Year of Calvinism: Calvinism & the Future

A church without Christ is a dead church.
And a dead church poisons the society around it.

A church with half a Christ is a church half-dead--if not completely dead already. Such churches teach that man and God cooperate in some aspect of salvation. They teach a baptized humanism masquerading as the Gospel truth. Such teaching temporarily assuages the guilt of the parishioners, usually offering self-help techniques or guiding them toward some social good as an offering to their guilty consciences.

So, the churches and the people become more aware of social, political and economic woes and correspondingly unaware of doctrinal deviations. 'Ministries' multiply focusing on saving America from the next liberal onslaught. "No creed but Christ" becomes their watchword. The culture wars their battleground.

All the while men inside and outside the church are in bondage to sin. The guilt comes back. And men seek out other religious and secular ways to avoid their sin. Christian defection increases. The churches become more irrelevant and society slowly disintegrates.

Every society is based upon a common creed. And every creed is founded upon a common religion. That common religion is manifested in the public institutions of society.

One such powerful public institution used to be the churches in Western Civilization. And that religion used to be Protestantism, especially the Reformed faith. Her creeds were the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster Confession of Faith. Various societies were being leavened by such creeds for over two-hundred years. And America was especially the long-awaited fruit of these creedal seeds of truth.

Now, after another two-hundred years the seeds of defection are bearing fruit. Not only in the societies of the West but especially in the churches. This problem did not arise from without the church (although it did tempt her) but from within. It is a dangerous distraction to focus upon the woes of society and the revolution of humanistic culture if these enemies were already in the midst of the church.

And only the classic Protestantism of the old rugged cross can purge her system. Only a clarion call back to the basic proclamation of repentance and faith can save her. Such a call must include an unequivocal proclamation of man's deplorable and depraved nature: that men hate God and His Christ, loving their own bondage to Satan instead. Such a call must include an unequivocal proclamation of God's stupendous and sovereign salvation: that grace alone through faith alone on account of Christ alone is the only covenantal salvation offered by God's good pleasure alone.

This is Calvinism plain and simple. It is not the closet Calvinism that meekly hides this truth. Nor the cantankerous Calvinism that rips churches asunder. No, by the power of the Holy Spirit, it is the old Gospel preached at the Reformation and the First and Second Great Awakenings.

The future of that Gospel may look uncertain. On the one hand, those who believe and practice such a truth are a super-minority in America. And even a smaller minority in Europe. On the other hand, the power of secular humanism is a Goliath waiting to wreak havoc upon the feeble church.

Yet God has always used the foolishness of this world and the weakness of men to strengthen His kingdom. Such an abysmal hour as this should not cast our hearts to the ground. We should not look with fear upon our woeful condition, giving up all hope and compromising our birth-right.

We of all families of the Christian faith should have the most hope! It is God Almighty who is in charge not the impotent American electorate or the feeble conspiracies of men. As Van Til titled one of his letters, "We are not ashamed to be Calvinists!"

The future of Calvinism is one of triumph. God's omnipotent will is already swaying nations and directing peoples toward their final end: the glory of God. He has promised that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against His Bride.

Yet we must remember that our future is tied with our repentance and faith. Repentance from private and corporate sins and continuing faith in Christ our Righteousness. Christians do not need more culture wars; they need more spiritual armor for spiritual warfare. They need pastors to equip them and churches willing to live up to the Reformed faith.

A church with Christ is a living church.
And a living church purifies the society around it.


(part of the Year of Calvinism series)

Year of Calvinism: Consequences II

October 31st is the historical catalyst of Western liberties.

It is time to re-consider the vitality and viability of Christianity once again. Pragmatism is the only native American philosophy. And Americans live it to the hilt. Yet if we follow what 'works' why not follow Christianity?

This series is directed at encouraging American Christians to reconsider their roots and modern detractors to reconsider the historical significance of Protestantism. America is one of the best socio-historical evidences for Christianity.

Our freedoms were forged in the fires of the Reformation. And expanded through her children. And yet too many Americans wish to divorce these freedoms from the framework in which they were erected. They want the fruits without the Christian roots. If there is any cause and effect in the world, then this spells disaster for future generations.


Freedom & the Reformation

How is that so? Let a liberal historian from Yale explain the logical and psychological connections in a three-fold manner:

"How is it, then, that Calvinism is acknowledged, even by foes, to have promoted powerfully the cause of civil liberty? The reason lies in the boundary line which it drew between church and State. Calvinism would not surrender the peculiar notions of the Church to the civil authority. Whether the church, or the Government, should regulate the administration the Sacrament, and admit or reject the communicants, was the question which Calvin fought out with the authorities at Geneva, in this feature, Calvinism differed from the relation of the civil leaders to the Church, as established under the auspices of Zwingli, well as of Luther, and from the Anglican system which originated under Henry VIII…"

Thus, separation of church and state (a legal term not clearly defined until last century) began budding during the Reformation.

"A second reason why Calvinism has been favorable to civil liberty is found in the republican character of its church organization. Laymen shared power with ministers… Men who were accustomed to rule themselves in the Church would claim the same privilege in the commonwealth…"

The Presbyterian model is three-fold: a layer of courts (local church, regional church (Presbytery) and a national church (General Assembly)), joint-rule by laymen (elders) and ministers, and a written constitution. The people vote for their leaders and local issues. The people's voice is exercised through their elders at the regional and national levels. This republican system pre-dated America's by over two-hundred years.

"Another source of the influence of Calvinism, in advancing the cause of civil liberty, has been derived from its theology. The sense of the exaltation of the Almighty Ruler, and of his intimate connection with the minutest incidents and obligations of human life, which is fostered by this theology, dwarfs all earthly potentates. An intense spirituality, a consciousness that this life is but an infinitesimal fraction of human existence, dissipates the feeling of personal homage for men, however high their station, and dulls the luster of all earthly grandeur. Calvinism and Romanism are the antipodes of each other." (George Park Fisher, The Reformation, revised, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1920), 207ff.)

In fact, historian and founder of Annapolis, George Bancroft (son of a Unitarian minister and no friend of Calvinism) declared:

"The fanatic for Calvinism was a fanatic for liberty; and, in the moral warfare for freedom, his creed was his most faithful counselor and his never-failing support. The Puritans...planted...the undying principles of democratic liberty" (A History of the United States, vol. 1 (New York: Harper & Brothers), 464)

He even declared:

"Calvin infused enduring elements into the institutions of Geneva, and made it for the modern world, the impregnable fortress of popular liberty, the fertile seed-plot of democracy."

(Literary and Historical Miscellanies, (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1855), 405-406)


The Point of It All

The influence of the Reformation was not monolithic. And other factors were involved. And historians do debate on how and to what extent Calvinism influenced early modernity. Yet influence it did.

The theological influence of Luther and the Reformers is the most fundamental factor. As such I must mention again that the Gospel calls men to repent of their wayward actions and beliefs. Men, being bound in their sin, have guilty consciences they try to assuage, even to the point of creating entire new worldviews whole-cloth. But the Gospel of Christ, that He died for the sins of those who believe in Him and His work, can free such fettered consciences.

And a free conscience is a free man.

This entire series can be summed up by a modern encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics:

"In general it may be claimed for Calvinism that its influence has been an elevating and invigorating one. Abasing man before God, but exalting him again in the consciousness of a newborn liberty in Christ, teaching him his slavery through sin, yet restoring his freedom to him through grace, and leading him to regard all things in the light of eternity, it contributed to form a grave but very noble and elevated type of character, and reared a race not afraid to lift up the head before kings."

James Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Part 5, (Kessinger Publishing, 2003), 153.)


Part 1, October Revolution
Part 2, Education
Part 3, Birth of America
Part 4, Early America
Part 5, Political Roots
Part 6, October 31st

October 31st: Protestantism & the West, Pt. 6

October 31st is the historical catalyst of Western liberties.

