Dylan Rowland

Anthony Tuckney on 2 Peter 1:4 Anthony Tuckney (Westminster divine and chairman of the Assembly’s committee for the Larger Catechism) on 2 Peter 1:4 (and yes, he does affirm that Adam had this grace): “8. As Nature sometimes anticipates Reason, so this Divine Nature [i.e., as he describes, a created participation of the divine nature/life, primarily consisting of habitual grace in the soul] always exceeds and goeth beyond that which is only humane. Divinity is above Humanity, Grace above Nature. A Christian is not ψιλὸς ἄνθρωπος a bare man, but more than a man. And therefore to have or express no more than what Nature can work, or natural men by other helps can attain to, κατ' ἄνθρωπον περιπατεῖν, to walk as [mere] men with the Apostle, 1 Cor. 3. 3. terminus minuens, or (as Cap. 6. 7. he calls the like) it's ἥττημα a defect, in which we fall much short of, and below that which a man of God that is made partaker of the Divine Nature, should arrive at, and come up to. For as man by nature and kind is and acts above other creatures, so a Christian man should even above himself, as a man, and above other men that want that Divine Principle. […] [A]s long as the sanctifying Spirit acts and abides in us, we are true Nazarites, as by our holy Vows separated to God, so we should be (though not wholly separated, yet) very much distinguished from other ordinary men. Christ expects from us a τι περισσόν, Mat. 5. 47. something singular, eminent, and transcendent. […] [Gasparo] Contarini (de Justificat.) makes the comparison of the manners of a Rustick and of a Citizen or Courtier: and a like difference he saith there is between the carriage of an earth-born sinner and a Saint made partaker of the Divine Nature. The Sons of Princes should not be in the garb of Peasants children; but that comparison is too low. Between Nature and Grace there should be a more vast distance. A Child of God should be as much above a natural man as heaven is above the earth, and as much above a fouler sinner, as heaven is above hell.” - Anthony Tuckney, Forty Sermons, 246-247 [2nd of 4 sermons on 2 Peter 1:4, in which he discourses at length on this text and on this topic].

"Pelagius heretically called humane nature grace; we may piously and truly call saving grace divine nature; to be Godly is to be God like. God is holy, just, wise, good, spiritual, heavenly, and it is his very nature to be so. And he that is of such an heavenly spirit and carriage... though otherwise he be a poor weak man subject to humane infirmities, yet by this his conformity to God he is raised to divine perfection." - Tuckney, Forty Sermons, 238.

Most of the Jonathan Edwards hate stems from an over-reliance on secondary literature that fails to understand some of the RO tradition along with the way Edwards employs late scholastic language post-Leibniz et al. Very unwarranted in my opinion. Edwards was great (for his day).

Favorite theologian of all time: John Calvin Theologian I dislike: David Bentley Hart Theologian that grew on me: Richard Baxter Most overrated theologian: Thomas Aquinas Most underrated theologian: The Aberdeen Doctors The G.O.A.T.: Augustine

Grace does not destroy nature. Grace elevates and transcends nature.

All our homeschooling material is now available: Grammar (English and Latin), logic, metaphysics, rhetoric, and theology. I plan to promote each work individually over the next few days.

THREAD 🧵 What if the pagan god Saturn was never a myth at all— but a shattered memory of Adam, Abraham, and Noah? That’s the argument Theophilus Gale makes in The Court of the Gentiles (1670s), and it’s honestly staggering.