《Collected Writings of John Nelson Darby (Volume 4)》
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A glance at various ecclesiastical principles and examination of the foundations on which the institutions of the church on earth are sought to be based: 12
The character of the religious movement of the day and on the truths by which the Holy Ghost acts for the good of the church.
'The Church and its Friendly Subdivisions'
Scriptural views upon the subject of elders, in answer to a tract entitled "Are Elders to be Established?"
Examination of a few passages of Scripture, the force of which has been questioned in the discussion on the new churches etc.
Observations on a tract, entitled "Plymouthism in view of the Word of God."
What has been acknowledged?
An appeal to the conscience of those who take the title of "Elders of the Evangelical Church at Geneva"; and a reply to one of them.
A letter to Count de Gasparin in answer to a question which he puts to me in the "Archives du Christianisme."
Reply to two fresh letters from Count de Gasparin, published in the "Archives du Christianisme," etc.
A short answer to the last article by Count de Gasparin, published in the "Archives du Christianisme."
A glance at various ecclesiastical principles and examination of the foundations on which the institutions of the church on earth are sought to be based.
In reply to various writings.
J. N. Darby.
Introduction
First Part: Present State of Opinion on the Subject of Ministry
Second Part: Refutation of Some Errors Contained in the "Examination of the Darbyite Views on Sacred Ministry"
Chapter 1: On the Compatibility of Gifts and Local Charges
Chapter 2: On the Ruin of the Church
Section 1: The "Examination" Outdoes Popery In the Inviolability Which It Attributes To the Clergy
Section 2: Our Duty To Judge the Principles of the "Examination"
Section 3: False Ideas As To a Pretended Dismemberment of the Apostolate
Section 4: Observations In Detail
Section 5: Glance at the National Presbyterian Church as at Present Established
Section 6: The Pretended Progress of the Church
Section 7: View of the Church
Section 8: Proofs In Support
Section 9: Observations on the Apostleship of Paul
Third Part: On the Free Churches. Introduction
Chapter 1: On the Scotch Movement and that of the Free Church on the Continent
Chapter 2: On the Constitution of the Free Church of the Canton de Vaud
Section 1: The Clergy, the Foundation of Unity in the Free Church
Section 2: Absence of the Holy Spirit from the Organization of the Free Church
Section 3: The Doctrine of a Free Church
Fourth Part: On the Subject of Human Order and Evangelical Liberty
Chapter 1: Ecclesiastical Radicalism
Chapter 2: Dualism
Chapter 3: The Gospel Code
Chapter 4: On the Administration of the Church
Conclusion
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Introduction
Whoever prays much for the Church will feel little disposition to let his desires evaporate pen in hand. Nevertheless, these prayers will give to him who perseveres in them a spiritual impulse, by virtue of which (far from letting himself be hindered by things which might have the appearance of meeting the need of souls, but which in reality would serve only to seduce and lead them aside) he will be constrained to manifest, as far as in him lies, the true character of that which, while clothing itself with this specious garb, might draw souls far away from the truth and from the Lord's blessing.
The controversy on the subject of the views put forth for some years past, as to the Church and the presence in it of the Holy Ghost, has assumed an entirely new phase. We no longer hear people say much of Korah, or hold similar language - language which a spiritual activity, that does not enter into the framework of that which exists, has always to endure. It is now agreed that it is a question of serious principles. Events, and the imperious wants of the children of God, have brought all who reflect, no matter how little, to recognize as solemn and, so to speak, prophetic warnings - warnings which God has verified by the sequel - what had at first been taken for enmity against that which exists, and for a desire to upset an order and an authority which people loved to consider the assured channels of blessing.
Far more than this, the principles put forth as to ministry are recognized as being of all importance and essential to the existence as well as to the well-being of the Church. I do not mean that, on that account, those who have put them forth are the more loved; nor, by the fact of persons being obliged at last to recognize it, is a disagreeable truth the more loved for that. We find moreover, that when such truth cannot be denied, it is suddenly discovered that all the world knew it already, and that the one who has insisted on it has done nothing but exaggerate and thus spoil it. It little matters, if, by the goodness of God, the truth makes its way. The grace of Him who has given it to us will do the rest; and if this does not fall to the lot of those who have blamed the testimony rendered to this truth, I hope it will at least do so on behalf of him who has borne the burden of it.
2 I desire to take matters up at the point at which they are actually found, and that as briefly as possible.
FIRST PART
PRESENT STATE OF OPINION ON THE SUBJECT OF MINISTRY.
The universal priesthood of the children of God, a truth so precious - what do I say? - a relationship with their God and Father essential to their happiness and to that of the Church itself - this priesthood is now admitted without contestation; but, in exchange, it is sought to carry on the combat with more success on another ground. We will follow our adversaries to the field which they have themselves chosen, namely, the question of ministry: that of the sufficiency of the word and the Spirit to lead Christians in every respect; finally, that of a formal organization, the great idol of the day, what is called a Free Church.
