This is the refrain from a poem by Ralph Erskine. He anticipated the NTJ by two hundred fifty years. Erskine (d. 1752) was one of those who upheld the gospel against the moralists of his day and he was one of the . . . Continue reading →
Ralph Erskine
When Bellicosity is No Virtue and Other Beauties
It depends, of course, upon who is being or deemed “bellicose” doesn’t it? John Muether has a helpful meditation on this question in the latest issue of the Nicotine Theological Journal (“thus think, and smoke tobacco”—Ralph Erskine (1685-1752; in “Smoking Spiritualized“). The . . . Continue reading →
Legal and Gospel Mortification
Ralph Erskine (1685-1752) was the brother of Ebeneezer Erskine and a defender of the Reformation doctrines of justification and sanctification against the neonomians and legalists of his day. Mortification is the old-fashioned way of saying, “dying to self.” In the Heidelberg Catechism . . . Continue reading →
Ralph Erskine: The Greatest Sin Is Pardonable By Christ’s Righteousness
It is a great sin to think any sin little; but it is a greater sin to think the righteousness of Christ is not above all sin. Our disobedience is the disobedience of man; but Christ’s obedience is the obedience of God: . . . Continue reading →
Ralph Erskine: Do Not Imagine Christ’s Imputed Righteousness Is Anything But Perfect
Ought it not be a terror to us, to cut off a lap of Christ’s garment, or clip it so short, as to think that it cannot cover us completely, without some rags of our own rotten righteousness sewed into it? Again, . . . Continue reading →
“The Marrow Was Birthed To Avoid Legalism And Antinomianism”
The Marrow of Modern Divinity was regarded by the orthodox Reformed, in the 17th century, as a good summary of the orthodox view of law and gospel, justification, sanctification, and the third (normative) use of the law in the life of the Christian. . . . Continue reading →
New Resource Page: On The Marrow Controversy
The Marrow of Modern Divinity was regarded by the orthodox Reformed, in the 17th century, as a good summary of the orthodox view of law and gospel, justification, sanctification, and the third (normative) use of the law in the life of the Christian. . . . Continue reading →