The Gospel Herald Or Poor Christian S Magazine

This book is concerned with English Calvinistic Baptist churches from the later 1600s until the early 1800s, arguing that there was then no connection between restricted communion and hyper- or high Calvinism. A minimal definition of restricted communion would be the reception at the Baptist communion of those alone who had been immersed in water upon a profession of faith. A sketch of English Calvinistic Baptists in the years preceding and following the 1689 Act of Toleration stresses that they were a denomination other than that of the General Baptists, and that most Baptists, irrespective of party lines, were de facto Strict Baptists. Historical arguments for and against restricted communion will demonstrate that during that period there was no definitive link between the Particular Baptists' communion discipline and their interpretations of Calvinism. Attention is given to John Gill's and Andrew Fuller's interpretations of the relation between the atonement and evangelism.

This book introduces the reader to Robert Govett (1813–1901), dissenting clergyman and author, who wrote as a scholar of biblical prophecy, primarily on the subject of the “exclusion” of believers in the Millennial Kingdom, an idea of which he conceived. The purpose of the book is threefold: (1) to describe Govett, his life, and his printed work; (2) to analyze Govett’s eschatological beliefs, especially those he originated; and (3) to investigate why a respected theologian in England, who had published over 180 books and tracts, disappeared from dissenting print culture early in the twentieth century. Govett’s doctrine of exclusion was heavily intertwined with most of his writings. It was a topic that he developed throughout his career. Yet, as the center of dispensationalism shifted to America, Govett’s views of the Rapture began to be seen as extreme. The book explains why Govett was eclipsed as the center of the evangelical movement shifted and its theology ossified. Since his death, Govett has been occasionally remembered in scholarship, but with increasing inaccuracies and skepticism. This book seeks to remove the mystery.