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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…
Further Study
The Two Preachers
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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…
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Article 12 – Spirital Faith A Grace, Not A Natural And Legal Duty
Articles Of The Faith And Order Of A Primitive Or Strict And Particular Baptist Church Of The Lord Jesus Christ, Based On The Declaration Of Faith And Practice Of John Gill, D. D., 1720 XII. Spiritual Faith not a Natural and Legal Duty. We believe that the “precious faith” of “God’s elect,” with which salvation is conjoined,[1] is “the gift of God, “obtained" by the elect “through the righteousness of God our Saviour,” wrought in the heart by “the operation of God,” and manifested by acts of spiritual belief or trust which are performed through gracious ability communicated by the Holy Ghost,[2] and that it is not a duty incumbent on men as men, which they can perform at their pleasure, but is obligatory only…
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Article 11 – The Gospel: Its Nature And Invitations
Articles Of The Faith And Order Of A Primitive Or Strict And Particular Baptist Church Of The Lord Jesus Christ, Based On The Declaration Of Faith And Practice Of John Gill, D. D., 1720 XI. The Gospel—Its Nature and Invitations. We believe that the Gospel, or the glad tidings of the sovereign, free, and enriching grace of God to lost sinners, through Jesus Christ, by the Holy Ghost[1] is of the nature of a declaration or proclamation, and that to proffer mercy, or tender salvation, or offer Christ to the unregenerate, (as is often done, as if men had it in their own power to accept or reject the grace of God, and will augment their damnation if they refuse it,) is unscriptural, and wholly…
