1988 Issue 10 - From the Editor's Desk - Counsel of Chalcedon

8/12/2019 1988 Issue 10 - From the Editor's Desk - Counsel of Chalcedon

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From the

Editor's

Desk

couple of years ago,

as

many of you

may

remember, we were offering a book

entitled Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos

A

Defence of Uberty

Against

Tyrants). We dis-

tributed several dozen copies at that time. When the special price from the publisher

expired,

we no longer offered

the book.

Recently, in listening to the outstanding taped series of lectures, America: The

First 350 Years by Steve Wilkins of Forest, Mississippi, lleamed that Vindiciae

Contra yrannos (probably written around 1579) was highly influential in the

thinking of the founding

fathers

of

the United States. I

also

discovered

some com-

ments by

RJ

Rushdoony in reference

to

this work.

In his book,

This Independent Republic

(1964),

Rushdoony

points out

that

Vindiciae was held by John

Adams

to

be

one of the .most influential books in

America on

the

eve of the

Revolution.

ln

a

footnote at

this

point,

Rushdoony

says, It is revelatory of modern historiography that the role of Vindiciae Contra

Tyrannos is rarely mentioned, whereas 1bomas Paine's works always are

in

accounts of.

the

American Revolution. 1be reason is

obvious:

Vindiciae is thorough-

ly Calvinistic; Paine is anti-Christian

and

a part of the intellectual milieu of the

French Revolution and

of

the modem university. And,

for

purposes

of

the liberal

midrash of history, the former

is

not acceptable. (p. 25)

Vindiciae deals

with

four questions. i. Whether Subjects are bound and ought to

obey Princes, i they

command

that

which

is against the Law of God. ii. Whether

it be lawful

to

resist a Prince

which

doth infringe

the

l..aw

of

God, or ruin the

.Church. By whom, how, and how far it is lawful. iii. Whether it be lawful to resist

a Prince which doth oppress or ruin a public State, and how far such resistance may

be extended. By whom, how, and by what right or law it is permitted. iv. Whether

neighbour Princes or States may be, or are, bound by Law to give succour to

the

subjects of other Princes, afflicted for the cause of

true

religion, or oppressed by

manifest

Tyranny.

This work was two hundred years old when it influenced John Adams and the

other leaders in the early days of our country. Now, two hundred years after

the

writing of

the

Constitution of the United States, I believe it offers singular u i d ~ e

to those of

us

who desire, under God, to oppose the ungodliness of our nation,

whether it be in the areaof abortion, pornography, Sabbath desecration, the promul

gation of every kind of u n i l i c ~ heresy, or any other violations of God's law in

America today. The authOr of Vilidiciae shows that it

is

the duty of all the people to

oppose the encroachments of a king

who

rules contrary to the Law of God. But he

makes clear what he means by all the people. When we speak of

all

the people,

we understand by that, only those who hold their authority from the people, to wit,

the magistrates, who are inferior to the king, and whom

the

people have substituted,

or

established, as it were, consorts in the empire,

and with

a kind of tribunitial

authority, to

restrain the encroachments of sovereignty, and to represent the whole

body of the people.

In other words, the civil magistrates in lower jurisdictions must resist the un-

godly pronouncements of higher rulers (in our day, the President, the Supreme

Court, the Congress), for they

are

ordained

of

God

to

protect the righteous

and

punish evildoers, and are, indeed, ministers of God (Rom.

13)

and have their author

ity from God Himself. Thus, the civil leaders in our cities, counties and states mus

resist the ungodliness at the federal level.

This book, written, as it was, some four hundred years ago, naturally does not

speak directly to issues of our day, such as fighting abortion and the other ungodli

ness of our federal government, but the principles set forth in

this

work are certainly

applicable to our situation. The book is imminently biblical,

the

logic impeccable.

