A
Warning Against the False and Dangerous Views of James Jordan Concerning
Worship
A
Book Review of Kevin Reed's
Canterbury Tales by Dr.
Reg Barrow
© Reg
Barrow, 1996
The nearer a false worship approaches to a true
one, the more dangerous it is. Israel came nearer to the true worship of God
than the heathens: now the prophet saith not, Though the heathens be idolators,
yet let not Judah be so too; but, "Though Israel play the harlot, yet let
not Judah offend." There was more danger that Judah should be drawn aside
by Israel, than that they should be drawn aside by any of the heathen. And so
there is more danger that we, at this day, should be drawn aside by those that
join with us in many things that are right, than by papists, who are hateful to
us, and whose ways we see to be abominable. There is not so much danger,
especially for those that profess godliness, of being drawn aside by those who
grossly violate the laws of God, as by brethren that join with us in many
things that are right, and come very near to the true worship of God... We must
not approach places calculated to draw us into sin, especially to false
worship... It is dangerous to indulge curiosity in visiting places of
idolatry... ("Comments on Hosea 4:15 by Jeremiah Burroughs
[1599-1646]" cited in The Original Covenanter and Contending Witness magazine [vol. 1, #19, Sept. 10/93, pp.416-417],
write: P.O. Box 131, Pottstown, PA 19464 USA).
Reed's book The Canterbury
Tales: An Extended Review and Commentary Based upon the Geneva Papers, interacts with James Jordan's Geneva Papers on
worship. It is an excellent expose demonstrating how Jordan's views
on worship are seriously flawed and how his writings "often show more
charity toward Papists, than toward the Reformed faith" (p. 28, Canterbury
Tales).
Reed wades through the many contradictions
found in Jordan's writings to show that his corruption of the Reformed faith is
most evident in three major areas: 1. the repudiation of the Reformed
regulative principle of worship; 2. the attempt to introduce superstitions and
unwarranted practices into the church; and 3. the rejection of confessional
Presbyterianism (p. 3, Canterbury Tales). Elaborating, Reed notes that "the primary indication of the
Tyler (this was first written in 1984) corruption of worship is seen "in
their repudiation of the Reformed regulative principle of worship. This
repudiation is manifest in four ways: by false portrayals of the regulative principle
(compare Jordan's Sociology of the Church, ch. 10, with William Cunningham's The
Reformers and the Theology of the Reformation, [Banner
of Truth, pp. 27-46] or Carlos Eire's War Against the Idols: The
Reformation of Worship from Erasmus to Calvin [Cambridge University Press, pp. 195-275 - RB]); by a failure to make
proper distinctions within the regulative principle; by a faulty pairing of
Reformed and Anabaptist notions; and by a failure to deal exegetically with the
scriptural position of the reformers (and the Reformed confessions) on the
topic of worship... Moreover, Mr. Jordan does not stop with the repudiation of
the Reformed regulative principle. He goes on with a program to reintroduce
within the church many superstitions and unwarranted practices" (pp. 4,
24, Canterbury Tales). The
escalation in apostasy, from sinful theory to wicked practice, noted in the
last sentence, is not surprising; for as history (inspired and uninspired)
teaches, when you reject Scriptural institutions of worship, you must, of
necessity, replace them with some form of man-made, idolatrous, ceremony or
rite. The rejection of the Reformation regulative principle of worship by
Jordan and those who (like the Tylerites) follow his lead, always leaves one
dusting off the ancient monuments to Antichrist and singing the songs of false
prophets from the past!
For example, witness Jordan's denunciation of
"traditional Puritanism and Presbyterianism:"
Thus, for traditional Puritanism and
Presbyterianism, the fact that the New Testament books nowhere explicitly
command the use of musical instruments in worship, proves (for them) that it is
forbidden to use musical instruments in worship. This in spite of the
overwhelming Biblical evidence in both the Old (ceremonial law - RB) and New
Testaments (find one verse! - RB) that God wants musical instruments used in
His worship (p. 209, Sociology).
Compare this with the standard Reformed
response, pointing out how the introduction of Old Testament ceremonial law
into New Testament worship is not only idolatrous, but a denial of the work of
Christ (the ceremonial law being abrogated). John Girardeau sets forth the
views of John Calvin:
"To sing the praises of God upon the harp and
psaltery," says Calvin, "unquestionably formed a part of the training
of the law and of the service of God under that dispensation of shadows and
figures; but they are not now to be used in public thanksgiving (on Ps.
