STUDIES IN THE WESTMINSTER SHORTER CATECHISM
by Rev. Leonard T. Van Horn

Q. 85. What doth God require of us, that we may escape His wrath and curse, due to us for sin?

A. To escape the wrath and curse of God, due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption.

Scripture References: Acts. 20:21. Mark 1:15. John 3:18.

Questions:

1. Is it possible for us to escape the wrath of God by anything we can do of ourselves?

No, it is impossible for the Bible says, “all our righteousness are as filthy rags” Isa. 64:6).

2. How can we say then that God requires certain things of us?

We can say this because although God appoints that these duties are necessary, He in turn enables us to perform them. That is, it is God that works in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Phil. 2:12,13).

3. Why does God require “faith in Jesus Christ” of the sinner?

He requires faith in Jesus Christ because there is no other way to salvation. We are taught this very plainly in Acts 4:12.

4. Why does God require “repentance unto life” of the sinner?

He requires repentance unto life because it is the fruit of believing in Him.

5. Why does God require the “diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption” of the sinner?

He requires the diligent use of these outward means because the neglect of those means would be, in essence, proof of no faith or repentance having taken place in us. These are the ways in which the benefits of redemption are communicated to us.

6. Are you saying then that these three things God requires of us are an important part of salvation?

Yes, they are a part of salvation and evidences of it (2 Thess. 2:13).

THE FINALITY OF THE GOSPEL
“Do you really believe that a person can be saved apart from Jesus Christ?” was the question asked of a candidate of the ministry. The answer given was theologically sound, that no one can be saved apart from Jesus Christ. “Well, then”, said the old minister of the Gospel, “Be sure that you never forget it and preach as if you believe it!” Afterwards I heard the veteran minister tell the young minister that he felt so many people do not really believe in the finality of the Gospel. What he meant was that if people really believed it, they would be more about their Master’s business of witnessing for Jesus Christ.

We are busily engaged, or should be busily engaged, in preaching the only message that—when believed—can enable man to escape the wrath and curse of God. The Bible teaches, as so ably pointed out by Charles Hodge in 1855, that:

(1) “Nothing on this earth is sufficient to save man apart from Christ;
(2) Faith in Jesus Christ is necessary:
(3) God commanded the Gospel to be preached to all nations as the means of saving people.”

And yet so very many people go through day after day without f.elling those they meet that Jesus Saves!

This bellef in the Finality of the Gospel seems to be missing today in so many circles of the church. There seems to be more of a concern for the things of this world than a concern for the souls of men. All of us need to stop and think once more of the teaching of the Bible regarding the way of salvation. We need to be moved once again as men were moved in another day when they sang,

“Where will you spend eternity
Those years that have no end?
Will it be ‘Where the angels sing?
Will it be with the glorious King?
What a sublime and solemn thing! A solemn thing!”

There is no other way to be saved! Theologically speaking we know this to be true. We know the Bible says, “Except ye be converted … ” it person cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That is the final ‘Word. There is no other way. Do we really believe it? If so, time is fleeing! We must be up and about our Master’s business!

Published by The SHIELD and SWORD, INC.
Dedicated to instruction in the Westminster Standards for use as a bulletin insert or other methods of distribution in Presbyterian churches.

Vol. 6, No. 2. (February 1967)

Rev. Leonard T. Van Horn, Editor.

We are pleased to have guest author Dr. David W. Hall back with us today in another of the Election Day Sermon series. We are also pleased to announced that many of these messages have been gathered into a book which will soon be available. The book is titled TWENTY MESSAGES TO CONSIDER BEFORE VOTING. Commending this new volume, Rev. Joel Beeke writes that “The eighteenth century was an age of revolution, and the pulpits of American churches were not silent on issues of national import. David Hall allows us to hear again the vigorous voices of our forefathers, who distinguished between church and state yet called for civil government that fears the Lord and turns away from evil. This book is must reading for our critical times.”

