Daniel in Book Form

Sovereignty and Justice

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Millennial Studies

Lesson: 6-12

Genre: Lecture

Track: 157

Dictation Name: RR128C6

Location/Venue:

Year: 1960’s-1970’s

 Almighty God our Heavenly Father we give thanks unto Thee for the heritage which is ours in Jesus Christ. We thank Thee that in Thy providence God has brought us to These United States and we pray our Father that even s Thou didst raise up this people unto Thee Thou wouldst now purge them of iniquity and make them afresh a people dedicated to faith in Thee. Yielded to Thy sovereignty, serving Thee in faithfulness and in joy. Bless us now our Father as we study Thy word. Grant that we may behold wondrous things from Thy law. In Jesus Name. Amen

Our scripture today is the six chapter of the book of Daniel. Sovereignty and Justice. Daniel 6. Sovereignty and Justice.

“6 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom;

2 And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage.

3 Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.

4 Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.

5 Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.

6 Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever.

7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.

8 Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.

9 Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree.

10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

11 Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.

12 Then they came near, and spake before the king concerning the king's decree; Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.

13 Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.

14 Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him: and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.

15 Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed.

16 Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.

17 And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.

18 Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him.

19 Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions.

20 And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?

21 Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever.

22 My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.

23 Then was the king exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.

24 And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den.

25 Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.

26 I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.

27 He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.

28 So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.”

When Darius the Mede was set over the Babylonian kingdom by Cyrus he very quickly promoted to particular eminence Daniel. In Daniel he found one who was a thoroughly trustworthy and dependable as well as capable administrator. And so Daniel not only became head of the presidents and over the princes but very quickly was going to be promoted to a position next to Darius himself. He incurred at this point the animosity, the jealousy, the hatred, of the other administrators. Joseph Harper a century ago in commenting on this passage wrote and I think his words are worth quoting, "Yet here we come upon words we gladly would have omitted from history. Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the Kingdom. They tested his policy at every point. They forced all their weight down upon the policy and purpose of Daniel in things imperial. But, that policy bare all the burden. They could find none occasion nor fault for as much as he was faithful. Neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then what should they have said? They ought to have said thus; any religion that would make a man so faithful, so trusty, so real, and so beneficent is a good religion though we cannot explain it and though we never heard of it before." unquote. But of course this is not what they say.

And men hate nothing more than innocence because in their sin they want to reduce all things to their level and they breathe out hatred and contempt for those who are not involved in their crime and their corruption, in their depravity. And so they took council together and persuaded Darius to establish a royal statute that whosever should ask a petition of any God or man save of the oh king he shall be cast into the den of lions. This was so routine a matter that it required no persuasion to convince Darius of this.

It was already basically a part of their faith. Because the kingdoms of antiquity believed that the monarch represented as well as the reigning empire the high point of the evolving forces of nature. Of the god in nature. So that there was an incarnation, a manifestation of that divinity in the ruling power.

Therefore any prayer to any God or force or power in nature had to be through that person because he was the mediator. This of course was the whole point of the persecution of the early church in the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was the dominate force in history. Therefore the true mediator between god and man. The true incarnation of the forces of history was the Roman emperor. And any and every religion was good which recognized that. It was then a true religion. And therefore Christianity of any time could have had a legal statist; a legal representation in the Roman Empire if one required it's leaders offer innocence before the image of the Roman Emperor; a symbol of prayer. It would indicate then they prayed through him; in his name.

We as Christians pray in Jesus name. This is the only way we can pray. The only Christian prayer that is not in Jesus Name is the Lord's prayer which is in his words. And so in that case we need not invoke His name since we pray in more than in His name; in His words.

But this was a stipulation. Christ under Caesar. Caesar as the true incarnation. Caesar as the true mediator. Hence when the King or Emperor reigned he was regarded as the door between god and man. The door between man and paradise. The door between man and the fulfillment of his hopes and his prayers. So that when Jesus Christ declared "I am the door by me if any man go out or come in he shall go in and out and find pasture. I am the way to fulfillment. I am the way to God. I am God incarnate. I am the door." With this Jesus Christ guaranteed that all who followed him would face conflict from the powers of the state. That there would be persecution from Rome. That there would persecution from the hands of every force that set itself up as the evolving incarnation of the divinity in nature. It guaranteed that there would be conflict between Marxism and Christianity. It guaranteed that there would be conflict between all true believers, all orthodox believers and the United States as it is today. Because has not the Supreme Court said over and over again in one form or the other from the days of Holmes to the present that there are no truths, no absolutes? Chief Justice Vincent stated it openly. There are no absolutes. There is no law beyond the court, so that the state is God walking on the earth. It is the final, the absolute, the ultimate power. And it is no wonder that a state dedicated to such a faith must sooner or later begin persecuting true believers. And the churches dedicated to such a faith must begin persecuting true believers.

