Tke Historic Faith Historj) and Experience Should Hold Us Fast to the
One Gospel that .Will Save Men By DR. F. D. H U N T IN G D O N , IN 1870
from th e g reat enterprises th a t evangel ize th e world? However earnest for social and moral improvement, th e love of Christ and of souls, which lends life to th e Church, and extends th e king dom, appears to flow in other channels. F o r a lim ited period, and on a lim ited scale, sects th a t have throw n off th e distinctive principles on which the Church was founded doubtless continue to bear many good fru its, by v irtue of the hered itary impressions diffused a- broad and living, on, through th e Chris tia n world: ju st as a moving tra in will run , w ith considerable momentum , long afte r th e real (impelling force is w ith drawn. We will not speak especially of the significant circumstances th a t the more serious-m inded and reverential members of such bodies m ust find them selves em barrassed by an inevitable as sociation' w ith others, who go far be yond them in denial and in laxity of both preaching and order, involving all under th e same name in a fearfu l re sponsibility for th e most radical and disastrous error. When we ask whether th e am ount of belief on which these de tached branches are now supported would have ever given life to the Church, converted nations, perpetuated sacraments, and com forted m artyrs, how plain th a t it could no more have done th a t, th an th e brave b u t scattered in dividuals of a disorganized regim ent could originate th e discipline and win the b attles of an arm y under its banners, w ith its leader a t its head! A fu rth e r attestatio n to these doc trines is furnished in th e religious wants of the soul. God created th a t soul, wakened its wants, and revealed the doctrines. He has fitted th e w ant and
T Is beyond denial th a t, in th e progress of our religion, th e hody of doctrines which has been h ere laid down as th e characteristic and dis
tinguishing peculiarity of th e gos pel, and hence called evangelical, r—making up the substance of the catholic creeds,— has always accom panied th e effectual advance of th e cause. W here zeal and energy have been, these doctrines have been. Where missions have gone w ith power, these doctrines have gone. _ Where g reat sacrifices have been made, g reat Churches organized, g reat movements originated, g reat impulses given to piety, great, reform ations accomplished, the doctrines of the cross have inspired them . W hatever else, of m istake or superfluity, has been present, these have not been absent. So sligh t has been the prevalence, and so feeble has been the influence, of any system of reli gion which has left th e ir vital substance out, th a t, however excel len t some of th e individual charac te rs it may have produced, it can scarcely be reckoned in among th e palpable powers which have bu ilt up a Christendom . Think w hat we may of th is fact, it is cer tain ly a phenomenon which needs to be accounted for by those who th ink a church could exist w ithout these very peculiarities. I t affords a t least a presumption so strong in favor of the old tried foundation work of faith, as to challenge th e consideration of every though tfu l person. How will you ex plain it, th a t th e deniers of th a t founda tion have been bu t an inefficient m inor ity, on the borders of the Fold, aloof
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