Seldom, if ever, does a book come along, other than

the Bible,

regarding which

one

P a g e

The Cc,unsel of Cbalcedon, October,

1988


2/3

may say there is nothing with which the reader can disagree. In my opinion this is

such a book. The hermeneutics, the exegesis, the logic, the application are

of

the

highest order. I believe any true solution to the problems of

our

day, such as abor

tion and the others, will not be out

of

accord with the truths set forth in this book.

God always uses His people and His ordained institutions to bring about lawful-

ness in a society. Therefore, we all must be about the work of evangelizing, edu

cating, instructing, informing and re-organizing in our society and its institutions.

One important aspect

of

bringing an end to abortion and

the

other sins

of

our day, is

to get involved in changing the civil rulers at

our

local levels, such as our towns and

cities, and our counties and states. As long

as

we let the ungodly rule we can little

expect to see godliness reign. We have become so accustomed to surrendering the

civil realm to the ungodly that we find it difficult to imagine that godliness not only

can reign, but must reign, because God has ordained the civil magistrate to be his

ministers of godliness in this fallen world

I have obtained 60 of the 71 copies of Vindiciae

ontra Tyrannos

left at the pub

lisher. This is all that remains of their 1963 reprint, and I do not get the impression

that they plan to reprint it again. If you do not have this work, you need it in your

library. You need to read it and apply it in your thinking and actions in resisting law

lessness in our day. For information on how you may receive a free copy

of

this clas

sic book, see the advertisement on page 15.

A couple of people have taken issue with my commendation {in the July issue)

of

the police officer in Jackson, Mississippi reported

to

have resigned because he felt he

could no longer arrest anti-abortion protesters. It would seem, first

of

all, that the

whole story was not told at first. Apparently the officer was going to have to resign

anyway because he had moved out of the Jackson city limits, and a city ordinance

there requires that officers live within the city limits. While

it

may be true that

we

did not have the whole story, that does not change the force

of

the main point I was

trying to make, namely that police officers should not arrest people trying to save

lives.

The main reason some opposed

my

view is that they insist that, in commending

the officer, I was supporting sit-ins at abortion clinics. In two years

of

pressing my

point on this issue I do not believe I have ever actually indicated that I support sit

ins, much le

ss

have I urged anyone to participate

in

a sit-in. Looking back

at

the

comments in the July issue I now realize that my words, commending people

n

Jackson, Mississippi for actively defying ungodly laws which allow murder in this

country and for doing something

to

save lives could hardly keep from giving the

impression that I support sit-ins. I realize I overstated the case, as all I intended to

say was that I was happy to know that something more than inactive apathy char

acterized some Christians

n

Jackson, Mississippi. There are appropriate occasions to

defy ungodly laws which allow murder, but I did not intend to imply that I support

sit-ins.

The important thing, as I see it, is that, ragardless of one's view

of

the legitimacy

of the law against trespassing at an abortion clinic, and regardless of one's view of

the legitimacy of Christian's sitting-in

or

otherwise trespassing

at

such clinics, I be

lieve it is illegitimate for the civil magistrate to arrest people in these situations, on

the basis (as I have stated over and over again over the pas t two years) that the civil

magistrate was ordained by God, according to Scripture, to protect the righteous and

to

punish evildoers, and there is no way to support the contention that anything but

the opposite

is

taking place when the civil magistrate arrests people

who

are seeking

to saves lives from abortion. Surely no

one

who claims even passing commitment

to the Bible will deny that the civil magistrate is obligated, under God, to prevent

abortion in their jurisdiction. Surely no Christian is going to say that, because the

Supreme Court of the United States allows murder, that the lesser magistrates, in the

(Continued

on

page 16)

Join us

n

the

Worship of God

halcedon

Presbyterian

hurch

Sunday School 9:45 a.m.

Worship Service - 10:55 a.m.

Sunday evening 5:55p.m.

Thursday Bible

Study -

7:30p.m.

tteu

Joe

~ r e t r a i t 11 1111

1Jntutster

The church is located at 7901 Roberts

Drive (corner of Roberts Spalding,

one-half mile south

of

the Northridge

exit off highway 400)

Dunwoody, Georgia

(404) 396-0965

The Counsel

of

Chalcedon, October, 1988

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3/3

Editor's Desk-

. Continued from

page

3 .

states, counties and cities,

are

somehow

properly submitting to God's

will by

allowing abortion in

theh

jurisdictions.

