lead captivity captive, and plead the cause of his people in the court of heaven; and not then, until the disciples should pray the Father in the Mediator's name, on the day of Pentecost, that the Holy Ghost would descend, to impart miraculous gifts for the successful promulgation of the gospel on earth.

The inference plainly is, that the asking in this text is confined to that day-the day of Pentecostwhen the Comforter was to be sent, and therefore furnishes no ground to conclude, that Christ is not the proper object of worship. Nor are we to conclude that on that day, less than on any other, was he the object of worship; but only, that the Father was to be exclusively asked for that specified gift.

say

To prove that Christ is to be worshipped, it is sufficient for us to be able to adduce the example of the martyr Stephen-" And they stoned Stephen calling upon God, and ing, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried, with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge, and when he had said this, he fell asleep."-Acts vii. 59, 60. TRINITARIAN.

THE FAITH ONCE DELIVERED TO THE SAINTS.-A Sermon delivered at

Worcester, Mass. Oct. 15, 1823, at the Ordination of the Rev. Loammi Ives Hoadly, to the Pastoral Office over the Calvinistick Church and Society in that Place. By Lyman Beecher, D.D.

As this is no ordinary sermon, we shall allow it a space in our review, which we can very seldom afford to compositions of the class to which it belongs. We take this opportunity, however, to say, that although it will be impracticable to insert in our scanty pages a review of the whole, or perhaps the half, of the occasional sermons which now proceed from the American press; yet it is our intention to do more in this way than we

have hitherto done.-We shall endeavour to give a short notice of the most of those which we peruse, and of which we shall think that our readers would be willing to know the purport, and our opinion of their merit or demerit.

The text of the discourse before us is taken from JUDE 3.

write unto you of the common salvation, "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith, which was once de

livered to the saints."

It will be seen how Dr. Beecher introduces his subject, states his design, and lays down the doctrines which in his opinion should be specified as belonging to the evangelical system, by the following quotation:

"By the faith once delivered to the saints, is to be understood the doctrines of the gospel. These were delivered to the saints by holy men, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The saints to whom they were delivered, were those who constituted the church under the old dispensation, and the new.

"The exhortation to contend for them earnestly, supposes that they would be powerfully assailed; and, yet, that they might be known and defended.

"It is proposed, in this discourse, to give an epitome of what is supposed to be the faith delivered to the saints;-to state the reasons for believing it such; and to point out churches of our Lord to contend for the manner, in which it becomes the

it.

"The faith once delivered to the saints included, it is believed, among other doctrines, the following:

"That men are free agents; in the possession of such faculties, and placed in such circumstances, as render it practicable for them to do whatever God requires; reasonable that he should require it; and fit that he should inflict, literally, the entire penalty of disobedience-such ability is here intended, as lays a perfect

foundation for government by law, and for rewards and punishments according to deeds.

"That the law of God requires love to God with all the heart, and impartial love for men; together with certain overt duties to God and men, by which this love is to be expressed; and that this law is sup. ported by the sanctions of eternal life and eternal death.

"That the ancestors of our race violated this law; that, in some way, as a consequence of their apostacy, all men, as soon as they become capable of accountable action, do, of their own accord, most freely, and most wickedly, withhold from God the supreme love and from man the impartial love which the law requires, beside violating many of its practical precepts: and that the obedience of the heart, which the law requires, has ceased entirely from the whole race of man.

"That, according to the principles of moral government, obedience, either antecedent to transgression or subsequent, cannot avert the penalty of the law; and that pardon, upon condition of repentance merely, would destroy the efficacy of moral government.

to make to the mind of man such an exhibition of the truth, as shall unfailingly convince him of sin, render him willing to obey the gospel, and actually and joyfully obedient.

"That this special influence of the Holy Spirit is given according to the supreme discretion or good pleasure of God; and yet, ordinarily, is so inseparably associated with the use of means by the sinner, as to create ample encouragement to attend upon them, and to render all hopes of conversion while neglecting or rejecting the truth, or while living in open sin, eminently presumptuous.

"That believers are justified by the merits of Christ through faith; and are received into a covenant with God, which secures their continuance in holiness forever:-while those, who die in their sins, will continue to sin wilfully, and to be punished justly for ever.

"That God exercises a providential government; which extends to all events in such a manner, as to lay a just foundation for resignation to him in afflictions brought upon us by the wickedness of men, and for gratitude in the reception of good in all the various modes of human instrumentality-that all events shall illustrate his glory and be made subservient to the good of his kingdom

ministered, in accordance with a purpose or plan, known and approved of by him from the beginning.