It is time to re-consider the vitality and viability of Christianity once again. Pragmatism is the only native American philosophy. And Americans live it to the hilt. Yet if we follow what 'works' why not follow Christianity?

This series is directed at encouraging American Christians to reconsider their roots and modern detractors to reconsider the historical significance of Protestantism. America is one of the best socio-historical evidences for Christianity.

Our freedoms were forged in the fires of the Reformation. And expanded through her children. And yet too many Americans wish to divorce these freedoms from the framework in which they were erected. They want the fruits without the Christian roots. If there is any cause and effect in the world, then this spells disaster for future generations.


Freedom & the Reformation

How is that so? Let a liberal historian from Yale explain the logical and psychological connections in a three-fold manner:

"How is it, then, that Calvinism is acknowledged, even by foes, to have promoted powerfully the cause of civil liberty? The reason lies in the boundary line which it drew between church and State. Calvinism would not surrender the peculiar notions of the Church to the civil authority. Whether the church, or the Government, should regulate the administration the Sacrament, and admit or reject the communicants, was the question which Calvin fought out with the authorities at Geneva, in this feature, Calvinism differed from the relation of the civil leaders to the Church, as established under the auspices of Zwingli, well as of Luther, and from the Anglican system which originated under Henry VIII…"

Thus, separation of church and state (a legal term not clearly defined until last century) began budding during the Reformation.

"A second reason why Calvinism has been favorable to civil liberty is found in the republican character of its church organization. Laymen shared power with ministers… Men who were accustomed to rule themselves in the Church would claim the same privilege in the commonwealth…"

The Presbyterian model is three-fold: a layer of courts (local church, regional church (Presbytery) and a national church (General Assembly)), joint-rule by laymen (elders) and ministers, and a written constitution. The people vote for their leaders and local issues. The people's voice is exercised through their elders at the regional and national levels. This republican system pre-dated America's by over two-hundred years.

"Another source of the influence of Calvinism, in advancing the cause of civil liberty, has been derived from its theology. The sense of the exaltation of the Almighty Ruler, and of his intimate connection with the minutest incidents and obligations of human life, which is fostered by this theology, dwarfs all earthly potentates. An intense spirituality, a consciousness that this life is but an infinitesimal fraction of human existence, dissipates the feeling of personal homage for men, however high their station, and dulls the luster of all earthly grandeur. Calvinism and Romanism are the antipodes of each other." (George Park Fisher, The Reformation, revised, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1920), 207ff.)

In fact, historian and founder of Annapolis, George Bancroft (son of a Unitarian minister and no friend of Calvinism) declared:

"The fanatic for Calvinism was a fanatic for liberty; and, in the moral warfare for freedom, his creed was his most faithful counselor and his never-failing support. The Puritans...planted...the undying principles of democratic liberty" (A History of the United States, vol. 1 (New York: Harper & Brothers), 464)

He even declared:

"Calvin infused enduring elements into the institutions of Geneva, and made it for the modern world, the impregnable fortress of popular liberty, the fertile seed-plot of democracy."

(Literary and Historical Miscellanies, (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1855), 405-406)


The Point of It All

The influence of the Reformation was not monolithic. And other factors were involved. And historians do debate on how and to what extent Calvinism influenced early modernity. Yet influence it did.

The theological influence of Luther and the Reformers is the most fundamental factor. As such I must mention again that the Gospel calls men to repent of their wayward actions and beliefs. Men, being bound in their sin, have guilty consciences they try to assuage, even to the point of creating entire new worldviews whole-cloth. But the Gospel of Christ, that He died for the sins of those who believe in Him and His work, can free such fettered consciences.

And a free conscience is a free man.

This entire series can be summed up by a modern encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics:

"In general it may be claimed for Calvinism that its influence has been an elevating and invigorating one. Abasing man before God, but exalting him again in the consciousness of a newborn liberty in Christ, teaching him his slavery through sin, yet restoring his freedom to him through grace, and leading him to regard all things in the light of eternity, it contributed to form a grave but very noble and elevated type of character, and reared a race not afraid to lift up the head before kings."

James Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Part 5, (Kessinger Publishing, 2003), 153.)


Part 1, October Revolution
Part 2, Education
Part 3, Birth of America
Part 4, Early America
Part 5, Political Roots
Part 6, October 31st



For more info: For a scholarly assessment of Calvinism's influence read, The Reformation of Rights: Law, Religion & Human Rights in Early Modern Calvinism, Witte; for evidence that resistance to tyrant was part of the middle colony Reformed thought read, Revolution and Religion, Griffin.

Political Roots: Protestantism & the West, Pt. 5

“He that will not honor the memory, and respect the influence of Calvin, knows but little of the origin of American liberty.”

George Bancroft, historian, founder of Annapolis


October 31st was a revolutionary day, the birth of Protestantism. This series has explored in summary fashion the Christian influence upon Western civilization and America in particular.


Introduction

The freedoms we enjoy as Americans have their historical roots in Christianity.

This is not simply an assertion from a biased observer but the assertion of several respected historians. The Reformed doctrines are being explored once again as meaningful beliefs that shaped and formed the early modern period. From Gorski's The Disciplinary Revolution to the detailed legal and historical examination of Witte and Berman, the Christian worldview is being examined as a real historical source of society, policy and legal rationale. It is certainly the case that these historians do not necessarily agree with the major tenants of Reformed thought, only examining how they impacted the thoughts and laws of those time periods.

And yet if our society and legal code have any historical connection to the past (and any nation will claim continuity with its own past), it is certainly a deep connection with Christianity. Other influences were certainly there but Christianity overshadowed them all.


Political Freedom

John Adams bluntly acknowledged the wide-spread influences of both the French-Calvinist’s work Vindicus Contra Tyrannos and the English Calvinist work of Ponet (A Shorte Treatise of Politike Power), both which defended the right of the people to rise against tyrants (The Works of John Adams [1851] Vol. 6, p. 3-4.)

Certain elements in the Declaration of Independence echoed past religious thought such as “all men are created equal,” which was originally expressed in the Puritan work Lex, Rex in 1644. Even further back in time, a Dutch Calvinist, Johannes Althusius, wrote Politica (1603), a complete systematic presentation of a representative Republican government including political resistance theory. Pre-existing resistance theories existed, but were not as fully developed until the Reformation under the likes of Calvin, Bucer, Knox, and others.

Daniel Elazar, professor at Temple University, member of presidential committees and founding member of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, asserted:

“In all of the places where Reformed Protestantism was strong, there emerged a Protestant republicanism that opposed tyrants even as it demanded local religious conformity. Reformed Protestants in England became the Puritans, whose name indicated that they wanted to purify the Anglican Church as much as the Catholic, which they had rejected. In the seventeenth century they launched the first of the great modern revolutions, the English Civil War, against royal absolutism, opening the way for modern democracy.” (World History Curriculum, Article 2)

In fact, he edited a work of fourteen essays written by various scholars and professors exploring the religious connection between the political idea of federalism and the Reformed idea of covenant. The Covenant Connection is a must read for Christians and detractors alike. He further claimed:

“A majority of the delegates to the Convention were affiliated with covenant-based churches…The Presbyterians, however, were already moving toward full-scale federalism. As Arthur Schlesinger, Sr., noted: 'More than either [the Congregationalists or Anglicans] the Presbyterians in their reliance on federalist and representative institutions anticipated the political makeup of the future United States.' Indeed, as the first government came into office under the U.S. Constitution in 1789, the Presbyterians held their first nationwide General Assembly. In the Presbyterian system, congregations in a local area formed a presbytery; several presbyteries in a region formed a synod; and then came the General Assembly. As a result, the system of federal democracy established by the U.S. Constitution has often been referred to as Presbyterianism writ large for civil society..." (Covenant & the American Founding)


The War

The Revolutionary War was partially fueled by religious concerns. John Adams explained:

"Where is the man to be found at this day, when we see [various bishops]...who will believe that the apprehension of Episcopacy contributed fifty years ago, as much as any other cause, to arouse the attention, not only of the inquiring mind, but of the common people, and urge them to close thinking on the constitutional authority of parliament over the colonies? This, nevertheless, was a fact as certain as any in the history of North America." (Works of Adams, Letter to Morse, December 2, 1815)

If parliament could institute a spiritual lord (Bishop) then certainly they could institute political lords. One of the most well-known political cartoons of that time, "An Attempt to Land a Bishop in America," shows a crowd of colonists harrying a Bishop back to England, throwing books titled "Locke," "Sydney on Government" and "Calvin's Works," shouting "no lords spiritual or temporal" (1768, see picture).

