17 September 1729 A.D. Presbyterian Rev. Jonathan Dickinson: Strict Subscriptionism to the Westminster Standards
17
September 1729 A.D. Presbyterian Rev. Jonathan Dickinson:
Strict Subscriptionism to the Westminster Standards
Archivist.
“September 17: Rev. Jonathan Dickinson.” This
Day in Presbyterian History. 17 Sept 2015. http://www.thisday.pcahistory.org/2015/09/september-17-3/.
Accessed 17 Sept 2015.
September 17:
Rev. Jonathan Dickinson
A Potential Schism Halted by a Compromise
Initially
there was no real problem with the written standards for the Presbyterian
Church in America. Ministerial students were simply tested for their
learning and soundness in the faith. But a controversy in the mother country
soon changed this. So the question arose, should teaching and ruling
elders be required to subscribe to the subordinate standards of the Westminster
Assembly in their entirety, or just for their essential truths? The fact that
so many officers were still in the process of emigrating to the colonies made
this a relevant question for the infant church to resolve.
Conscious
of the potential for schism, on September 17,
1729, Jonathan Dickinson became the main
proponent against the total subscriptionist party in the church. His
argument was simple. He believed the Bible was the sufficient rule for faith
and life. Subscription must be adhered to it and to it alone, not to
some man-made summary of it, as good as it might be.
The
total subscriptionist side also believed the Bible was all-sufficient for doctrine
and life, but were equally convinced that the Westminster standards of
confession and catechisms offer an adequate summary of the Old and New
Testaments. To receive it and adopt it in its entirely would stop any heresies
which may invade the church from either within or without the church.
At
the synod in 1729, Dickinson and his followers won the day with what has become
known at the Adopting
Act of 1729. [Link fixed, 9/17/15 @ 10:23 a.m.] The document stated
that on the one hand, there was a clear requirement to receive and adopt the
Westminster Standards. However, if an elder, whether teaching or ruling
elder, had an exception to those standards, he was to make known to the church
or presbytery his exception. The latter body would then judge whether the
exception dealt with essential and necessary articles of doctrine, worship, or
government. If it did not, then he could be ordained without official censure
or social ostracism.
The
entire body of elders gathered at the Philadelphia Synod gave thanks to God in
solemn praise and prayer that the resolution of this potential
schism had been averted and unity was maintained in the infant Presbyterian
church.
Words to live by: It is always good that
disunity should be avoided and unity be maintained. But at what cost, is the
question? The compromise here looked good on the surface. But presbyteries and
synods and assemblies are made up of fallible men who can, sadly, declare that
the basic truths of the Christian religion are not necessary to be held, as is
the case now with several liberal Presbyterian bodies. Obviously, much
prayer must be made for those who instruct and rule over us, that God’s Spirit
will keep the visible church pure in both faith and life. The true
key to doctrinal unity springs from a daily awareness of our own sinfulness,
from hearts broken before the Lord in godly humility, Seeking the forgiveness
found in Jesus Christ alone.
See
also, The Meaning of Subscription, by Rev.
Benjamin McKee Gemmill.
Comments
Post a Comment