Notes

1John Adams, The Works of John Adams, volume 3: Diary, Essays, Autobiography (Annotated) (North Charleston, SC: Createspace, 2015), p. 256.↩

2For a fascinating history of voting in America, see Alexander Keyssar, The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in America (Basic Books: New York, NY, 2001). For a feminist history of this denial of the vote to women in church and state, see Elizabeth Crawford, The Women’s Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide (UCL Press, 1999). Also Elizabeth Frost, and Kathryn Cullen-Dupont, Women’s Suffrage in America An Eyewitness History (New York: Facts on File, 1992). Also Sandra Stanley Holton, Suffrage Days: Stories from the Women’s Suffrage Movement (New York: Routledge, 1996). For a Reformed analysis, see Thomas McCrie, “On the Right of Females to Vote in the Election of Ministers and Elders,” in Miscellaneous Writings: Chiefly Historical, of the late Thomas McCrie, DD, edited by his son. Edinburgh, John Johnstone, 1841. He says, “I think it my duty to continue the common practice, not only because it had been the custom, but also because I look on it as well founded” (p. 670). He traces this custom of only males voting from the early church, the Reformation in Europe, the Reformation in Scotland, George Gillespie, John Owen, and the agreement entered into by the Presbyterians and Independents in 1690 “where they give the right of election to the brotherhood… that is, the right of such men in the congregation…” For an online version of this, see https://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2017/2/25/on-the-right-of-females-to-vote-in-the-election-of-ministers-and-elders ↩

3Thomas McCrie, Ibid., p. 675.↩

4John Adams, The Works of John Adams, volume 9: Diary, Essays, Autobiography (Annotated) (North Charleston, SC: Createspace, 2015), p. 208.↩

5Elizabeth Frost, and Kathryn Cullen-Dupont, Women’s Suffrage in America An Eyewitness History [book on-line] (New York: Facts on File, 1992, accessed 1 March 2007), 16; available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=59298519↩

6John Quincy Adams, “Speech …Upon the Rights of the People, Men and Women to Petition,” 1838, in Flexner Century of Struggle, 51↩

7Frost and Cullen-Dupont, Ibid, p. 411.↩

8Frost and Cullen-Dupont, Ibid, p. 374.↩

9Crawford, Ibid., p. 406.↩

10St Catherine’s Church, Hatcham, England was burned to the ground by Suffragist on May 6, 1913. Numerous other examples of arson followed including the burning of churches and houses, breaking windows, throwing stones, defacing statues, etc. The women who were jailed went on hunger strikes and were force fed with nasal tubes.↩

11These figures are given on both government and non-government websites such as:

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12See for example, “Women’s Rights Women” in Collected Writings, vol. 4, pp. 489-505.↩

13See the National Center for Family Integrated Churches for documentation. For a telling critique of the destructive influence of Youth Ministries in churches, read Critique of Modern Youth Ministry, by Chris Schlect. Fathers appear to have very little influence in most modern churches. They certainly have no way of representing their families.↩

14The Presbyterian Church in America’s Book of Church Order begins by saying, “Christ, as King, has given to His Church officers, oracles and ordinances; and especially has He ordined therein His system of doctrine, government, discipline and worship, all of which are either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary inference may be deduced therefrom; and to which things He commands that nothing be added, and that from them naught be taken away” (BCO preface).

