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STEVE SCHLISSEL Versus
REFORMATION WORSHIP
A SHORT NOTE ON THE MODERN
ATTACK ON REFORMATION FOUNDATIONS; OR, THE STRANGE FIRE OF OUR CONTEMPORARY
SUB-CALVINIST NADABS AND ABIHUS REBUKED
"If it be inquired, then, by
what things chiefly the Christian religion has a standing existence among us
and maintains its truth, it will be found that the following two not only
occupy the principal place, but comprehend under them all the other parts, and
consequently the whole substance of Christianity, viz. a knowledge, first, of
the mode in which God is duly worshipped; and, secondly, of the source from
which salvation is to be obtained." (John Calvin, The Necessity of
Reforming the Church, 1544, free at: http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/NRC_ch00.htm).
"The
principle that the church hath power to institute any thing or ceremony
belonging to the worship of God, either as to matter or manner, beyond the
observance of such circumstances as necessarily attend such ordinances as
Christ Himself hath instituted, lies at the bottom of all the
horrible superstition and idolatry, of all the confusion, blood,
persecution, and wars, that have for so long a season spread themselves over
the face of the Christian world." (John Owen, quoted in Instrumental
Music in the Public Worship of the Church by John Girardeau,
available at http://www.swrb.ab.ca/catalog/g.htm or below.)
"I will
punish them that serve me otherwise than I have commanded, not
sparing the chief that the people may fear and praise my judgements."
(Note from the Geneva Bible [http://www.swrb.com/bibles/bibles.htm] on Lev.
10:3, after "fire went out from the Lord" and killed Nadab and Abihu
for violating the regulative principle of worship).
With one of
the foundational principles of the Reformation under increasing attack (i.e.
the regulative principle of worship), even among those (like Steve Schlissel, Doug
Wilson [my debate with Wilson on this point is FREE at: http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/Saul.htm ] John Frame, The
Chalcedon Report,
James Jordan, et al.) that still profess to be Reformed, we would like to draw
your attention (below) to some important resources in defense of our biblical
Reformed heritage.
We would also
point out that the modern attack on the regulative
principle from sub-Calvinist quarters (which must bring delight to Papists and
Prelates everywhere) fails on two essential fronts. First, these attacks are essentially antinomian, in
spite of any protests to the contrary. Second, they deny the faithful testimony of our Reformation
forefathers and the faithful historic confessions and catechisms of the
Reformation. "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak
not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."
(Isa. 8:20).
On the first
point, it is interesting (if not sadly amusing), to note the
lack of time that Schlissel, Frame and others spend on the exposition of the
second commandment in their attacks upon the regulative principle.
It is as if they can't see the forest for the trees. The second commandment
is the foundation of the regulative principle, just pick up any older Reformed
commentary, catechism or confession and note the prominent attention given to
the second commandment in regard to questions related to worship.
For example,
here is what the Westminster Larger Catechism teaches,
Question 108: What are the duties required in the second
commandment?
Answer: The duties required in the second commandment are, the
receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship
and ordinances as God has instituted in his Word;
particularly prayer and thanksgiving in the name of Christ; the reading,
preaching, and hearing of the Word; the administration and receiving of the
sacraments; church government and discipline; the ministry and maintenance
thereof; religious fasting; swearing by the name of God, and vowing unto him: as also the disapproving, detesting, opposing, all false
worship; and, according to each one's place and calling, removing it, and all
monuments of idolatry.
Question 109: What are the sins forbidden in the second
commandment?
Answer: The sins forbidden in the second commandment are, all
devising, counseling, commanding, using, and anywise approving, any religious
worship not instituted by God himself; tolerating a false religion; the making any
representation of God, of all or of any of the three persons, either inwardly
in our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any creature
whatsoever; all worshiping of it, or God in it or by it; the making of any
representation of feigned deities, and all worship of them, or service
belonging to them; all superstitious devices, corrupting the worship of God,
adding to it, or taking from it, whether invented
and taken up of ourselves, or received by tradition from others,
though under the title of antiquity, custom, devotion, good intent, or any
other pretense whatsoever; simony; sacrilege; all
neglect, contempt, hindering, and opposing the worship and ordinances which God
has appointed.
