> Anyone know what "A-double-L-part people" refers to?
> Jon Kukla

Short answer: Calvinists.

Long answer: "... he denominated Calvinists A-double-L-part people. The 
latter term needs some explanation to render it intelligble to some of our 
readers. It should be observed, then, that Arminians charge Calvinists with 
making the term all mean part. They say that Christ died for all mankind, 
and that Calvinists hold that he died only for the elect; and that as these 
same Calvinists profess to deduce their doctrine from the Bible, it must be 
that they make the term all spell part. Lorenzo Dow, catching at this idea, 
invented a compound term to express it, viz. A-double-L-part, that is, A-ll 
pronounced part; as if one were to spell the word all, and pronounce it 
part." From a biography of Lorenzo Dow in the Family Magazine, 1833 
http://books.google.com/books?id=DGpMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA358&lpg=PA358

In other words, schoolchildren were required to spell and recite words in 
the format "C-A-T cat" or "D-O-G dog," and Dow played on that familiar 
recitation by saying the Calvinists would say "A-L-L part" rather than 
"A-L-L all" like a normal person.

Hank Trent
[log in to unmask]

______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html