Friday I quoted Paul Gerhardt. Gerhardt was born in Grafenhaynichen, suffered much during his ministry and earned a reputation as one of the greatest of the German hymnists. I suspect he was the greatest, and I gather there weren't many who would qualify to clean his boots. In fact, your devotional life will be deepened by reading through some of his surviving hymns here. Wackernagel asks, "Where is the Evangelical congregation that does not know Paul Gerhardt?

"Well, Herr Wackernagel," I might respond today, "how long a list would you like?"

Some of Gerhardt's suffering was the result of persecution which followed his refusal to obey an edict of Elector Frederick William prohibiting the mention of sectarian differences in Reformed and Lutheran homilies. It seems Paul Gerhardt continued to treasure and disseminate those differences.

But I conjure the memory of this man of principle because of our moment in history. As some of us have noted recently, we suffer a serious misapprehension of authority. Indeed, I suspect we don't really know the meaning of the word. It has very nearly gotten to the point that the only people who mention a lack of authority are those merely demanding our conformity.

There was a time when, if people yammered like McLaren and Pagitt, they would be given a cookie and told to go outside and play. There was a time when the strutting recently observed among fundamentalists would have been infra dig. To look at fundamentalism now you could be forgiven for believing that anything goes so long as you line up behind the right personalities, and the whole point of the movement is to maintain certain political loyalties.

These days there are a lot people who resent your bringing this fact to their attention. They suppose you are just an eccentric running around as though your shirt were on fire, but they would resent this behavior even if your shirt were on fire. Even if you are permitted to disagree with heretics you must still assume a respectful attitude toward heresy.

Here on Remonstrans we speak about our own culture. We are occasionally—not often, but it happens—dismissed because many think culture is just nattering about opera and traditions and wearing ties. In fact, our culture is the first thing that determines which ideas are worth entertaining and who is worth listening to.

Our culture now lacks that function, and it will be crucial for anyone doing real ministry to consider how one will feed the flock when authority is in such disrepute and when its abusers hold high office. We can pretend there aren't people like McLaren vaporizing about the resurrection, Corcoran conjecturing about the eschaton, Sweatt surmising about Calvinism....

Men like Gerhardt have our respect because they knew something about authority.

His work thou must consider / If thine is to endure.