The
Heidelberg Catechism (1563) makes the same point,
Question 96. What does God require in the second commandment?
Answer. That we in nowise make any image of God, nor worship him in any other way than he has commanded
in his word.
Our modern
sub-Calvinist detractors have either forgotten that the regulative principle of
worship is based on the second commandment or they are purposely ignoring it --
either way their antinomianism is obvious. Let them produce a 10-20 page
exposition of the second commandment (including a statement as to why they deny
the confessional Reformation position on this commandment) in their attempt to
overthrow the Reformation's regulative principle of worship; we will then be
happy to compare them with the many older Reformed commentaries, catechisms and
confessions on the second commandment -- to determine who is being faithful to
the word of God. Kevin Reed, in his Presbyterian Worship: Old and New, (free at: http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/FrameWor.htm), which critiques John Frame's teaching on worship
by comparing it to the classic Reformation position as found in various creedal
statements of the Reformation has already done much of the groundwork on this
point, for those who are interested. However, I
sincerely doubt that any of the modern anti-regulativists will take up this
challenge, for it will surely expose the biblical bankruptcy of their slide
into Popish principles concerning worship, while at the same time demonstrating
that they have left the narrow path of Reformation so carefully (and
Scripturally) laid out in many classic Reformation works (cf.
Reformation Worship Sale http://www.swrb.com/Puritan/reformation-worship.htm).
Second, our modern anti-regulativists deny God's testimony in
Scripture and history when they attempt to overthrow the Reformed view of the
second commandment (i.e. the regulative principle of worship).
Communists, Jesuits (Papists) and other anti-biblical revolutionaries have
always understood that to destroy a people you need to sever them from
their historical roots. Our modern anti-regulativists must do the same, if their
anti-Reformed rhetoric and sophistry is to gain any type of hearing in Reformed
circles.
Brian
Schwertley, in his critique of Schlissel (free at: http://reformedonline.com/view/reformedonline/schlissel.htm) aptly notes,
Schlissel
says that the regulative principle is "not biblical" (1:3; 2:4), that
it is "an invention of men and therefore an imposition upon the
consciences of those forced to accept it" (1:7). He says that it is an
addition "to our legal obligations under God" (1:7) which is based on
"a pattern of obfuscation" (2:1). He also teaches that "it
cannot survive when measured against Scripture" (3:1). After realizing that he has insulted and impugned all
the Calvinistic reformers, all the Reformed Confessions, and all the Reformed
churches (Presbyterians, Dutch Reformed, German Reformed, French Huguenots, the
Puritans) Schlissel offers up some historical relativism.[2]
Even
though, according to Schlissel, the regulative principle is unbiblical,
legalistic, an invention of men, based on obfuscation and false exegesis,
dictatorial, totalitarian, contrary to our legal obligations to God and a human
imposition upon the consciences of men, what the Reformers did was not
unethical because of their unique historical situation. They were just coming
out of Romanism. If the regulative principle is an
unbiblical, dictatorial and human tradition that is a perversion of biblical
worship (as our brother asserts), then what the Reformers did was positively
sinful.
Schlissel cannot have it both ways. He cannot repudiate modern
advocates of the regulative principle without also repudiating the Reformed
faith.[3]
What separates the Reformed Confessions from Luther and Calvinistic
Baptists[4] is not soteriology, but worship and government. Reformed worship is
squarely founded upon the regulative principle. Once that foundation (and the
worship and government that rest upon it) is removed, the word Reformed means
nothing.
