When a church goes on the “down-grade” (see entry) we cited the examples of how ministers believe Biblical doctrine and how they seek to instill those teachings into the lives of the people who attend their churches. However, by all accounts that I know of, the chief evangelical denomination to begin on the downgrade were the Presbyterians.

However, this seems odd at first glance since Presbyterians are usually staunch in their adherence to and promotion of Biblical truth (albeit we have ample evidence of rapid decline over fundamental issue such as God’s identity within the PCUSA today).

There are two reasons for the decline of historic Presbyterian churches in England. The first reason for decline was that ministers began to get comfortable and began to enjoy classical learning and other branches of education at the expense of rigorous Biblical study. Like a frog placed in a slowly warming kettle, it was easy to give attention to the academical attainments of their ministers, and give less attention to spiritual qualifications; to set a higher value on scholarship than shepherding, to minimize passion for lost souls since it was unfitting an educated individual. Learning devoid of passion for God and lost people seems to have quickened the down-grade from vitality to deadness for the Presbyterians in England.

The second cause for a quicker descent on “the down grade” was their rule of admitting children to the privileges of Church membership. In a Presbyterian church, children can receive the rite of baptism as a sign of covenant membership. It was taught, by ministers, that children had the right to enjoy the Lord’s Supper without passing any personal qualifications regarding belief or life. Therefore, many of these children grew up lost, strangers to the work of God’s grace; yet they claimed to be Christians. Due to the doctrine of infant baptism, they were admitted to all the privileges of the church and their claim was not disallowed. It is easy to connect the dotes in such a system how these little ones could grow up in a church and eventually choose for themselves pastors after their own hearts, men who would cry “Peace, peace” when a battle needed to be fought. Men who would not discern the need for strong, bold stands on God’s unbending truth since they had not digested the Gospel truth for themselves.

It is not the blatant error’s we need to be so concerned about, but the silent stalker of comfort that can be, at times, expressed through academia. We must also beware of the warm bath of emotion that we may enjoy as we allow a loved one into the communion of saints while ignoring a reasonable evaluation of their confession. Over time, it would seem that these two issues, certainly among others, produced in England a slow death for the Presbyterian church.