The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran ChurchGerberding, G. H. (George Henry)
Religion
The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church
Gerberding, G. H. (George Henry)
Lutheran Church -- Doctrinal and controversial works; Salvation
Not that we object to _all_ feeling in religion. We by no
means believe in a religion without feeling. We know of no true piety
without deep and heartfelt sorrow for sin, and earnest longings for
ever closer union and fellowship with God, together with a childlike
trust and a fervent love to Him. We believe, however, that the heart,
with its emotions, can only be effectively reached _through the
understanding_. Through the mind we work on the heart. Through the
judgment we change the feelings. We appeal first to the intellect, to
instruct, to enlighten, to give clear and correct views and ideas,
then through the intellect to the heart. When Paul was sent to convert
the Gentiles, his direction was first of all "_to open their
eyes_"--that is, to instruct them--and _then_ to "_turn them
from darkness to light_." Paul was not to begin on the feelings,
but on the intellect. But the modern revival system reverses this
method. It makes a short cut, and goes at once to the feelings,
without first enlightening the mind. This is contrary, not only to the
Scriptures, but it is also directly contrary to the science and laws
of the mind. It contradicts mental philosophy as well as the Bible.
We believe that where there is the proper instruction in the
great saving doctrines of God's Word, where the mind is properly
enlightened to know what sin is, what salvation is, and how it is
obtained, there, unless there is a positive and determined resistance
to the power of truth, the proper feelings will come of their own
accord. It will require no heart-rending stories, no frantic appeals,
no violent exhortations to bring them about. But we object to the
revival system, because it is almost entirely built up on feeling, and
thus reaches only one department of man's complex nature. Instead of
changing the whole immaterial man--his intellect, his sensibilities,
and his will--it spends its force on the sensibilities alone.
Our _ninth_ objection we can state briefly. Because the
revival system undervalues sound doctrine and instruction therein, and
because it depends so largely on feeling, it not only permits but
encourages the ignorant and inexperienced to assist in exhorting and
helping those who are inquiring after life and salvation.
Those who have scarcely "got through" themselves, who have given
little earnest study to God's Way of Salvation, who do not know the
alphabet of Grace, and the means and methods of Grace,--these are
often the pretended instructors at the anxious bench and in the
meetings for inquirers. Now, we object strongly to such procedures.
"_Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall in the
ditch?_" Better let these novices themselves sit at the feet of
Christ. Let Christ's teachers instruct them in God's Way of Salvation,
before they undertake to lead other lost and groping ones.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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