# W.G.T. Shedd On the Pastor/Elder/Deacon vs. Lay Member Subscription Debate



## Backwoods Presbyterian (May 22, 2012)

There was a thread not to long ago on this subject and I am re-reading W.G.T. Shedd's "Calvinism: Pure and Mixed" in preparation for the ARP General Synod and came upon this quote from Shedd that I thought quite useful for the discussion, but that thread is now locked. 

(I especially love the example at the end that Shedd uses to illustrate this point):



> "There is sometimes misconception on this point. We have seen it stated that the members of the Presbyterian Church are not required or expected to hold the same doctrine with the officers; that is with the Pastor, Elders, or Deacons who must accept the Confession of Faith 'as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures', but that the congregation need not. But this error arises from confounding the toleration of a deficiency with the endorsement of it. Because a church session tolerates in a particular person, who gives evidence of faith in Christ, an error respecting foreordination, or even some abstruse point in the Trinity, or in the incarnation, it does not thereby endorse the error. It does not sanction his opinion on these subjects, but only endures it, in view of his religious experience on the vital points of faith and repentance, and with the hope that his subsequent growth in knowledge will bring him to the final rejection of it. The Presbyterian Church tolerates theatre-going in some of its members; that is to say, it does not discipline them for it. But it does not formally approve and sanction theatre-going. A proposition to revise the Confession by inserting a clause to this effect, in order to meet the wishes and practice of the minority of theatre-going members, would be voted down by the presbyteries." -- W.G.T. Shedd, "Calvinism: Pure and Mixed" pg. 9


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