Both Arminians and
hyper-Calvinists demanded that theology conform to a narrowly defined system
more restricted than the biblical revelation allowed. Scripture conforms to a higher logic than
human intellect and can penetrate and unveils mysteries beyond the scope of
construction by mere human ratiocination.
"It has been my
earnest endeavor ever since I have preached the Word, never to keep back a
single doctrine which I believed to be taught of God It is time that we had done with the old
rusty systems that have so long curbed the freeness of religious speech. The Arminian trembles to go an inch beyond
Arminius or Wesley, and many a Calvinist refers to John Gill or John Calvin as
an ultimate authority, It is time that the systems were broken up, and that
there was sufficient grace in all our hearts to believe everything taught in
God's Word, whether it was taught by either of these men or not. I have frequently found when I have preached
what is called high doctrine, because I found it in my text, that some people
have been offended; they could not enjoy it, could not endure it , and went
away. They were generally people who
were best gone; I have never regretted their absence. On the other hand, when I have taken for my
text some sweet invitation, and have preached the freeness of Christ's love to
man; when I have warned sinners that they are responsible while they hear the
gospel, and that if they reject Christ their blood will be upon their own
heads, I find another class of doubtless excellent individuals who cannot see
how these two things agree. And therefor
also turn aside, and wade into the deceptive miry bogs of antinomianism. I can only say with regard to them, that I
had rather also that they should go to their own sort, than that they should
remain with my congregation. We seek to
hold truth. We know no difference
between high doctrine and low doctrine.
If God teaches it, it is enough.
If it is not in the Word, away with it!
Away with it! But if it be in the
Word, agreeable or disagreeable, systematic or disorderly, I believe it. It may seem to us as if one truth stood in
opposition to another, but we are fully convinced that it cannot be so, that it
is a mistake in our judgment. That the
two things do agree we are quite clear, though where they meet we do not know
as yet, but hope to know hereafter."
Charles Spurgeon as
quoted in Living by Revealed Truth: The
Life and Pastoral Theology of Charles Haddon Spurgeon by Thomas Nettles