This morning I read a church periodical of a convention of that church recently and this is the kind of thing you find in one church periodically today. There was a move towards the ordination of women. And those who were opposed it were told by a very prominent authority within the church that they were guilty of ethnic, racial, and sexual discrimination which was anti Christian. And another man said that any who believed in the infallibility of scripture were demonic.

The persecution is inevitable, for a state and a church hold to such a belief. Jesus said “I am the door.” And by that declaration he insured warfare unto death. And because he is sovereign it will mean finally the death of the godless state.

The council of Chalcedon by emphatically declaring that Jesus Christ is the unique incarnation of God, the only door; declared once and for all that any true Christian there can be no compromise.

This then was the logical belief for the Medo-Persian Empire. It represented everything they held to. And Darius signed the writing and the decree. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed and his windows being open in his chamber towards Jerusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a for time. Daniel prayed towards Jerusalem now in ruins.

But, he prayed towards Jerusalem because there was the temple and there the alter typifying the Messiah the sin barer who was to come. So in his way before Christ he was praying in Jesus name. But, quite obviously a servant, in his household in their pay. And his enemies assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before God. And so they demanded his death from Darius. That he be cast into the den of lions.

The lion's den; death at the hands of animals is an old punishment in human history. We are very familiar with it. Not only from the story of Daniel but also from the story of the martyrs in the arena of Rome. It is still a very common form of execution in many, many parts of the world. But, because now days we are so bent on promulgating the natural goodness of man and world brotherhood we don't bring up these nasty facts lest someone think that the peoples of Africa, Asia, and elsewhere might be barbaric and that would be an unforgivable sin to believe that.

But, its purpose was to degrade the man. It was reversed for a particularly contemptible crime. For crimes that were considered by the ruling powers to be especially bad. For a man to kill a man was at least to treat him with some dignity. But, to have him executed by animals was to express the ultimate in contempt. This was the sentence for Daniel.

Darius of course didn't like it. Darius regarding Daniel as his right hand man wanted to spare Daniel but they reminded him that no decree nor statute which the King established may be changed. The Medo-Persian law had certain basic premises. First the king was a priest and mediator the link between heaven and earth. Second the good life was possible only in terms of his order and in his name. Third the fundamental laws of being were expressed through his extra padre utterances. And fourth this priest king was the focal point of heaven and earth and every utterance he expressed so infallible that he himself could not set it aside.

This was the reason why Cyrus one of the greatest of Persian monarchs was so given to sobriety. Many a Persian monarch through anger, or misunderstanding or drunkenness signed orders that he lived to regret. One monarch condemned his closest and best friend to death and when he realized what had been done. He tried everything possible to overrule himself. But, he could not. For so to have done would have been to destroy his own kingship.

This then was the tragedy of Darius his law subjected Daniel. To break it was to cease to be king. his love for Daniel said life to Daniel but he could not give it without ceasing to be king. But God in Christ both law and love in the cross. Which expresses the absolute justice in law of God in its condemnation of sin and also the grace of God the love of God that while we were yet sinners gave his only don to die for us. This perfect law this perfect love this perfect and infallible wisdom only can exist in God and in heaven. And whenever it is transferred to the earth as it was and as it is today in all sides of us it ensures one thing. The reign of injustice and the condemnation of the just.

Darius found no way out. And so pitifully he turned to Daniel and said hopefully. Thy God whom thoust servest continually He will deliver Thee. The king then went to his palace and spent a sleepless night. He did not permit instruments of music to be brought before him to try to lull him to sleep. He was unhappy, he was upset, deeply disturbed, his sleep went from him. Very early the king rose and went in haste to the den of lions. And when he came to the den he cried with a lament Daniel and the king spake and said to Daniel "oh Daniel servant of the living God is thy God whom thou servest continually able to deliver thee form the lions?" And out of the Den came the voice of Daniel. My God has sent an angel and has shut the lions mouth that they have not hurt me. And the king commanded and they brought those men who had accused Daniel. They and their households were all cast into the lion's den. And before they had even fully hit the bottom of the den the lions had killed them. And Darius declared in a decree, respect as a legal requirement for the God of Daniel for He is the living God and steadfast forever. And His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. He delivereth and rescueth and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and earth who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.

