Publishing projects

A Refutation of Religious Pluralism
John Brown of Haddington   (1780)

Mr. John Brown's manifesto shatters the glass walls that have been erected (not only by political leaders, but also by religious leaders) around the 'sacred' doctrine of religious pluralism (or religious toleration) within the political realm.

Mr. Brown argues that for a nation to tolerate gross heresy and blasphemy (and even false religions in their entirety) is not to take a neutral position with regard to religion, but is rather to protect and promote false religion (contrary to God and His Moral Law, which perpetually bind all people in the world to its obedience - including political leaders).For God is not morally neutral and does not grant a so-called 'religious liberty' in the civil realm to violate His Moral Law (as summarized in the Ten Commandments). For that which is truly a moral wrong can never be a civil right.

In the two Letters found in this volume are summarized Biblical, historical, and logical arguments against the toleration of gross heresy and blasphemy in the constitutions and practices of nations (and especially those nations that are engaged by way of lawful National Covenants to God). In addition, Mr. Brown has cited numerous objections against the magistrate's God-ordained duty to legally and morally prevent religious toleration and pluralism within a nation, and has provided answers to the objections that manifest a consistent Scriptural reasoning revealing the fantasy of 'religious liberty' and 'religious pluralism' in the civil realm.

If Mr. Brown had written his book in the United States (rather than in Scotland), an appropriate title might have been, The Religious Pluralism Granted In The First Amendment Is Not Granted In The First Commandment.

Dear reader, be ready to have your political worldview shaken and turned right-side-up!

Conscience, Liberty and God's Word: A Free Disputation Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience
Samuel Rutherford   (1649)

This is Mr. Rutherford's magnum opus (his best work) on the subject of the individual's conscience in the political realm. This is not an exercise in ivory tower contemplation, but rather a polemical treatise written in the trenches and foxholes of battle - a battle that was waged by Mr. Rutherford and other faithful witnesses in exposing the profound error of what he called 'a pretended liberty of conscience'.

Mr. Rutherford, a committed Divine-right Presbyterian and a Scottish commissioner to the Westminster Assembly, elucidates the problems with making the conscience of an individual the supreme rule in matters of religion within the civil realm. Chiefly, when civil laws must bow to the conscience of man, the logical consequence is anarchy. For if every man's conscience is his ultimate rule, it becomes impossible to have any uniform system of law within a nation to which all the people will submit. As was true in the period of the Judges, so it will be true within a nation that allows one's conscience to be the final rule: 'Every man did that which was right in his own eyes' (Judges 17:6).

The Lord God warns that this 'pretended liberty of conscience' is not a true liberty of conscience that has been set free by the death and resurrection of Christ to love and obey God's Moral Law, but to the contrary, it is a foolish enslavement of conscience ('The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise' Proverbs 12:15). The supreme counsel to which even our consciences must bow, according to Mr. Rutherford, is God's Moral Law ('To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them' Isaiah 8:20).

Mr. Rutherford persuasively demonstrates from Scripture and reason that the political views of the Independents and Sectarians in England at that time, who promoted 'a pretended liberty of conscience', make God schizophrenic in allegedly tolerating false religion, heresy, and blasphemy in the civil realm (due to the appeal of a supposed 'right' in man to publicly profess and practice the dictates of one's conscience), even though God clearly condemns all religious doctrines and worship in all spheres of life that are contrary to His Moral Law (as summarized in the Ten Commandments which perpetually obliges all men to obedience).

Mr. Rutherford explains that the conscience of man is only as dependable as the standard upon which it relies. If the conscience (as a faithful witness) accurately reflects what God teaches in the Scripture, it must be followed. However, if the conscience (as an unfaithful witness) perverts and distorts what God teaches in His Word, it must not be followed, for it is then an erring conscience. Anyone familiar with the writings of Mr. Rutherford will know that his works cannot be read quickly - at times it even becomes tedious.

Nevertheless, the reader's perseverance will be duly rewarded as the Scriptural reasoning of Mr. Rutherford penetrates the mind enlightened by the Holy Spirit.

The Ordinance of Covenanting
John Cunningham   (1843)

Mr. Cunningham has provided the Church with a methodical, step-by-step primer on the subject of Covenanting.

The Ordinance of Covenanting is considered by many as the classic work on covenanting due to the detail into which the author delves, hardly leaving one stone unturned. "The theology of Covenanting is here unfolded with a richness of scriptural research and a maturity of intellectual strength which would have made the grey eye of Peden glisten with delight. The treatise is a valuable addition to that solid theological literature of which the Reformed Presbyterian Church has produced repeated and enduring specimens, and stamps Mr. Cunningham as a distinguished disciple of the thoughtful and scriptural school of Mason and the Symingtons-Presby. Rev., 1844" (Cited from The Treasury of the Scottish Covenant, p. 458, Rev. J.C. Johnston).

Beginning with the Nature of Covenanting (wherein the terms are defined and necessary distinctions made), Mr. Cunningham demonstrates that personal and social covenanting are not identical to the Covenant of Redemption, nor to the Covenant of Grace, and yet both personal and social covenanting flow from both of these gracious Covenants as a stream flows from its fount.

