III. The Rule of Confession
CHAPTER III
The Rule of Confession Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. - Ps.
119:105.
In the training and bringing up unto confession of the name of the Lord, family and church and school must use the word of God which comes unto us in the Holy Scriptures. That word is the foundation, the principle, the rule, and again, at the same time, the purpose of all confession. We would have nothing to confess, if God did not give us in the scriptures His truth to confess. Out of the word of God the spiritual life is fed, so that, growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, it may, in an independent way, interpret and confess that word in its own language before all men.
To be sure, it is not the parent, neither the teacher, neither the minister of the word; nor is it that word in itself which gives and preserves this spiritual life. For here also, is the saying of Jesus applicable, that by bread alone, by that word with nothing more, man shall not live but by all strength and blessing which proceedeth out of the mouth of God. It is not, Paul that planteth; neither, Apollos that watereth; but, God only that giveth the increase.
But nevertheless it is that word of Holy Writ in the hand of the parents and of the teachers, with the blessing of the Lord, which serves to feed the spiritual life of the children. What food is for the physical, that is the word of God for the spiritual life. How sweet have been Thy words unto my taste! O Lord, yea, sweeter than honey and honey comb to my mouth!
That word of God comes unto us from the first moments of our existence. That, is not the first time that it comes unto us when the Bible lies open before us and we read and search it; neither do we come in contact with it for the first time then, when in the public assembly of the saints it is proclaimed unto us by a servant of the Most High and we listen to it. But that word comes unto us from our most tender infancy. It comes unto us, in the rebuking of the father, in the admonition of the mother, in the instruction of the teacher, in the fellowship of our comrades, in the witnessing of our conscience, in the experiences of life. It is with us upon all our paths, it accompanies us from the cradle to the grave, it never leaves us to ourselves. As a benediction it is pronounced upon our heads, in psalm and hymn it is sung unto us, in addresses it is bound unto our hearts, in commandments or prohibitions it is revealed unto our eyes. By and through that Word we are always led and guided, admonished and comforted, encouraged and mortified, convinced of sin and referred to Christ, It is the very atmosphere in which we live and breathe from our birth, it is the food, the drink, the air, the sunshine, the rain for our spiritual life, and that all together and at once.
And always is that Word a power. Without wishing or being able to designate when it already exerts its influence upon the conscience and heart of man, it remains in itself always a power of God unto salvation. Never is it a vain sound, a dead letter, a meaningless phrase. It is always quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; a hammer which breaketh in pieces the hard and stony heart of the sinner; a sword of the spirit that mortally wounds the proud and self-righteous man; a testimony and witness of God that awakeneth the conscience; a seed of regeneration, a power unto sanctification, profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works; in a word, a means of grace, preceding and highly exalted above the sacraments.
Even there, where it does not bring and command a blessing, it nevertheless does its work and exerts its influence. The devils believe and tremble. For Atheists, unbelievers, it is a savour of death unto death. It is a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense over and against which the godless stumble and are hurt. If it does not soften, it hardens. If it does not warm, it scorches. A man coming in contact with it never remains the same; he becomes better or worse, but can never cover himself with the shield of neutrality. Even as the rain and the snow cometh down from Heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my Word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
The cause of this power lies therein, that it is God's Word. All scripture was not only once given by inspiration of God but it is also as such continually preserved by God with His Almighty and everywhere present power. The Gospel, which comes forth out of that Word unto man in manifold forms and along various ways, is always borne and animated by God. It is and always remains His Word. It is constantly accompanied by the Holy Spirit, who lives and dwells in the church and from out of her goes into the world and convinces her of sin, righteousness and judgment. It is a Word, that continually proceeds out of the mouth of God, that comes unto us in Christ, and that through the Spirit of Christ is declared unto our heart or conscience.