We today face a world not unlike that which Daniel faced. Not as far gone but, in some respects further gone in that the whole world today is moving to establish this kind of kingdom. A world state which will say, "I am the door". We are told already that 1976 is the date when this world order will be openly and fully proclaimed and by that time the world church is to exist.

But, our story like that of Daniel is written and is to be written in terms of the same God. Our God whom we serve continually; He will deliver us. He is able. For He is the living God; steadfast forever. And his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. And in this confidence we cna with Daniel stand against the inequities of our age knowing indeed we pay a price but knowing also that our God is able.

Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God we thank Thee that Thou art the same yesterday, today, and forever. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God of Moses, of David, and of Daniel. The God of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank Thee our Father that we can face the future with Thee. Teach us therefore our Father to walk in confidence in holy hope in faith and in prayer. IN Jesus name. Amen.

Before we have our first question I would like to deal a little bit with one of the great attempts in history to establish such an order. That by Frederick the second of the Holy Roman empire. 1194-1250 are the dates of Frederick the second. And Frederick the second on his coins (Kantorovich?) tells us in his book on the subject, had not the smallest Christian sign had not the tiniest of crosses on the scepter orb or crown. In other words he reigned independent of the Christian God and the Christian faith as a new God on earth. Then (Kantorovich?) writes further that an old Germanic proverb had it that God is the beginning of all law. And Saint Augustine taught that God is the fount of justice. If the theorist of the days that followed the last Hohenstaufen had substituted the emperor in these two sayings they would exactly describe the actual teaching of Fredrick’s Liber Augustalis.

Now among the phrases from his constitutions or laws Frederick had this; the emperor must therefore be at once father and son, Lord and servant of Justicia, of Justice. The Emperor had comprehended and represented the living god as right and wrong as Justicia.

Moreover (Kantorovich?) writes he established his infallibility for he goes on to say “Therefore we scorn to err.” in accordance with his imperial infallibility Frederick adopted as the Norman Kings before him had done the sentence of Roman law. Quote: "To discuss the Emperors justice, decrees, and statutes is sacrilege." a sentence that was so vital to the constitution of the whole state that Frederick boldly quoted it to the pope when he ventured to criticize some measure of the emperor. The emperor was the pinnacle of the world's structure. The emperor was the emanation of god as son of god. He was law incarnate upon the earth.

It goes on page after page to describe him as god forcibly brought down into the state not merely the state exalted to a world shunning universal deity. The emperor was the sole source of Justice. And one of the laws was it was sacrilege to debate whether that man is worthy whom the emperor has chosen and appointed. So that it was impossible to criticize any government official as unjust because how could the emperor make a mistake.

Now a very prominent thinker who shared in the same kind of thinking as Frederick the second but has somehow been smuggled into the Christian fold as though he was a Christian was Dante. Because in his Devine Comedies Dante symbolized the lone empire as the tree of knowledge in the earthly paradise. But in spite of this he still held that paradise was to be communism. And his whole thesis was that the empire represented the true form of Christianity.

Frederick also held to a primeval chaos. So that his relationship was with the cults of chaos. He believed that the fullness of time had now come under the scepter of the emperor, the emperor of justice. The expected messianic ruler who the sibyls had foretold. His thinking was very much as that of the abbot Waking of [??] one of the most prominent and dangerous heretics of the church. And in terms of this same conception Frederick placed himself on a par with Adam and of Christ as the bringer of the third and last age. This kind of thinking of course is not new. We are getting it in various forms today in our legal thinking.

Are there any questions now?

[Audience] Indiscernible

[Rushdoony]

A very good question. One various evil in the civil order. Does it have to run its full course? The answer to that is no if the civil order is not too far gone. The civil order is reasonably Christian and Godly it can subdue evil. Or if it is not Christian if it is not too far gone it can be reclaimed. But if it is past a certain point then it can only go on until it runs its course. Because one of the most important statements in scripture at the conclusion of the sixth chapter of Isaiah is the most quoted passage from the old in the new testament. And it makes emphatic that after a certain point God hardens the hearts, blinds the eyes, stops up the ears of the wicked. That hearing they may not hear and seeing they may not see lest they turn and be converted. In other words they are going to reap the harvest they are sowing. So this is a principle of scripture that after a certain point God allows it to go ahead. It is going to run its course.