In the full
footnotes to these quotations (not supplied here), Schwertley also correctly
states that,
Schlissel has created a historical fantasy to justify his own
departure from the Reformed faith... All the Calvinistic Reformers and
all Reformed Churches adhered to the regulative principle. In the early days of
the Reformation, if the Lutheran theologians and the Reformed theologians had
been able to agree over worship (in particular the Lord's supper), there
probably would have been one church rather than two. Calvin's view of the
regulative principle can be found in his Institutes I, XI, 4; XII, 1 and 3;
II, VIII, 5 and 17; IV, X, 1 and 8-17; cf. his commentary on Jer. 7:31; sermon
on 2 Sam. 6:6-12; his tract on The Necessity of Reforming the Church [ http://www.swrb.com/newslett/FREEBOOK/JCalvin.htm]," and the
confession drafted by Calvin for the Reformed churches of France (1652). John
Knox's view is clearly set forth in A Vindication of the Doctrine That the
Sacrifice of the Mass Is Idolatry (1550, free at: http://www.swrb.com/newslett/FREEBOOK/JKnox.htm). The Reformed creeds
also teach the regulative principle of worship: cf. the Belgic Confession (1561) Art. VII, XXIX,
XXXII; the Heidelberg Catechism Q. 96; the Westminster Standards: Confession 1:6, 7; 20:2; 21:1; Shorter
Catechism
Q. 51; Larger Catechism Q. 108, 109. A strict interpretation of the regulative
principle can be found in the writings of George Gillespie, William Ames,
Samuel Rutherford, Jeremiah Burroughs, David Dickson, Thomas Watson, Matthew
Henry, John Owen, James Begg, James Bannerman, William Cunningham, Thomas
Ridgeley, Thomas Boston, John Cotton, Thomas Manton, William Romaine, R. L.
Dabney, James H. Thornwell, John L. Girardeau, John Murray, and many others. Anyone who advocated Schlissel's views would have been
defrocked in any of the Reformed denominations of the past, whether English,
Dutch, Scottish, German, French or American.
There
is no question (except among those totally ignorant of Reformation history)
that the regulative principle of worship was one of the foundational pillars of
past Reformations
(for more on this point see: "An irenic letter written to a PCA elder [by
Bill Mencarow], regarding Steve Schlissel's recent attacks on historic Reformed
[biblical] worship," free at: http://www.cashflows.org/rpw.htm). To deny the regulative principle is to deny the Reformed
faith. Hundreds of examples could be provided to prove that Schlissel, Frame
and other modern sub-Calvinists are rejecting the Reformed faith concerning
worship.
When
one denies the regulative principle of worship, he has become essentially
Arminian in his view of worship (as the regulative principle is simply the
application of the sovereignty of God in worship). I develope this
argument more fully in "The Regulative Principle of Worship in
History," which is free at http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/CRTPWors.htm . Simply stated, there is no way around this: either the
revealed will of God determines our worship practises, or the will of man will.
There is no neutrality possible here!
The
matter is not of so small importance, as some suppose. The question is, whether
God or man ought to be obeyed in matters of religion? In mouth, all do confess that
only God is worthy of sovereignty. But after many -- by the instigation of the
devil, and by the presumptuous arrogance of carnal wisdom and worldly policy --
have defaced God's holy ordinance, men fear not to follow what laws and common
consent (mother of all mischief) have established and commanded. But thus continually I can do nothing but hold, and
affirm all things polluted, yea, execrable and accursed, which God by his Word
has not sanctified in his religion. God grant you his Holy Spirit
rightly to judge (Knox, Works [volume 5, p. 14] cited in John Knox, True
and False Worship (Presbyterian
Heritage Publications, rpnt. 1988), p. x, free at: http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/Vindicat.htm).
To first get
Reformed people to even consider becoming Arminians in worship you must destroy,
dismiss or dismantle (revise) the history of the Reformation (which was a
return to the faith of the Apostles). The Jesuits have been masters of this technique
(cf. "Arminianism the Road to Rome" free at: http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/RHNarmin.htm) and Dabney's review of Girardeau's
Instrumental Music in the Public
Worship of the Church (on sale below in our EMAIL SUPER SPECIALS
for the first time!), eloquently shows us where the denial of the regulative
principle will lead,
Dr.
