The Synod of Dort (1618-9): Milestone of the Reformation
The background
The Dutch town of Dortrecht (Engl. Dort), may be unfamiliar to many an English-speaking Christian but it was the place where the churches of Holland, Britain, Germany and Switzerland held a great ecumenical conference which resulted in their unanimous agreement concerning the doctrines of grace reflected in the clear …
Posts Tagged Order of Geneva
The Synod of Dort
Aug 17
Review of Amyraut Affirmed
Sep 15
Review of Amyraut Affirmed: or ‘Owenism, a Caricature of Calvinism’
by Alan C. Clifford
In this provocative booklet, Dr Allan C. Clifford’s responds to Ian Hamilton’s Amyraldianism – is it modified Calvinism? by presenting Amyraldianism as orthodox Calvinism and the Westminster Confession as a caricature of it. Clifford’s argument is that both John Calvin (1509-1564) and …
Portraits of Faithful Saints
Aug 18
Portraits of Faithful Saints, Herman Hanko, Reformed Free Publishing Association, 1999.
When the postman called with my author’s copies of Mountain Movers, he also brought Herman Hanko’s similar book entitled Portraits of Faithful Saints. A peep into the Preface confirmed this similarity as Hanko, like myself, makes Heb. 12:1 ff. his starting point. Where I, however, have merely …
Selina Countess of Huntingdon by Faith Cook, BOT, £19.95.
A new rival to Seymour’s work
Faith Cook is well-known as a chronicler of the lives and times of Christian worthies of the past and her biography of Selina Countess of Huntington has been eagerly awaited. The work is a solid, sound, honest portrait. Nevertheless, it lacks the bounce, sparkle and catching narrative of Aaron …
Part One: The Ejection of the ‘Scandalous Ministers’
The problem outlined
Having spent all my life in Free Church circles, I learnt very early of the severe persecutions meted out in England during the 17th century to Dissenters, Non-Conformists and Non-Jurors who wished to preach, teach and witness in Anglican parishes. Two books which became of special influence in forming my judgement were …
Tobias Crisp served the Lord during a time of civil war and ecclesiastical unrest. There were threats of a papal take-over in the Established Church and Amyraldianism, Arminianism, Grotianism and Socinianism were flooding into the country to water down the faith inherited from the Reformers and defended by the Puritans. Crisp found these new religions false as they did not exalt Christ.
Entering the ministry as an unconverted man …
Most readers are familiar with the Calvinist-Arminian controversy of the 18th century in which free-grace, championed by Whitefield, Toplady and Romaine was set against free-will, maintained by Fletcher, Sellon and Wesley. The controversy dealt with whether salvation was made possible by Christ, depending on man’s acceptance of it, or whether Christ secured His Church’s salvation by His atoning death. At the same time, a similar controversy was raging on a …
Andrew Fuller (1754-1815), a Particular Baptist who departed radically from the faith of his father’s is becoming quite a name amongst churches and para-church movements that once taught the doctrines of grace. Though at best a Calminian and at worst an absolute heretic, Fuller is being proclaimed by the evangelical Reformed Establishment as the Luther of the Baptists and as the man that fanned the smoking wick of the Evangelical Awakening into a blaze. He is seen as the …
The Dumbing Down of Doctrine
Aug 17
The Aims of This Lecture:
In my paper, I would like to air the perpetual challenge of presenting doctrine in evangelism, pastoral work and personal witness to a people who find doctrine hard to digest, difficult to understand and indeed, an insult to their view of themselves. I will first look at the fact that even in Christian circles doctrine is dumbed down and then at the methods used and …