[Audience] Indiscernible

[Rushdoony]

Yes, but there are still differences. There are blessings a Christian society for all who are in it but in varying degrees. The criminal is still punished. And the more industrious and hardworking and just the godly man is the more he flourishes. So while it is a society that has blessings upon it there are differing degrees in the participation in that blessing. There is still a curse against sin in that society so that the evil doers or punished more quickly and readily. Now in an ungodly society the judgment of God is upon the whole of the society. So that everyone in it to some degree is going to share in the collapse, in the judgment, in the shaking, in the devastation [??], but again there is a difference within that judgment is brought to bear upon the evil doers upon the evil structure of the society and he delivers his saints in order that he might use them to rebuild a new society. And in the parable of judgment and in the symbolism of judgment that God gave to Ezekiel he compared him to his hair which was shaven and then a third of it thrown into the fire and burned, a third of it tossed into the winds to be scattered thoroughly, and a third of it preserved. What this symbolized was justice is coming upon Judah. Therefore everyone is going to be uprooted; good and bad alike. But, one third is going to be destroyed immediately. One third are given to the wind. They are not going to be given the same total destruction immediately but they are finished as far as God is concerned; they lose all significance and meaning. But another third are kept carefully because God has a purpose and a future in them. This is the remnant. So God made clear that there was a difference in his judgment.

[Audience] Indiscernible

[Rushdoony]

Yes, Psalm one speaks of the trees planted by the rivers of water. And the river is a familiar symbol in scripture and we meet with it again in scripture in the river of life. And this of course is what every time we meet with the figure of the tree and the tree bearing fruit the scriptures have in mind. Jesus Christ is the river of life even as he is the tree of life. And we in terms of the symbol of the river; when we are planted along the river and draw nourishment from Him we bear fruit unto Him. And the fruit is a Godly life in terms of our calling so that for a man it is first of all obedience to God and the fulfillment of his calling under God. Manifesting responsibility in terms of his calling to be a man. And Ill return to that in a moment. For a women it is in terms of her womanhood as a mother, a wife. Each in their respective callings to fulfill their responsibility. This is what it means to bear fruit. In other words to bear fruit has primary reference to our Christian vocation. That which we are called to be. It is not say in relationship to the Church and sure piety. But it is in terms of fulfilling our responsibility as God has laid it upon us in a particular place. So that those who are called to manifest it in terms of a church calling that's another thing. But for each and every one of us it is in terms of our calling. As a man and woman as workman as wife, wherever we are. Now I said I would return to the question of the man's place for a moment. I've gone into this before but I think it's so important that it is worth restating.

The Bible regards the sins of men as more serious then the sins of woman. In a writing that is not yet completed and therefore not published I go into the death penalties according to Biblical law for men and women. And I think it is something like 18 to 3. There are more death penalties for men then there are for women. For the simple reason that in the sight of god there are more fearful sins then those of the women because he is more important. But you see in our day and age what we have done is we have reversed the whole thing. We have said well the woman it's up to her to be moral and chased and it's up to her to take care of the religion in the family, it is up to her to be the protector of morality and so on and so forth. And this is putting a burden on the woman that belongs properly on the men. And we have God telling the people in the old testament for example and this is restated in the new testament that he will not punish the adultery of their wives and daughters when the fathers and sons are guilty of the same thing because there is the more fearful. Ultimately he will bring judgment upon all of them. But he says why do you expect me to punish the lesser evil even though it is a fearful sin in my sight when you wink at your own?

[Audience] Indiscernible

[Rushdoony]

The Bible first of all makes it clear that women are not to be ordained and Paul is emphatic on that point. So that this is a deliberate setting aside of the word of God. More over it is a subverting of the Biblical principle of authority. So that when the Bible speaks of family we don't need to search any further it is said this is morally wrong. And of course it is humanism because it is saying that man can rearrange the world in terms of his own imagination and his own thinking. And when man says we will declare all people to be equal and male and female equal in authority and so forth then they are exo facto equal. Now the Bible never says that women are less intelligent then men. As a matter effect now a days they tend to be more intelligent, more studious, more learned, and more intelligent. What the Bible says is that dominion and authority is given to the man. And that the man tends to think objectively and the woman objectively. Her thinking is intensely personal. This is extremely important. That is why a man needs a helpmeet because his thinking is too objective. But the woman gets down to the very concrete personal thing. Well you need both. But each has its place.

