Posts Tagged Order of Geneva

The Synod of Dort

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 …

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Review of Amyraut Affirmed

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 …

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Portraits of Faithful Saints

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 …

Tags: , , , , ,

Selina Countess of Huntington

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 …

Tags: , , , , , ,

The Ecclesiastical Chaos of 1643-1662

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 …

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

John Albert Bengel (1687-1752): The Father of Modern Biblical Scholarship

…      John Albert Bengel was born in Winnenden near Stuttgart on 24 July, 1687, the son of scholar-deacon Martin Albert Bengel. John’s father began to home-school John early but died of an epidemic fever when John was six. Then Louis XIV’s troops plundered and burnt down the Bengels’ home, destroying the Bengels’ valuable library. Concerning these hard times, John testified that at his father’s death, he received a firm conviction that his Heavenly Father would be his best …

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Banner of Truth Trust and Antitrinitarianism

… ministorium Tigurinae ecclesiae ad argumenta Antitrinitariorum Italopolonorum (A Response of the ministers of the Zürich Church to the Arguments of the Italopolish Antitrinitaarians) of 1563. Around 1560 a group of Italians in Geneva quarreled with Calvin and fled to Zürich where they asked Bullinger to mediate. Bullinger urged them to return to Geneva and make their peace with Calvin. The Italians claimed that this would be pointless as Calvin had wrongly accused …

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

An Overview of the Church Today

… a century ago. True, these churches are handicapped by modern apostate churches, the dumbing down of doctrine, the growth of para-church movements, big business and entertainment groups masquerading as Christianity. Thankfully, these are dud squibs and self-destructive. The new generation will soon be free to use the whole world as a basis for strenuous ploughing, sowing and reaping. We shall not have to wait another fifty-three years to see God answering the prayers and prophecy of Isaiah …

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Tobias Crisp (1600-1643): Exalter of Christ Alone

     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 …

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Antinomianism and the Righteousness of the Law

     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 …

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,