Girardeau has defended the old usage of our church
with a moral courage, loyalty to truth, clearness of
reasoning and wealth of learning which should make every true
Presbyterian proud of him, whether he adopts his conclusions or not. The
framework of his argument is this: it begins with that vital truth which no
Presbyterian can discard without a square desertion of our principles. The man who contests this first premise had better set
out at once for Rome: God is to be worshipped only in the ways appointed in His
Word. Every act of public cultus
not positively enjoined by Him (by direct command, approved Scriptural example,
or which can be deduced by good and necessary consequence from Scripture -- RB)
is thereby forbidden. Christ and His apostles ordained the musical
worship of the New Dispensation without any sort of musical instrument,
enjoining only the singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Hence such
instruments are excluded from Christian worship. Such
has been the creed of all churches, and in all ages, except for the Popish
communion after it had reached the nadir of its corruption at the end of the
thirteenth century, and of its prelatic imitators.
Rejecting
the regulative principle of worship (and thus the second commandment) is a
serious offence against God -- one which the Westminster Larger Catechism calls
"spiritual whoredom," further stating that God accounts "the
breakers of this commandment such as hate him" (Q. & A. 110). Calvin
forcefully drives home the same point, proclaiming that God hates all the
idolatrous will worship which is invented by the mind of man outside of His
command in the public worship (while at the same time defending the regulative
principle) in his comments on Amos 5:26,
To
make these things (images and idols--RB) is at all times vicious in sacred
things; for we ought not to bring any thing of our
own when we worship God, but we ought to depend always on the word of his
mouth, and to obey what he has commanded. All our actions then in
the worship of God ought to be, so to speak, passive; for they ought to be
referred to his command, lest we attempt any thing but what he approves. Hence, when men dare to do this or that without God's
command, it is nothing else but abomination before him (Calvin's Commentaries, vol. 14, p. 298,
emphases added).
Publicly
denouncing this principle (as Schlissel and others have done) is a mark of
apostasy.
Furthermore, the rejection of the regulative
principle of worship is not only a high-handed sinful rejection of the second
commandment (and thus grounds for excommunication), but also a bold-faced
denial of the Reformed Faith. Anyone
claiming to be a minister of Christ who publicly rejects the regulative
principle should be marked and avoided (at least until public repentance is
manifested) in accord with the Scriptural command: "Now I beseech
you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the
doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them" (Rom. 16:17). This is the most
loving action that we can take against those wayward souls that would corrupt
the worship of God. Coupled with prayer, maybe God will yet grant some of these
deluded individuals (who now unwittingly do the work of the Romam Antichrist)
repentance (2 Tim. 2:25-26).
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching
for doctrines the commandments of men (Mark 7:7).
For the Third
Reformation,
Reg Barrow
President,
Still Waters Revival Books
P.S. For
individuals who can not find a church that worships God according to His
commandments (upholding the regulative principle of worship in all its
fullness), separation is not an option, it is
God's commanded response to idolatry (see
Douglas' Strictures on Occasinal Hearing at http://www.swrb.com/catalog/d.htm and
Eire's War Against the Idols: The Reformation of Worship from Erasmus to
Calvin below or at http://www.swrb.com/catalog/e.htm). Calvin writes,
Some
one will therefore ask me what counsel I would
like to give to a believer who thus dwells in some Egypt or Babylon where he
may not worship God purely, but is forced by the common practice to
accommodate himself to bad things. The first advice would be to leave [i.e.
