"Rainy wi'oot the Principal". XIII.
When Rainy entered New College as a student in 1844, the Free Church of Scotland was Calvinist through-and-through. Dr. Cunningham taught his students the plenary verbal inspiration of the Bible, and his students believed it. By 1881 this was no longer the case. 'Inspiration' no longer meant, for many Free Church ministers, the inspiration of the very words of the original manuscripts, but a vague idea of God conveying timeless religious truth through words that might include errors of fact. The books of the Bible were radically redated, and despite Rainy's caution, the Higher Critics went their way.
As for Calvinism, it was redundant, of the past. No-one believed in a God like that any more (or so it was said). Hodge, Cunningham and Candlish were old hat. The Free Church students read German books now, and they went to Germany if they possibly could, to sit at the feet of these brilliant Germans who had discovered the true secrets of the Bible, who could tell J. from P. and E. from D., and even D2. from D. It was a new age, "a period of very great, if one should not say unexampled, unsettlement of opinion." Discussion was, Rainy stated, "environed by a haze of doubt." The result of all this was a "retrenched theology", a theology that had been shorn of much of its power. Too often it had become "a moonlight theology", explaining away the mysteries of the faith, making 'the modern mind' the touchstone for all things and perhaps forgetting that the men of the past, even of Biblical times, had minds too, and minds maybe of greater power than the 'modern mind'. The modern theology tended to start from below, from man. Really it was an anthropology, not a true theology. Its starting point was man's religious experience, and its end point was man's religious experience.
What was the answer? Rainy thought he knew it. The 'modern mind' had to be brought under the influence of a far greater mind, an eternal mind -the mind of Christ. "It will not improve our influence if we bring Christ's word mixed with copiously with the wisdom of our own mind or our fathers'." He warned.
Some men sought to listen to him. But too many of the young men in the Church thought that the Mind of Christ was to be discerned not by Bible study, but by the 'Quest for the Historical Jesus'. 'Back to Christ!' they cried. But it was a Christ of their own making, not the Christ of the Bible, or of Principal Rainy's faith. Rainy sought to warn the young men against intellectual ambition, telling them it was utterly unworthy of a servant of Jesus Christ. While some listened, others just carried on, self-decieved, too often. The need of the age, Rainy went on, was a spiritual ministry, not an intellectual one. He did not undervalue the mind, but he had learned, through the Robertson Smith case, and through his experience in the ministry, that a brilliant mind is only a curse when it is not under the authority of Christ. "Preach the Gospel", he urged students in an age when men were beginning to preach a 'social gospel' and a 'moral gospel'. The Gospel ministry is about Christ Crucified, he reminded his students, not about improved housing conditions, trade unions, or even better holidays. Preach the Gospel and all these other things will be added to you!
After all is said and done, Rainy's great passion was the Gospel. He would not compromise one inch on it. Christ had died for sinners, the Son of God had died for sinners, and He was the only salvation. Only the old-fashioned, yet ever-new teaching of penal substitution could explain three subjective elements of the believer's experience and fully satisfy them. These were:
"1. The believer's sense of obligation to Christ, who has saved us by bearing our burden and dying for our sins.
"2. The believer's attitude towards God as set upon the key of an immortal repentance, and carrying with it the acceptance of the punishment of our iniquities.
"3. The believer's conflict with sin as animated by the consciousness that his Lord has redeemed him from it."
Next time, God willing, we shall see Rainy's contrast between Paul and Jesus.
As for Calvinism, it was redundant, of the past. No-one believed in a God like that any more (or so it was said). Hodge, Cunningham and Candlish were old hat. The Free Church students read German books now, and they went to Germany if they possibly could, to sit at the feet of these brilliant Germans who had discovered the true secrets of the Bible, who could tell J. from P. and E. from D., and even D2. from D. It was a new age, "a period of very great, if one should not say unexampled, unsettlement of opinion." Discussion was, Rainy stated, "environed by a haze of doubt." The result of all this was a "retrenched theology", a theology that had been shorn of much of its power. Too often it had become "a moonlight theology", explaining away the mysteries of the faith, making 'the modern mind' the touchstone for all things and perhaps forgetting that the men of the past, even of Biblical times, had minds too, and minds maybe of greater power than the 'modern mind'. The modern theology tended to start from below, from man. Really it was an anthropology, not a true theology. Its starting point was man's religious experience, and its end point was man's religious experience.
What was the answer? Rainy thought he knew it. The 'modern mind' had to be brought under the influence of a far greater mind, an eternal mind -the mind of Christ. "It will not improve our influence if we bring Christ's word mixed with copiously with the wisdom of our own mind or our fathers'." He warned.
Some men sought to listen to him. But too many of the young men in the Church thought that the Mind of Christ was to be discerned not by Bible study, but by the 'Quest for the Historical Jesus'. 'Back to Christ!' they cried. But it was a Christ of their own making, not the Christ of the Bible, or of Principal Rainy's faith. Rainy sought to warn the young men against intellectual ambition, telling them it was utterly unworthy of a servant of Jesus Christ. While some listened, others just carried on, self-decieved, too often. The need of the age, Rainy went on, was a spiritual ministry, not an intellectual one. He did not undervalue the mind, but he had learned, through the Robertson Smith case, and through his experience in the ministry, that a brilliant mind is only a curse when it is not under the authority of Christ. "Preach the Gospel", he urged students in an age when men were beginning to preach a 'social gospel' and a 'moral gospel'. The Gospel ministry is about Christ Crucified, he reminded his students, not about improved housing conditions, trade unions, or even better holidays. Preach the Gospel and all these other things will be added to you!
After all is said and done, Rainy's great passion was the Gospel. He would not compromise one inch on it. Christ had died for sinners, the Son of God had died for sinners, and He was the only salvation. Only the old-fashioned, yet ever-new teaching of penal substitution could explain three subjective elements of the believer's experience and fully satisfy them. These were:
"1. The believer's sense of obligation to Christ, who has saved us by bearing our burden and dying for our sins.
"2. The believer's attitude towards God as set upon the key of an immortal repentance, and carrying with it the acceptance of the punishment of our iniquities.
"3. The believer's conflict with sin as animated by the consciousness that his Lord has redeemed him from it."
Next time, God willing, we shall see Rainy's contrast between Paul and Jesus.
Labels: Principal Rainy
posted by Highland Host at 12:33 pm
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