In Defence of the Puritans by Martin Brow

[Van]

Hi JonC, referring to "shallow decisionism based on the old man-centred tenets of Arminianism" does address soterogy. This thread is simply a Trojan horse, bringing forbidden doctrine into this forum.

 

[Iconoclast]

Geoff Thomas has just recently stepped down after 50 years (!) as minister of the Alfred St. Baptist Church in Aberystwyth. A fine preacher and a godly man.

Yes..

I just learned of that yesterday after I listened to his four conference messages on Hosea.....another friend told me of it in discussing those messages

 

[Squire Robertsson]

The problems I have with Puritanism are related to how it worked out in Massachusetts Bay Colony.

• The treatment of Baptists as in the Obadiah Holmes incident.
• The Half-Way Covenant of 1662 which allowed unsaved church membership. This allowed a hundred or so years later the birth and growth of Unitarianism. Which killed Harvard and Yale Divinity Schools.

 

[Jerome]

"Puritan liberty of conscience meant, “The right and liberty to think as they did, but no toleration to those who differed.” The Puritans of New England as soon as ever a Baptist made his appearance among them, persecuted him with as little compunction as the Episcopalians had the Puritans! No sooner was there a Baptist, than he was hunted up, and brought before his own Christian brethren! Mark you, he was brought up for fine, for imprisonment,confiscation, and banishment" —Charles Spurgeon, "Fire! Fire! Fire!"

 

[Jerome]

Spurgeon's last word on the Puritans:

"The Sabbath in Puritan New England, by Alice Morse Earle, probably contains the last inscription written by the Pastor, and a very expressive one it is :— "An amusing but saddening book. The seamy side of New England religion exposed. . .— C. H. Spurgeon, Dec, 1891." —Spurgeon's Autobiography

 

[JonC]

The problems I have with Puritanism are related to how it worked out in Massachusetts Bay Colony.

• The treatment of Baptists as in the Obadiah Holmes incident.
• The Half-Way Covenant of 1662 which allowed unsaved church membership. This allowed a hundred or so years later the birth and growth of Unitarianism. Which killed Harvard and Yale Divinity Schools.

When I mentioned persecutions against Baptists I had Homes in mind, although they were more known here for their persecutions against Quakers. Puritan religious toleration typically never extended beyond Anglican faith. But looking at a broader picture, theocracy has always been problematic when instituted by man. Puritan theocracy was no exception.