relocate -- GB] if he could. . . . If someone has no way to depart, I would
counsel him to consider whether it would be possible for him to abstain from all idolatry in order
to preserve himself pure and spotless toward God in both body and soul. Then let him worship God in private, praying
him to restore his poor church to its right estate. (Cited in: Appendix G in The
Covenanted Reformation Defended (see below) by Greg Barrow (http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/append_g.htm), "A brief
examination of Mr. Bacon's principles regarding the visible church and the use
of private judgment. Also, some observations regarding his ignoble attack upon
Kevin Reed in his book entitled The Visible Church in the Outer Darkness;" originally from:
John Calvin, Come Out From Among Them, The
Anti-Nicodemite Writings of John Calvin,
a forthcoming book to be published by Protestant Heritage Press, "A Short
Treatise", pp. 93, 94, emphases added. Calvin's Come Out From Among Them is NOW AVAILABLE on the new
PHP CD: "LIBRARY OF PRESBYTERIAN HERITAGE PUBLICATIONS and PROTESTANT
HERITAGE PRESS," for $US98.98, though the printed version may
be some time yet before it is released. A full description of the contents of
the CD can be found at http://www.swrb.com/Puritan/presbyterian-heritage.htm).
Now we command you, brethren, in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that
walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us (2
Thes. 3:6).
P.P.S. Here is a question, excerpted from Gilliespies
A Dispute Against English Popish Ceremonies (p. 133 in volume one of
his Works
[http://www.swrb.com/catalog/g.htm]) that the anti-regulatives will never be able to answer
without admitting that the Reformers were biblically justified in maintaining
the so-called "strict" view of the regulative principle of worship.
Gillespie writes,
Since our opposites will speak in this dialect, let them resolve
us (i.e. provide an answer to the question about -- RB) whether the washings of
Pharisees, condemned by Christ, were corrupting or perfecting additions. They
cannot say they were corruption, for there was no commandment of God to which
those washings did corrupt or destroy, except that commandment which forbiddeth
men's additions. But for this respect our opposites dare not call them
corrupting additions, for so they should condemn all additions whatsoever. Except, therefore, they
can show us that those washings were not added by the Pharisees for perfecting,
but for corrupting the law of God, let them consider how they rank their own
ceremonial additions with those of the Pharisees. We
read of no other reason wherefore Christ condemned them but because they were
doctrines which had no other warrant than the commandments of men, Matt. 15:9;
for as the law ordained divers washings, for teaching and signifying that true
holiness and cleanness which ought to be among God's people, so the Pharisees
would have perfected the law by adding other washings (and more than God had
commanded) for the same end and purpose.
Moreover, the
very next section of A Dispute Against English Popish Ceremonies (wherein Gillespie
continues his defense of the regulative principle of worship) ties in perfectly
with what we have stated above regarding the second commandment,
Sect.
11. To the second distinction, we say that the Christian church hath no more
liberty to add to the commandments of God than the Jewish church had; for the
second commandment is moral and perpetual and forbiddeth to us as well as to
them the additions and inventions of men in the worship of God. Nay, as Calvin noteth (Inst., lib. 4, cap. 10, sect. 17)
much more are we forbidden to add unto God's word than they were.
You
are welcome to provide a link to the article above (without asking our
permission). It is on our web page at: http://www.swrb.com/Puritan/steve-schlissel.htm
FREE!
REED,
KEVIN
Biblical
Worship
"The Protestant
Reformation was a conflict over many critical issues. And of all the issues
contested between Romanists and the reformers, no issue was more crucial than
the question of true worship" (Reed, John Knox the Forgotten
Reformer,
p. 37). This book explains the two preeminent characteristics of all faithful
corporate worship, as seen both in the OT and in the NT. It also contains an
excellent section on disputed aspects of worship. This section, in
particular, is very valuable, in that it shows how many non-Romanist
communions today have actually rejected the Reformation and adopted Rome's
presuppositions regarding worship. 80 pages.
Biblical Worship is out of print, but FREE as etext on the web at: http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/BibW_ch0.htm and also available on the Presbyterian Heritage Press Library on CD
under "REED, KEVIN" at: http://www.swrb.com/catalog/R.htm.