[Audience] Indiscernible

[Rushdoony]

The tree of life is symbolical of Christ. He is the tree of life. And many of the early liturgies of the church celebrated him as the tree of life. However the tree of life is a common symbol in pagan antiquity of the world state. The world state is man's savior. And we find of course Nebuchadnezzar seeing himself as such and almost every emperor seeing itself as such. And the tree a very common symbol of many a state in antiquity as the state is the tree of life. But in scripture Christ is the tree of life.

[Audience] Indiscernible

[Rushdoony]

No I haven't but Norman R Jones is a very able a very brilliant young man. Yes, right he has first of all put it in a logical order. Second he has put it in an order of importance. There are many churches. They are usually called fundamentalist which believe that the most important thing is that a person know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Now this is good. We cannot quarrel with that but, we must quarrel with the place they give to it. For this reason; we do not learn the alphabet in order to know the alphabet. IN other words the alphabet is not the goal of education. It is simply the first tool. And as the puritans said we learn to read that we might know the word of God and might serve and glorify God. Now salvation is not the be all and end all of everything. It is merely the starting point, the necessary, the essential, the inescapable starting point. But, there are churches which stop there. Now this is deadly. Paul said of those Christians that went no further then the abc's that they are babes in Christ and another word that he used for them which we have in English is that they were idiotes {sp???) In other words a idiot. An idiot is a baby that has never matured. And this is the trouble with too many of these churches. They insist that the children must remain idiots. That being born of again is the sum of Christianity. Well it is the starting point. But, the point of primary importance is the sovereignty of God and that we glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. That we server Him, that we magnify Him, that we know Him, that we establish His word and His law in every sphere of human life. Now what happens when you have churches that say in the spiritual realm we are going to stay with teh abc's and we are a better church then all the others because we concentrate on the abc's? And of course the draw many people because they promulgate the idea that they are the real Christians and somehow they are superior because they stay with the abc's.

Well they promote a kind of spiritual idiocy and while their churches are full of many good people, fine people, who have all kinds of promise of real growth if they but turn to a thoroughly Biblical kind of faith and ministry. The thing that characterizes these churches is that nowhere else do you have a higher percentage of conmen operating in the clergy. Because when you keep people in the abc's you are going to make them easily fooled. And so people are running around constantly in every community in the country so that I get fed up to here. In community after community because this and that church are painfully and expensively build up and they turn out to find it's a con operation. Of course it is because it is characterized by a faith that for most spiritual idiocy. People must be born again. At that point we can agree with these people but, they must be born again that they might grown into spiritual maturity. And the tragedy of our day is this; that most of what calls itself the church today is apostate. It is preaching humanism. It is anti-Christian to the core and the rest of the church is proud to be idiotic.

[Audience] Indiscernible

[Rushdoony]

Yes, if you keep it simple you are not going to have problems. Cradle babies are the easiest babies to handle. When they begin to grow they're a problem to keep up with and when they begin to think that is when yes you have problems. You have to work harder. Now I would say however, that even while basically you would have to assert that while theologically the triune God is prior logically you would have to say scripture has to be given priority. The West Minister Confession the first chapter is on the scriptures. Why? Not because they place the Bible above the trinity which is then dealt with in a number of chapters. But, because to know truly God you have to declare what you believe concerning scripture. So you accept scripture as the infallible word of God the only rule and guide of faith and practice. Then having established that you can know who the true God is. So that while God of course is first. Pedagogically you place the Bible first as the means of knowing the true God.

[Audience] Indiscernible

[Rushdoony]

Right that's the point to begin with. And this is essentially what Calvin's catechism and what the West Minister's confession teach. What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. It says the same thing in somewhat different wording. And this is what any and every true church must teach. That the chief end of man is to first of all glorify God and fully enjoy Him forever. In other words it's not our happiness that comes first. It is not our salvation that comes first. It is the glory of God and when we are saved we put the glory of God first. I spoke a while back in Arizona and it was interesting there was this one minister there. I wasn't talking on theology I was talking on the philosophy of law. He couldn't wait to ask the question and he said I'm certain from everything you've said that you believe in the sovereignty of God as this was the most horrible thing I could believe in. And he became so outrageously insulting that the chairman had to stop the discussion. But, the sovereignty of man was everything to him. Yet he considered himself to be a Christian. In fact he considered himself to be a very conservative Christian. But his conservatism was total humanism.

[Audience] Indiscernible

[Rushdoony]

Never heard of such a thing. I haven't seen anything like that. I do know that today that every church is facing a crisis in that they have fewer and fewer recruits for clergy. Well, of course it is so taken over by subversive now that most of your churches well frankly it's something to be ashamed of that you are connected to the clergy.