A written

than if entrusted to the fallible memory of men. creed, then, may be useful to the sound, consistent, and quiet members of a church, and is inconvenient to none but such as wish to remain in it while they reject its doctrines, and wantonly destroy its peace.

Articles of faith should be limited to those fundamental points of doctrine, and practice, which lie on the very face of the scriptures. Minute specifications would render them difficult to be remembered, and needlessly multiply questions of discipline. It is unwise to require exact uniformity of opinion on every point of religious truth. Private judgment should have as much scope as may consist with peace and union; while vital truths must be held firm by all the members, or they cannot be associated in church fellowship with comfort or advantage: but with these, united to consistent practice, elevated piety, vigilant discipline, and ardent, brotherly love, no trouble will arise from differences of opinion on other points.

In presenting the following outline of christian doctrines, the author may be permitted to say, that he has made use of such language as appeared to him least liable to misconstruction. It is no part of the design of this book to furnish a creed or articles of faith for general adoption, nor to disseminate new or peculiar doctrines among the churches. After comparing the articles of faith adopted by a great number of Baptist churches in all parts of the United States, and in England, no one was found to be adapted, in form, to the plan of this work. Without setting up any claim to originality, therefore, the author preferred this plan, which, so far as it extends, includes the substance of those leading doctrines which our churches have received as of scriptural authority. This harmony of doctrinal views among so many independent churches, so widely scattered, each of whom is at liberty to frame and adopt its own creed, is remarkable; and happily illustrates the safety, as well as the liberality of their principles. And it is far more important to the purity, the peace, and the usefulness of the churches, that we all clearly understand, firmly believe, and ardently love those

leading doctrines and vital truths of the gospel in which we agree, than to dispute about those respecting which we do not agree.

CHAPTER I.

OF GOD, AND DIVINE REVELATION.

SECT. 1. The Scriptures.

The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are a revelation from God, written by men divinely inspired. A book or writing may be true, yet not inspired; though it cannot be inspired without being true. The truth of a book cannot prove its inspiration, yet it must be proved to be true, and the authentic production of its professed writer before it can be proved to be inspired. The proper method to arrive at the proof of the inspiration of the scriptures, therefore, is first to seek for the proof that they are authentic and true.

It is not necessary to discuss at large the means by which the authenticity and truth of ancient records in general are proved. Those which have the following marks of genuineness, have commanded the unanimous confidence of mankind.

1. The general consent of tradition. The fact that an ancient book has for many hundreds or thousands of years been ascribed to a certain individual, as its author, is a strong proof of its genuineness, because it is impossible to conceive how such a belief became prevalent unless it was originally established by known and undoubted authority.

2. The correctness of its references to known cotemporaneous events, to persons living at the time when it professes to have been written, and the correctness of its geographical and astronomical references.

3. The testimony of cotemporary historians and other writers.

That the books of the New Testament are the genuine, authentic writings of the men whose names they bear, is capable of the clearest proof. Any one who is willing to investigate the subject thoroughly, may have every doubt removed, by evidence of the most satisfactory character. A few considerations, only, will be submitted.

1. Authors, not Christians, but opposers of Christianity, pagans and Jews, who lived at the same time with the apostles, testify that during the reign of Nero, Christians were multiplying in Judea, where they tell us that Christianity originated, that they were rapidly extending into other countries, and that they used sacred writings peculiar to themselves, and different from those of the Jews. The most eminent and approved historians of the Roman empire testify to these facts, which are further illustrated and placed beyond doubt, by the corresponding testimony of official state documents from the highest civil officers, and the writings of Josephus, the great Jewish historian of his time. The same sacred books are referred to by heathen writers in their attacks upon Christianity, in the second and third centuries, and the references are such as to leave no doubt that they are the books of the New Testament.

2. Christian writers, from the first century onward, some of whom had been conversant with the apostles, refer to various books of the New Testament as the genuine writings of the men to whom they are ascribed, and often quote their language, so as to leave no doubt that they are the same books which have come down to us. Some of these writers were hearers of the apostle John, others were well acquainted with all the writings and other testimony, extant in their day; they were eminent for learning and virtue; some of them wrote extensively in defence of Christianity, and they all bear abundant testimony to the genuineness of most of the books of the New Testament, as undisputed by friends or foes.

3. There were early heretics, who bitterly opposed some of the generally received doctrines of Christianity, to whose interest the authority of these writings was destructive; yet

they did not undertake to dispute their genuineness, but their manner of quoting, and referring to them, and the methods by which they undertook to evade the force of those passages which most plainly opposed their views, prove, beyond a doubt, that the genuineness and authenticity of the books were so universally admitted, that to call it in question would be destructive to their cause.

4. None of the motives which actuate wicked and designing men, can, by any probability, be ascribed to the writers of the New Testament. These writings contain the purest and most salutary precepts of virtue, justice, self-denial, and religion, ever presented to the human mind. It is absurd, in the last degree, to suppose that such writings could be the forgeries of bad men; if they are not the forgeries of bad men, they are authentic and true.

5. That the writers of the New Testament would not practice deception if they could, is plain from their upright and truthful characters; from their simplicity, most of them belonging to the humble classes of society; from their impartiality in recording their own faults; from the artlessness of their narrations, which often appear contradictory, but on examination are found to be wonderfully harmonious, though written without concert, and at different times and places; and from the fact, that instead of aggrandizement, they expected, and actually suffered, poverty, reproach, toil, scourging, imprisonment, and death, for adhering to the truth of their writings. That they could not if they would, is evident from the nature of their narrations. The life, the teachings, the miracles, the trial and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, were all public, and so were the lives and ministry of the apostles. Such accounts as are recorded in the four gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles, could never have gained credence unless they were the true records of fact, as any one who has read cotemporaneous history, and the researches of modern travellers and geographers, must admit. In short, there never were writings, which, if false, could have been so easily detected; none have been subjected to so many sharp sighted and searching scrutinies by friends and

foes; yet no false statement has ever been discovered in them—a satisfactory proof that they are authentic and true.

6. Viewed, therefore, as historical compositions, the internal and external proofs that they are the genuine writings of the men to whom they are ascribed, and a true record of facts, are so abundant, that to deny it would betray the greatest ignorance, presumption, and folly. It would be calling in question all the rules of historical evidence, and the truth of all history. There are no ancient writings extant, whose genuineness, authenticity, and truth, are sustained by so many clear and incontestible proofs.

The proof that the scriptures are divinely inspired, is closely interwoven with that of their authenticity; though it is in some respects even more triumphantly satisfactory. They reveal a religion, which enlightened reason, and conscience declare must be from God; so that most persons become thoroughly convinced that they are divine, before examining the evidence that they are authentic; yet it seems more correct to show that they possess entire historical credibility, before proceeding to show that they have the higher claim of being the infallible words of God.

That the Holy Scriptures contain a complete revelation of the will of God to men, free from all error, and without any omission, is capable of the most satisfactory proof.*

1. It is abundantly evident that mankind need, and have always needed, a revelation from God. The condition and doom of the ante-diluvian world, the darkness and wretch

*The design and limits of this work admit of a mere outline only, of the arguments for the authenticity and inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. The following are a few of the works in which the various questions connected with this subject are discussed at length; Alexander on the Canon; Campbell's Preliminary Dissertations; Watson's Apology for the Bible; Jenyns's Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion; Paley's Evidences of Christianity; Leslie's Short Method; Hug's Introduction to the New Testament; Robinson's Researches in Palestine; Horne's Introduction; Gaussen's Theopneustia, translated from the French, by Rev. E. N. Kirk; Neander's Church History, etc.