Samuel Richardson

satz · #1 (**permalink**) 08-31-2006, 03:04 AM

Does anyone know anything about a baptist (I think) named Samuel Richardson?

He published a paper/book called 'Justification By Christ Alone' sometime near 1647.

armourbearer · #2 (**permalink**) 08-31-2006, 05:32 AM

There are some poisonous waters there. He is said to have flourished 1643-1658. He was a defender of Tobias Crispe's Antinomian teachings.

He also denied there was any such thing as the eternal torments of hell in "Of the torments of hell: the foundation and pillars thereof discovered, searched, shaken and removed: with many infallible proofs, that there is not to be a punishment after this life for any to endure that shall never end: to the glory of God, and comfort of those in fear of the torments of hell, and for the furtherance of a holy life."

I have read this book. He says the idea of eternal torments originated with the Greek fathers, and was propagated in the Hebrew and Greek copies of the Scriptures. In maintaining the second point he completely denied the doctrine of preservation.

Richardson is a prime example of the kind of libertarian spirit which emerged as a result of the disrupted times of the civil war period.

satz · #3 (**permalink**) 08-31-2006, 09:33 AM

Thanks Mr Wizner

Quote:

He also denied there was any such thing as the eternal torments of hell in "Of the torments of hell: the foundation and pillars thereof discovered, searched, shaken and removed: with many infallible proofs, that there is not to be a punishment after this life for any to endure that shall never end: to the glory of God, and comfort of those in fear of the torments of hell, and for the furtherance of a holy life."

I have read this book. He says the idea of eternal torments originated with the Greek fathers, and was propagated in the Hebrew and Greek copies of the Scriptures. In maintaining the second point he completely denied the doctrine of preservation.

VirginiaHuguenot · #4 (**permalink**) 09-10-2006, 10:05 PM

Samuel Richardson lived from c. 1602 to 1658. He was one of the signers of the 1644 London Baptist Confession (but not the 1652 edition). He was an outspoken proponent of "toleration." Robert Baillie said of the Particular Baptist congregations which signed the 1644 LBC that they were made up of Brownists, Antipaedobaptists, Arminians, Antinomians, Arians and Familists (Anabaptism, The True Fountain of Independency, Antinomy, Brownisme and Familisme, And the Most of the other Errours, which for the time doe trouble the Church of England, Unsealed (1647), p. 49, cited in Erroneous and Schismatical Opinions: The Questions of Orthodoxy Regarding the Theology of Hanserd Knollys (c. 1599 - 1691), Barry H. Howson (2001), p. 80). He wrote against Daniel Featley, one of the Westminster Divines, on the subject of paedobaptism.

satz · #5 (**permalink**) 09-10-2006, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by VirginiaHuguenot
Samuel Richardson lived from c. 1602 to 1658. He was one of the signers of the 1644 London Baptist Confession (but not the 1652 edition). He was an outspoken proponent of "toleration." Robert Baillie said of the Particular Baptist congregations which signed the 1644 LBC that they were made up of Brownists, Antipaedobaptists, Arminians, Antinomians, Arians and Familists (Anabaptism, The True Fountain of Independency, Antinomy, Brownisme and Familisme, And the Most of the other Errours, which for the time doe trouble the Church of England, Unsealed (1647), p. 49, cited in Erroneous and Schismatical Opinions: The Questions of Orthodoxy Regarding the Theology of Hanserd Knollys (c. 1599 - 1691), Barry H. Howson (2001), p. 80). He wrote against Daniel Featley, one of the Westminster Divines, on the subject of paedobaptism.

Thanks.

From what I've seen of his writings though, I don't think he can be charged with arminianism, at least...

VirginiaHuguenot · #6 (**permalink**) 09-11-2006, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by satz
Thanks.

From what I've seen of his writings though, I don't think he can be charged with arminianism, at least...

Baillie's quote does not charge him specifically with Arminianism -- it is directed to the London Baptist congregations as a group and he does not state -- at least not in the citation that I provided -- that every individual member adhered to all of the "Errours" that he listed at the same time.