The Establishment Principle Defended

by William Balfour

This work is a classic statement of Established church position from a Presbyterian viewpoint in reply to the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Originally published as articles for a newspaper they were later collated and edited for this edition. Balfour also obliquely deals with the American Voluntaryist position.

257 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1873

Reviews

[Benjamin Glaser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This work written in the 1870's regarding certain decisions by the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland is an able and striking defense of the Establishment Principle against the Vountarist scheme of disestablishment. While some of the book is dealing directly with some particular situations in the Scottish church at the time it presages a lot of the current discussion about the place of the Church in society. Balfour very carefully walks through all of the pertinent Scriptural citations that usually are considered in this matter.

If you want a general introduction to the Establishment position, especially in contrast to the wisdom of our age you can hardly do better than William Balfour's clear and cogent defense of the traditional understanding of the Reformed churches concerning the separation of Church and State and how the civil magistrate is to serve as a "foster father and nursing mother" to the Bride of Christ.