71:22)." He says again: "With respect to the tabret, harp, and
psaltery, we have formerly observed, and will find it necessary afterwards to
repeat the same remark, that the Levites, under the law, were justified in
making use of instrumental music in the worship of God; it having been his will
to train his people, while they were yet tender and like children, by such
rudiments until the coming of Christ. But now, when the clear light of the
gospel has dissipated the shadows of the law and taught us that God is to be
served in a simpler form, it would be to act a foolish and mistaken part to
imitate that which the prophet enjoined only upon those of his own time (on Ps.
81:2)." He further observes: "We are to remember that the worship of
God was never understood to consist in such outward services, which were only
necessary to help forward a people as yet weak and rude in knowledge in the
spiritual worship of God. A difference is to be observed in this respect
between his people under the Old and under the New Testament; for now that
Christ has appeared, and the church has reached full age, it were only to bury
the light of the gospel should we introduce the shadows of a departed
dispensation. From this it appears that the Papists, as I shall have occasion
to show elsewhere, in employing instrumental music cannot be said so much to
imitate the practice of God's ancient people as to ape it in a senseless and
absurd manner, exhibiting a silly delight in that worship of the Old Testament
which was figurative and terminated with the gospel (on Ps. 92:1)" (Instrumental
Music in the Public Worship of the Church, pp. 63, 64).
It should also be noted, because of the
almost complete loss of a Reformed hermeneutic (regarding worship) in our day,
that running to Revelation for support of the use of musical instruments in
public worship is an idea long ago rejected by consistent Reformed exegetes.
David Steele's testimony, in his comments on Revelation 14:2-3, gives one of
the reasons why,
"Let the children of Zion be joyful in their
King... Let the high praise of God be in their mouth" (Ps. 149:2, 6).
Unterrified by the roaring of the beasts of prey, these followers of the Lamb
lift their voices in unison; and whether on mountains or in valleys, in dens or
in caves of the earth, their songs of praise ascend to the ears of the Lord of
Sabaoth. The symphony is heightened by the "voice of harpers, harping on
their harps." And if any person be so ignorant as to ground an argument on
these words, for the use of instruments in the worship of God, consistency will
require him to take his position on the literal Mount Zion with a literal lamb!
(Notes on the Apocalypse
[Covenanted Reformed Presbyterian Publishing, 1870, forthcoming], pp. 196-197).
The rejection of Reformation worship and the
road to Rome is often paved with incremental deviations from truth, following
down the broad path of worship accepted by earlier deformations of biblically
regulated worship. This is also illustrated by Reed when he writes, "It is
also quite telling that Mr. Jordan acknowledges his affinity with Lutheran and
Anglican forms of worship, in preference to others (Geneva Papers, #25). Lutheran/Anglican worship is built on an
entirely different presupposition than Reformed worship. The Lutheran/Anglican
position holds that we may worship God by various means, as long as what we are
doing is not explicitly forbidden in scripture" (p. 25, Canterbury
Tales). This exact Lutheran
deviation is also adopted by Jordan in his book The Sociology of the Church.
After paying lip service to the regulative principle (p. 208), he then argues
for the introduction into worship of some of the ensigns of Antichrist on the
basis of what the Bible "does not forbid" (p. 217, Sociology, emphasis added). Moreover, he again completely
forgets his earlier pretended adherence to the regulative principle when he
states that "there is no Biblical principle against" (p. 217, Sociology, emphasis added) whatever idolatrous innovation
with which he would tyrannize the church. This is pure equivocation; the
regulative principle calls for God's institution (of elements) of worship, Jordan
calls for the exact opposite when he asks where the Bible forbids his
innovations. "In other words," Reed continues (exposing Jordan's
explicit rejection of the regulative principle and adoption of
Lutheran/Anglican notions), "they don't have to produce scriptural warrant
for their practices (as in Reformed worship); rather the opponents of the
practice must prove that it is wrong. The implication is that God has not left
us a specific pattern for worship; he has left the church great freedom to establish
rites and ceremonies for worship" (p. 25, Canterbury Tales). Moreover, Jordan is not shy about the fact that
he likes to wallow in the mud outside of the harlot daughters of Antichrist's
latrine, writing, "(a)s I study Scripture, I find that Lutheran and
Anglican churches are more Biblical in their worship, despite some
problems" (p. 210, Sociology).
