Posts Tagged The Early Puritans

Baptism in the Early Church

… P. Louw

Carey Publications

     This Carey Publications reprint deals with baptism in the first four centuries, claiming that ‘the writings of this era are important since they reveal the origins and developments of Christian practices and dogmas.’ Such an examination is unhelpful in tracing origins and developments when isolated from the Biblical sources as in this work. Christian faith is not built on ‘practices and dogmas’ but on a personal relationship with Christ …

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

The Old Paths versus New Divinity

The Old Paths versus New Divinity:

Exemplified by William Huntington and Andrew Fuller  

Part I

     The work of the Banner of Truth Trust proved a great encouragement in my spiritual development and I became an enthusiastic reader of their magazine from its start. Throughout the following years, especially during the seventies and eighties, I was able to break away from my work in …

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

The Atonement

The Atonement in Evangelical Thought: Part I

The New-Look in Neo-Evangelicalism

     Enemies of the Word of God tend to develop their theories along lines of general fashion. One generation chooses to challenge the Sonship of Christ whereas another generation fixes its doubting gaze on the work of the Spirit. In one age it is fashionable to be social-minded, another age chooses to be …

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

The Troubles at Frankfurt

Lecture given at the Protestant Reformation Society,

Regent’s Park College, Oxford, 2007

The Troubles at Frankfurt

A Vindication of our Martyrs’ Legacy

 

The tiny enclave that rescued the Reformation in England

     Readers of Asterix will be familiar with a tiny fortress, a mere dot on the map of the Roman Empire, which was to bring Rome to its knees. So much for fairy-tales. Solid fact …

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

The Temple Church Controversy

     The debates between the Master of the Temple Church, Richard Hooker and his Deputy Walter Travers between 1585-1586 sparked off controversies which are still unsettled. The original subject matter, however, has been radically altered through changing theological fashions and back-projections of subsequent controversies. The original discussions arose through differences regarding preaching and …

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 …

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

Battle for the Church (1517-1644) by David Gay

Disobeying the Golden Rule

     I must admit that I turned to David Gay’s new book on the period between “the break with Rome and the rise of the Particular Baptists” with some reserve, knowing that the author has antagonised many by his anti-Trinitarian claim that the Son and the Father had contradictory wills, reflected by irreconcilable contradictions in the Scriptures. My reservations …

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 …

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

The Devil and Arthur Miller

During the 1990s Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible was widely read in British, Continental European and American Schools, introducing Miller’s own particular Hollywood-style morals at the cost of Christian truths. Here is an article originally published in the Spring of 1991 in Spectrum, a magazine for Christian teachers. A colleague by the name of Dr. David Barratt responded and I was asked to …

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The Life and Thought of John Gill

The Life and Thought of John Gill (1697-1771): A Tercentennial Appreciation

Ed. Michael A. G. Haykin

Brill

Anxious thoughts repelled

     I turned to The Life and Thought of John Gill edited by Michael Haykin with apprehension because of former highly negative comments on the subjects by several contributors to this Festschrift. I read the book, however, with increasing delight as …

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