Reformed Classics
John Gill, D.D. · in four parts · 1735–1738
Gill's classic, point-by-point defense of the doctrines of grace — made navigable. Browse it by doctrine, by Scripture passage, or by the ancient church, then read his own words in the full public-domain text.
In 1710 the Arminian divine Daniel Whitby published A Discourse on the Five Points, the most influential English assault on Calvinism of its age. A quarter-century later a young Particular Baptist pastor in Southwark answered it. The Cause of God and Truth is John Gill's reply — a methodical, four-part defense of unconditional election, particular redemption, efficacious grace, and the perseverance of the saints, against the doctrine of free will and universal grace.
Gill does not argue in the abstract. He works through the actual battlefield of the controversy: the specific verses each side appeals to, the philosophical objections raised against the decrees, and the testimony of the early church. The four parts each take a different angle on the same question — is salvation, from first to last, the free gift of a sovereign God, or does it finally turn on the will of man?
The Arminian Remonstrance made five claims. Gill answers each.
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Four ways of pressing one case. Read them in order, or jump to whichever angle you need.
The doctrines Gill defends, each summarized with his thesis, his proof-texts, the objections he answers, and where in the book to find it. Tap “passages” to see the verses he re-reads on that head.
Parts I & III turn on individual verses. Here are principal passages the Arminians pressed — each with the text (KJV), how it was used against the doctrines of grace, and the heart of Gill's reply. Reading a book today? Filter to it.
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Whitby claimed the doctrines of grace were a late invention — that the church knew nothing of unconditional election before Augustine (354–430). Part IV answers the charge historically: Gill marshals the Christian writers of the first four centuries to argue that the substance of these doctrines was confessed long before Augustine was born. Below are the witnesses he calls, in order.
Dates are approximate. Whether every father was “Calvinist” is debated by historians; what follows is the line of witnesses Gill himself assembles.
This site offers a guide to the book; for Gill's own words, the complete work is in the public domain. These editions are free and complete — if one host is down, try another.