Therefore, that Word can be and indeed is the meat and drink of our spiritual lives. It is the medium, not the fountain of grace. God is and remains the giver and dispenser of all grace; no man, no priest, no word, no sacrament has been clothed by Him with the treasure of grace or commissioned to dispense her. Servants can give the sign and seal, but God only grants the sealed and signified fact. This only has God done—and this also is grace—He has in His free power and pleasure bound Himself under oath to grant with His word, which is
administered in full accord with the meaning of the Spirit, unto each and every one, who believingly accepts it, Christ, who is the meat and drink of our souls, the bread that has come down from Heaven, the water of life, drinking of which we shall never again thirst.
But to be thus, that Word must be believed with a child-like faith and accepted in humility. Even as bread, however powerful and nourishing it may be, can only be profitable for the preservation of our natural lives then, when it is eaten with the mouth and received into the body—even so can the Word of God be food for our souls only then, when it is accepted by faith and is implanted in our hearts.
Therefore hath the Lord also destined them the one for the other. He, who created the food, also created the mouth to eat it. He, who gave the Word, also brought to light through regeneration that new life which can only be fed and strengthened by the food of that Word.
They are related and by origin stand in a close relation to each other.
The Word works and strengthens the spiritual life. And the spiritual life, by virtue of its nature, is naturally drawn toward and longs for this food, even, as an infant for its mother's breast, as the hungry for bread and the thirsty for water.
Furthermore they are both descended from one Spirit. In the sphere of natural things there is a possibility of knowledge only because the reason in us and the thoughts in the creation, together and in their mutual relation, have been made by that Word which in the beginning was with God, which was God, and by which all things have been made. It is one and the same light that enlightens both the eye and the objects. One and the same light of knowledge shines in the human reason and in the works of God's hand. And then only, does man see and know, when both of these streams of light, coming from one fountain, meet each other. With Thee, O Lord, is the fountain of life; in Thy light shall we see light!
Thus, also the spiritual man and the Word of the Spirit belong together. It is the same Spirit, the Spirit of Christ namely, who brought the Word into existence and preserves it in existence, and who made the spiritual man to be born in us. In Holy Writ He has, as it were, pictured Christ unto and before our eyes; and in our heart He makes Him live by faith. In Holy Writ He has sketched for us the image of Christ and according to that image He recreates the believer more and more. For we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Therefore it is an infallible, undeceivable mark of spiritual life, when our heart yearns after and longs for that Word. Perfectly natural and as a matter of fact the hungry longs for bread and the thirsty for water and the sick for medicine. And just as naturally, the spiritual man longingly reaches for the Word of God and for Christ who is offered unto him in that Word. He never grows beyond that Word, as the mystic dreams; he does not use that Word as a ladder to ascend to a certain height, then to spread his own wings and support himself. Nay indeed, he who does this will soon be humiliated and put to shame. He, who refuses food will soon starve. He, who has no respect for the Word of Christ does not love the Lord. He, who casts away the medicine has no need of a physician.
But the spiritual man, as long as he lives and with his whole soul, feels himself bound to that Word as the medium unto the communion and fellowship with God, because God, even God, has bound Himself to that Word. The more he grows and the stronger he becomes, the more he becomes founded in that Word. He clings and cleaves to it even as the ivy to the wall. He leans upon it as upon the rod and staff of his pilgrimage. He becomes more and more attached to it, also more and more bound to it. His love for it becomes stronger and stronger. His estimation of its worthiness continually becomes greater and he constantly finds new and richer treasures in it for his heart and life. More and more it becomes for him a Word of God, a word that comes unto him from the Almighty Lord, a letter
from his Father sent unto him from Heaven, to be a guide upon the way to the Father's house with its many, many mansions. Thy Word is a light upon my path and a lamp for my foot. How love I Thy law,
O Lord, it is my meditation all the day.