FREE Psalm Book for
Singing (see the end of the first item) at:
[Music-Psalters-CDs]
Also see: Reformation Worship Sale
http://www.swrb.com/Puritan/reformation-worship.htm
EIGHT SELECT WORSHIP
RESOURCES ON SALE (to July 28, 2008)
Hundreds more can be seen on our web
page at:
http://www.swrb.com/pcopy/photoc.htm
If your order reaches us on or before midnight July 28, 2008, you may apply
the discounted prices on any of the resources listed below.
You must mention this SPECIAL DISCOUNT
OFFER or THESE SPECIAL PRICES for the extra discounts
to apply to your order.
Resource #3 below is listed for
the first time as an EMAIL SUPER SPECIAL!
NEW 30 CD set: Reformation Bookshelf CD Series Super
Sale
http://www.swrb.com/Puritan/reformation-bookshelf-CDs.htm
Resource 0.
REFORMATION BOOKSHELF CD (Volume Nineteen)
The Reformation Against
Arminianism (in Worship and Salvation)
Against Arminian Views of
Worship (Calvinistic Worship and the Regulative Principle of Worship), for the
Psalms and Exclusive Psalmody, Against Instrumental Music in Public Worship (A
Popish Innovation!), Against Arminian Views of the Lord's Supper (Calvinistic
Close Communion Versus Arminian Open Communion), Against Arminian Views of
Salvation (Calvinistic Soteriology),
Augustine, John Calvin, John
Knox, Jonathan Edwards, John Owen, C.H. Spurgeon, Robert Traill, the Covenanted
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, David Hay Fleming, Jerom Zanchius,
William Ames, David Steele, R.L. Dabney, James M. Willson, Robert Baillie, Ralph
Erskine, Christopher Ness, Elisha Coles, Augustus Toplady, John Gill, John
Brown (of Haddington), John Anderson, William Binnie, Robert Nevin, James
Chrystie, the Reformed Presbytery (RPNA), J.A. Wylie, James Douglas, Michael
Wagner, the Puritan Reformed Church of Edmonton (Session), Greg
Price, Lyndon Dohms and Family, Greg Barrow, Reg Barrow, the Westminster
Divines, the famous Synod of Dort (1618-1619), Thomas
Manton, George Gillespie, Samuel Rutherford, Matthew Henry, John Brown (of
Wamphray), Francis Turretin, James Durham, John Howie, William Hetherington,
Samuel Miller, John Girardeau, Edward Fisher, Robert Shaw, A.W. Pink, Loraine
Boettner, Augustus Toplady, Andrew Symington, Patrick Fairbairn, William
Roberts, Richard Baxter, William Cunningham, John Anderson, Andrew Clarkson,
David Scott, John Cunningham, George Smeaton, Larry
Birger, Francis Rouse, Dr. F. Nigel Lee, Bill Mencarow, et al.
This
CD contains:
AGAINST
ARMINIAN VIEWS OF WORSHIP
(Calvinistic
Worship and Regulative Principle of Worship)
AMES,
WILLIAM
A
Fresh Suit Against Human Ceremonies in God's Worship (1633)
A rare facsimile from this
Calvinist divine who was one of the most acute controversialists of his age. This
highly influential Puritan theologian was assistant to the president of the
Synod of Dort and
Professor of Divinity at Franecker. He died in 1633. In this massive work,
Ames aims at vindicating the Lord's sovereign Kingship in matters of worship. The summary and general thrust of the
detailed and precise argumentation found in this book is beautifully
encapsulated by the words inscribed on its title page, "I hate vayn
inventions: but thy law doe I love" (Ps. 119:113). Almost 700 pages.
BARROW,
REG
Reformation
Worship and Separation from Idolatry
These two articles,
"Worship, The Regulative Principle of Worship in History," and Psalm
Singing in Scripture and History," are also available in the "Free
Books" file in all the Reformation Bookshelf CDs.
BARROW,
REG
A
Warning Against the False and Dangerous Views of James Jordan Concerning
Worship: A Book Review of Kevin Reed's Canterbury Tales
This article is in the
"free book" files on every Reformation Bookshelf CD.