In this vein, William Cunningham long ago (1862) noted the propensity of the
carnal nature, when it is bent on inventing man-made ceremonies and humanly embellished
worship:
Of the views generally held by the Reformers on the
subject of the organization of the church, there are two which have been always
very offensive to men of a loose and latitudinarian tendency, -viz., the
alleged unlawfulness of introducing into the worship and government of the
church any thing which is not positively warranted by Scripture, and the
permanent binding obligation of a particular form of church government
("Leaders of the Reformation" in The Reformers and the Theology of
the Reformation [Banner
of Truth, reprinted 1989], p. 7).
The very problem Cunningham refers to,
concerning "loose and latitudinarian" tendencies, is again (in our
day) being exhibited by Jordan and exposed and rebuked by Reed (in his Canterbury
Tales), some 122 years later.
Furthermore, should Jordan (and all those who follow him) continue to slide
away from the Reformation attainments of Christ's bride (especially the great
victories of the second Reformation), continuing down the path he is now on, promoting
his revolution against "traditional Puritan and Presbyterian" worship
and the reconstruction of the mystery of iniquity, Calvin's stern rebuke (Titus
1:13), found at the end of this quotation by Carlos Eire (War Against the
Idols, pp. 219-220) will most
certainly become applicable,
Calvin maintains that the human heart is also led
into the error of idolatry through its love of ceremony and ritual (A good
study of Calvin's view of ceremonies is T.W. Street's John Calvin on
Adiaphora [Ph.D. dissertation,
Union Theological Seminary, New York, 1954], pp. 208-16). Calvin attacks the
excessive and improper use of ceremonies by the Catholic church as a denial of
spiritual worship. First, because it is an abrogation of God's commands;
secondly, because it often entails the improper use of material paraphernalia;
and finally because it is often taken to be some sort of automatic
communication between God and man. Humanly devised ceremonies are a bold
affront to God's power, honor, and freedom. Through them men attempt to worship
God as they please and to bind His power to specific situations. Consequently,
Calvin deals with ceremonies as dangerous distractions that only serve to
confuse man and rob God of His majesty (Grau, Calvins Stellung, p. 12; Wencelius, L'Esthetique, pp. 221-2). Calvin also carries his analysis of
the psychology of idolatry to the social level. "We see," he says,
"how by mutual persuasion, men urge one another to defend superstition and
the worship of idols." Calvin asserts that the more the truth of God is
manifested, the more obstinately man persists in following his own way against
God, as if he intends to wage war against Him (take heed Jim - RB). Calvin is
convinced that the perversion of man is such that, since the beginning of the Reformation,
there has been an increase in idolatry, not a decrease (Commentary of Isaiah, CR 37.37 [CR refers to: Corpus Reformatorum:
Joannis Calvini Opera quae supersunt omnia, edited by W. Baum, E. Cunitz, and E. Reuss, Brunswick, 1863-80]).
Calvin attributes this rebellion against God to a form of mass hysteria in
which idolaters take comfort from each other's encouragements and from the
security that comes from belonging to a large group (Ibid. CR 37.254). Calvin
also argues that people remain steeped in idolatry out of habit and a false
sense of awe resulting from the antiquity of their beliefs. It is very
difficult, he indicates, to believe that anything ancient can be wrong. The
older the idolatry, therefore, the harder it is to displace from men's hearts
(Sermons on Deuteronomy, CR 28.711). Zwingli has also made a similar reference
to this phenomenon in De vera et falsa religione(Latin Works, 3.337).
Sounding a bit like the Luther of the Table
Talk, though somewhat more
restrained, Calvin expands upon this theme by comparing idolaters to latrine
cleaners:
"Just as a 'maistre Fifi' mocks those
who hold their noses (in his presence), because he has handled filth for so
long that he can no longer smell his own foulness; so likewise do idolaters
make light of those who are offended by a stench they cannot themselves
recognize. Hardened by habit, they sit in their own excrement, and yet believe
they are surrounded by roses" (Excuse, CR 6.595. ['Maistre Fifi' is a sixteenth-century French slang term
for a latrine or sewer cleaner.])
