Decisional Regeneration
By James E. Adams
Webmaster's note on this paper:
Having come out of an theologically
Arminian assembly, this paper was critical in my coming to the doctrines
of grace; obviously God had willed to use it in a large fashion in my
life. I was always curious as to the biblical origin of the altar call and
the "recite this prayer" theology. Having never seen this theory in Holy
writ, I began to -logically- challenge the concept. My challenge was first
personal and as time went on, more openly. This paper of Adam's was
definitely instrumental in clearing up a few misconceptions that I had
wrestled with early on in my walk with my Lord. I pray that it has the
same affect upon you.
What is Regeneration?
"Except a man be born again (1), he cannot see the
kingdom of God" (John 33). Our Lord Jesus Christ taught that the new birth
is so important that no one can see heaven without it. Mistakes concerning
this doctrine have been very destructive to the Church of Christ.
Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God. It is not a work of man.
It is not something that man does but something that God does. The new
birth is a change wrought in us, not an act performed by us. This is
stated so beautifully by the Apostle John when in the first chapter of his
Gospel he speaks of the children of God as those "which were born, not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God"
(v. 13). What is "Decisional Regeneration"?
The history of the Christian Church has seen many
errors concerning the new birth. These teachings depart from Scripture by
attributing to man the ability to regenerate himself. When these false
concepts of man and the new birth are adopted, churches soon become
corrupted with false practices. The Roman Catholic church, the Anglican
church, the Lutheran church and many other churches have all been
corrupted at different times and to different degrees with the teaching of
Baptismal Regeneration. Because of this erroneous teaching on
regeneration, these churches have embraced false practices.
In the nineteenth century few controversies were so
heated as the one over Baptismal Regeneration. It is interesting to note
that C. H. Spurgeon (1836-1892), the most prolific preacher of that
century, had printed in 1864 more copies of his sermon denouncing
Baptismal Regeneration than of any other sermon. Baptismal Regeneration
teaches that the new birth is conveyed by the waters of baptism. The
sacrament is performed by man and is in his control.
But the twentieth century Church has, in
"Decisional Regeneration," a more subtle falsehood to combat. "Decisional
Regeneration" differs from Baptismal Regeneration only in the fact that it
attaches the certainty of the new birth to a different act. This doctrine,
just as Baptismal Regeneration, sees the new birth as the result of a
mechanical process that can be performed by man. What is here called
"Decisional Regeneration" has in its deceptive way permeated much of the
Christian Church.
Our Purpose
The methods and theology of those that practice
"Decisional Regeneration" need to be examined—not with a malicious spirit,
but with a fervent desire that all of God's people may be one in doctrine
and practice for the glory of God. We love all that are in Christ. But we
agree wholeheartedly with Charles Spurgeon that "the best way to promote
union is to promote truth. It will not do for us to be all united together
by yielding to one another's mistakes. We are to love each other in
Christ; but we are not to be so united that we are not able to see each
other's faults, and especially not able to see our own. No, purge the
house of God, and then shall grand and blessed times dawn on us," (2). So
then our purpose is not to question the sincerity of some Christians or to
malign them, but to unite Christians in the truth as it is in our Lord.
This alone is true Christian unity.
As we earnestly seek to bring unity to the Church
of Christ let us turn from falsehood unto God's truth. The practice
of-"Decisional Regeneration" in the Church must be exposed in order to
save men from the damning delusion that because they have "decided" or
"signed a card," they are going to heaven and are no longer under the
wrath of God. The purity of the gospel is of extreme importance because it
alone is the power of God unto salvation and the true basis of Christian
unity.
Decisional Regeneration and Counseling
Some may still not understand exactly what is here
meant by this term "Decisional Regeneration." Perhaps some are unfamiliar
with the counseling courses that are being taught by many organizations in
this country and abroad, and with the numerous "Soul Winning Conferences"
that are taking place. In these meetings counselors are instructed that
successful counseling must conclude with an individual's absolute
assurance of salvation. Counselors are often instructed to assure an
individual that his salvation is certain because he has prayed the
prescribed prayer, and he has said "yes" to all the right questions.
We have an illustration of "Decisional
Regeneration" when a popular present-day preacher prescribes a counseling
procedure. He directs "Mr. Soul Winner" to ask an unconverted "Mr. Blank"
a series of questions. If "Mr. Blank" says "yes" to all the questions, he
is asked to pray a prescribed prayer and is then pronounced saved, (3).