In fact, on May 20, 1775, the Presbyterian Synod was the first religious body to send a public letter to their churches reminding them to respect the Crown even while they encouraged their readers to obey the Continental Congress and to prepare their lives and souls for war. Most of the Continental army were Presbyterian laymen even as most of the New England minutemen were Congregationalists. These ministers--defending the Revolution or even fighting in it--were dubbed the "Black Regiment". Horace Walpole told Parliament that "there is no use crying about it. Cousin America has run off with a Presbyterian parson, and that is the end of it."

(to be continued)

Part 1, October Revolution
Part 2, Education
Part 3, Birth of America
Part 4, Early America
Part 5, Political Roots
Part 6, October 31st

More info: October Revolution, Mathis.

Early America: Protestantism & the West, Pt. 4

“If we call the American statesmen of the late eighteenth century the Founding Fathers of the United States, then the Pilgrims and Puritans were the grandfathers and Calvin the great-grandfather..."

Von Kuehnelt-Leddihn


October 31st is not just Halloween, it is the birthday of Protestantism. Luther's theological challenge changed the West. And this multi-part series summarizes some of those changes.

Introduction

What many detractors of Christianity do not realize is that Protestants do not believe the Bible micromanages life. Even though the conservative Christians today wish to go "back to the Bible" they generally do not mean they wish to quote chapter and verse for any and all social or governmental decisions.

The same was true for early Americans. Yes, many more laws were directly tied to Biblical precepts (such as the Sabbath/Sunday laws), yet many other local laws were not. The doctrine of general revelation (here) gave rise to natural law and the freedom to apply Biblical principles to unique local circumstances.

In other words, any given law in the early American period was assumed (or argued) to be compatible with God's written Word.


Law & Christianity

Historically, the modern world--Modernity--began with the Reformation. Now more historians are publicly acknowledging what their older predecessors already knew: the substantive impact of Reformed thought in history.

One book in particular, Law & Revolution II, traces the theological outlooks that shaped both German and English legal thought from the Reformation through the 1600s. Published through Harvard University Press (Belknap), Professor Berman's well-documented book is a ringing challenge to many preconceived assumptions.

Ironically, from a non-Christian viewpoint anyway, the historical underpinnings of many modern legal assumptions--separation of church and state, freedom of religion and conscience--are found in Puritan Massachusetts. In fact, the jurisdictional distinction between church and state was already articulated in the 1600s: church censure (discipline) was not allowed to "degrade or depose" any government official (Puritan Political Ideas, Edmund Morgan).

The cultural assumptions at the time included the importance of Christianity as the social basis of the government. A Republic required knowledge, morality and religion as a cohesive tripartite foundation for good government. This is what the 1787 Congress stated (and the 1789 Congress re-adopted) two-hundred years ago when it adopted the Northwest Ordinance regulating the new American territory:

Art. 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged [in the States to be formed from this Territory].

Although well-known as the chief architect of the Virginia "Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom" Jefferson also sponsored (along with Madison) a "Bill for Punishing Disturbers of Religious Worship and Sabbath Breakers" and a "Bill for Appointing Days of Public Fasting and Thanksgiving."

In fact, Christianity was considered part and parcel of the common law of the land. US Supreme Court Justice Story argued as much and this fact was asserted several times by several courts over the history of the 1800s ("When Christianity was Part of the Common Law," Law & History Review, 16:27 (1998)).

Quotes

"[T]he prevailing spirit of Americans before and after the War of Independence was essentially Calvinistic in both its brighter and uglier aspects"

Von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, “The Western Dilemma: Calvin or Rousseau?” Modern Age, no. 1 (1971)

“Hence the constitutional democracy that we all know today has its roots in that Reformed Protestant revival of the biblical idea of covenant which was not only important in the fight against tyrants and hierarchies but could be made operational in political systems that would protect liberties.”

Daniel Elazar, World History Curriculum, Article 2

Hamilton, a legal historian, an expert on constitutional and copyright law and a former assistant to Supreme court judges, discovered that:

"This [American] marriage of distrust in individuals but hope in properly structured institutions is no mere historical accident but has its roots in the Reformation theology of John Calvin…Others have made the more general case that Calvinist precepts permeated the culture at the time of the framing. Many of the Framers brought to the convention a background in Calvinist theology, with Presbyterians predominating among the Calvinists"

“The Calvinist Paradox of Distrust and Hope at the Constitutional Convention,” Christian Perspectives on Legal Thought, 2001


Modern detractors to Christianity are standing upon a legal foundation wrought in the refinery of the Reformation. The question is: if the foundation shifts from Protestant roots to atheistic assertions what will become of our liberties?


Part 1, October Revolution
Part 2, Education
Part 3, Birth of America
Part 4, Early America
Part 5, Political Roots
Part 6, October 31st


For more info: Separation of Church & State, Hamburger; Religion & the American Constitutional Experiment, Witte; The Covenant Connection, ed. Elazar.

Birth of America: Protestantism & the West, Pt. 3

This Saturday marks October 31st, the birth of Protestantism. The last two parts of this series included a general overview of Christian influence upon the West and especially its impact upon education.

This part will emphasize the less well-known religious social foundations of America.

Introduction

It is important to note the adjective 'social' as many today seem to only think in political terms. In the early modern period, before the rise of large, integrated, bureaucratic states, politics was only one of many aspects of a nation.

The social aspect, the institutional structures of family, school, church, government, etc., is the formal organization of the underlining cultural organism. The culture is the local, private and semi-private expectations and worldview outlooks that affect society. Naturally, there is a reciprocal relationship, but usually the larger institutions (such as the government) reflect the beliefs of the culture as a whole.


Jamestown, Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay

In both aspects of early America, religion played a dominate role. The wide-spread localism of this period allowed for religious and social diversity within a Christian context. Naturally, the localism arose from the vast size of the Eastern coast. Even so, Protestantism tied these diverse settlements together.

In 1607, Jamestown, although starting as a business venture of the Virginia Company of London, included a minister. And worship services were required morning and evening every Sunday. Catechizing the young came a few years later after women showed up. The particular denomination was Anglicanism. And its 39 Articles were clearly Protestant with a strong strand of Reformed thinking (sovereignty of God and the depravity of man, here).

Presumably, many Americans know that both Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay were founded by Protestants: Separatists and Puritans respectively. Both groups were ardent Calvinists. And they came for religious freedom.


Culture & Christianity

Parents were to inculcate their children with Christian practice and doctrine. That included especially the Bible and the catechisms. Church leadership especially encouraged this in the families all the while they catechized the same families and their children. The schools simply reinforced this Protestant outlook with Bible readings and the Puritan New England Primer.

Although church membership was low (probably due to the high admittance standards), attendance was over 50% through the 1700s. Virtually all Americans were Christians of one stripe or another.

From Bibles, catechisms and sermons, most of the books were religious in nature. One of the most popular children books for over 100 years was a Puritan poem about judgment day, the Day of Doom. Newspapers, speeches and debates were couched in religious language, especially the Calvinist language of "providence." Even Paine's Common Sense used Christian language and imagery.


