Iată un articol istoric! Vremea a trecut, pericolul a rămas.
(Sermon delivered in the German Reformed Church in Germantown, PA., on the 27th of March, 1853. Material is reprinted by permission of the RCUS Permanent Publications Committee.)

THE ROMANIZING TENDENCY OF THE MERCERSBURG THEOLOGY

It has ever been the policy of Satan, when he cannot lead to the denial of the gospel, to obscure its lustre and neutralize its power by connecting with it the “commandments and doctrines of men.” It was so in the early days of Christianity. Through the influence of Jewish tradition and pagan Philosophy, many, even in the Christian church, were “corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” Some rejected the doctrine of the Savior’s humanity-others, that of his divinity-some, under the pretext of seeking justification solely by faith, “made void the law,” and “turned the grace of God into lasciviousness;” others, discarding the idea of a gratuitous justification, maintained not merely the necessity of good works, but their absolute merit. The defection had found its way into the church at Galatia, and the apostle here denounces it not only as a perversion of the gospel, but as in fact “another gospel.” “There be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”

Unhappily for us as a denomination, there have, for some years past, been gradually introduced among us principles “which we cannot but regard as at variance both with the formulas of our church and with the teachings of the word of God. A system of theology has found currency among us which in its influence must be most disastrous. To present a full and detailed statement of this system, would require a volume. The limits of a discourse will permit us to point out only a few of those errors which appear to us as the most prominent. Our main object on this occasion will be to show that this new theology is, in its spirit and tendency, decidedly Romanistic-that it aims to undermine the very foundation of our Protestant faith, and that if carried out to its legitimate results, it must lead us back to Rome itself.

The position we have taken, bold as it may seem, is one which we might suppose would hardly be questioned. So legibly is it inscribed on the productions of the Mercersburg theology that it cannot, but be “known and read of all men.” Honesty would at once demand that those who advocate the system should acknowledge the truth of our charge. Were we alone in our judgment of the case, it might be alleged that our decision is founded on prejudice or misapprehension; but when we find ourselves sustained by the (restul aici)

Categories: Teologice