THE following resolution has been drawn up by a Committee of the Southern Presbytery, and copies have been sent to the Press:—
“This Presbytery desires to record, with thanks to God, that He, of His goodness and mercy, raised up eminent men at the beginning of the sixteenth century, who were instrumental in delivering the principal nations of Europe from the sink of superstition, idolatry, and degradation, in which they had lain for centuries, under the baneful influence of the Papacy. The Presbytery would, in view of recent criticisms, take occasion to bear testimony that the name of Martin Luther is to be held in honourable and lasting remembrance as that of the most notable agent employed by God in this great work, and would recall with constant gratitude the powerful manner in which he was enabled to bring to light and enforce the great fundamental doctrine of justification by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as against the God-dishonouring and soul-ruining doctrine of human merit taught by the Papacy.”
“The Presbytery would further point out that Luther, though not perfect in opinion or in practice, was one of the greatest benefactors that Germany and the world ever had; that he laboured by tongue and pen at the continual risk of his life to advance the true Gospel; and that, among other benefits which he conferred, he translated the Holy Bible into the common language of the German people—a boon of inestimable value. The Presbytery feels fully justified in declaring that the present rationalists of Germany are acting quite contrary to Luther’s principles and doctrines, and that the Reformer is in nowise chargeable with the brutish and fiendish fruits of infidelity which appear in the present terrible War.”
“The Presbytery, in conclusion, would lay decided emphasis upon the important and never-to-be-forgotten facts that Luther, Calvin, Knox, and others, were only instruments in God’s hands; that the Reformation was God’s work; and that its abiding value depends, not upon the merit of those human witnesses, however excellent, but on the worth and efficacy of the infallible ‘Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever,’ which brought them out of spiritual darkness, and through whose proclamation they were instrumental, under the blessing of God’s Spirit, in leading large numbers of their fellow-men into the light and liberty of the glorious Gospel.”