“The Republic of the Israelites, An Example to the American States”
by Samuel Langdon (June 5, 1788)

Samuel Langdon (1723-1797) graduated from Harvard in 1740 (along with Samuel Adams). After serving as a chaplain and as a pastor, Langdon became Harvard’s President in 1774, two years before the Declaration. He also was a delegate to the New Hampshire state convention in 1788. His sermon, “The Republic of the Israelites, An Example to the American States,” drawing heavily on the Old Testament and preached as an election day sermon to the New Hampshire legislature in 1788, is an example of the vitality of Calvinism at the founding of America.

Calvinistic and Old Testament (OT) themes are prominent in Langdon’s sermon. In good Calvinistic form, he spied a full-blown republic in the OT. He maintained that “the national senate was instituted for the assistance of Moses as captain-general and judge of the nation, and this was a plain intimation that in all succeeding times such a senate was necessary for the assistance of the supreme magistrate.” Langdon also based the appointment of courts and effective judicial administration on OT models.

He continued: “A government, thus settled on republican principles, required laws; . . . But God did not leave a people, wholly unskilled in legislation, to make laws for themselves: he took this important matter wholly into his own hands, and beside the moral laws of the two tables, which directed their conduct as individuals, gave them by Moses a complete code of judicial laws.” In many respects, this formulation was hardly changed at all from the Massachusetts Body of Liberties of 1641.

Similar to the post-Reformation tracts by Calvin’s disciples, Langdon traced the contested history of republican evolution, arguing that Greek models of government paled in comparison to the Hebrew originals. Even the pinnacle of Greek republicanism was “far from being worthy to be compared with the laws of Israel, as to the security of life, liberty, property, and public morals.” While elective power belonged to the people, Langdon affirmed, in good Calvinistic style, that such power “is delegated by them to every magistrate and officer; and to the people all in authority are accountable, if they deviate from their duty, and abuse their power.” Even the president depended upon “the choice of the people for his temporary and limited power” and was subject to impeachment for misconduct.

Langdon concluded by summoning the New Hampshire legislature in tones Calvin could have used to the Genevan Council of Two Hundred. He asked them to preserve religion and heed the revelation from heaven. If that were done, New England would continue her glory. In conclusion this American Farel warned, “if our religion is given up, all the liberty we boast of will soon be gone; a profane and wicked people cannot hope for divine blessings, but it may be easily foretold that ‘evil will befall them in the latter days.’ While I thus earnestly exhort you to religion, it must be understood as equally an exhortation to every branch of morality; for without this all religion is vain.” That is how most American founders understood separation of church and state, and many of these seeds had been previously tended in Genevan gardens.

Between the Great Awakening in the 1740s and the Declaration of 1776, the pulpit in America was also prominent in shaping American notions of liberty, a liberty which was rooted in a divinely created order. We cannot fully understand these early orations on this vital topic without understanding their biblical framework. These sermons were not only proclaimed but were also frequently published as pamphlets and distributed to civil magistrates and ministers.[1] The numerous, annual occasions of these public discourses provide a rich resource for direct political insights into the period. These also carried commercials for a larger theological message.[2]

As part of his conclusion, Langdon opined:

Examples are better than precepts; and history is the best instructor both in polity and morals. I have presented you with the portrait of a nation, highly favoured by Heaven with civil and religious institutions, who yet, by not improving their advantages, forfeited their blessings, and brought contempt and destruction on themselves. If I am not mistaken, instead of the twelve tribes of Israel, we may substitute the thirteen States of the American union, and see this application plainly offering itself, viz., That as God in the course of his kind providence hath given you an excellent constitution of government, founded on the most rational, equitable, and liberal principles, by which all that liberty is secured which a people can reasonably claim, and you are impowered to make righteous laws for promoting public order and good morals; and as he has moreover given you by his Son Jesus Christ, who is far superior to Moses, a complete revelation of his will, and a perfect system of true religion, plainly delivered in the sacred writings; it will be your wisdom in the eyes of the nations, and your true interest and happiness, to conform your practice in the strictest manner to the excellent principles of your government, adhere faithfully to the doctrines and commands of the gospel, and practice every public and private virtue.