"That a compliance with these conditions, is practicable, in the regular exercise of the powers and faculties given to man as an accountable creature; and is prevented only by the exercise of a voluntary, criminal aversion to God so inflexibly obstinate, that by motives merely, men are never persuaded to repent and believe.

"That God is able, by his Spirit,

"Finally, that the God of the universe has revealed himself to us as existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; possessing distinct and equal attributes, and in some unrevealed manner so united as to constitute one God.

"These are the doctrines, which, it is believed, were delivered to the saints, and which have been held substantially, though with some variety of modification, by the true church of God in all ages. To prevent circumlocution, I shall, in this discourse, call them the Evangelical System, and for the same reason, I

shall call the opposite the Liberal System.*

"It has been common to support these doctrines by the quotation of proof texts. But to these a different exposition is given more reasonable, it is said, and carrying with it a higher probability of truth; which leads to critical exposition, and opens a wide field for evasion and creates perplexity and indecision.

"My design at present is to avail myself of collateral evidence only, with the view of attempting to decide in this way which is the correct exposition of the proof texts, the evangelical or the liberal exposition.

"For the sake of argument, we shall suppose the evidence from exposition to be on each side exactly balanced, and proceed to lay into the scale of evangelical exposition those arguments which seem to furnish evidence of its correctness."

On the statement here given of the chief articles of what Dr. B. denominates the evangelical system we remark, that although it will doubtless be considered as a Calvinistick statement, it is, nevertheless, one to which some who are Calvinists, in the strictest and most proper sense of the term, would not unreservedly subscribe. To one or two articles they would certainly except. The peculiar sentiments of the class of Calvinists to which Dr. B. belongs, are also apparent in some other parts of this discourse. Yet he claims, and justly, as belonging to those who substantially hold the evangelical system, not only all Calvinists of whatever description, but a great many who would by no means consent to be denominated Calvinists

"I choose to call these doctrines the evangelical system, not only because I believe them to be the gospel; but because no man, or denomination, has held them so exclusively, as to render it proper to designate them by the name of an individual or a sect. It is a select system, which some of almost every denomination hold, and some reject; and which ought to be characterized by some general term indicative of the system as held in all ages and among all denominations of Christians." VOL. II.-Ch. Adv.

at all. Nay, it is on the truth as held by all who appear to "be renewed in the spirit of their mind," that Dr. B. grounds almost the whole of his weighty arguments and powerful appeals. In a few instances only he brings forward some of his favourite peculiarities, which he certainly introduces with great address, and presses with much point and ingenuity. But we have made the foregoing remarks because we think it important-highly important-that it should be kept distinctly in view, that the forcible, and as it seems to us conclusive reasoning of this discourse, does not depend on holding as articles of faith all that enters into Dr. B.'s statement. This indeed he suggests in the above quotation, and at page 40 of his sermon, he admits it explicitly. In a word, the whole force of his argument, or nearly the whole, is drawn from the sentiments and practice of all those who hold the doctrines of the Trinity, the natural and deep depravity of man, the consequent necessity of regeneration by the Spirit and grace of God, justification by the righteousness of Christ, a holy and exemplary life, and a state of future and endless rewards and punishments.

We shall now give an analysis, or epitome, of the remainder of the discourse, advertising the reader that what is marked as quotations is in the words of the author, and that what appears without such marks, is our own summary exhibition of what we take to be his meaning. In "laying into the scale of evangelical exposition those arguments which seem to furnish evidence of its correctness," Dr. B. says, "I observe then that

I. "The doctrines of the evangelical system are in accordance with the most direct and obvious meaning of the sacred text. By obvious meaning, I intend that which is actually suggested, without note or comment, to the minds of honest and unlettered men. That the proof texts teach the doctrines of the evangelical system in this manner, is alleged by E

learned infidels as a reason for rejecting the inspiration of the Bible; by Unitarian commentators and writers, as a reason for restraining, modifying, and turning aside the text; and by critics, who translate, or expound without reference to theological opinions."-" All versions, and all expositions according to the obvious meaning, of whatever country or age, do substantially agree in the evangelical system; and agree with the understanding of mankind at large, who read the Bible. The Bible, for the most part, was written also by men who understood language only according to its obvious meaning; and for the use of men, to whom it must have been a sealed book, upon any other principle of interpretation."

"Now if the obvious meaning of the proof texts be not the true one, the common people have no Bible." They have a book to whose real meaning they have no access. This would implicate the character of God, as having practised on his subjects a most depiorable deception," -requiring them to believe and obey what they cannot learn from the language in which it is communicated. It may well be said that such an imputation would be a libel on the divine character.