For the most part this counseling results in an individual being
"regenerated" through a decision. This is essentially the same counseling
method used in large evangelistic crusades across the world. These
campaigns are like huge factories turning out as many as ten thousand
"decisions" in a week.
Mr. Iain Murray, in his timely book The Forgotten
Spurgeon, points out that this same type of counseling is used in youth
work "For example, a booklet, which is much circulated in student
evangelism at the present time, lays down 'Three simple steps' to becoming
a Christian first, personal acknowledgment of sin, and second, personal
belief in Christ's substitutionary work. These two are described as
preliminary, but 'the third so final that to take it will make me a
Christian. . .I must come to Christ and claim my personal share in what He
did for everybody.' This all-decisive third step rests with me; Christ
'waits patiently until I open the door. Then He will come in....' Once I
have done this I may immediately regard myself as a Christian. The advice
follows 'Tell somebody today what you have done,' "(4).
There are many variations of this type of
counseling, but they all have in common a mechanical element such as the
repeating of a prayer or signing of a card upon the performance of which
the individual is assured of his salvation. Regeneration has thereby been
reduced to a procedure which man performs. How differently did Jesus
Christ deal with sinners. He did not have any instant salvation process.
He did not speak to people with a stereotyped presentation. He dealt with
every individual on a personal basis. Never in the New Testament do we
find Christ dealing with any two persons in the same manner. It is
enlightening to compare how differently He dealt with Nicodemus in John 3,
and then with the woman at the well in John 4. Counseling needs to be
personal.
There are a number of other problems with a
mechanical counseling. Mr. Murray has pointed out the fact that on the
basis of this counseling "a man may make a profession without ever having
his confidence in his own ability shattered; he has been told absolutely
nothing of his need of a change of nature which is not within his own
power, and consequently, if he does not experience such a radical change,
he is not dismayed. He was never told it was essential so he sees no
reason to doubt whether he is a Christian. Indeed, the teaching he has
come under consistently militates against such doubts arising. It is
frequently said that a man who has made a decision with little evidence of
a change of life may be a 'carnal' Christian who needs instruction in
holiness, or if the same individual should gradually lose his new-found
interests, the fault is frequently attributed to lack of 'follow-up,' or
prayer, or some other deficiency on the part of the Church. The
possibility that these marks of worldliness and falling away are due to
the absence of a saving experience at the outset is rarely considered; if
this point were faced, then the whole system of appeals, decisions and
counseling would collapse, because it would bring to the fore the fact
that change of nature is not in man's power, and that it takes much longer
than a few hours or days to establish whether a professed response to the
gospel is genuine. But instead of facing this, it is protested that to
doubt whether a man who has 'accepted Christ' is a Christian is tantamount
to doubting the Word of God, and that to abandon 'appeals' and their
adjuncts is to give up evangelism altogether." (5)
The counseling of "Decisional Regeneration"
produces statistics that would encourage any Christian—until he follows up
the so- called converts. In one heartbreaking experience forty "converts"
of such counseling were contacted and only one person of these forty was
found who appeared to be a Christian. One lady may have been reached, but
what were the effects of the encounter on the other thirty-nine? Some of
them may believe their eternal destinies were determined by their
decisions, which is a fatal confidence if no change was wrought in their
hearts and lives. The others may have concluded that they had experienced
all that Christianity has to offer. Failing to feel or see any promised
change in themselves, they have become convinced that Christianity is a
fake and that those who hold it are either self-deluded fanatics or
miserable hypocrites.
Robert Dabney, one of the great theologians of the
nineteenth century, made some very penetrating observations concerning the
disillusionment of people that have been counseled for a decision. Some of
these individuals, he said, "feel that a cruel trick has been played upon
their inexperience by the ministers and friends of Christianity in thus
thrusting them, in the hour of their confusion, into false positions,
whose duties they do not and cannot perform, and into sacred professions
which they have been compelled shamefully to repudiate. Their self respect
is therefore galled to the quick, and pride is indignant at the
humiliating exposure. No wonder that they look on religion and its
advocates henceforward with suspicion and anger. Often their feelings do
not stop here. They are conscious that they were thoroughly in earnest in
their religious anxieties and resolves at the time, and that they felt
strange and profound exercises. Yet bitter and mortifying experience has
taught them that their new birth and experimental religion at least was a
delusion. How natural to conclude that those of all others are delusions
also? They say 'the only difference between myself and these earnest
Christians is, that they have not yet detected the cheat as I have. They
are now not a whit more convinced of their sincerity and of the reality of
their exercises than I once was of mine. Yet I know there was no change in
my soul; I do not believe that there is in theirs.' Such is the fatal
process of thought through which thousands have passed; until the country
is sprinkled all over with infidels, who have been made such by their own
experience of spurious religious excitements. They may keep their
hostility to themselves in the main; because Christianity now 'walks in
her silver slippers'; but they are not the less steeled against all saving
impressions of the truth." (6)
Dabney penned these words a hundred years ago, long
before the days of the "mass evangelism" and highly organized campaigns.