What had been refused to the testimony of the word is yielded to the force of circumstances. Wherever there is a little light, the clergy are absolutely unable to maintain themselves in the position they took pleasure in keeping. Spiritual activity is too great; eyes are too much opened to abuses; the position in which the clergy themselves find themselves is too false. By the goodness of God the attention of Christians is too much awakened as to these questions. But the exterior evil is more threatening than even this movement of minds in the midst of the flocks; and the ecclesiastical functionaries feel that they must leave it an undisputed field, or that still worse would come to them. They feel, besides, that what constituted their support is becoming a clog to them, and that they are obliged to leave in freer hands the work which they would like to direct, and which nevertheless they dare not undertake.
Read what is said in "The Archives of Christendom," vol. 14, p. 74, "This immense privilege [that of priesthood], to which the mercy of God has exalted poor sinners, imposes sacred duties on all Christians, confers on them also all the spiritual rights which the Church is in possession of I say all: government, the preaching of the word, the administration of the sacraments, the power to remit or retain sins." "If this be objected to," adds the author of this article, "the protestant dogma on this point is not known."
3 There is certainly great confusion in this; but the establishment of such a principle is of the greatest importance. The author, it is true, makes a restriction - a restriction which he presents not at all as flowing from divine right, but purely from human right. It is that for good order. The Church entrusts* these rights to men whom she sets up, to a Clergy.
{* The presence of the authority of the Holy Spirit, and, in consequence also, the authority of the gifts He confers, are ignored by our opponents. Priesthood does not confer the right of preaching; it is the gift which imposes this duty on the one who has received it. If, for example, a spiritual capacity for preaching is met with, the Church can neither confer nor take it away. Neither gifts, nor the right to preach, are the portion of all; and it is very wrong to consider the right of preaching as a right of man. It is a duty which flows from a gift, an obligation toward God. Woe to him who does it not, if God has conferred the gift on him. The Church cannot entrust him with that for which God has already made him responsible, nor take it from him; neither can it relieve him from the responsibility which is attached to it. On the other hand, the Church cannot entrust to him that which God has not given him. If he has the talent, the Lord calls him to traffic with this talent; if he has it not, no institution can fit him to do so.}
"Such is, in particular," continues this same article, "the evangelistic ministry. The minister receives his gifts from God only; his office from men. It is not a character which distinguishes him from other Christians, which makes of him and his colleagues a separate order, a caste, a clergy, according to the proudly pretentious word of the catholic hierarchy, which thus calls itself alone the heritage of the Lord, while it sees in the rest of the Church only the laos [the people], the laity."
Besides this, the article we are citing complains, because the author of the "Examination of the Darbyite Views on the Sacred Ministry" believes he finds in scripture a hierarchical government for each flock, concentrated in the person of the pastor alone, however right it may be, that he should "endeavour to utilize the religious elements he meets with among the faithful." And he fears this monarch soon becoming a pope, "without reckoning that here again universal priesthood is found pitiably banished in the cloudy region of abstractions."
Here is the language of "The Reformation." "For our part, we readily acknowledge the services which Plymouthism has rendered to the gospel . . . . Everything in Plymouthism may be reduced to two points, the idea of the action of the Holy Spirit, and the idea of the authority of the scriptures . . . . Plymouthism wishes to substitute for human organization the action of the Holy Spirit . . . . We also have long thought that, on the ground of conformity to primitive usages, there can be no successful defence of present usages. We must take our stand boldly on that of evangelical liberty and of human order." That is, boldly saying that we must arrange the things of God according as we think proper.
4 The same journal adds, "Perhaps Plymouthism owes its existence not so much to such views on scripture and the Spirit, as to an anticlerical tendency to which these views have served as a scaffolding, as materials, and as weapons. If this be so, we might find ourselves not so far severed as might appear. It is thus that we find ourselves entirely agreed as to the principal point of the controversy on the subject of ministry: that is to say, as to sacerdotal notions of every sort - apostolical succession, the efficacy of ordination, the conferring of an indelible character, the distinction between laity and ecclesiastics, the inherent capacity of the one or the inherent incapacity of the other to exhort, to teach, and to administer baptism or the Lord's supper. Upon all these points we pass condemnation, because nothing of all that is found in the New Testament, but especially because it is contrary to its spirit and tends to alter it gravely. It is yet needful to extirpate from our thoughts the preconceived notion of a distinction between ecclesiastics and laymen."
Let us listen to M. Henri Martin, in his pamphlet on "The resignation of the Vaudois clergy."