Morton Smith comments on this section saying,

With Christ as the only Lawgiver, we recognize that the Church is not a legislative body, but merely a declarative body. That is, Christ is the one who has given the laws by which the Church is to live. The Church’s task is to seek to understand and to set forth the meaning of these laws… He is the author of the system of doctrine for the Church, of her government, of her discipline, and of her worship. It is stated that all of this is either expressly set down in Scripture or by good and necessary inference may be deduced therefrom. A result of this is that men are not to add or subtract from what HE has given. In this, the Presbyterian Church in America declares that she believes in what is sometimes called the jus divinum principle of church government. We believe that both the doctrines of faith, and also the basic principles of church government, discipline, and worship have been given to us in the Word. Other forms of church government may be able to say that they are not forbidden in so many words, but it is explicitly the Presbyterian form of government that claims to be jus divinum. As already noted the Book here affirms that the ‘regulative principle’ applies to doctrine, government, discipline and worship. Christ as King has given His Word concerning each of these areas to the Church, and nothing is to be added or taken from His Word. The Church should always be most careful as to how it frames its rules and guidelines for each of these areas, that they are in accord with the inspired Word of God at every point. Morton H. Smith, Commentary on the Book of Church Order of the Presbyterian Church in America (Greenville, SC: Southern Presbyterian Press, 1998), pp. 17-18. Emphasis added.

↩

15James Henley Thornwell, The Collected Writings, vol 4, p. 292.↩

16On the significance of the 120 for the formation of a new Israel, see my sermons on Acts 1 and 2 at https://kaysercommentary.com. The minimum number of men to form a synagogue was 10, and the minimum number of synagogues to form a separate national entity was twelve. 12 x 10 = 120. The early church had twelve princes ruling over the twelve tribes of Israel (Luke 22:30). They also had 70 elders (see Luke 10) that correspond to the twelve princes and 70 elders when Moses constituted Israel as a nation. 12 + 70 = 82 under both Moses and Christ. The remainder of the 120 were prophets who would help to form the foundation of the church (Eph. 2:20).↩

17Acts 3:25 quotes Genesis 12:3 (“And in your seed all the families of the earth will be blessed”) as being a prophecy of the New Covenant period.↩

18It is interesting that Jesus gives His responsibility to care for his mother to his best friend, John, rather than to his brothers or sisters. The reason is that his brothers were not believers until after the resurrection (John 7:5; Mark 3:21). On Christ’s close friendship with John, see John 13:23; 20:2; 21:7; 20:24.↩

19Note that in 1994 the General Assembly declined an overture from Heartland Presbytery to erect a study committee to address this issue and report back either 1) the Biblical basis for our present practice or 2) the Biblical basis for an alternative position. The costs for the study were already covered by a local church. However, the General Assembly declined to erect the study committee.↩

20This doctrine is known as the Regulative Principle of Government. The PCA’s Book of Church Order states,

Jesus, the Mediator… [is] the only Lawgiver in Zion… mediately exercising His own authority and enforcing His own laws… Christ, as King, has given to His Church officers, oracles and ordinances; and especially has He ordained therein His system of doctrine, government, discipline and worship, all of which are either expressly set down in Scripture or by good and necessary inference may be deduced therefrom; and to which things He commands that nothing be added, and that from them naught be taken away.” (BCO Preface) Morton Smith comments, “With Christ as the only Lawgiver, we recognize that the Church is not a legislative body, but merely a declarative body. That is, Christ is the one who has given the laws by which the Church is to live. The Church’s task is to seek to understand and to set forth the meaning of these laws… He is the author of the system of doctrine for the Church, of her government, of her discipline, and of her worship. It is stated that all of this is either expressly set down in Scripture or by good and necessary inference may be deduced therefrom. A result of this is that men are not to add or subtract from what HE has given. In this, the Presbyterian Church in America declares that she believes in what is sometimes called the jus divinum principle of church government. We believe that both the doctrines of faith, and also the basic principles of church government, discipline, and worship have been given to us in the Word. Other forms of church government may be able to say that they are not forbidden in so many words, but it is explicitly the Presbyterian form of government that claims to be jus divinum. As already noted the Book here affirms that the ‘regulative principle’ applies to doctrine, government, discipline and worship. Christ as King has given His Word concerning each of these areas to the Church, and nothing is to be added or taken from His Word. The Church should always be most careful as to how it frames its rules and guidelines for each of these areas, that they are in accord with the inspired Word of God at every point (pp. 17-18, emphasis added).

The Confession itself affirms that “God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are, in any thing, contrary to His Word; or beside it, if matters of faith, or worship. So that, to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commands, out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience: and the requiring of an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience, and reason also” (WCF 20:2).↩