It may also interest some of you that Kevin
Reed is presently gathering together a body of Calvin's most important sermons,
as referred to in War Against the Idols. These sermons, chosen as an example of Calvin's inconoclastic zeal,
include some of the great Reformer's most classic statements concerning worship
and separation from idolatry. Moreover, most of these sermons have never been
translated into English before. When the translation work is done and the book
has been prepared for press, these sermons will be released to the public as a
hardcover book. At present, though it has not been confirmed, the title for
this book will be: Come Out from Among Them: The Anti-Nicodemite Writings of
John
Calvin. But back to the
discussion at hand. For a positive statement of biblically regulated worship,
which will clear the air of the stench of Roman Catholic and Lutheran/Anglican
idolatry, taken from the greatest family of uninspired documents ever produced
by man (and exhibiting the height of the second Reformation faithfulness),
please note the finely crafted explanations of the duties required, sins
forbidden and reasons annexed to the second commandment, as found in the Westminster
Larger Catechism (adopted by the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland July 2, 1648, as a part of the
covenanted uniformity in worship required by this Assembly's [international]
covenant with Christ as sworn in the "Solemn League and Covenant",
August 17, 1643):
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.
Question 110: What are the reasons annexed to
the second commandment, the more to enforce it? Answer: The reasons annexed to
the second commandment, the more to enforce it, contained in these words, For I
the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and
showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments;
are, besides God's sovereignty over us, and propriety in us, his fervent zeal
for his own worship, and his revengeful indignation against all false worship,
as being a spiritual whoredom; accounting the breakers of this commandment such
as hate him, and threatening to punish them unto divers generations; and
esteeming the observers of it such as love him and keep his commandments, and
promising mercy to them unto many generations.
If the covenanted Presbyterianism of the
Westminster divines is not the antithesis of what James Jordan is putting
forth, I could not tell you what is. And it is here again, we find, in light of
this information, Reed's Canterbury Tales to be most helpful. For at this point Reed exhibits the practical
consequences of the rejection of Reformation worship, citing examples of the
rotten fruit that inevitably appears when you have a bad theological tree,
"Consequently, we now find the Tyler community sporting an entire wardrobe
bearing designer labels of Rome and Canterbury. It is fashionable to support
ministerial vestments, the litany, the ecclesiastical year (with saints' days),
the sign of the cross, and public healing services" (p. 24, Canterbury
Tales). Since these shenanigans
began some time ago, under the guise of a superior understanding of the
regulative principle, promoted primarily by Jordan, some have become more bold,
honest and logically consistent about their rejection of Reformation worship.
Gary North, for instance, recently (Feb./94) called the regulative principle a
"Presbyterian folk myth" (Christian Reconstruction newsletter, vol. 18, #1). Of course this apostasy
does not end with aberrant views of worship, for Reed also notes that "(i)n...
The Geneva Papers (#28), Mr.
Jordan openly states his view that the Westminster Confession is a corpse, a
dead symbol with a main value for study, in order to help the church write a
new confession... a rather open denial of confessional Presbyterianism"
(p. 27, Canterbury Tales; on
this point also see Wagner's Paleopresbyterianism Versus Neopresbyterianism; in it he shows how attacks upon the original Westminster
Confession are one of the two
major marks of the neopresbyterian rejection of classic or historic
Presbyterianism). Here, more than just about any other place, Jordan serves as
a sober warning from God against those who would remove the old landmarks.
Theology is a seamless garment, a systematic whole; start pulling out specific
threads and you will end up with a garment full of holes (not a holy garment),
and your nakedness will be evident to all when the judgement comes. In fact,
when compared to the historical testimony of our Reformation forefathers
regarding the regulative principle, Jordan, the new "emperor of
innovation" has already shown that he has been stripped of his Reformation
clothes, theologically.
Reed also notes that despite biblical rebuke,
Jordan continues to spread his anti-Reformation views, writing, "Mr.
Jordan is no longer associated with the congregation (at Tyler - RB) but has
continued to spread his aberrant opinions among Presbyterian churches" (p.
29, Canterbury Tales).
Scripture tells us plainly, and without equivocation, how to treat those who
profess Christianity, but deny apostolic doctrine (and are obstinate in their
error): "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). Furthermore, we are told "Cease, my son, to hear the
instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge" (Prov.
