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An Address To Youth
To all Young People, of both sexes, into whose hands this may fall. Let me address you as one who fears the Lord, and who wishes you well. Beware of deceivers! Remember, you are in a world of woe, beset with gins, and traps, and snares, and, as you grow to years of maturity, an evil heart, the which you all possess, will naturally incline to evil; and as some of the most destructive sins appear the most flattering and pleasing to a carnal heart, therefore the danger is the greater. When youth have once been left to the dishonourable practice of fornication or uncleanness, and thus deprived themselves of that common virtue which it becomes them, as the creatures of God and for their…
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An Example Of Parents Explaining The Gospel To Their Child
The Setting: It is morning and the family is busy preparing for work and school. Though the hour is running late, the father insists on reading a portion from the Bible before leaving the house: FATHER: Come, my dear, bring me the Bible. CHILD: Father, it is now nine o'clock, and if I stop while you read and pray I shall get scolded, for I ought to have been at school before now. FATHER: True, child, you ought to have been at school by this time; but I have been detained this morning, and I am not willing you should go before I have read part of God's word, and taken up a little time in prayer and thanksgiving to the God of all our…
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An Example Of A Mother Explaining The Gospel To Her Child
The Setting: The child has attended the house of God with his/her parents, and was dazzled by the fashionable outfits worn by the members. Upon returning home, the child enquires: CHILD: Mother, did you see what handsome bonnet Miss Dressy had on at the chapel this morning? MOTHER: Child, your mind runs upon nothing but pride and nonsense. Do you suppose that I have nothing to do at chapel but to notice what people wear? Did you ever ask yourself what you went to chapel for? CHILD: Indeed, mother, I never thought of such a thing? What do people go for? MOTHER: Child, it is not a very easy thing to say what ends people have in view. Some go because their parents go; some…
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An Example Of A Father Explaining The Gospel To His Child
The Setting: As expected, the child is very excited about the prospect of Christmas holidays, and so is singing over a little nonsense that he/she has picked up amongst his/her companions. Henceforth, the Father observes: FATHER: Child, what frothy nonsense are you running over? What can induce you to be so childish and foolish. CHILD: Why, father, I was only pleased to think what sport I shall have at Christmas. FATHER: Pleased, indeed! and what sport do you expect to have at Christmas. CHILD: Why, father, do you know that next week we are to break up the school, and have a parting for Christmas holidays? FATHER: But what sport is there in that? CHILD: Why, father, there will be fiddling, and dancing, and such…
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Hyper-Calvinists: A Caricature
Wade Burleson wrote an article entitled, “The Problem of Calling People Hyper-Calvinists”.[1] Having attended the John 3:16 Conference in 2008, he described how Dr. David Allen, Professor of Preaching at Southwestern Theological Seminary, circulated a handout that listed a dozen names identified as “Hyper-Calvinists”. Following Dr. Allen in the pulpit, was Dr. Steve Lempke of New Orleans, who made the observation, “I am not sure that there is such a thing as a living hyper-calvinist. I find that those who call others hyper-calvinists have simply run into people more calvinistic than they are.” Yet, there is a listing for “Hyper-Calvinism” in the New Dictionary of Theology.[2] The definition is framed by Dr. Curt Daniel, who earned a doctorate studying “hyper” Calvinism: “It is that school…
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A Classic Misrepresentation of High-Calvinism
Here is a classic misrepresentation of High-Calvinism, and the misleading assertion that Fuller was the hero who rescued the Particular Baptists from ‘Hyperism’: “Fuller’s pastorate at Soham, which lasted until 1782 when he moved to pastor the Baptist church in Kettering, Northamptonshire, was a decisive period for the shaping of his theological outlook. It was during his time there that he decisively rejected High Calvinism (i.e., an emphasis on the sovereignty of God in salvation to an extent which denied the free offer of the gospel and seriously hampered effective evangelism. Fuller said that his predecessor ‘had little or nothing to say to the unconverted.’).”[1] First, denying the free-offer is not an extreme emphasis on the sovereignty of God in salvation, it is a consistent…
