Ed Walsh
Puritan Board Senior
OWNING THE CONFESSION:
Subscription in the Scottish Presbyterian Tradition
Ligon Duncan
Subscription in the Scottish Presbyterian Tradition
Ligon Duncan
Do you sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith and the Catechisms of this Church, as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures; and do you further promise that if at any time you find yourself out of accord with any of the fundamentals of this system of doctrine, you will on your own initiative make known to your Presbytery the change which has taken place in your views since the assumption of this ordination vow? Presbyterian Church in America, 19731 |
Do you sincerely own and believe the whole doctrine contained in the Confession of Faith, approven by former General Assemblies of this Church, and ratified by law in the year 1690, to be founded upon the Word of God; and do you acknowledge the same as the confession of your faith; and will you firmly and constantly adhere thereto, and to the utmost of your power, assert, maintain, and defend the same, and the purity of worship as presently practised in this National Church, and asserted in the 15th Act of the General Assembly, 1707, intituled [sic], Act against Innovations in the Worship of God?" Church of Scotland, 1711 |
In discussions of the nature of creedal subscription in conservative American Presbyterian circles today, it is possible to detect the following suppositions and deficiencies which mar the quality of the debate. First, many assume that the controversy over the manner of subscription is strictly recent, or are unfamiliar with the historic formulas. Granted this is a mistake of the uninitiated, but there are many who are unacquainted with these matters (including ministers) who are taking important roles in the current deliberation. Until these brethren are thoroughly abreast of the most significant details of the historical debates over subscription in Scotland, Northern Ireland and America the value of their contributions to this important discussion will be severely limited.
Second, one frequently encounters the idea that an unqualified subscription to the Confession is the invention of contemporary right-wing extremists. Great derision is usually heaped upon any suggestion that the Confession should be held to as a whole. Indeed, not long ago a colleague glibly announced to a jury of his peers that anyone who made no exceptions in his adherence to the Confession was "either dishonest or ignorant." Perhaps he did not realize that he had just decreed three centuries of Scottish Presbyterians to be liars and fools, or perhaps he simply assumed that we now know better. At any rate, this sort of posture not only raises unnecessarily the temperature of the debate but also makes it difficult for us humbly to receive instruction from our ecclesiastical forbears (who may seem to hold views which are too close for comfort to those of the contemporary demons we are so anxious to exorcise).
Third, it is apparent from a cursory survey of the recent literature on American Presbyterian subscription that many have decided (or assumed) that the subscription issue can be settled without any recourse to the history of subscription in the Scottish churches. One reads and hears constant arguments over the meaning of the American Adopting Act and occasionally an appeal to the Assembly of Divines' theological diversity or reticence to impose subscription to their formularies, but rarely is their discussion of the view(s) of creedal subscription in the Scottish Church. Appeals to eighteenth and nineteenth-century American practice or directly to the Westminster Assembly are, of course, valuable in their own right, but to leave out the Scottish tradition is to ignore the fountain of both the Northern Irish and American Presbyterian tradition. Furthermore, a glance at a modern, conservative, American subscription formula laid side-by-side for comparison and contrast with the historic Scottish formula (see above) seems to invite analysis, explanation, and appraisal potentially useful for the American debate.
This chapter will attempt to address these sorts of problems in the present exchanges by reviewing the history of subscription in the Scottish tradition from 1560 to the present. We will then offer observations, suggestions, and conclusions pertinent to the American situation."
Second, one frequently encounters the idea that an unqualified subscription to the Confession is the invention of contemporary right-wing extremists. Great derision is usually heaped upon any suggestion that the Confession should be held to as a whole. Indeed, not long ago a colleague glibly announced to a jury of his peers that anyone who made no exceptions in his adherence to the Confession was "either dishonest or ignorant." Perhaps he did not realize that he had just decreed three centuries of Scottish Presbyterians to be liars and fools, or perhaps he simply assumed that we now know better. At any rate, this sort of posture not only raises unnecessarily the temperature of the debate but also makes it difficult for us humbly to receive instruction from our ecclesiastical forbears (who may seem to hold views which are too close for comfort to those of the contemporary demons we are so anxious to exorcise).
Third, it is apparent from a cursory survey of the recent literature on American Presbyterian subscription that many have decided (or assumed) that the subscription issue can be settled without any recourse to the history of subscription in the Scottish churches. One reads and hears constant arguments over the meaning of the American Adopting Act and occasionally an appeal to the Assembly of Divines' theological diversity or reticence to impose subscription to their formularies, but rarely is their discussion of the view(s) of creedal subscription in the Scottish Church. Appeals to eighteenth and nineteenth-century American practice or directly to the Westminster Assembly are, of course, valuable in their own right, but to leave out the Scottish tradition is to ignore the fountain of both the Northern Irish and American Presbyterian tradition. Furthermore, a glance at a modern, conservative, American subscription formula laid side-by-side for comparison and contrast with the historic Scottish formula (see above) seems to invite analysis, explanation, and appraisal potentially useful for the American debate.
This chapter will attempt to address these sorts of problems in the present exchanges by reviewing the history of subscription in the Scottish tradition from 1560 to the present. We will then offer observations, suggestions, and conclusions pertinent to the American situation."
The 13-page PDF is attached.
Ed