19:27). Because Jordan has had some influence among the more ignorant and
anti-historic segments of the Reformed community, and because he continues to
spread his poison concerning worship, we would all do well to heed the
Scriptural warning. Furthermore, if we really desire Reformation in our day,
the word's of John Knox
to the English nation, in 1559, calling for national repentance over the recent
apostasy during Mary's reign, will be as valuable as any that we will hear
today:
For the first point, touching reformation of
religion, you must at once so purge and expel all dregs of Papistry,
superstition and idolatry: that you; O England! must judge and hold execrable
and accursed whatsoever God has not sanctified unto you by his word, or by the
action of our master Christ Jesus. The glistering beauty of vain ceremonies,
the heaping of things pertaining nothing to edification (by whomsoever they
were invented, justified, or maintained), ought at once to be removed, and so
trodden under the obedience of God's word, that continually this sentence of
your God be present in your heart and mouth: "Not that which appeareth
good in thy eyes shalt thou do to the Lord thy God, but what the Lord thy God
hath commanded thee, that shalt thou do: add nothing to it; diminish nothing
from it... O dissembling hypocrites! plain messengers of Satan, now I do write,
which sometime I have said to your faces, that whatsoever God (in matters of
religion) has not sanctified by his expressed word, the same, I say, before his
Majesty remains execrable, polluted, and defiled. And so, in few words, this is
the first point which your true conversion requires; to wit; that only his word
reform his religion... The other part, touching the instruction of the people,
stands much in the faithful diligence of those to whom the charge of preaching
shall be committed. But when I remember that horrible confusion which before
was maintained, even by those which would be esteemed chief pillars of
religion, I do more fear to be plain in this matter than in all that which
before I have spoken. For it may be, that in speaking the simple truth, I may
displease those whom willingly I would offend for no earthly profit. Nevertheless,
seeing the cause is not mine, but pertains to Christ Jesus, and to the feeding
of that flock which so earnestly and tenderly he did commend Peter (and to all
his faithful pastors to the world's end), whatsoever man shall judge, I dare
not cease, in God's name to require of you a severe reformation of those things
which were before utterly disordered. And first, in the name of the Lord Jesus,
I require of you, that no dumb dog, no poisoned and pestilent Papist, none who
before has persecuted God's children, or obstinately maintained idolatry, be
placed above the people of God, to infect and poison (for other profit they
shall do more) the souls of those whom Christ Jesus has redeemed with his
precious blood. ("A Brief Exhortation to England..." in Selected
Writings of John Knox Presbyterian
Heritage Publications, 1995], pp. 594-598).
Reed's book, the Canterbury Tales, is in keeping with Knox's biblical admonition to
flee idolatry (all worship not instituted by God) and all false teachers. In
fact, these very truths are what make this book such a valuable testimony
against the present error.
In conclusion, Reed's Canterbury Tales is a great introduction to historic
Reformed worship, using Jordan as an example of what misguided zeal (and
the darkness of dilettantism) can produce in this area. Reed writes clearly and
has a very good grasp of the Scriptural and historical data concerning worship
issues. He also includes an excellent bibliography which clearly demonstrates
the point at issue: showing that Jordan has jettisoned the historic Reformed
view of biblically regulated worship (as have most modern Reformed churches and
Christian Reconstructionists) - all his (and their) protests to the contrary
notwithstanding.
FOR FURTHER STUDY:
Biblical Worship by Kevin Reed
Concerning
Close Communion by W.J. McKnight
Shunning
the Unlawful Rights of the Ungodly by
John Calvin
Reformation
Worship and Separation from Idolatry by Dr.
Reg Barrow
Instrumental Music in the Public
Worship of the Church by J.L. Girardeau
Making Shipwreck
of the Faith: Evangelicals and Catholics Together by Kevin Reed
The Songs of
Zion: A Contemporary Case for Exclusive Psalmody by M. Bushell
Foundation
for Reformation: The Regulative Principle of Worship by Greg Price
The
Badge of Popery: Musical Instruments in Public Worship by R.J. George
Paleopresbyterianism
Versus Neopresbyterianism by Dr. Michael
Wagner
A
Dispute Against English Popish Ceremonies
by George Gillespie
Westminster
Confession of Faith by the Westminster
Divines
Selected
Writings of John Knox by John Knox
Close
Communion by R.J. George
Most titles above
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