Truth and Error

I resent thankful that God has so prospered and blessed this little work, that now, two large editions having been exhausted, a third is called for.

In revising it for the press, while I have felt the many defects which exist in it, I have been led to rejoice more and more in the truth for which it is designed to be a testimony. The errors against which it is pointed are, I believe, in some measure subsiding; but still it is most needful that the warning should be kept up. ‘The doctrines at stake are not subordinate and unessential. They are momentous and vital, — both in themselves and in their consequences. ‘They lie at the very foundation of true theology, and are imbedded in the very heart of the Word of God. The denial of them involves not only a misinterpretation of Scripture, but a misrepresentation of Jehovah’s character. In such a case there can be no compromise. The man who denies the sovereignty of the Father, the sudstitu-

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vl PREFACE.

tionary work of the Son, the direct operation of the Holy Spirit upon the soul, and who expunges the doctrine of absolute election from the ninth of the Romans, may not be a Socinian himself, but he holds radically Socinian principles, and his followers will assuredly carry out these into open and broad Socinianism.

Ketso, April, 1850.

NOTE.

I nave carefully revised these Letters, correcting and supplementing very considerably, so as to render them more complete and more useful. In the first edition I referred but sparingly to writers upon the different points in question. In this edition I have thought it best to give what references I had collected, both in order to render the book more complete, and also for the sake of those who desire to study the various subjects. Still, I build nothing upon these in the way of authority. It is to the law and to the testimony that the appeal is taken. Let God be true, and every man a liar.

«Buy the truth, and sell it not:” that is, get truth at whatever price or cost; but part with it on no consideration, and for no price whatsoever.

Tuxse Letters are little more than fragments. They do not aim at a complete statement of the truth, or a systematic arrangement of it. It is only a few important points that they touch.

‘To have extended them and embraced a wider range of doctrine would not have suited my design. I wished to warn you against some of the prevailing errors of the time, lest ye, being “led away from your steadfastness,” should follow after the “diverse and strange doctrines” of these last days. Hence it was necessary to dwell upon those errors which have been most prominently advanced, and to open up those truths which have been most perverted and denied.

There may be found here and there a few repetitions. These I tried to avoid as much as possible, but could not altogether succeed.. I found that so close is the connection between

Viil INTRODUCTION.

the different truths as well as the different errors, that after I had discussed them in one place, they would rise up in a second, or even a third, springing now out of one doctrine, and again out of another. Ido not regret this. It may tend to show more fully the harmony of all the different parts of the truth, and their connection with each other, so that it will be ‘seen that as all truth is linked together in its different parts, so is all error. How great, then, the danger of slighting any truth or giving way to any error!

My appeal is to the Word of God. What are the reasonings, or opinions, or inferences of men? What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. Let the Bible decide each question. It is for this end that I have appended to each letter a selection of passages at length.

The real question of the present day is just this, — Is man a totally and thoroughly depraved being by nature ? — Is he ruined, helpless, and blind, dead in trespasses and sins? Many other questions have arisen, but this is the centre one. According to the views we entertain regarding this, will be our views on other points. It is upon the truth of this doctrine that the whole Bible proceeds. And hence I would at the outset warn you strongly against any attempt to modify, or abate, or dilute the statements of Scripture on this point.

Man being thoroughly depraved in nature, is it possible, I ask, to save him without a special and direct intervention of Father, Son, and Spirit, in his behalf? In other words, can he be saved in any way which does not involve personal election by the Father, particular redemption by the Son, and direct, immediate, overcoming operation of the Holy Spirit? Or, putting the question in another form, and using the language of science — given a totally depraved being, is it possible to save that being by any plan which makes the previous concurrence of his own will an indispensable preliminary, or which makes it necessary that he should take the first step in the matter of return to God?

If you place the different errors of the day before you in this light, you will find that they all more or less directly deny or encroach upon the doctrine of man’s original and actual depravity.

You will find, also, that the objections urged against God’s sovereignty and man’s helplessness, are just diflerent manifestations of hux INTRODUCTION.

man pride, — the pride into which Satan tempted Adam, “Ye shall be as gods,” and into which all his offspring have fallen along with him. Man will not consent to be nothing, that God alone may be atu. And it is curious to observe that the objections urged against these truths are not passages of Scripture, but human reasonings — man’s inferences and opinions. ‘Take, as a specimen, the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. We have many passages breadly declaring this, but not one setting forth the opposite. How, then, do men contrive to deny this truth? They begin to reason and speculate upon it; and by means of certain ¢nferences of their own, try to make it appear inconsistent with other doctrines to which they attach great importance. They say, ‘‘ Does not God invite the sinner to come to Christ, does he not tell us that he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that he should turn and live: now, how can this be true, if He be absolutely sovereign in his proceedings? We cannot reconcile these things together, therefore we must explain away the passages which assert God’s sovereignty and electing will. They cannot be understood in their plain and literal sense: we must devise some other meaning for them

INTRODUCTION. Xl which will accord with our ideas of God’s love.” Thus, pride of intellect, confidence in human reason, eagerness to establish one favorite doctrine and to make everything bend to it, supersede and overturn the Word of God. Scripture is not implicitly relied upon, unless borne out by the systems or the syllogisms of reason and the conclusions of man’s poor fallen intellect.

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