Peter Toon’s Writings and His Work on Hyper-Calvinism

I just found this web page that contains many writings by Dr. Peter Toon: Peter Toon Books Online

It has a copy of his book on The Emergence of Hyper-Calvinism in English Nonconformity, 1689–1765 (part 2) published in 1967. Here is the Quinta Press edition (click). I read this years ago from a copy at Dallas Theological Seminary, as well as Toon’s several works on meditation. Admirers of John Owen will also find some interesting material about him in the history section.

The Internet Archive also has several of Toon’s works available (click).

Here is his entry on the subject of Hyper-Calvinism from the Encyclopedia of the Reformed Faith:

Hyper-Calvinism

An exaggerated, rationalist form of the Reformed faith that originated in English nonconformity in the eighteenth century and is still found among Strict and Particular Baptists as well as some Dutch-American Calvinist groups. It emphasizes the absolute sovereignty of God and God’s eternal decrees. Further, it deduces the duty of sinners toward God from the immanent acts of God (the eternal covenant of grace, eternal justification, and adoption). Thus the grace of God, as far as the elect are concerned, is irresistible and there is truly no need to offer the gospel to anyone. Thus there is no need for evangelism but only to declare the truth so the Holy Spirit can use it to convert the elect sinners. This system encourages introspection to find out whether or not the sinner is truly of the elect.

The major proponent of hyper-Calvinism in the eighteenth century was John Gill in his A Body of Doctrinal Divinity (1767). But he learned his system from Joseph Hussey of the Cambridge Congregational church. In modem times, Hussey’s God’s Operations of Grace but No Offers of His Grace (1707) has been reprinted in America. A modem theologian whose system is much like Gill’s is Herman Hoeksema, whose Reformed Dogmatics (1966) places excessive emphasis on the sovereign grace of God.

The description of hyper-Calvinism is, of course, made from within central or classic Calvinism/Reformed theology. To people outside the Reformed faith it merely appears as a form of Calvinism, no better or worse than others.
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C. D. Daniel, “Hyper Calvinism and John Gill” (diss., University of Edinburgh, 1983); D. Engelsma, Hyper-Calvinism and the Call of the Gospel (1980); P. Toon, The Emergence of Hyper-Calvinism (1967).

Peter Toon, “Hyper-Calvinism,” in Encyclopedia of the Reformed Faith, ed. Donald K. McKim (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press; Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press, 1992), 190.

Here is his entry on the subject of Hyper-Calvinism from the New Dictionary of Theology:

Hyper-Calvinism, an exaggerated or imbalanced type of Reformed theology, associated with Strict and Particular Baptists of English origin and with Dutch-American Reformed groups. Originating in the 18th century before the Evangelical revival, it has always been the theology of a minority, which today is extremely small. Here are two definitions:

1. It is a system of theology framed to exalt the honour and glory of God and does so by acutely minimizing the moral and spiritual responsibility of sinners. It puts excessive emphasis on acts belonging to God’s immanent being (cf. Hidden and Revealed God)—the immanent acts of God—eternal justification, eternal adoption and the eternal covenant of grace. It makes no meaningful distinction between the secret and revealed will of God, thereby deducing the duty of sinners from the secret decrees of God. It emphasizes irresistible grace to such an extent that there appears to be no real need to evangelize; furthermore, Christ may be offered only to the elect (from P. Toon, The Emergence of Hyper-Calvinism in English Nonconformity, 1689–1765, London, 1967).

2. It is that school of supralapsarian ‘five-point’ Calvinism which so stresses the sovereignty of God by over-emphasizing the secret over the revealed will of God and eternity over time, that it minimizes the responsibility of sinners, notably with respect to the denial of the use of the word ‘offer’ in relation to the preaching of the gospel; thus it undermines the universal duty of sinners to believe savingly in the Lord Jesus with the assurance that Christ actually died for them; and it encourages introspection in the search to know whether or not one is elect (from the unpublished PhD thesis of C. D. Daniel, Hyper-Calvinism and John Gill, University of Edinburgh, 1983).

The greatest theologian of this school of thought is John Gill (1697–1771), whose theology is summarized in his A Body of Doctrinal Divinity and A Body of Practical Divinity, which have been reprinted several times. The most prominent recent theologian is the Dutch-American, Herman Hoeksema, in his Reformed Dogmatics (Grand Rapids, MI, 1966). However, the fact that these and similar books present hyper-Calvinism is only obvious to those who are fully acquainted with authentic Calvinism and orthodox Reformed theology.

Bibliography
D. Engelsma, Hyper-Calvinism and the Call of the Gospel (Grand Rapids, MI, 1980).

Peter Toon, “Hyper-Calvinism,” in New Dictionary of Theology, ed. Sinclair B. Ferguson and J. I. Packer (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 324–25.