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Thoughts On Responsibility
It appears to me that on no subject are the religious professors of the present day more confused, yea, in the dark, than that of man’s responsibility, and often have I wished that some gifted servant of the Lord would take pen in hand and give a few thought on this important subject. The attempt made by the Rev letter-learned moderate Calvinists of the day, to reconcile God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility, viz, in the matter of salvation, is like searching for the philosophers stone, although a fruitless attempt to discover what, according to their view of the subject, has no existence; or to make two directly opposites meet together. In this, as in all other parts of the jumbled creed, the grand error evidently…
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A Blow At Fullerism
Does the moral law require faith in the Mediator? Or, does the moral law require the faith of God’s elect? That the above law requires faith, I will not deny. I well know that there is a faith, which is one of the great and weighty matters of the law; but what faith is it? Is it that which stands inseparably connected with eternal life and salvation? If it is, then we are saved through the Law: but the Apostle says we are saved through faith; now if the faith through which we are saved is a duty of the Law (as it must be if the law requires it) we must be saved through the law, and a work of it. But the truth…
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Notional Calvinism Versus Experimental Calvinism
Notional Calvinism is a plant of common growth in this our day of widely extended profession, whereas experimental Calvinism is just as scarce as ever it was. The former, like our present popular mode of travelling may be very perfect in machinery, but if the fire be wanting it is worse than useless. A bright morning ushered in the Sabbath of—. It was the anniversary of a place of worship, where the truth of God was sown in sorrow and watered with tears. The few who frequented it assembled at the usual hour, and the gathering was small. Numbers, however, have nothing to do with the operations of God’s Spirit, any more than instruments. It is nothing with Him to help, whether with many, or…
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The Rev. Mr. Polwhele’s New Scheme Of Divinity
Dear Sir, You devolved on me a very unpleasant task, when you requested me to peruse the printed letter, which the Rev. R. Polwhele has addressed to Dr. Hawker of Plymouth, and to give you my decided opinion concerning its contents. You might as well have commissioned me to visit the plain of Colchis, and to employ myself in culling its noxious productions. It oftentimes affords a very high gratification to the mind of an author to indulge a vein of acrimony and malevolence, when he comes forward to expose the imagined error of a Christian brother, either in faith or manners. But this procedure, instead of recommending him to the favor of a judicious and candid reader, always excites the feelings of an honest…
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A Very Strange Sound In Our Ears
Strange things I've heard Reformed Baptists say: "We must believe like John Calvin, but evangelize like James Arminius!" "If it were not for Paedobaptism, I would be a Presbyterian!" "A church is at high risk of pastoral dictatorship unless more than one pastor is appointed." "Christians need the church like babies need milk...it is their nourishment for life." "Hyper-calvinists have no urgency to preach the gospel to dying sinners," said one while spending a day visiting with me in the sitting room, instead of urgently preaching the gospel to my neigbors. "It is the unbeliever's duty to believe on Christ, and the believer's duty to obey the [moral] law!" "God wants you to come to Christ; the only thing keeping you from salvation is your…
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Beware Of “Christian” Propaganda
I wish to share a simple response to an article I read this afternoon. Under the title, “Benjamin Keach”, the Wikipedia entry begins: “Benjamin Keach (29 February 1640 – 18 July 1704) was an English Reformed Baptist preacher and author whose name was given to Keach's Catechism.” Under the heading, “View History”, the Wikipedia log records that on the 6th April 2023, Editor Wobblygriswold “Tweaked wording from Particular to Reformed, per the title of the relevant Wikipedia page, but defined the term Particular as well in the article.” So, the name Particular is replaced with that of Reformed, based on the definitions given under the Wikipedia page entitled, “Reformed Baptists”. Here is the entry: “Reformed Baptists (sometimes known as Particular Baptists or Calvinistic Baptists) are…