Gary Brady’s book of 165 pages purports to give the background of 2,000 ministers who rebelled against the Church of England’s and the King’s authority in 1662 and suffered under a Parliament that had no respect either for the one nor the other. Anti-Dissenting laws formerly enforced against the Church of England by the Commission of Ejectors under Cromwell’s Commonwealth Councils were now applied to a minority who rejected the restored Church. In order to understand the fate of all these 17 century Dissenters from different parties, it is necessary to trace the persecutions back to their roots during Mary’s bloody reign and throughout the reigns of Elizabeth, James, Charles I, Cromwell and Charles II. Brady… Full Article
Posts Tagged Richard Baxter
Cromwell’s swift rise to power Now sitting firmly in his cavalry saddle in the war against the King and the Church of England, Cromwell was soon reimbursed by Parliament of all his expenses in building up his personal army. Before entering officially into the Civil War, in May, 1641, Cromwell signed a Commons’ vow, ‘To maintain and defend as far as Lawfully I may, with my life, power, and estate, the True Reformed Protestant Religion, expressed in the Doctrines of the Church of England, against all Popery and Popish innovations’. It does appear that Cromwell, who was a harsh critic of the Anglican system, was merely accommodating himself with this statement for the sake of his career. It could mean that he was merely… Full Article
The difficulty of finding an apt title The most difficult task facing a recorder of Cromwell’s life is finding an apt title for his subject. Whatever positive attribute one finds in Cromwell’s character, and one finds far more than in other great leaders of nations, there are as many shadows and shades present which threaten to subvert them. Cromwell could be all things to different men either at the same or different times. Thus, whatever title one chooses for Cromwell, it will be unacceptable to many. As John Buchan, son of the Manse, said of Cromwell, ‘Paradox is in the fibre of his character and career’. After much thought, I have entitled my record ‘Rebel, Republican and Reformer’. However, though… Full Article
Letter sent to the English Churchman defending criticism of the Cromwell ‘Get Rich Quickly’ Merciless Slaughter in Ireland. Sir: Mr Spanner would replace my facts with his opinions. If Cromwell believed in religious liberty why did he outlaw the Church of England, rid Parliament of almost half of its reformed members (Presbyterians) and persecute Baptists, Quakers and other Christian denominations? Why did Love, Adams, Featley, Hall, Ward, Balcanqual, Manton, Charnock etc., etc, protest and suffer? Why did Baxter call Cromwell “a vile and detestable creature” and state after Love’s murder, ordered by the Protector, that “most of the ministers and good people of the land, did look upon the new Commonwealth as… Full Article
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 Thomas Coleman’s The Two Thousand Confessors of Sixteen Hundred and Sixty-Two and Edmund Calamy’s The Nonconformist’s Memorial, a three-volumed work on the same period. I treasure these works which served under God to cause me to abhor any form of religious, political and social persecution. As a result… Full Article
E. T. Clifford on Doddridge
Aug 22
Sir: In his recent ET article defending saintly Doddridge against adverse criticism, Dr. Clifford ended by stating, “Even more at odds with the facts, Dr George Ella asserts that Doddridge’s Calvinism was ‘higher’ than Dr John Gill’s!” This is incorrect. My original ET article (Feb. 1995), including Doddridge’s balanced analysis of Calvinism, which I share, was radically shortened in the American version. Nevertheless, this version still shows clearly that I look upon Doddridge as being ‘higher’ in his Calvinism than Gill on one of the Five Points only, namely election and reprobation. Concerning allied points, I affirmed that Doddridge disagreed with Gill on justification, but not radically so, and that he… Full Article
Puritan Papers
Aug 18
Puritan Papers Volume I, 1956-59: A Review Article A Conference downgraded Puritan Papers brought back memories of my early years in England as a new born Christian and the help which I received from the teaching of the Puritan Conference up to 1964 and my continued interest during my later sojourn in Sweden and Germany. When the Puritan Conference ended in 1970, my interest waned. The Westminster Conference became more narrow in spiritual scope but broader in political and denominational tub-thumping. It radically redefined Puritanism. The shutting out of Jim Packer, one of my first mentors in Christ, was a tragic move on the part of John Knox-like Martyn Lloyd Jones. It bordered on an excommunication and forced Jim to find… Full Article
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 reformer who rescued Calvinists from the dunghill of their fathers in the faith and is now presented as the greatest theologian of the 19th century, a genius whose work was epoch-making. No praise seems to be too high or too exaggerated for this sturdy… Full Article