Likewise, our Author lays out the duty that rests upon individuals, Churches, and Nations (as moral persons) to engage themselves to the Lord as His thankful, obedient people for His many gracious benefits freely bestowed on them through Jesus Christ. One of the most helpful chapters within this covenanting tutorial is the one that addresses the descending obligation of faithful covenants to posterity (who even though not present when the original covenant was sworn are yet bound by the Lord to keep the faithful covenant of their forefathers).

Bringing line upon line and precept upon precept, Mr. Cunningham reveals how not only Scripture, but even people in both Church and State alike, assume that lawful decisions, treaties, constitutions and covenants of previous generations bind them to obedience (even if the present generation has never formally and personally cast a vote in support of them). This has specific relevance to National Covenanting, and particularly to the Solemn League and Covenant (1643), wherein the three kingdoms of England, Ireland, and Scotland bound themselves collectively (and all their posterity in all his Majesty's dominions) to the Lord for the express purpose of promoting a blessed religious uniformity in Church and State as founded upon Scripture and upon documents produced by the Westminster Assembly that are agreeable to Scripture.

It was the burden of Mr. Cunningham to lead the reader step by step down the path of covenanting to finally view the sacred obligations we yet owe to God in the National Covenant (i.e. the Solemn League and Covenant) our forefathers swore on our behalf as their posterity.

Renewal of the Covenants
Alexander Craighead and The Reformed Presbytery in the United States   (1743/1880)

Perhaps some of us know from experience the frustration of reading technical directions that are intended to explain the various parts of a newly purchased computer, and the steps that need to be taken in order to install all the software and adjust all the settings that are desired. At times we not only need to have an explanation with directions, but also to have someone set down with us and to show us by example the steps to be taken. It is true not only with regard to computers, but also true with regard to Christ's truth as it relates to Social Covenanting. Certainly we need to be taught in a more systematic format the Biblical principles of Social Covenanting and carefully measure those principles in the scales of Scripture. But at times we also need to be taught by way of living, breathing examples and patterns of the truth how Social Covenanting was performed step by step.

As the reader moves from the principle of Covenanting to the practice of Covenanting, he/she will find in this volume three historical examples and patterns of the way in which the principles of Social Covenanting ought to be transformed into the practice of Social Covenanting. Although it may appear from the dates attached to the authors' names above that the Covenant Renewal of Mr. Craighead preceded that of the Reformed Presbytery, an explanation is needed.

For included in the Covenant Renewal (1880) by the Reformed Presbytery is an earlier Covenant Renewal (The Auchensaugh Renovation, 1712) by Mr. John McMillan, faithful minister to the Covenanted Societies of Scotland. The Auchensaugh Renovation (a 'renovation' in this context means 'renewal') has been for faithful Covenanters ever since that time the historical pattern to follow in renewing The National Covenant of Scotland (1638) and The Solemn League and Covenant of the Three Kingdoms (1643).

Mr. Craighead led Covenanters in the Colony of Pennsylvania (the first recorded Covenant Renewal of The National Covenant and The Solemn League and Covenant by Covenanters in America). Although Mr. Craighead proved to be unstable himself, the record of this Covenant Renewal in Pennsylvania provides an early account of how Covenanters understood faithful National Covenants in Britain to bind those who had relocated to America.

In each of these three Covenant Renewals, one will find fascinating accounts of prior historical events testifying to the faithfulness of those who held fast the truth and sold it not even when persecuted and martyred, and those who like Esau sold and betrayed their covenanted inheritance for the temporal satisfaction of a bowl of soup (as it were). The value of these Covenant Renewals in moving us beyond the doctrine of Social Covenanting (which is necessary if we are to have a firm foundation) to the practice of Social Covenanting in Churches and Nations is priceless.

Covenanting and Worldwide Reformation: God's Victorious Plan for This World
Greg L. Price   (2010)

The Social Covenant Series has leaped across the centuries (from Samuel Rutherford in the 17th century, to John McMillan and John Brown in the 18th century, to John Cunningham and the Reformed Presbytery in the United States in the 19th century) to provide some of the most helpful covenanting literature for those interested in growing in their knowledge of this forgotten and buried truth.

In this volume, the reader is brought up to date in a series of sermons preached in the 21st by Mr. Price on the subject of National Covenanting. These sermons not only demonstrate the Biblical warrant for national covenanting as a duty of love to our covenant God (within national Israel and the nations of the world), but also proclaim the joyful news that God's revealed plan for this world is to bind all nations to Himself through the Covenant of Grace by way of the ordinance of national covenanting. With a particular emphasis upon the Solemn League and Covenant of the Three Kingdoms (1643), Mr. Price establishes from Scripture and historical testimony the moral obligation of that Scriptural covenant upon the Kingdoms of England, Ireland, and Scotland that swore it, and upon all their posterity in all his Majesty's dominions (including the British colonies in North America across the Atlantic Ocean).

Moving from the colonial stage of development in North America, it is shown that a Scriptural covenant made with God does not end simply because a nation takes on a new political identity. Thus, passing from the British Charters that constituted the British Colonies, to the Declaration of Independence, to the Articles of Confederation, and finally to the Constitution of the United States of America, it is confirmed both from Scripture and from historical documents that the Solemn League and Covenant binds the United States and Canada as national descendants of England (and binds all other descendants of England as well).

Bring your Bibles and your questions to this unique study from God's Word concerning Scriptural truths that God used to promote reformation in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries and that He will use once again to promote reformation in all nations when the Kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ (Revelation 11:15).