As one of the “improvements, he applied: “The power in all our republics is acknowledged to originate in the people: it is delegated by them to every magistrate and officer; and to the people all in authority are accountable, if they deviate from their duty, and abuse their power. Even the man, who may be advanced to the chief command of these United States, according to the proposed constitution; whose office resembles that of a king in other nations . . . even he depends on the choice of the people for his temporary and limited power, and will be liable to impeachment, trial, and disgrace for any gross misconduct. On the people, therefore, of these United States it depends whether wise men, or fools, good or bad men, shall govern them; whether they shall have righteous laws, a faithful administration of government, and permanent good order, peace, and liberty; or, on the contrary, feel insupportable burdens, and see all their affairs run to confusion and ruin.”

This sermon is available in printed form in both my 1996 Election Day Sermons, as well as in Ellis Sandoz, Political Sermons of the American Founding Era (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1998). A summary of this classic sermon, with references to Supreme Court citations of it, is accessible online at: http://www.belcherfoundation.org/moral_law.htm. A dramatic summation is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDx2mWm7JuQ.

By Dr. David W. Hall, Pastor
Midway Presbyterian Church

Taken from Twenty Messages to Consider Before Voting

[1] For more on the tradition of these early homilies, see my Election Day Sermons (Oak Ridge, TN: Kuyper Institute, 1996), 9-26.

[2] Several collections of political sermons exist. A variety of libraries contain some of the great manuscripts. If one can locate a copy of John Wingate Thornton’s The Pulpit of the American Revolution (Boston, 1860), more of these early sermons can be reviewed. Others are contained in Frank Moore’s The Patriot Preachers of the American Revolution (1860), Bernard Bailyn’s Pamphlets of the American Revolution (Cambridge, MA, 1965), and in two recent releases by Liberty Press in Indianapolis: American Political Writing during the Founding Era, 1760-1805, Charles S. Hyneman and Donald S. Lutz, editors (1983) or Political Sermons of the American Founding Era, 1730-1805, Ellis Sandoz, editor (1991). One would also do well to consult Harry S. Stout’s The New England Soul: Preaching and Religious Culture in Colonial New England (New York: Oxford, 1986) or Donald Weber’s Rhetoric and History in Revolutionary New England (New York, 1988).

It is Simply Known as Old Tennent
by Rev. David T. Myers

Would you join a church congregation if the original members of the church were branded on their faces with a “T” for traitor?  Or had their ears “cropped” and disfigured as a permanent sign of their rebellion? I dare say most modern Christians might hesitate for a moment, wondering about the background of these members. But what if you discovered through investigation that these members had resisted the government’s attempting to overturn their Presbyterian convictions with those of the official state church?  I dare say that we who are true and faithful to the Word of God—the Bible—would quickly stand by their side and declare ourselves to be faithful adherents in such a church.

Such were the original members of what is simply known as Old Tennent Church, a  hardy group of Covenanters who came to these American shores in the late seventeenth century. More specifically, they came to Monmouth County, New Jersey, in 1685, where they had been sent by the Crown as indentured servants.  As they worked off their “punishment,” they established in 1692 on a small acre of ground, a tiny log church, about the size of a cabin, as their worship center.  They called it “Free Hill.”

Fast forward to when the small group of believers, under the spiritual oversight of Ruling Elder Walter Ker, aligned themselves with the newly begun Philadelphia Presbytery, of which we have written before in these posts. In fact, there is some discussion as to whether that Presbytery actually met at Old Tennent rather than in the Philadelphia area.  Elder Walter Ker, who was known as “the Father of Old Tennent”, believes it did meet at Old Tennent.

It was on this day, June 3, that the steadily growing church was organized as a particular church in the Philadelphia Presbytery. Its first pastor was the first Presbyterian pastor ordained in the colonies, namely, John Boyd. Later, two of the Tennent brothers, John and William Tennant filled the pulpit, with the latter occupying that pulpit for several decades.  Under the leadership of William Tennent the church was a central part of the Great Awakening, that wide-spread revival then filling the land. As a result, men like George Whitefield, Gilbert Tennent, and Jonathan Edwards were also there on occasion to fill the pulpit at Old Tennent. In one instance, the Presbyterian missionary David Brainerd administered the Sacrament to a number of Indian converts in its sanctuary.