"The whole Church," says he, "is the clergy. There is, in the New Testament, no other high priest than Jesus Christ. Every Christian is nevertheless a priest, as sharing the priesthood of the Lord . . . . If all are priests and offerers of sacrifice, there are in the Church no laity in the vulgar sense of the word, and all are the laity in the sense of being the people that God has acquired for Himself."
The "Examination of the Darbyite views,"* by a minister of Neufchatel, also acknowledges that spiritual gifts are allotted to all the faithful without exception; and the author, speaking of what he calls the Darbyite system as to ministry, agrees** "that the greater part of the blows by which it is, in general, thought possible to vanquish this enemy, in reality do not touch it"; that instead of "rejecting ministry," it "on the contrary pretends to re-establish the only true, the only scriptural one" . . . that "received with charity, this adversary will certainly be changed into a friend who will contribute to awaken in the bosom of the Church the consciousness of several important truths." And the author cites this one among others: "that true Christian ministry, the ministry of spirit and of life . . . cannot be conferred by a mere human consecration, but must rest upon a call and a living gift of the Spirit." Moreover, he declares that he gives his "full assent to all that the system of Mr. Darby contains really true and salutary to the Church in the present day," and he recognizes "the necessity of raising ministry to, and maintaining it at, the height of these eternal truths."***
{*"Examination of the Darbyite views on Holy Ministry by passages of Scripture," by a minister of the Word of God. Neufchatel (Switzerland), 1846.}
{**"Examination," page 18.}
{***"Examination," pages 1921.}
5 Here are testimonies drawn from pamphlets and journalistic articles written with the intention of condemning the system brought of late under the notice of Christians testimonies which perfectly justify what I have advanced, namely: that the battlefield is entirely changed. By the avowal of our adversaries,** the great principles which have been put forth are eternal truths. The most decided among them agree with me on the principal point. If the Reformers recognized these eternal truths, so much the better for them and for us. I have given the preceding extracts with a view to establish that these truths are recognized. There is no longer any possibility of drawing back from this recognition.
{**In saying "adversaries," I mean to refer only to views and the position taken with regard to them. I am not the adversary of the persons who have taken this position. The author of an "Examination of the Darbyite Views," a pamphlet written in a gentle and amiable spirit, is, to my knowledge, a brother who would not like to be an adversary of the children of God. He has, in general, represented my views with uprightness, with sincerity, and ordinarily with justness. Nevertheless, in the point which constitutes the thesis of the pamphlet, he has made me say precisely the contrary of what I have really said. Preoccupied with his subject (I only attribute this mistake to preoccupation), he has made me, from the distinction established between gifts and local charges, conclude their incompatibility - a conclusion contrary to what I have written, of which he would have done well to take a little more account. The examination which, on this occasion, I have made of my previous publications, has convinced me of the justness of what I said, and has shewn me that God has given me grace to keep, with much more exactness than this brother, within the limits of truth on the subject in question, a subject on which I agree with him. The controversy bears upon the points which he has avoided; among others, that as to whether the Church's fall has not altered the position of the children of God. A system which prefers the Church of Neufchatel to the apostolic times exposes itself to be received with some distrust.}
6 We shall see, nevertheless, that it is quite possible to seek to render null the force of this concession, made under the constraint of facts, rather than dictated by faith.
I shall begin by rectifying some errors into which the author of the "Examination" has fallen, and to which I have alluded in the last note.
SECOND PART
REFUTATION OF SOME ERRORS CONTAINED IN THE "EXAMINATION OF THE DARBYITE VIEWS ON SACRED MINISTRY."
CHAPTER 1
ON THE COMPATIBILITY OF GIFTS AND LOCAL CHARGES.
The author of the "Examination" says (p. 21), "The entire doctrine of Mr. Darby on ministry rests, as we have seen, on the separation he establishes between the ministry of gifts, and charges. Charges, which appear to be characterized, according to him, by the absence of any special gift, by election through human intervention and employment for secular uses, are the diaconate and episcopate, or the office of elder."
Next, after having quoted from the epistles various passages containing lists of gifts, the author adds (p. 24), "Mr. Darby cites especially, with confidence, four lists or enumerations of the ministries of the Spirit . . . lists which do not contain the denominations of elder or deacon, and which prove thus the decided separation established by the primitive Church between ministry and charges."
"This is assuredly the decisive point. If we find, as Mr. Darby contends, in the apostolic Church, on the one hand, gifts exercised in free ministrations for the edification of the Church; on the other, charges, the result of a human election for an external administration, and this, as two series without points of contact, the case is decided in favour of Mr. Darby. If, on the contrary, we can demonstrate, that these two series are two currents proceeding originally from the same source, and which, after having separated for a moment, tended more and more, from the apostolic times, to re-approach one another and to be lost in one single stream, the future instrument of the fruitfulness of the Church; then we are on the road towards justifying the present institution, which is, in its principle, nothing else than the fusion of the divine gift and the human charge in one and the same ministry."