So;

i

Goo hates abortion, and

i

abor

tion is forbidden by God's Law (and it

is), and i the civil magistrate is obli

gated, as the ministers

of

God, to en-

force God's law, then they

are

obligated,

by the authority ofGod,

to

prevent abor

tion

in

their jurisdictions. This being ,

the case, it makes no sense whatsoever

to allow that it is r o ~ r to arrest those.

GOdly

citizens who attempt to save

lives.

It

certainly makes no sense to

hold that God's law properly protects

mass murderers. The bottom line is that

the civil authorities in every jurisdic

tion in

this

country, every

town,

city,

county .and state, are clearly breaking

God's law and committing gross sin,

if

they do not outlaw abortion in their

jurisdictions, period. That being so it

seems superfluous

to

have

to

debate the

question whether . it is proper for the

migistrate to harrass those who seek to

prevent that which the magistrate

should have disallowed

to begin

with.

A minister, writing in

an

obscure

newsletter from the backwaters

of

Mis-

sissippi, recently took me to task for

my views. on this subject. He says

my

fulminations on this subject are be

coming increasingly bizarre. He says,

If Mr. Goodrum

does

not wish to be

ridiculed, he would do well not to as

sume such ridiculous positions. He re

fers to

the

no trespassing laws at abor

tion clinics

as

laws designed to main

tain public order. Since maintaining

public order

in

this context means pro

tecting mass murder in the clinics, I

leave

it

to the perceptive reader tojudge

whose views are bizarre.

On the other hand, in reference to

this very subject,

Dr.

lU

.

Rushdoony,

on the recent tape, From the

Easy

Chair, program #173, discussing, along

with Otto Scott, the whole matter

of

cowardice as over against moral cour

age, said,

The Counsel

o

Chalcedon

has urged,

under

the

editorship

of

David

Goodrum, that police refuse to arrest

picketers at abortion clinics. He com.,.

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mends

several police around

the

country

who have resigned their jobs rather than

be forced to arrest those who desire t

save

lives

.

While the approbation of

Dr.

Rush

doony does not necessarily guarantee

that we are right, nevertheless

I

shall al

ways be encouraged more

by

Rush

doony'scortunendation than discouraged

by the

ruminations

of the

minister from

backwater Mississippi.

On

the issue of sit-ins,

I

defer

to

Joe

Morecraft's taped message, How t

Stop Abortion in America, advertised

elsewhere in this issue, which I o -

~ e n d to every reader of these pages. D

The Failure of

First Generation

Reconstructionists

Continued from page 6

and farther from

God,

liberty, justice,

morality, prosperity, peace, and a

:regard

for the sanctity

of

human life. It has led

us

deeper and deeper into the suicidal

tenden.cies of

humanism.

[To

be

continued]

What Is Calvinism?

. Continued from page14

and typical,

it is not

surprising

that I

should be adopted by the apostles

in

the

organization of the primitive

That this

was

the .case, we have

abun

dant

evidence,

which is

so

conclusive

that

it

seems to

me a matter of wonder

that it should be controverted. At. a

future time, I will give

you

a brief

summary of the evidence that

the

primitive church was

trul

y Presby

teria

n,

and continued

1

so until it was

corrupted by Popery, which will,

I

thiOk, convince you of

the

Scriptura

warrant for Presbyterianism.

[To

be

continued]

Chalcedon Christian

School

is ac

cepting

immediate

applica

tions

for

a

history teacher.

Contact:

Robert

T. Lester,

Administrator

Chalcedon Christian School

P.O. Box888022

D u n w Q 3 5 6

4 0 4 3 ~ .

P a ~ 1 6 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The

Counsel of Chalcedon October, 1988

Documents

1988 Issue 10 - From the Editor's Desk - Counsel of Chalcedon