25
June 1900 A.D. B.B.
Warfield & Revision of Westminster Standards
Archivist. “June 25: B.B. Warfield & Revision of the
Standards.” This Day in Presbyterian History.
25 Jun 2014. http://www.thisday.pcahistory.org/2014/06/june-25-3/.
Accessed 25 Jun 2014.
June 25: B.B. Warfield & Revision of the Standards
REVISION OR REAFFIRMATION?
The
following letter was sent by Professor Warfield to the Stated Clerk of the
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., with Warfield
declining to serve on the Committee of Revision appointed by the last Assembly.
For at least a decade prior, certain elements in the PCUSA had worked to bring
about a revision of the Westminster
Confession of Faith. Warfield opposed this effort with a number of
articles and short works, but in the end. lost this battle. In 1903, the
Assembly approved the addition of two chapters to the Confession—a “chapter 34″ on
the Holy Spirit and a “chapter 35″ on “The Love of God and Missions.” The PCA,
OPC, RPCNA and most other conservative American Presbyterian denominations have
rejected these added chapters, and it is worth noting that the Associate Reformed
Presbyterian Synod has this year voted to remove these added chapters from
their edition of the Confession.
—
Princeton,
N. J., June 25, 1900.
To
the Rev. Dr. William Henry Roberts, D.D., LL.D.,
Stated
Clerk of the General Assembly.
My
Dear Dr. Roberts :
The
intimation you have sent me of my appointment to the committee, authorized by
the last General Assembly, “to consider the whole matter of the restatement of
the doctrines most surely believed among us,” reached me duly. I am deeply
sensible of the honor of such an appointment, and as well of the duty of the
servants of the Church to address themselves diligently to the tasks assigned
to them by its highest court. Nevertheless, I am constrained to ask to be
relieved from this service. There are circumstances arising from illness in my
family, and others arising from losses sustained lately in the teaching force
of the Seminary in whose immediate service I am employed, which would require
me to hesitate to undertake additional labors at this time. But I should not be
true to myself did I not say frankly that the decisive reason moving me to
request release from service on this committee is an unconquerable
unwillingness to be connected with the present agitation for a revision of our
creedal formulae in any other manner than that of respectful but earnest
protest.
I
cannot think that the violent assault upon certain of our confessional
statements—statements which are clearly Scriptural and as clearly lie at the
centre of our doctrinal system—in which the agitation originated, was a fitting
occasion for a movement of this kind, or for any action of the Church except
the rebuke of the assailants by the courts to which they were directly
amenable. I cannot think the precipitate action of a few presbyteries following
these assaults with a request for some review of our confessional position
other than unwise. I cannot believe that the Assembly acted with that regard
for the peace of the Church and the integrity of its testimony to the truth
which is becoming in our highest court, when it paid such heed to these few
discordant and, as I must believe, ill-considered overtures that it ignored the
eloquent silence of five-sixths of the Presbyteries of the Church and
precipitated an agitation as to its doctrinal standards upon the whole Church.
My conviction is clear that, in the circumstances, it was rather the duty of
the Assembly, in fulfillment of its high function of guardian of the truth
professed by this Church, to reaffirm the doctrines that had been assailed; to
quiet the disturbance that had been raised; and, by renewed hearty commendation
of our Standards to the churches under its care, to strengthen in them a firm
and intelligent attachment to these Standards and their forms of sound words.
It is greatly to be feared that the effect of its contrary action, by which on
so small an occasion it has invited every Presbytery to subject the fundamental
law of the Church to searching inquisition, will be to foment carping criticism
and discontents if it be not taken in some quarters as a license to
unrebuked assaults upon the very bond by which our churches are held together,
and on the very substance of the truth delivered into our keeping by the great
Head of the Church. It is my hope and prayer that the. Presbyteries may be led
by the Divine grace to avert these dangers and to repair the evil already done,
by entering an effective protest against this whole movement through a
reaffirmation of their hearty loyalty to the system of doctrine brought to such
admirable expression in our Standards.
In
my own person at least I feel constrained to make this protest and
reaffirmation with the utmost emphasis, and I am unwilling to enter into any
relations which may seem to any to lessen this emphasis in any degree. I am thoroughly
out of sympathy with the whole movement of which the work of this committee is
a part. I desire above all things to see the Church pass quietly away from this
disturbing agitation concerning its fundamental beliefs, which form the basis
of its unity. It is an inexpressible grief to me to see it spending its
energies in a vain attempt to lower its testimony to suit the ever changing
sentiment of the world about it. I would fain see it, rather, secure in the
peaceful possession of its well-assured doctrinal system, and animated by an
enthusiastic loyalty to it and to the Standards in which it is expressed with
such singular clarity and power, go forth in strength to win the world to the
evangelical truth it has drawn from the Scriptures and professed through so
many years of struggle and suffering, of progress and triumph. That God may
bless the Church through these coming months with a double portion of the
knowledge of His truth and of wisdom from on high, and with a double portion of
holy courage to believe in its heart and to reassert in the face of whatever
unbelief or doubt the whole truth that He has delivered to its keeping, is my
constant and fervent prayer.
Will
you kindly, my dear Dr. Roberts, communicate to the Moderator of the Assembly
this my request to be released from service upon the committee, and make my
excuses in whatever manner may be proper.
I
am very truly yours,
BENJAMIN
B. WARFIELD.
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