The original structure has been restored at various times, but its sanctuary continues to be active with members, friends, and visitors, being a member congregation of the Presbyterian Church, USA.

Words to Live By:
Whether Old Tennent Church was the location where the Presbytery of Philadelphia began or not, we still can rejoice in this church’s founding and subsequent early history for the faith once delivered unto the saints. This author wishes he could state that this church is now part of the Presbyterian Church in America, but that is not the case. Let us however not simply rejoice in the early history of Presbyterian churches, but every day and with all our heart and mind, continue the Reformed faith—the clear proclamation of the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord—in our families, to our fellow members in evangelical and Reformed churches with which we are affiliated, and in the communities in which we live. Point them to Christ as our only Hope and our sure Salvation.

There are two miracles associated with our Scottish subject today, Ebenezer Erskine [1680-1754].  One of the miracles was in the physical realm and the second was spiritual.

First, for the physical miracle, Ebenezer Erskine was born after his mother died.  It may take a few minutes for that fact to sink in, but it is nevertheless true.  Let me explain.  Ebenezer’s father,  Henry, was a Presbyterian minister in Scotland.  He was married to Margaret.  One day, his wife died.  She had a very beautiful and expensive gold ring on her finger.  The family tried to get it off, but her finger was so swollen that it was impossible.  So she was laid in a coffin and taken to the graveyard near the church.  The sexton, who was officiating at the funeral, also saw the gold ring on her finger.  After the funeral, around midnight, he dug up the casket, opened it, and tried to remove the ring with a sharp knife.  Blood spurted out, and the “corpse” sat up.  Margaret climbed out of the casket and walked to the manse near the cemetery.  (We are not told in the true story what happened to the sexton!)  She knocked at the door. It was opened, and everyone was astonished, including her mourning husband.  Ebenezar, to say nothing of his younger brother, Ralph, was literally born of one who was raised from the dead.

The second miracles was spiritual in nature.  Ebenezer, who was born in 1680, went to the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 1703.  Ordained by the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, he began his ministry as the pastor of a church in Portmoak, Scotland, preaching a mixture of law and gospel, with an emphasis on good works.  His wife, Alison Turpie Erskine, being a solid believer, wept for her husband’s hard heart.  But God’s Spirit was going to move in that heart in a marvelous way.

In God’s providence, Ebenezer overheard his wife and her brother talking about the gospel.  What they said about it troubled his heart.  Then his wife became very ill, and in her delirium, spoke of the things of God to her caring husband.  Ebenezer continued to be troubled.  She became well, and both of them began to converse about the gospel and its message.  He in his own words, “got his head out of time and into eternity.”  His heart was converted.  He covenanted with God the following: “I offer myself up, soul and body, unto God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. I flee for shelter to the blood of Jesus.  I will live to Him.  I will die to Him. I take heaven and earth to witness that all I am and all I have is His.”

From henceforth, his messages were all of grace.  He knew how, one said, to introduce Jesus Christ to a sinner.  People so flocked to his worship services that the building could not contain them.  He spent 28 years in his first pastorate before moving to Stirling, Scotland, where he stayed the rest of his life and ministry until 1754.

The first succession from the Church of Scotland came in 1740 under  his leadership.  It was over the old issue of patronage, discussed elsewhere in Today.  It also involved a doctrinal issue centered around the doctrine found in a book entitled “The Marrow of Modern Divinity.”  The church he began was first called the Associate Presbytery.  He died on June 2, 1754.

His name is immortalized today in the educational institutions of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, namely, Erskine College and Erskine Theological Seminary.

Words to Live By:
Reader, look back into your own life, spiritual and otherwise, for extraordinary evidences of God’s working in the past and present.  Then render thanksgiving for each one and share them with others, for either their conviction, if an unbeliever, or for their encouragement, if a fellow believer.