West Port Experiment

The following passages from from Samuel Rutherford’s A Free Disputation Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience (1649).

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2. The sword did not force the conscience of any then, more then now; nor could it cudgell an Idolater, or a blasphemer, into the sound faith then, more then now, and weapons of the Prophets in the Old Testament, as well as the Apostles in the New, were not carnall but spirituall, and mighty through God. Prophets, as Prophets, no more used the sword against mens consciences of old, than Christ, his Apostles, and Ministers doe now, Mat. 28.19,20. And as Christ saith now, preach the Gospel, but kill none, use neither staffe nor sword, nor miraculous power to destroy hereticks, or burn Samaria, so he said to his Prophets, speake my word to Israel and Judah and the Nations, to Ninive and others, but kill none, and use the sword against none of the rebellious who will not heare, that they may be converted. Yet he commanded the Magistrate to use the sword against the seducing Prophet, nor can the Libertines shew us of a Ceremoniall death inflicted for the transgression of a morall law, which transgression is now made free from all bodily punishment, indeed the man that refused to raise up seed to his brother was put to shame by the law, and we are freed from both the law, and the penalty thereof, and the man that gathered sticks on the Sabbath was put to death by an answer from God no doubt, but the breach of the holy Sabbath instituted before the fall is no Ceremoniall transgression, nor doe we thinke that every violation of the Sabbath was punished by death, but that the Magistrate, Masters and Fathers, are not to punish with bodily coercive power the transgressours of the fourth command, is most false. For what the Magistrate commands the Subject, the Master the servant, the Father the sons, and which they have warrant from the Morall law to command in these relations, that they command in order to the sword and rodde, if their commandements find no other welcome but rebellion, for the power of Magistrate, and Master, yea, and of the Father now in the state of sin is essentially coercive; they may compell their inferiours by strong hand, either to doe or suffer the will of God, which is sufficient to prove our point. Though it be true, some morall transgressions Moses punished with death, as Sabbath-breaking, it followeth not therefore the godly Prince may now punish it with death, but it followes not therefore, such transgressours are made free, through Christ, of all bodily punishment, as Libertines inferre, for though the temporarines of the punishment be only in the measure of punishment, yet not in the punishment it selfe. [189-191]

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Some of you may be aware that our congregation, the Presbyterian Reformed Church of Corbin City, New Jersey, is connected with a K-12 Christian school. Westminster Christian Academy provides area families with an affordable education and is committed to the Reformed faith as expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646). Several of our members are teachers, and we have a good number of students attending. At present, the school meets in a Presbyterian church in Ocean City. But as the Lord has blessed us with some means—and as our congregation is definitely in a growth mode with many young families having children—we would like to build or obtain a suitable property of our own to house the school.

At present, we are considering three options. First, we could demolish our present church building and build a larger school building with a chapel that would house our worship services. Then there is also an old municipal building up the road, which actually used to be the high school for Upper Township earlier in the 20th century. This is attractive for a number of reasons one of which is its close proximity to us. These two options could well be within our present financial capacities.

A third option, however, is about 30 minutes to the west of our church, in Port Norris. There is a very large school complex with many classrooms, kitchen facilities, and a full, rather new gym. The size is 53,000+ sf and sits on 8+ acres. The school district has closed it following consolidation. It is worth approximately $3.5 million, but the asking price is a quite low at $650,000 because the area has seen population and economic decline. That being said, many of us think the town has a future with its supply of more affordable housing; and some of our young families have already been looking to purchase in the area.

If we were to consider this school in Port Norris, we would really like to explore possible partners, whether investors, businesses, educational institutions, or non-profits. Even finding one or a few lesser partners in S. Jersey could help us lean towards a commitment to purchase the school as a possible multi-use facility. As it stands, WCA only holds classes three days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. And not only could the property be available around those hours, there are the weekends and the entire summer where we would not foresee WCA use.

Do you have any ideas? Or can you think of other leads, contacts who may be interested in some way? Please share or drop us a note at michael@reformedparish.com.

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