Politics & Christianity

Election day sermons were the mainstay in New England, while practiced occasionally elsewhere. This old tradition gathered the state leadership into one building to hear the chosen minister expound their duty to God. Several such sermons included a public defense of resistance to tyrants. Sermons were also preached during artillery drills, funerals and public holidays.

Political leaders, one and all, spoke the language of Christianity. Many were devout Protestants (John Jay, Patrick Henry, Roger Sherman). A few may have been borderline Deists (Washington). And even fewer were outright Deists (Jefferson). And some were hard to figure out (Madison).

Yet the Deism of Jefferson was not publicly known. And the Christian climate of the time was such that the stigma of the title 'deist' was even avoided by Jefferson. During his run for president in 1800, he was accused as such (without any real evidence). He publicly denied the charge.

The Declaration of Independence (as the organic foundation of America) explicitly mentions God and providence, rooting American liberties in Christianity. The Continental Congress pronounced several days of prayer and thanksgiving in explicitly Christian language, enacted public prayer and implemented chaplains.

All those State constitutions mention God and religion explicitly. The lack thereof in the Constitution makes sense in light of the state and local concerns of a nation-wide establishment of a single Christian denomination--what mother England had at the time.

Nevertheless, the new Congress still funded chaplains, asked for days of thanksgiving (via Washington), attended public facilities for worship services, and even condoned an American edition of the Bible (more here).

Several state constitutions still had a form of Christian establishment after the formation of the Constitution, with some including religious vows. In fact, the 1778 South Carolina constitution stated:

"The Christian Protestant religion shall be deemed, and is hereby constituted and declared to be, the established religion of this State."

(Article 38)

(to be continued)


Part 1, October Revolution
Part 2, Education
Part 3, Birth of America
Part 4, Early America
Part 5, Political Roots
Part 6, October 31st

More info: Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment, John Witte, Jr.

Education: Protestantism and the West, Pt. 2

October 31st is the birthday of Protestantism. This short series is designed to bring to light the lost history of the revolution of 1517 and how it substantially created most of the West as we know it today.


Introduction

Many American's think that the Enlightenment was the only significant force for change in early modern Western history. Yet some of the ideas of that movement already existed. And more importantly such ideas of education, liberty and democracy already existed and were promulgated by the Reformers and Puritans alike.

Part one of this series gave quotes about the historical importance of the Reformation in the formation of the West; this second part will focus on the educational impact of the Reformation.

If history has any lessons for modern Americans, certainly the success of the Reformation ought to be one of them.


Ancient Education

The idea of teaching each and every citizen of a nation has probably existed in the isolated corners of history. The Greek states and Rome never had universal education, reserving any serious formal education for the wealthy (almost always the male) and certainly not for the slaves.

Christianity changed all that.

Already in the centuries after the resurrection of Christ, catechetical schools were established to teach rudimentary skills and doctrines to prepare for church membership. And such education included both sexes. The local pastors would tutor as well. Some of these catechetical schools were virtual colleges in their own right.

With the collapse of the Roman Empire, it was left for Christianity to hold together the remnants of civilization. So alongside homeschooling, other schools were created, expanding in type and number during the Middle Ages: monasteries, city-schools, cathedral schools, guild schools and the famous grammar (Latin) schools. From the 800s onward more and more universities were formally established, expanding the source of knowledge while preserving past wisdom.

Reformation Education

In many ways, the Reformation was an educational endeavor so deep in its impact that Americans still feel its reverberations today. The Bible that the Middle Ages had little access to was written in Latin. The Reformation changed that. It was now translated into the local languages. The Bible now became central once more in the life of the church, families and society.

Martin Luther and other Lutheran leaders pushed for the erection of more schools to help the poor peasant families. Some of the Lutheran states even made literacy a mandatory requirement for full church membership. Likewise, Calvin and other Reformed leaders in Scotland and the Continent promoted formal education by establishing catechetical classes (religious training) and local schools for boys and girls. The Reformed Moravian Bishop, Comenius, is considered by many the father of modern education.

As strange as it may sound to modern ears, preaching and the weekly lectures were educational events in the lives of many Protestants because the minister was typically the most educated man among them (being university trained). It was these university-trained preaches, the Puritans in particular, that influenced our modern educational system both in Britain and America. While depending on home-based literacy, they pushed for wide-spread literacy and basic theological training for everyone.


Early American Education

"We boast of our common schools; Calvin was the father of popular education, the inventor of the system of free schools."
George Bancroft, Historian, Founder of Annapolis

The Old Deluder Satan Act of 1647 in Massachusetts decreed the erection of schools in various towns. Such an attitude toward education was embedded in early America:

"Through the Puritans who settled in New England, and later through the Huguenots in the Carolinas, the Scotch Presbyterians in the central colonies, and the Dutch in New York, Calvinism was carried to America, was for long the dominant religious belief, and profoundly colored all early American education.” (Cubberley, 299)

Even the curriculum reflected Reformed beliefs. The New England Primer, with its "In Adam's fall/we sinned all", included the Westminster Shorter Catechism (question and answer format). It was the most popular school book for over 100 years. It was a common practice for minister to teach in school or tutor in private. All the while these leaders promoted schooling.

Many of the first state constitutions before 1800 included some form of provision for education: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Georgia. Other states, such as New York, similarly provided for wide-spread education even without a constitutional mandate. In the spirit of Puritanism, the famous Northwest Ordinance of 1887 of the US Congress declared: "Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."

What It All Means

"In the countries where Calvinism became dominant the leaders included general education in their scheme of religious, political, and social reform.” (Cubberley, 330)

The historical irony is clear: the contemporary detractors of Christianity were educated in a system historically rooted in and propagated by Christianity and the Reformation in particular.


Part 1, October Revolution
Part 2, Education
Part 3, Birth of America
Part 4, Early America
Part 5, Political Roots
Part 6, October 31st

More info: Godly Learning, John Morgan; History of Education, Cubberley; American Education, Cremin.

October Revolution: Protestantism & the West Pt. 1

On October 24, 25, 1917, after overthrowing the tsar in February, the Bolsheviks and Soviets united in toppling the newly establish Russian government. This is popularly known as the October Revolution.

On October 31, 1517, an Augustinian monk nailed 95 Thesis to the Wittenberg door, beginning the overthrow of papal power. This too is an October Revolution.

The former brought about repressive communism. The latter brought about the beginning of liberty and democracy.

Introduction

Naturally, any logical, historical or religious arguments that this author could employ would be held with great suspicion. Such a claim about the transforming power of the Reformation requires more substantiation than the clever writing of a pro-Reformation pastor.

Many scholars of the past and present readily, if not begrudgingly, admit to the dynamic and positive impact of the Reformers and their progeny. In fact, the fire of liberty of conscience lighted by Luther was fanned ever brighter by Calvin and the Puritans.

The influence these scholars write about is not a monolithic force that transformed Western civilization in one fell swoop. It was not the only historical source of change either. And as a rising force in the early modern era, Protestantism, especially the Reformed/Presbyterian brand, matured in its self-understanding and application of the basal principles nascent within its religious soul. Such nascent (and sometimes fully articulate) principles included liberty of conscience, liberty of vocation (work), liberty of church from state and liberty of the people from tyrants.

Unlike today, religion was determinate of that time period. Even though many of the historians to be quoted are not Reformed (Calvinists) themselves and may even repudiate it in favor of another system of thought, they honestly admit to its importance in the historical development of the West in general and in particular wide-spread education, republican self-rule, political revolution and the formation of America.

First Principles

The quotes from various notable historians are best understood against the fundamentals of the Reformation. One of the first principle doctrines of the Reformers (Lutherans and Calvinists alike) is the primacy of the Bible. As God's written will for His people it is considered not only the guidebook for the individual but for the society as well. This belief so permeated the early modern period that the US Congress condoned an American edition of the Bible, and the public schools included Bible reading well into the 20th century.

