Quote by bavink about missions

[Pergamum]

a time to tear down | A Time to Build Up » Conn Citing Bavinck on Calvinism and Multi-formity


Harvie Conn citing Herman Bavink, “The Future of Calvinism,” The Presbyterian and Reformed Review 5 (1894): 23

“All the misery of the Presbyterian Churches is owing to their striving to consider the Reformation as completed, and to allow no further development of what has been begun by the labor of the Reformers…. Calvinism wishes no cessation of progress and promotes multi-formity. It feels the impulse to penetrate ever more deeply into the mysteries of salvation and in feeling this honors every gift and different calling of the Churches. It does not demand for itself the same development in America and England [and the author of this volume adds, Africa, Asia and Latin America] which it has found in Holland. This only must be insisted upon, that in each country and in every Reformed Church it should develop itself in accordance with its own nature, and should not permit itself to be supplanted or corrupted by foreign rule.” (pp. 221-22)

 

[SolaScriptura]

Hee hee.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

This quote is not entirely original with Bavinck. Bavinck is quoting John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrims, and then adding comments of his own. Here is the full quote in context from Bavinck's article which attributes part of the above quote to Robinson.

Herman Bavinck, "The Future of Calvinism," The Presbyterian and Reformed Review Vol. 5 No. 17 (1894), 22-23:

Another feature which serves to commend Calvinism consists in this -- that it allows of various minor shades, and in the application of its theological and ecclesiastical principles avoids all mechanical uniformity. Lutheranism, strictly speaking, has produced but a single Church and a single Confession. Calvinism on the other hand has found entrance into many nations and founded many and multiform Churches. It created not one but a number of Confessions. And yet the latter are all but copies of one another. The Zwinglian Confessions bear a different character from those of Calvin. The Catechism of Geneva differs considerably from that of Heidelberg. The Belgic Confession is quite distinct from the Westminster Standards. The Episcopal Church has been recognized as a Reformed Church as much as the Presbyterian Churches. This remarkable fact shows that Calvinism has room for the display of individuality, for that difference in character which must exhibit itself among the various nationalities. There is a variety of gifts, and a difference of insight may not work harm, but be of advantage. To no individual man or individual Church has it been given to assimilate truth in all its fullness. Truth is too rich and manifold for this. Only in company with all the saints can we understand the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of Christ.

This will apply to the Churches of the future too. Robinson spoke to the pilgrim fathers: "Brethren, God alone knows whether I shall ever taste the joy of seeing you again; but whatever He may be pleased to bring on us, this I would bind on your hearts, that you honor me no longer as your leader, than you will observe me honoring Christ as my own leader. If the Lord be pleased to lead you through life through any other instrument, then follow Him. We have not yet arrived at the goal. There are still treasures in the Scriptures, the knowledge of which has remained hidden to us. All the misery of the Presbyterian Churches is owing to their striving to consider the Reformation as completed, and to allow no futher development of what has been begun by the labor of the Reformers. The Lutherans stop at Luther, and many Calvinists at Calvin. This is not right. Certainly these men in their time were burning and shining lights; nevertheless they did not possess an insight into the whole of God's truth; and, if able to arise from their graves, they would be the first to accept gratefully all new light. Brethren, it is as absurd to believe that during the brief period of Reformation all error has been banished, as it is to believe that the Christian gnosis has at one step completed its task." Calvinism wishes no cessation of progress and promotes multiformity. It feels the impulse to penetrate ever more deeply into the mysteries of salvation, and in feeling this honors every gift and different calling of the Churches. It does not demand for itself the same development in America and England which it has found in Holland. This only must be insisted upon, that in each country and in every Reformed Church it should develop itself in accordance with its own nature, and should not permit itself to be supplanted or corrupted by foreign ideas. The tendency now prevailing in England and America of looking towards Germany as the centre of theological science can but work harm for both the Reformed Church and the Reformed theology. In this manner all sorts of heterogeneous principles and ideas find an entrance into the churches and schools, which thus are led to undermine their own foundation. As of every nation that honors its independence, so it is the calling of every Church to guard and preserve its individual character, and, instructed by the teachings of history, to labor for the Church and theology of the future.