BARROW,
REG & DOUG WILSON
Saul
in the Cave of Adullam: A Testimony Against the Fashionable Sub-Calvinism of
Doug Wilson (Editor of Credenda/Agenda Magazine); and, for
Classical Protestantism and the Attainments of the Second Reformation
Demonstrates in an email debate
(of 170, 8.5 inch by 11 inch, pages) between Doug Wilson (editor of Credenda/Agenda magazine) and Reg Barrow (president
of Still Waters Revival Books) how violations of the regulative principle of
worship (i.e. the second commandment) are grounds for excommunication. Also gives specific examples of how
modern "Reformed" Christians (e.g. John Frame) and denominations are
in violation of the second commandment and are tolerating false and idolatrous
worship contrary to their own Confessional standards and vows. Contains many quotations from
major Reformation works and confessions in defense of the regulative principle
of worship representing the classical Reformation position on worship. This book is in the FREE BOOKS file on
this CD.
CALVIN,
JOHN
An
Exhortation to Suffer Persecution and to Flee Outward Idolatry (1553)
COVENANTED
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
Directions
of the General Assembly Concerning Secret and Private Worship, and Mutual
Edification, For Cherishing Piety, For Maintaining Unity, and Avoiding Schism
and Division: With An Act for observing these Directions, and for censuring
such as use to neglect Family Worship. And An Act against such as withdraw
themselves from the Public Worship in their own Congregations (1647)
ERSKINE,
RALPH
Faith
No Fancy: Or, A Treatise of Mental Images (1745)
The title continues:
"Discovering the vain Philosophy and vile Divinity of a late Pamphlet,
entitled, Mr. Robe's fourth Letter to Mr. Fisher, and Showing, that an
imaginary Idea of Christ as Man, (when supposed to belong to saving Faith,
whether in its Act or Object), imports nothing but Ignorance, Atheism,
Idolatry, great Falsehood, and gross Delusion." David Lachman calls this
"Erskine's most extensive publication," noting that it "was a
contribution to the controversy with the Church of Scotland ministers involved
in the Cambuslang revival"
(Cameron, ed., Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology, p. 302). We have added Erskine's sermon
"The True Christ, No New Christ" (1742) and Fisher's "Review of
What Has Been Called an Extraordinary Work at Cambuslang, Kelsyth, etc."
from the 1805 Philadelphia edition of this work. A very pertinent book given
all the idolatry connected with the senses, pictures of Christ, etc. in our
day. 523 pages.
HAY
FLEMING, DAVID
The
Hymnology of the Scottish Reformation (1884)
A courteous and detailed
historical defence of the exclusive Psalmody of the Scottish Reformers, Calvin
and others. These articles (excerpted from the Original Secession Magazine)
were written to counter the false claims of Horatius Bonar, that uninspired
hymns were used in the public worship of the church during the Scottish
Reformation. 42 pages.
KNOX,
JOHN
Against
Apostasy and Indifference
Formerly titled "An Epistle
to the Inhabitants of New Castle and Berwick, 1558," one subheading reads;
"John Knox to the Inhabitants of Newcastle and Berwick, and Unto All
Others, Who Sometime in the Realm of England Professed Christ Jesus, and Now Be
Returned to the Bondage of Idolatry, Wishes True and Earnest Repentance By the
Power and Operation of That Same Spirit Who Called From Death Jesus, the Only
Pastor of Our Souls." Written to stem the tide of backsliding and
compromise during the dark days of Mary's reign in England, Knox sends a
pastoral exhortation of repentance to those who had reverted to idolatrous
worship.
OWEN,
JOHN
A
Discourse Concerning Liturgies and their Imposition
Bannerman (in his two volume set
The Church of Christ),
summarizes this book by Owen as "giving the Scriptural argument against
the imposition of liturgies as well as of other humanely devised elements in
Divine worship,
with great clearness and force"
(p. 435).