Therefore every child of the covenant, even from his sleeping infancy, must and ought to be fed by his parents with that word. We cannot, if it is done with wisdom, begin too soon. Already the respectful attitude of the older ones at the time of prayer and the reading of God's Word awakens in the heart of the child a feeling of the sacredness of this service, a feeling which very often remains with him unto the last years of his life. The short prayer, before and after each meal, and at the time of retiring and awakening, implanted in the child's heart very often leaves impressions that are not to be blotted out and even in after life make us still remember the pious years of our youth. Certainly we do not have to wait with teaching our little children religious words and prayers until they can understand the facts, as if otherwise we were only making little hypocrites of them, for we learn the facts by and through words even as we learn words by and through facts; the one assists the other.
And in general there is a remarkable resemblance between the feeling of dependence and humility which is a child's by nature and the state or spirit in which the Lord God loves to see us and which is most pleasing unto Him. If we do not become like unto little children we shall in no wise enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
But then this bringing of God's Word unto the children must, at the same time, be both instruction and training, at the same time working upon mind and heart, and together influencing both knowledge and actions. We must watch against the extremes, both of orthodoxy and pietism. Religion is not only knowledge but also life; man has not only consciousness but also feeling and will. In His law
God requires that we shall serve Him not with our whole mind only, but also with our whole heart, and soul, and all power shall we love
Him.
Instruction therefore must take place—instruction in the doctrines of the truth, carefully and exactly, so that pure representations, clear ideas, and correct judgments may be implanted in the child, and an essential knowledge of the truth may be formed in its consciousness or mind. The cultivation of emotions and the awakening of affections without true and clear representations is even dangerous; it is detrimental to the truth, opens the door for falsehood and errors and is very often the cause of great and gross excesses.
But nevertheless clear representations and pure ideas are not sufficient. But indeed, hardly anywhere and especially in the religious sphere, it is almost an utter impossibility to obtain and possess these without being influenced in our disposition and heart.
For, a right understanding and an essential knowledge is never obtained without the heart. In all learning there must of necessity be attention, interest, love; if we do not know a certain thing we do not love it, we really and in truth only know that which we love in the deepest depths of our souls.
The training, the bringing up of a child does not, therefore, follow upon instruction. We are not first to work upon the mind and then afterwards turn to the heart. We are not to implant pure and clear ideas of the truth into the mind, hoping that they will afterwards be accepted with a true faith of the heart, then to influence the life and actions. Nay indeed, but from the very beginning, training, bringing up and instruction must go hand in hand. The instruction itself ought always to bear a training, a pedagogical character. The truth of God is of such a nature that it cannot be understod rightly without a true and upright faith of the heart. He, who impresses the truth upon his mind, without having his heart in it, receives only the image of the things, while he remains a stranger unto the things themselves.
Therefore the influencing of mind and will, the preparing to know and do, the supplying of pure, clear representations, and the awakening of affections and emotions should always go together. We may not separate the words from the facts, neither the facts from the
words. For God has united these two. He binds Himself to give unto everyone, who in truth believes the Word, the thing signified thereby.
He, who knows God in the face of Christ, has eternal life. When we therefore speak of God, of Christ, etc., then these names may not be mere sounds unto us, but we must think of Them who are represented thereby. Then the Gospel becomes rich; then it is not an abstract system of doctrines, but a world of invisible, eternal treasures, which are signified and sealed, indicated and granted unto us therein.
When in this way, in home and school and catechism, instruction and training united with truth work together, then we may expect, that, with the blessing of the Lord the spiritual life will come to development and maturity, blooming forth into faith and conversion, and finally manifest itself externally in a confession with mouth and heart.
It always remains true however, that the increase must come from above. If the Lord does not build the house, then the laborers work thereon in vain. Parents and teachers and ministers are nothing but instruments in His hand. He is the only, true Father and Trainer of His children, who feeds and leads, preserves and protects, strengthens and perfects them. Not needing to be served by the hand of man, He Himself gives unto all, life, breath and all things. He governs and regulates the power of the Word and the working of the Spirit.
Jesus is the vine, and the believers are the branches, and the Heavenly Father is the Husbandman.