Three other basal principles included the sovereignty of God, the moral depravity of man and covenant theology. The first doctrine emphasized God's rule over all creation (providence), eventually becoming the bedrock for resistance to tyrants who claimed absolute rule. The second doctrine emphasized the sinfulness of man, even in his intellect, eventually becoming the bedrock for limited government. The third idea of covenant was especially developed in Reformed churches, emphasizing that formal and public agreements between different parties. This became the social glue for republican self-rule.

These and other Protestant doctrines are now being explicitly analyzed by historians for their social impact. Even if many readers deny these Christian doctrines, they were certainly believed by many in the past and acted upon. What a man believes that he will do.

In General

Let not Geneva be forgotten or despised. Religious liberty owes it much respect, Servetus notwithstanding.

John Adams, Essay XIX, Works, vol. 6, 1851


“While the Calvinistic faith was rather grim and forbidding, viewed from the modern standpoint, the Calvinists everywhere had a program for political, economic, and social progress which has left a deep impress on the history of mankind."

Ellwood Cubberley, A Brief History of Education, 1922, 175.


"In general it may be claimed for Calvinism that its influence has been an elevating and invigorating one. Abasing man before God, but exalting him again in the consciousness of a newborn liberty in Christ, teaching him his slavery through sin, yet restoring his freedom to him through grace, and leading him to regard all things in the light of eternity, it contributed to form a grave but very noble and elevated type of character, and reared a race not afraid to lift up the head before kings."

Religion and Ethics, Hastings, Part 5, 2003, 153.


“Grave as we may count the faults of Calvinism, alien as its temper may in many ways be from the temper of the modern world, it is in Calvinism that the modern world strikes its roots, for it was Calvinism that first revealed the worth and dignity of Man. Called of God, and heir of heaven, the trader at his counter and the digger in his field suddenly rose into equality with the noble and the king.”

John Green, History of the English People, vol. II, 1903, 280.


Part 1, October Revolution
Part 2, Education
Part 3, Birth of America
Part 4, Early America
Part 5, Political Roots
Part 6, October 31st

More readings: Law & Revolution II: The Impact of the Protestant Reformations on the Western Legal Tradition, Harold Berman, 2003.

Early American Christianity: Fasting Days

"The committee appointed to prepare a recommendation to these states, to set apart a day of thanksgiving, brought in a report; which was agreed to as follows:

Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to him for benefits received, and to implore such farther blessings as they stand in need of; and it having pleased him in his abundant mercy not only to continue to us the innumerable bounties of his common providence, but also to smile upon us in the prosecution of a just and necessary war...It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive powers of these United States, to set apart Thursday, the eighteenth day of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise; that with one heart1 and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their divine benefactor; and that together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins, whereby they had forfeited every favour, and their humble and earnest supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance; that it may please him graciously to afford his blessing on the governments of these states respectively, and prosper the public council of the whole; to inspire our commanders both by land and sea, and all under them, with that wisdom and fortitude which may render them fit instruments, under the providence of Almighty God, to secure for these United States the greatest of all human blessings, independence and peace; that it may please him to prosper the trade and manufactures of the people and the labour of the husbandman, that our land may yet yield its increase; to take schools and seminaries of education, so necessary for cultivating the principles of true liberty, virtue and piety, under his nurturing band, and to prosper the means of religion for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consisteth "in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost."

Nov. 1, 1777 (Journals of the Continental Congress, p.854)

This is but one of several examples of public declarations of fasting or thanksgiving given in the explicit language of Christianity.

The Fate of Faith, Family and the Future

Sixty-five percent of Mosaics and Busters in America (ages 18-41) “have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important.” Twenty-nine percent of that group is “absolutely committed to the Christian faith.” Three-percent of that same group have a Christian worldview.

Three-percent.

Does that shock you? It shocks me—that’s my age group!

The Barna group statistics define a worldview as believing that “Jesus Christ lived a sinless life, God is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe and he still rules it today,” salvation is a free gift of God, Satan is real, Christians should witness, the Bible is accurate and the source of moral, absolute truth (unChristian, p.75).

What does this mean for the faith, the family and the future?

First of all, it means the objective content (faith) of Evangelicals is rapidly disappearing. Without the Biblical worldview as the guiding principle of millions of Christian’s lives, wrong decisions and actions will increase; holiness will decrease. Churches will become businesses and entertainment centers. Truth will die by a thousand qualifications. And more importantly, we will shame Christ.

Second, the Christian family will crumble. Religious speak will still exist, but it will be hollow and mechanical. Families may act Christian but believe falsehood. Parents will live and act in ignorance of Biblical truth. Children will be swallowed whole by cults and outright unbelief. Generations will be lost.

Third, (and I speak as a man) the future will be lost—the future of America at any rate. We are even now seeing that loss. As the culture goes so goes the nation; and as the churches go so goes the culture. Culture is religion externalized.

“Why did this happen? What can I do?” you may ask.

Hosea 4:6 is God’s warning to those who know Him but do not know Him: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee…”

Strong but true words. American churches and families must take it to heart. It is certainly not the case that conservative Christians as a whole are purposefully trying to avoid more knowledge of God and His Word. It certainly is not that. Yet the statistics (from the last ten years at least) point to increased deviation from the Bible in principle and practice. Something is amiss.

Unfortunately, this is not all. Barna’s poll of born-again Christians shows that almost forty-percent believe “if a person is good enough” they can be saved. 57% of Evangelicals allow for other ways to heaven than solely through Christ (2008 Pew study). Even learning a “worldview” is for naught if the Gospel is missing from its foundation.

The Barna study should be a wake-up call. But it will not be a wake up call if no one takes it to heart. I take it to heart. It grieves me. Does it grieve you?

Although increasing in understanding and wisdom does not automatically bring salvation or even sanctification, it is certainly fundamental. Without proper knowledge there is no growth. How can the spiritual tree of your life increase in Christ if you don’t know the difference between rotten and healthy fruit?

Perhaps you have heard this all before. Do you believe it? In which case, continue the struggle, pray for a revival and continue to help your family and support faithful churches. Do you still doubt? Reread those statistics. Either way, take Hosea 4:6 to heart. Re-examine your beliefs in detail:

1. Who is God? Is He omnipotent, omniscient? So what?
2. What is sin? How extensive is sin? How does this impact my family?
3. Who is Christ? Was He sinless? Why is this important?
4. How are we saved? By works? What is faith alone? So what?

This is just the tip of the iceberg: for to simply define terms is not enough, we must know how they relate to other truths and why they are important in the Christian life. The admonition in Hosea is not to only have intellectual knowledge of God (is God really satisfied with that?)—no, Hosea wants us to know the what as well as the how and why.

Do you want to be the generation that was destroyed for a lack of knowledge? Do you want our churches to be bastions of Biblical truth, seminaries of in-depth learning that challenge your preconceptions? Or do we want to remain spiritual children feeding on milk instead of feeding upon solid food? (Heb. 5:12ff.)

The Reformation of Luther, Knox and Calvin began as a return to the Word of God, specifically the Gospel—both the knowledge and use of it. The First & Second Awakenings followed the exact same path. That means you have to get your hands dirty and dig into the rich soil of the Bible—learning theology, doctrine and terminology. Difficulties and differences will arise (there is no growth without spirit-wrought effort and conflict), but the rewards will be rich.

To change the fate of the faith and family in America, we must awake from our collective slumber, leave our old ways and turn to Christ, learn from godly ministers (even of old), train our children and desire the sincere meat of the Word--nothing less than an entire generation is at risk. Can you do less?

Year of Calvinism: Consequences I

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it
Santayana

Ideas have consequences. And these consequences are the fruits of history.

What has the history of Western Civilization taught the modern and postmodern man? Not much.
What has this same history taught many in the church? Very little it seems.