Furthermore, the Westminster
Theological Journal (55,
1993, p. 322, 3n) notes, "Owen discusses the true nature of NT worship,
especially focusing on the challenge made to it by the Church of England. His
discourse regarding the imposition of liturgies is one of the most thorough and
forceful arguments for the regulative principle of worship as the only
principle which safely guards the Christian conscience from the abuse of church
power."
RYLE,
J.C.
Idolatry
"To study the
Reformation debate over idolatry is to peer into the eye of the storm.
'Idolatry' is a fighting word. It presupposes a definition of what is true and
what is false in religion, for an idol cannot be universally recognized as
such; idolatry is not simply the worship of a physical object, but rather any
form of devotion that is judged to be incorrect''(Eire in War Against the Idols, p. 5 [$US39.95]). In this book Ryle
gives the definition, cause, and form of idolatry. He concludes by showing what
will end it.
WILLSON,
JAMES M.
Dr.
(Isaac) Watts, an Anti-Trinitarian: Demonstrated in A Review of Dr. Samuel
Miller's Letter to the editor of the Unitarian Miscellany (1821)
This book is a review of a
letter written by Prof. Samuel Miller. Prof. Miller had preached a sermon in which he had noted
that Unitarians are not Christians,
and in response a Unitarian periodical had published a heated attack on Miller.
Miller thus wrote a reply to the attack, but the Unitarian periodical would not
print it. Miller's reply was then published separately.
Willson reviews Miller's letter
and points out that he clearly refutes the Unitarian's published attack. There
was only one problem with Miller's argument; he claims that Isaac Watts was a
Trinitarian. Watts was not, in fact, a Trinitarian, and Willson considered
this point important enough to demonstrate from Watts' own work that he does
not hold to the orthodox view of the Trinity. After citing portions of Watts' writing, Willson states,
"In
these quotations Watts cannot be misunderstood. He most distinctly denies the
existence of three persons in the Trinity, and makes the Son and Holy Ghost to
be mere faculties, physical faculties, or attributes. The Son and Holy Ghost,
in his view, are no more persons, than the human understanding and will are
persons."
Thus, Isaac Watts, a favorite
hymn writer of evangelicals, actually held to what Willson, Miller, and
Turrettin all agree (in this book) is a "damnable heresy." For as Willson points out, Turrettin maintains,
that no anti-trinitarian can be saved, while continuing in the belief of anti-trinitarianism.
Contains 18 (8.5"X11") newly typeset pages.
YOUNG,
WILLIAM
The
Puritan Principle of Worship
(Psalms
and Exclusive Psalmody)
THE
PSALMS OF DAVID IN METRE (i.e. the Scottish Metrical Psalter of 1650): Allowed By the
Authority of the Kirk of Scotland, and of Several Branches of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States. With Notes, Exhibiting the Connection, Explaining
the Sense, and for Directing and Animating the Devotion (1844 edition published
by Robert Carter [New York]) John Brown of Haddington (annotations).
Psalter as
translated by Francis Rouse, the Westminster Divines, and the Scottish General
Assembly (from 1646-1650)
This is the Psalter (less Brown's
notes, which were added later) mandated, approved and used (for public and
private worship) by the Westminster Assembly and all those who covenanted to
uphold the Biblical Reformation that these Divines proclaimed. The text of the Scottish Metrical Psalms was authorized by the General Assembly
of the Church of Scotland in 1650. The notes added by Brown are suitable for
explaining the Psalm before singing and are a great aid to understanding and
worship (whether public, family or private). This is a primary source
document of Reformation; not to be missed by those serious about the Reformed
faith -- and worshipping God in spirit and in truth. There are few things in
life as pleasing and enjoyable as communing with Christ through the singing of
His Psalms!
ANDERSON,
JOHN
Vindiciae
Cantus Dominici: Or, A Vindication of the Doctrine Taught in a Discourse on the
Divine Ordinance of Singing Psalms (1793)
Because the author contends that "the welfare of the church and her members is deeply concerned in the preservation of the purity of God's worship," he here defends the old paths of Protestant worship in opposition to the will-worship of Popery, Socinianism and Armi