might have been different had charity been given its due place in the scheme of the Reformers. But now kindness of heart as well as sound reason revolted against the bondage of faith alone, found not less galling than that of Rome herself. "Take away," cried Chillingworth, "this persecuting, burning, cursing, damning of men for not subscribing to the words of men as the words of God; require of Christians only to believe Christ, and to call no man Master but Him only; let those leave claiming infallibility that have no title to it, and let them that in their words disclaim it, disclaim it likewise in their actions; in a word, take away tyranny, which is the devil's instrument to support errors, . . . and restore Christians to the first and full liberty of captivating their understandings to Scripture only."[1] "The opinions expressed on the part of the so-called orthodox party" (in Germany), says Dr. Dorner, "show that the Church had again become to them the self-centred possessor of direct Divine authority, endowed, once for all, with Divine powers and privileges; as if the Holy Spirit had relinquished His direct relation to souls, nay, had abdicated His power and energies in favor of the Church and her means of grace."[2]
John Albert Bengel, perhaps the greatest theologian of his generation, lived and died (1752) in expectation of a speedy judgment. "It is," said he, "as if spiritual winter is coming on; it is a miserably cold time, and an awakening must come. . . . The power of reason and nature is exaggerated beyond measure, so that we shall soon not know what is faith and grace, and, in a word, what is supernatural. . . . The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is already gone; that of Christ is on the wane; and that of the creation hangs by only a slender thread. ... It is made a part of politics to so act and speak as to leave no trace of religion, God, and Christ."[3]
- ↑ Leslie Stephen: History of English Thought in the 18th Century, i. 76.
- ↑ Dr. I. A. Dorner: History of Protestant Theology, Eng. ed. ii. 213.
- ↑ Hagenbach: History of the Church in the 18th and 19th Centuries, i. 383.
