In 1773, Augustus Toplady wrote to a friend about his dialogue with an Arminian, Mr. Oliver. It's a longer discourse, but here's a section where Toplady, who himself was an Arminian when young, recounted his own story: When I was a lad of 15 or 16 years old, I was haranguing, in company, on the …
“One Grain of Arminianism” A. Toplady
I’ve recently been enjoying the writing of Augustus Toplady (d. 1778). As you may know, Toplady wrote “Rock of Ages” and “A Debtor to Mercy Alone.” He was a defender of the doctrines of grace and debated John Wesley’s Arminianism. Here are a few sections from his sermon on Ps. 115:1 (Not to us, LORD, …
An Illustration of Arminianism
When we who are Reformed Christians talk about Arminianism we have to be careful not to set up straw men or be misleading when we explain it. Telling the truth is, of course, what the 9th commandment is all about. This is one reason I purchased Why I Am Not A Calvinist by Jerry Walls …
The Cage Phase
Here's a great excerpt from M. Horton's new book, For Calvinism. "Critics have frequently confused Calvinism with hyper-Calvinism, and sometimes contact with hyper-Calvinists proves the caricature. Often, bowled over by a sense of God's majesty and grace, new Calvinists enter what we call 'the cage phase.' Like any new convert, we can be hard to …
Anselm’s “De Concordia”
I've been reading through Anselm of Canterbury's De Concordia, which was one of the last things he wrote before his death in 1109 AD. De Concordia is no easy read, since it deals philosophically with the difficult topics of God's foreknowledge and predestination as well as human freedom. In fact, I'm still wrestling through some …
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