History of Rationalism Embracing a Survey of the Present State of Protestant TheologyHurst, J. F. (John Fletcher)
History
History of Rationalism Embracing a Survey of the Present State of Protestant Theology
Hurst, J. F. (John Fletcher)
Protestantism; Rationalism -- History
There were controversies concerning minor points of doctrine, but amid
them all, it was very perceptible that there was a well-organized
disposition to break through the stringent rules of order, and escape
from the control of the vigilant guardians of the church. But whoever
departed a hair's breadth from the doctrinal system laid down in the
confession of faith was charged with skepticism. Van der Marck's
employment of a single term cost him his professorship. But he was
afterwards restored, and died in 1800. Kleman wrote a book, in 1774, on
the _Connection between Grace and Duty_, in which he held that the right
use of those intellectual and spiritual gifts which God has imparted to
us is the condition of his further blessings. He was compelled to
retract his heresy. Ten Broek, of Rotterdam, considered only the death
of Christ expiatory, while his colleagues wished the same to be said of
every act of his life. Because that rash theologian ventured to use the
word "world," in John iii. 16, in its broadest sense instead of
circumscribing it to "the world of the elect," he had the choice either
to recant or give up his office. The government interfered and saved
him.
But while all these influences were at work in the church of Holland, a
still stronger current was setting in from England. The impolitic
ecclesiastical rigor became an enemy to truth, and contributed
powerfully to the development of Rationalism. Never have church and
state presented a more complete contrast. The government of Holland was
the most liberal in the world, but the ecclesiastical authorities have
not been surpassed in bigotry during the whole history of
Protestantism. Holland was the refuge and home of the exile of every
land who could succeed in planting his feet upon her dyke-shores. But
the church of that country was so illiberal that the use of a term in
any other than the accepted sense was a sufficient ground of
excommunication.
The intimate relations in which Holland stood to England by the
accession of William and Mary to the British throne afforded an
opportunity for the importation of English Deism. Nowhere on the
Continent was that system of skepticism so extensively propagated as
among the Dutch. The Deists took particular pains to visit Holland, and
were never prouder than when told that their works were read by their
friends across the North Sea. On the other hand, Holland supplied
England with the best editions of the classics then published in Europe,
some of which are still unsurpassed specimens of typography.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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