(12) As a Puritan, he opposed high church Anglican rituals that he thought too Romanist, and denied that the Roman Catholic Church was in any way "a true church of Christ." (13) A confirmed Calvinist, Featley was an ardent foe of
Arminian theology and its emphasis on free will and falling from grace, believing that it was simply an extension of Roman Catholicism.
of the towne, there are but 8 of the Contraremonstrants, all the rest being
Arminians and the common people of the towne against them." Israel, "Frederick Henry," 10.
As all of these Baptists sought to increase their influence by moving toward the Protestant mainstream of Maritime society, they rejected extreme expressions of their traditions and theological innovations, including Calvinistic and
Arminian primitivism, the belief in instantaneous sanctification, and biblical higher criticism.
After the
Arminian issue had exploded at Franeker, we cannot exclude that de Veno's extensive use of philosophical liberties came to be associated with the theological liberties demanded by Vorstius and other
Arminians.
Nor were all Evangelical clergy Calvinists of the moderate, Newtonian kind: some like Toplady were hotter in their predestinarianism, others were convinced
Arminians. One hopes that further studies comparable with Hindmarsh's will follow, to fill out the picture and complement this excellent book.
If the Calvinist Edwards provided the authoritative text from which most other editors have since worked, then the
Arminian Wesley deserves recognition for popularizing Brainerd's diary.(7) Wesley's edition would become the most popular during Brown's lifetime, going through two Bristol editions and four London editions--and finally collected as volume 12 of Wesley's collected Works.
Matters were made worse when the
Arminians' growing ascendancy in the early Stuart Church and their frequently aggressive promotion of their remoulding of its life and practice met with opposition from the older Church establishment.
King took
Arminian ground, but serious
Arminians understand that they must separate two distinct parts of the Calvinist argument if they are to reply satisfactorily: the free will attributed to Adam during the probationary period in Eden, and the corruption of the will that rendered man "dead in sin" after the Fall.
Hooper's views, ironically, foreshadowed those of later
Arminians.
in view of Hooper's reputation, Trueman finds it ironic that his treatise on the Ten Commandments was regarded with suspicion by contemporary Calvinists, and that his views on salvation actually foreshadow, not the Puritans, but the broad-church
Arminians.
Reformed Baptists are equally explicit about the nature and process of salvation, although in direct contradiction to the
Arminians. The London Confession of 1644 declares "that Faith is the gift of God wrought in the hearts of the elect by the Spirit of God." Since all persons are totally depraved, they are incapable of exercising free will until God's sovereign grace is infused into their hearts.
and fundamentall evil'; as 'original sin ' was the 'most fundamentall sin, all sin: having the seed and spawn of all in it: So a Toleration hath all errors in it, and all evils." And "Jurieu argued that toleration was itself 'a Socinian doctrine, the most dangerous of all those of that sect, since it was on the way to ruin Christianity and place all religions on the same plane,' holding that only
Arminians and Socinians had supported universal religious toleration" (265-66).
