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5.
and protected my children from the worst ravages 8 SHOOLD WE ABORT? A teacher asked her class
of the world, the flesh and the devil. of students to advise a mother pregnant with her
fifth child, whether to have an abortion based on
I STILL draw strength from the assurance that these facts: '
my parents are constant in their prayers for me. "Her husband had syphilis. She had tuberculosis
Even for- that reason, among many others, I am Their first child was born blind. Their second child
grateful that God continues to leave them here, died. Their third child was born deaf. Their fourth
interceding, like Job, on behalf of their children. child had tuberculosis."
Most of the students recommended an abortion.
A BRIEF RESPONSE "If you said 'Yes'," the teacher said, "you would
have just killed the great comp(..:;er Ludwig van
By Gary D. Long Beethoven!" -- from Bill Gothard Institutes.
Richard F. Belcher and Tony Mattia: A Discussion
of Seventeenth Century Baptist Confessions of Faith. . In .the case at hand, in agreement with Baptist
Columbia, S.C.: Richbarry Press, 1983. 54. hIstorIans, no more was intended than to say that
~he framers of the SLC were influenced by persecut-
[esc REPC>RT asked Dr. Long to respond to the cr1ti- IOn and by religious and political considerations to
C1sms directed against him, and those influenced by
see~ th~ir agreement. with Presbyferians and Congre-
h1m, 1n the above ent1tled booklet. Dr. Long reluct- gatIOnalIsts by makIng the WCF the basis of the
antly agreed to accept that assignment.J SLC. This they did, and it did result in numerous
The subtitle of this book by Belcher and Mattia and marked differences between the FLC and SLC
states that it is published "to examine the historical, even on the law of God, although not then clearl;
political, and religious background of the 1644 and understood.
1689 Baptist Confessions of Faith." What prompted . However, there was no intent to imply that the.
its writing, among other reasons, was a six page sIgners of the SLC were intentionally amibivalent
"Contemporary Preface" written by this respondent on the law of God solely because of force or coercion.
to a 1981 republishing of The First London Confession The intent was to indicate that they were influenced
?f ~aith (1646 Editj0n), with an. Appendix by Ben- in their views on the law of God by the contemporary
JamIn Cox (1646). Belcher and Mattia's book is historical situatpn in which they found themselves
written in four parts: (1) Introduction: The Problem; from 1649-1689. Their closeness to the contemp-
(2) Chapter 1: The First London Confession; (3) orary situation and the articulation of covenant theol-
Chapter 2: The Second London Confession; (4) Con- ogy in the WCF as expressed in its seven confession-
elusion. al articles on "the law of God" were influential factors
Central to the problem as viewed b~ Belcher upon the wording of Chapter XIX in the SLC.
and Mattia are the unscholarly treatment by this The SLC, like the WCF, virtually equates the moral
respondent in the "Contemporary Preface" of two law of God with the ten commandments delivered
areas: first, the claim for a New Covenant stress by God upon Mount Sinai. In Articles 7 and 8 of
upon the law of God in the 1644 and 1646 editions Chapter XXII, the SLC also adopts, not as covenant-
of the First London Confession (hereafter: FLC) al law, but as perpetually binding moral law, the
and and Old Covenant stress upon the law of God WCF teaching on the "Christian Sabbath". Yet,
in the Second London Confession of 1689 (hereafter: both of these teachings were wholly absent in the
SLC) and the Westminster Confession of 1646 (here- FLC and the 1646 Appendix by Cox. Search and
:lfter: WCF); second, the "Contemporary Preface" see.
statement that the SLC was tailored to the WCF
under the conditions of persecution from the The Stress of the Law of God in the
State-Church which "caused it to read almost ident- First and Second London Confessions
ical to the WCF on the law of God."
Both the SLC and WCF affirm in Chapter XIX,
The Influence of State-Church Persecution Article 6, that:
On the 1689 Confession
Although true believers be not under the law as
[n retrospect much of Belcher and Mattia'S react- a covenant of works, to be thereby justified or
ion was due to their assumed meaning of this writer's condemned; yet it is of great use to them, as
use of the word "caused" in the "Contemporary well as to others; in that, as a rule of life.
informing thpm of the will of God and their duty,
Preface" where it is stated that persecution of the it [the ten commandments, commonly called moral
state-Church of England "caused" the SLC to read law--Articles 2-:1) directs and bindi them to walk
almost identical to the WCF on the law of God. accordingly.
Without ever consulting this respondent they extend-
,~d his use of "cause" to the sole meaning of being
HOI h the 1644 and 1646 editons of the fLC affirm
involuntarily "forced" or "coerced". Understood in
in Article XXIX that:
this sense, there is some justification for their react-
ion. However, the word "cause" can be used in a
All believers are a holy and sanctified people,
voluntary way as a result of being influenced but
and that sanctification is a spiritual grace of
not forced by other causes.
the new covenant. anll an effect of the love of
6.