The reason for this is likely to be found in the wide-spread ignorance of such God-glorifying history. Americans especially are a-historical or even anti-history. Do we not make our own future? Why listen to the past?

Yet if ideas have consequences then history does have something to teach us. And in this Year of Calvinism it has much to teach the American churches. For Calvinism not only helped break the back of the Romish church (along side her Lutheran brethren), she became the ground-swell for political and social renewal.


Historically, the modern world--Modernity--began with the Reformation. Now more historians are publicly acknowledging what their older predecessors already knew: the substantive impact of Calvinism in history.

One recent book, The Disciplinary Revolution: Calvinism and the Rise of the State in Early Modern Europe (Gorski), is an in-depth analysis of the social and political fortunes of two 17th-century European countries mostly influenced by Calvinists: Holland & Prussia. His understated conclusion is that the self- and communal-discipline (and theological underpinnings) of Calvinism greatly sustained and strengthened the cultural and political dimensions of these nations.

Another book, The Covenant Connection: From Federal Theology to Modern Federalism, is a collection of essays from various university professors exploring the Protestant roots of the modern democracies. It is Calvinism in particular that propagated the covenant idea as a social tool for greater good. From resistance to tyrants to state constitutions, the Reformers and their offspring substantially originated and expanded economical, social and political freedoms.

More significantly is the overwhelming acknowledgment that doctrine played a more significant role in the development of the modern era than previously admitted. Naturally, Christians should already believe that. In particular, the Reformational doctrine of salvation by grace alone through faith alone on account of Christ alone was the pivot upon which societies moved from Medieval death to modern life.

Wherever man is the question of his individual standing before the Judge of the universe is forefront. How can I be saved? is the perennial question of the ages. Is salvation through law--mine, God's, the state's--or through faith? If the former, then wherever I am in life I turn that work or thought into an idol to save me. If the latter, then wherever I am in life I turn over to the Lord.

That is why the doctrine of salvation is so crucial: whatever man is doing right now will be impacted by his view of salvation. And that includes economics, science and politics...

“It is into Calvinism that the Modern world strikes its roots. For it is Calvinism which first reveals the dignity and worth of man. Called of God, heir of heaven, the merchant in his shop and the peasant in his field suddenly became the equal of noble and king."
John Richard Green, History of the English People

The famous German economist, Max Weber, proposed the connection between Christianity and Free Market labor almost one hundred years ago in The Protestant Ethic & the Spirit of Capitalism. In particular, he noted the industriousness of the Puritans (Calvinists one and all) as an incentive that helped fuel Capitalism. Their sense of Christian vocation for any lawful endeavor in life coupled with their sobriety, thrift, stewardship and high ethics contributed greatly.

Furthermore, the Reformers allowed the proper use of interest for money (contrary to Romish practice) and the accumulation of wealth for families and their children’s children. This further stimulated capitalism.

"Without question, the doctrine of Calvin, in so far as it concerns lending at interest, ran counter to the doctrine of the Catholic Church. This was because Calvin did not believe in barriers between the spiritual and the temporal: he considered work and the serious exercise of a profession as praiseworthy, and therefore accepted the acquisition of riches as legitimate…" (Sée, Modern Capitalism)

Since the kingdom of God was wherever the Christian’s vocation in life was, those lawful activities of work and recreation were sanctified unto God. Wealth was not wrong if used for God. Even with no biblical guarantee of prosperity, the believer knew that the biblical ideals of hard work and thrift generally lead to plenitude. With an increase in money help for the poor increased. They were simultaneously providing for their family and loving their neighbor.

Historian, Lewis Spitz summarized thusly:

“…by instilling into the laboring classes a view of life that raises work from drudgery to a source of self-respect, Protestantism and especially Calvinism helped to build up a group of productive and reliable people, a solid base for a capitalistic society.” (The Renaissance & Reformation Movements, Vol. II, p. 557)

The believer was economically free.


[Recent books include:
The Reformation of Rights: Law, Religion and Human Rights in Early Modern Calvinism
The Disciplinary Revolution: Calvinism and the Rise of the State in Early Modern Europe
Revolution & Religion: American Revolutionary War & the Reformed Clergy
The Covenant Connection: From Federal Theology to Modern Federalism
Law & Revolution II: The Impact of the Protestant Reformation on the Western Legal Tradition ]

(read more here)

Year of Calvinism: America's First Black Poet

Jupiter Hammon (1711-1806?) was the first black poet published in America. Considered the father of African-American poetry, on Christmas of 1760 he published, “An Evening Thought. Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries.” He was also a “committed Calvinist versifier,” rejoicing in the redemption found in Christ instead of dwelling on his condition of slavery (The Journey Back, 5).

Although not much is known about him, his story is beautiful nonetheless. Near the end of his life he spoke to a convention of blacks in New York (late 1786). Here are some soul-searching comments from a man who lived his whole life as a slave to man but was never a slave to the world, the flesh or the Devil:

“The apostle Paul says, 'Servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling in singleness in your heart as unto Christ: Not with eye service, as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart: With good will doing service to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatever thing a man doeth the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.' -- Here is a plain command of God for us to obey our masters. It may seem hard for us… If you are proud and stubborn and always finding fault, your master will think the fault lies wholly on your side, but if you are humble, and meek, and bear all things patiently, your master may think he is wrong, if he does not, his neighbours will be apt to see it, and will befriend you, and try to alter his conduct. If this does not do, you must cry to Him, who has the hearts of all men in his hands, and turneth them as the rivers of waters are turned.

“Getting our liberty in this world, is nothing to our having the liberty of the children of God. Now the Bible tells us that we are all by nature, sinners, that we are slaves to sin and Satan, and that unless we are converted, or born again, we must be miserable forever. Christ says, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, and all that do not see the kingdom of God, must be in the kingdom of darkness… Now you may think you are not enemies to God, and do not hate him: But if your heart has not been changed, and you have not become true Christians, you certainly are enemies to God, and have been opposed to him ever since you were born… The Bible is a revelation of the mind and will of God to men. Therein we may learn, what God is. That he made all things by the power of his word; and that he made all things for his own glory, and not for our glory. That he is over all, and above all his creatures, and more above them that we can think or conceive -- that they can do nothing without him -- that he upholds them all, and will over-rule all things for his own glory. In the Bible likewise we are told what man is. That he was at first made holy, in the image of God, that he fell from that state of holiness, and became an enemy to God, and that since the fall, all the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart, are evil and only evil, and that continually. That the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. And that all mankind, were under the wrath, and curse of God, and must have been for ever miserable, if they had been left to suffer what their sins deserved. It tells us that God, to save some of mankind, sent his Son into this world to die, in the room and stead of sinners, and that now God can save from eternal misery, all that believe in his Son, and take him for their saviour, and that all are called upon to repent, and believe in Jesus Christ.

“If we should ever get to Heaven, we shall find nobody to reproach us for being black, or for being slaves. Let me beg of you my dear African brethren, to think very little of your bondage in this life, for your thinking of it will do you no good. If God designs to set us free, he will do it, in his own time, and way; but think of your bondage to sin and Satan, and do not rest, until you are delivered from it. We cannot be happy if we are ever so free or ever so rich, while we are servants of sin, and slaves to Satan. We must be miserable here, and to all eternity, I will conclude what I have to say with a few words to those negroes who have their liberty. The most of what I have said to those who are slaves may be of use to you, but you have more advantages, on some accounts, if you will improve your freedom, as you may do, than they. You have more time to read God's holy word, and to take care of the salvation of your souls. Let me beg of you to spend your time in this way, or it will be better for you, if you had always been slaves. If you think seriously of the matter, you must conclude, that if you do not use your freedom, to promote the salvation of your souls, it will not be of any lasting good to you.”

Year of Calvinism: America's First Black Preacher

Lemuel Haynes:
(1753-1833)

1) First black pastor ordained by a mainstream American Protestant church.
2) First black pastor for a white church.

