over the natons. He s that also n the sense of Hs savng power. Nowa-days we are accustomed to the dvne truth that all men, n all natons, can be saved, that Chrst has shed Hs precous blood for all and ganed heaven for all. But ths truth was not so easly comprehended n former tmes. n the tme of the old dspensaton t pleased God to select one naton, to make that naton Hs chosen people wth the excluson of all the remanng natons of the globe, and to entrust to that sngle naton Hs promses and testmones. ;rhough God wanted all men to be saved also n the tme of the Old ;restament, the true vsble church was that of the Jews, and the accepted form of worshp that establshed at Jerusalem. But ths state of affars was not to reman forever. Tme and agan God had Hs prophets tell the people of srael that a tme would come when the kngdom of the Lord should not be confned wthn the lmts of a sngle naton, but extend over the whole world. And that s the true meanng of our text and all smlar passages of Scrpture. When God says n the Old Testament, '' All kngs shall fall down before Hm; all natons shall serve Hm,'' He means to say therewth, n the tme of the new covenant salvaton shall not be confned to a sngle naton or land, but t shall be unversal. n the tme of the new covenant there shall not be but one sngle kng to bow before the Savor, but kngs of many lands shall fall down before Hm. He can and would save them all, no matter what people they may represent or what may be the form and character of ther government.

8 256 SERMON ON THE CHRSTAN AMENDMENT QUESTON, Furthermore, n the tme of the new dspensaton salvaton shall not be lmted to one sngle naton, but all natons shall serve the Lord. He wants the gospel brought and proclamed to all, 110 matter to what race they belong, or how far dstant they be. There s mpled n our text an exhortaton to do mssonary work among the natons, to urge kngs to lay down ther crowns and sceptres before the Kng of kngs ard people of all natons, to beleve n and follow Chrst, ther Redeemer. When thus the gospel s proclamed to kngs and natons, not every kng and every ndvdual wll accept t. Sometmes we see very lttle frut. Nevertheless, the gospel s not preached n van. The Word of God shall not return vod. The dvne seed wll eventually fall upon good sol and brng forth frut unto eternal lfe. To ths day some of the mghtest rulers upon earth humble themselves before Chrst, knowng that, after all, they are no better than the rest of fallen manknd, that they are lost and condemned snners, who n no other way can be saved than by grace, through fath n Chrst, the Redeemer. And thus, to ths day, the Psalmst's words are verfed that all kngs shall fall down before Hm and all natons shall serve Hm, nasmuch as kngs and people of all natons beleve n and follow Chrst and are saved by the preachng of the gospel. We shall, therefore, not take part n ths modern movement whch ams to dethrone Chrst by placng Hm upon the throne of a worldly ruler, but rather oppose t wth all lawful means. Let us constantly bear n mnd that Chrst's kngdom s not an earthly, but a sprtual kngdom. Let us not weary n our blessed mssonary work. Let us wn souls for our beloved Savor at home and abroad. And thus our dvne Lord Jesus wll be evermore and more what He s and has been, the Lord of natons. Amen. H. S.