2. "It is the uniform testimony of the Bible that the righteous love the truth, and that the wicked are opposed to it."

persons

The author argues from this datum, that the system which " of confirmed vicious habits, the profane, liars, drunkards, thieves, adulterers, and all the impure," hate, and ridicule, and forsake, has, from that very circumstance, very considerable claims to be reckoned "the faith once delivered to the saints." And that the system which is more acceptable to such men, cannot be just ly considered as the system delivered to men by the God of holiness. Let the evangelical and liberal systems be compared on this ground, and will it not be found that, generally,

the former is repulsive to the "pleasure-loving and licentious community of the world?" And will it not also be found, that the majority of those that are truly pious, (if there is such a thing in the world as piety manifested by the course of life,) are decidedly in favour of the evangelical system? With which system are the gay, and the fashionable,generally the most pleased? Is it not undenia bly with the opposite of the evangelical system? If so, is it not fairly, and reasonably, and scripturally deducible, that the evangelical system is the true system?

3. "The evangelical system produces the same effects universally, as were produced by the faith delivered to the saints."

The doctor, arguing from the moral axiom, that "identity of moral effect proves identity of moral cause," contrasts, on this ground, the evangelical system with the liberal, to the evident disadvantage of the latter. He shows that the very same objections are advanced against the evangelical doctrines, that were advanced against the doctrines delivered to the saints. The same objections are now made to the evangelical doctrines of the sovereignty and decrees of God, human depravi ty, the necessity of regeneration, justification by faith, &c. And it is now also objected that the evangelical system is embraced by the poor and the illiterate, rather than by the rich and the learned, and the great.

It would lengthen this article un duly, to dwell particularly upon the coincidence between the "primitive faith," and the evangelical system, which the author instances in the features of both, apparent in strict morality, revivals of religion, "deep convictions of sin, sudden joy in believing, followed by reformation and a holy life," the spirit of missions, "a piety of great solemnity, ardour, and decision," the generally calm, frequently happy, and sometimes triumphant death, and the most unwavering confidence in the truth believed.

On all these points the doctor's reasoning is remarkably clear and convincing.

4. We know what was the faith delivered to the saints from the councils of the early centuries of the Christian era. We find this faith defended in those councils; and those very opinions, which are called "liberal," considered as heretical novelties, and consequently rejected.

5. The Apostle John saw in vision, under the altar, the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held (Rev. vi. 9.), and which in another place is called the testimony of Jesus Christ, (Rev. xii. 17.) These are the martyrs under pagan Rome. Again it is said, with reference to those who were to suffer under what the doctor calls, and correctly too, papal Rome, "Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus," (Rev. xiv. 12.) Now we know certainly from authentick history, what was the faith of the martyrs under papal Rome; and we know also, that it was the same essentially with the evangelical system.

The remarks contained in the last part of the discourse, relative to the manner in which Christians ought to contend for the faith delivered to the saints, are of the utmost importance. The author very justly maintains, that Christians ought not to meddle with the ordinary detail of politicks. "In questions involving national responsibility, such as a declaration of war, suppression of slavery, &c., it becomes them to raise their voice, and exert their united influence." But generally it would be more for the interest of religion, if Christians would exert simply the influence of an independent and well directed suffrage-not attaching themselves exclusively to any party, but choosing for themselves, as far as is possible, the best qualified men for office. We cannot forbear presenting to the reader the following highly interesting paragraph.

"Beside, if Christians enter deeply into political disputes, they will be divided, and one denomination arrayed against another, in their prayers and efforts; and one Christian against another, in the same church. A spirit of party zeal creates also a powerful diversion of interest and effort from the cause of Christ-creates prejudices in Christians one against another; and in the community against the cause itselfannihilates a spirit of prayer, and efforts for revivals of religion, and renders Christians the mere dupes and tools of unprincipled, ambitious men. No sight is more grievous or humiliating, than to see Christians continually agitated by all the great and little political disputes of the nation, the state, the city, and town, and village; toiling in the drudgery of ambition, and flowing hither and thither like waves which have no rest, and cast up only mire and dirt. I am persuaded there has been utterly a fault among Christians in this thing; and there is no one particular in which it is more important that there should be a reformation."

The length of this article, already too great, will not allow us to notice in any detail, the very judicious observations of the author, respecting the importance of catechetical instruction, institutions of learning, faithful enunciation of the sanctions of the gospel, and written discussions in contending for "the faith delivered to the saints." We pass, therefore, to the last particular. It is "a careful maintainance of the apostolick tenure of membership in the visible church," that is "a credible profession of repentance towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." This indeed was maintained for some time by the fathers of the New England churches; but there was, for a considerable time before Edwards, a most ruinous relaxation in this respect. The history of the New England churches speaks a language which every pastor ought to hear and feel. By their receiving multitudes of persons who gave no