He was born in Connecticut of a "a white woman of respectable ancestry" and an African father; he was abandoned by them. He grew up indentured until the age of 21. Although of limited education, he read voraciously, especially the Bible and theology books.

He became a Minuteman for the Revolutionary War. Then he was ordained amongst the Congregationalists (1780), serving three congregations until his death at the age of 80. He married. He wrote against slavery. And he was a vocal defender of the ancient ways: Republicanism and Calvinism.

Yes, Calvinism. Later when the newer class of anti-slavery ministers arose, they would try to use his legacy but gave up since his Calvinism would not dovetail with their liberal theology. He publicly preached against the new (now old) theology of universal salvation.

Ironically, his anti-slavery position was one of racial integration instead of the then popular view (amongst even white anti-slavery proponents) of sending them to Africa (supposedly a land of freedom). The introduction of the new biography sums up the entire matter better than I:

“Like a number of other eighteenth-century black authors...Haynes accepted a Calvinist form of Christianity. Indeed, Calvinism seems to have corroborated the deepest structuring elements of the experience of such men and women as they matured from children living in slavery or servitude into adults desiring freedom, literacy, and membership in a fair society. From Calvinism, this generation of black authors drew a vision of God at work providentially in the lives of black people, directing their suffering yet promising the faithful among them a restoration to his favor and his presence. Not until around 1815 would African American authors, such as John Jea, explicitly declare themselves against Calvinism and for free-will religion. By the standard of many in the twenty-first century, this Calvinist vision may seem tainted, since it presented God’s hand in evil as well as in good. Moreover, this black Calvinism scorned Islam …Acknowledging the divine providence both of evil and of good, these black Calvinists insisted upon the human obligation to shun sin…and to further God’s benevolent design. More than any of his peers, black or white, Haynes found in Calvinism a tradition of exegesis that could be leveled against the slave trade and slavery...By 1830, a new abolitionist exegesis was undoing the ideal of interracial unity that Haynes and his peers had seen in the Bible.” (Sallant, 4, 6)

If we are to have politically correct history months, let us at least pick our own heroes!

SDG

[More details:
Online biography: Sketches of... Rev. Lemuel Haynes.
Saillant, John. Black Puritan, Black Republican: The life and thought of Lemuel Haynes]

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Year of Calvinism: America's Preachers

I recall fondly reading about George Whitefield as a teenager in the 80s. The small softback book (still on my shelf) brought to life the genuineness of this godly man. And his friendship with the Wesleys.

And yet it kept me in the historical dark for another seven years. In fact, many popular Christian "history" books kept me in the dark for years, never allowing me to dig too deep into what these famous men believed.

Weren't we all just Christians anyway...couldn't we just get along? Yeah...and Jefferson was a Christian...

No, seriously, I was taught that Jefferson was a Christian. When in fact--if our theological nearsightedness were only corrected with love of doctrinal truth--he and others were Deists.

Oh, and Whitefield was a Calvinist.
Somehow that little fact escaped the author. More likely he thought such doctrinal labels irrelevant.

Well, what motivates, excites and directs someone is not irrelevant unless, perhaps in the case of some historians, it is an inconvenience.

And it is not convenient for most of the conservative right-wing Evangelical leadership to admit that Calvinism played a large roll in early America. That is why reading secular historians can be helpful at times--they have no such qualms.

For instance, that famous excerpt you may have read in high school--Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God--was written by a Calvinist minister. Jonathan Edwards, considered by historians as one of the most brilliant men in early America, was a Calvinist.

A family of ministers, the Mathers--most notably Cotton--were Calvinists as well. In fact, the vast majority of Congregational and Presbyterian ministers from the early 1600s well into the 1700s were Calvinists. They publicly affirmed God's absolute sovereignty, man's total depravity and full and free justification through faith alone in Christ alone. They taught these truths. They sung these truths. They wrote about these truths. And they nursed generations of children on these truths.

Many conservatives pine for those great ol' days. But their wishes only exist in a vacuum. To return to the strength (in spite of their unique sins) of our forefathers, we will have to return to the truths they built America upon. To find new American preachers of such caliber as these men , Christians today will need to relearn the truths of Calvinism. And the Spirit is needed to create such god-fearing men.

LORD, may it be so.

Calvin, Calvinists & Calvinism

I have a number of articles on Calvin and the Calvinists. Or more precisely one article on his life and the rest on his legacy. I think he would have preferred it that way.

For the Evangelicals, these articles are designed to challenge your thinking. For the Calvinists, these articles are designed to encourage your faith. More importantly, they are written to glorify God.

1. The year of Calvinism
2. The Year of Calvinism: Famous Calvinists in America
3. Second Reformation
4. Lessons from the Reformation
5. Calvinism, History & Homeschooling
6. Really, It's True: Calvinism Created America

Year of Calvinism: America's First Judge

"Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest, of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."

These wise words were uttered by the co-author of the Federalist Papers and first Chief US Supreme Court Justice, John Jay. Presiding over the American-British peace-treaty, he was also a New York governor, US ambassador and president of the Continental Congress. He was respected by all the founding Fathers.

He was a godly man. Born in a family descended from the Huguenots, he was reared in an Anglican home with "Calvinistic severity" (Stahr). But how much of the Anglican theological tradition rubbed off on him? Was he a Calvinist?

Consider first his theological state of mind, expressed in a letter to Professor Miller of Princeton:

"In forming and settling my belief relative to the doctrines of Christianity, I adopted no articles from creeds, but such only as, on careful examination, I found to be confirmed by the Bible." (Pellew)

As a low-church Anglican in good standing, then, it can only be surmised with great assurance that Chief Justice Jay was a Calvinist (Jay, 463). After the war, necessarily, the Anglican parishes in America were cut off from their bishop in London. Accordingly, the American Anglicans became the Protestant Episcopal Church in America. And like their mother church in England, they adopted a Book of Common Prayer, which included a confession:

"Art. X. Of Free-will. The condition of man, after the fall of A Jam, is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith, and calling upon God..."

"Art. XVII. Of Predestination and Election. Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) he hath constantly decreed, by his counsel, secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation, those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour..." (p.378ff., 1808 edition)

What Evangelical today would confess with our First Chief Justice such sublime doctrine?

His own letters are rife with allusions to Providence and God's control over all things. His biographer, Pellew, noted:

"...Jay found both inspiration and great comfort and happiness in religion. It was one of his favorite remarks, that if men would never forget that the world was under the guidance of a Providence which never erred, it would save much useless anxiety, and prevent a great many mistakes." (p.316)

Speaking to the Bible Society about the increase in knowledge and desire for more bibles: "there is reason to conclude that they have been produced by Him in whose hands are the hearts of all men." (p.506)

But it is his God-centered prayer of a self-conscious sinner that truly strikes a cord with devout Christians everywhere:

"Most merciful Father! who desirest not the death of a sinner, but will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, give me grace so to draw nigh unto thee as that thou wilt condescend to draw nigh unto me; and enable me to offer unto thee, through thy beloved Son, supplications and thanksgivings acceptably.

I thank thee for thy mercy to our fallen race, as declared in thy holy gospel by thy beloved Son...Enable me, merciful Father to understand thy holy gospel aright, and to distinguish the doctrines thereof from erroneous expositions of them...Let thy Holy Spirit purify and unite me to my Saviour for ever, and enable me to cleave unto him as unto my very life...Wean me from undue and unseasonable attachments and attentions to the things of this transitory world...

Protect me from becoming a prey to temptations to evil...Give me grace to love and obey and be thankful unto thee, with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, and with all my strength...Be pleased also to impress my heart and mind with a deep and unceasing sense and recollection of the evil of sin...Give me grace, I humbly and earnestly beseech thee, to repent of my sins...

I thank thee, the great Sovereign of the universe, for thy long-continued goodness to these countries, notwithstanding our ingratitude and disobedience to thee, our merciful deliverer and benefactor. Give us grace to turn unto thee with true repentance, and implore thy forgiveness.

Condescend, merciful Father! to grant as far as proper these imperfect petitions, to accept these inadequate thanksgivings, and to pardon whatever of sin hath mingled in them, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord and Saviour; unto whom, with thee, and the blessed Spirit, ever one God, be rendered all honour and glory, now and for ever."

AMEN.

Year of Calvinism: Antithesis

Calvinism is a worldview.

A worldview is a network of inter-dependent presuppositions about the most basic and fundamental components of life: reality (metaphysics), knowledge (epistemology) and ethics (axiology). What is real? How can we know truth? What is right?

And Calvinism as a worldview is antithetical to all other approaches to life.

This Antithesis is not primarily external or through the overt actions of Calvinists--many non-Calvinist act and practice the same Ten Commandments. The Antithesis is not primarily expressed in a different art form or science (both which by God's common grace many unbelievers can be successful in).

No. The Antithesis is primarily spiritual or in principal. What Calvinists believe and confess stands them out from the crowd. Especially their view of salvation.

In fact, the Calvinistic worldview is rooted in its view of salvation as expounded in the Bible alone: justification by grace alone through faith alone on account of Christ alone. A salvation consistent in both Testaments. This worldview is more than a question of salvation, yet it is rooted in such truths about salvation.

Why? Because wherever man is the question of his individual standing before the Judge of the universe is forefront. How can I be saved? is the perennial question of the ages. Is salvation through law--mine, God's, the state's--or through faith? If the former, then wherever I am in life I turn that work or thought into an idol to save me. If the latter, then wherever I am in life I turn over to the Lord.

Or to look at it another way: if we have all of God's law (worldview) to cover all our questions but trust in our own self-effort what have we gained? That is why the cornerstone of the Calvinistic Worldview is the Gospel. A Gospel antithetical to all other 'gospels'.

Man is dead in trespasses and sins. Dead. He does not seek God. And he is more than dead, he is the living dead, actively suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. Born speaking lies, he invariably matures in his wickedness until God restrains or transforms his soul (Eph. 1:1-3; Rom. 1:18; Ps. 58:3).

But God in His great love wherein He loves His own, sent Christ to become man, to identify with His people, to obey for His people, to die for His people. For the people He chose to save before the foundations of the world.

It is both the absolute sovereignty and over-ruling dominion of God Almighty and the utter and total depravity of man--in thought, word and deed--that makes Calvinism stand out. And ties its worldview together.

Without a sovereign God who has predestined all things there can be no intelligibility in any endeavor of life--all would be meaningless gibberish--worse, there would be no existence of anything. The Trinity is the precondition--the necessary universal Reality--for creation. Neither logic, science, politics or family life can exist in any coherent manner without the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and their all-encompassing plan for our lives.

And if Christians admit to God's sovereignty in everything but in man's salvation--if they deny that God elects whom He will--then all is lost. If God is not sovereign in your salvation then He is not sovereign anywhere. And if not sovereign anywhere, then all is lost.

The Antithesis is lost. And Humanism has swallowed whole the life of the Christian. In principle. So it should be clear that the great Antithesis is not really between generic Christianity and Darwinism, but Calvinism and Arminianism and any other -ism.

The dangerous worldview of Humanism, Evolutionism and the like is so appealing to American families and churches because they already believe in a key-component. To assert 'free-will' as defined today is to already believe in Humanism. The enemy is not ultimately "out there" against the churches, but "in here" amongst ourselves.

The Antithesis of Calvinism is most clearly portrayed in this perennial question of God's unconditional election of sinners unto salvation and man's bound will. And America--and especially the American churches--will not witness revival or reformation until such truths penetrates their calcifying hearts.

Year of Calvinism: Worldview

Calvinism has been maligned and misunderstood since it was first clearly formulated five-hundred years ago. It has been maligned because those who know it and hate it wish it to disappear. It has been misunderstood because many simply do not know what it is all about.

There are a number of ways to describe it. It is normally identified with the TULIP acronym: Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, and Perseverance of the saints.

And that is fine as far as the important question of salvation goes. And it goes far.

Yet, Calvinist leaders and laymen, from John Calvin to Jonathan Edwards, did not base their whole theology upon TULIP—it was rather a result and consequence of a deeper, fundamental principle: the glory of God.

The first question in John Calvin’s Geneva Catechism—a series of questions and answers for biblical instruction—set the tone for his approach to the Christian life:

Master. — What is the chief end of human life?
Scholar. — To know God by whom men were created.
Master.—What reason have you for saying so?
Scholar.—Because he created us and placed us in this world to be glorified in us. And it is indeed right that our life, of which himself is the beginning, should be devoted to his glory.

The glory of God was the chief goal of Calvin and the Calvinists. Over one-hundred years later, an august assembly of learned and godly men gathered in England at Westminster Abby to summarize a common confession of belief. They began the Westminster Shorter Catechism with the same premise as Calvin:

Question 1. What is the chief end of man?
Answer 1. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

The question references 1 Corinthians 10:31: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” This has ever been the hallmark of Calvinism in all its ecclesiastical forms. The exaltation, adoration and praise of the glorious Trinity have ever been our song. To glorify God Almighty is to give Him the preeminence in all things.

But how does a Calvinist move from God’s glory to the infamous TULIP? They start with the Bible alone—and the whole Bible. The Old Testament emphasizes God’s majesty and holiness:

“[Israel said] ‘Surely the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he still lives.’” (Deut. 5:24)

As the church of old stood in awe of Yahweh’s absolute moral purity, enormous might and majestic otherliness, so we fall before our covenant Lord. The sense—both intellectual and emotional—of God’s fearsome presence is believed by all orthodox Christians, but Calvinism in particular has a theology that best comports with such beliefs. Like Isaiah of old, we cry: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts." The penalty for not glorifying God is death (Acts 12:23). We sin by not glorifying God. We deserve death.

In general, many would agree with the description so far. The difference comes in the details of sin and salvation. The doctrine of original sin (Rom. 5:12ff.)—that even infants are by nature children of wrath (Ps. 51; Eph. 1:2)—is repellent to many Evangelicals these days. The outworking of that fact is described by Paul: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Sin is the act and condition of falling short of God’s moral perfection; therefore, it falls short of glorifying the Creator God. This sin is so much a part of fallen man’s nature that Paul contends, “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God” (Rom. 3:10-11).

If man is born a sinner; if he sins only and continually; if man does not even seek after God, then where is hope? Who then can be saved?

Only those whom the Savior redeems can be saved. God must first seek men. This leads either to the salvation of all or the salvation of some. All orthodox Christians deny the former but many quibble over the latter. Calvinists embrace the latter most heartily because it is Biblical and fully sets forth God’s glory. God is the Alpha and Omega, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

God seeks and finds men in a three-fold way: by appointing, accomplishing and applying. The Father elects those whom He fore-loved (Rom. 9:14ff.); the Son finished redemption for His sheep by His perfect life and vicarious death, justifying through imputed righteousness (Rom. 5:12ff. Phil. 3:9); the Spirit applies the Son’s work, breathing new life and applying the gift of faith alone to the elect, sanctifying their hearts (John 3:8; Eph. 2:8). Salvation is God-centered.

If Christ’s death is truly a substitutionary death, then those whom He saved will be saved and cannot but be saved. They are saved unto good works, persevering therein by the Spirit’s preservation of their new mind, will and desire (Eph. 2:10). TULIP flows from the glory of God.

The worldview of Calvinism begins and ends with the preeminence of God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth. And since all of creation was made by God and for God, the worldview of Calvinism embraces all of creation, in all its complexity. The upcoming series will illustrate the power of that worldview—the power and glory of God in history and through His church.

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him? For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.”
(Romans 11:33-36)