If a hundred years ago the country was "sprinkled all over with infidels,
who had been made such by their own experience of spurious religious
excitements," what must be the situation today? This is a serious question
for every Christian. To have led men, even sincerely, into false hope will
be an awful condemnation for a Christian when he stands before Almighty
God.
Decisional Regeneration and Altar Calls
One may read thousands of pages of the history of
the Christian Church without finding a single reference to the
"old-fashioned altar call" before the last century. Most Christians are
surprised to learn that history before the time of Charles G. Finney
(1792-1875) knows nothing of this type of "invitation." The practice of
urging men and women to make a physical movement at the conclusion of a
meeting was introduced by Mr. Finney in the second decade of the
nineteenth century. Dr. Albert B. Dod, a professor of theology at
Princeton Seminary at the time of Mr. Finney's ministry, pointed out the
newness of the practice and showed that this method was without historical
precedent. In his review of Finney's Lectures on Revival, Professor Dod
stated that one will search the volumes of church history in vain for a
single example of this practice before the 1820's, (7). Instead, history
tells us that whenever the gospel was preached men were invited to
Christ—not to decide at the end of a sermon whether or not to perform some
physical action.
The Apostle Paul, the great evangelist, never heard
of an altar call, yet today some consider the altar call to be a necessary
mark of an evangelical church. In fact, churches which do not practice it
are often accused of having no concern for the lost. Neither Paul nor
Peter ever climaxed his preaching with forcing upon his hearers the
decision to walk or not to walk. It is not only with church history, then,
but with Scriptural history as well that the altar call is in conflict.
One may ask, "How did preachers of the gospel for
the previous eighteen hundred years invite men to Christ without the use
of the altar call?" They did so in much the same way as did the apostles
and the other witnesses of the early Church. Their messages were filled
with invitations for all men everywhere to come to Christ.
Surely it will be admitted that the first sermon of
the Christian Church was not climaxed by an altar call. Peter on the Day
of Pentecost concluded his sermon with these words "Therefore let all the
house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made that same Jesus, whom
you have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Peter stopped. Then the
divinely inspired record tells us "Now when they heard this, they were
pricked in their heart, and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles,
'Men and brethren, what shall we do?' " (Acts 236-37). This response was
the result of the work of the Spirit of God, not of clever appeals or
psychological pressure. That day the apostles witnessed the conversion of
three thousand people.
C. H. Spurgeon invited men to come to Christ, not
to an altar. Listen to him invite men to Jesus Christ "Before you leave
this place breathe an earnest prayer to God, saying, 'God be merciful to
me a sinner. Lord, I need to be saved. Save me. I call upon Thy
name....Lord, I am guilty, I deserve Thy wrath. Lord, I cannot save
myself. Lord, I would have a new heart and a right spirit, but what can I
do? Lord, I can do nothing, come and work in me to do of Thy good
pleasure.
Thou alone hast power, I know
To save a wretch like me;
To whom, or whither should I go
If I should run from Thee?
But I now do from my very soul call upon Thy name.
Trembling, yet believing, I cast myself wholly upon Thee, O Lord. I trust
the blood and righteousness of Thy dear Son.... Lord, save me tonight, for
Jesus' sake.' " "Go home alone trusting in Jesus. 'I should like to go
into the enquiry-room.' I dare say you would, but we are not willing to
pander to popular superstition. We fear that in those rooms men are warmed
into a fictitious confidence. Very few of the supposed converts of
enquiry-rooms turn out well. Go to your God at once, even where you now
are. Cast yourself on Christ, at once, ere you stir an inch!" (8)
Invitations such as Spurgeon gave directing men to
Christ and not to aisles are needed today. George Whitefield's sermons
were long invitations to men to come to Christ, not to an altar. The same
may be said of the preaching of Jonathan Edwards, of the Reformers and of
others in the past who were blessed with a harvest of many souls using
Scriptural means of inviting men to Christ. Today the altar call has
become the climax and culmination of the entire meeting. Many stanzas of a
hymn are usually sung, during which time all kinds of appeals are made to
the sinner to walk the aisle, and the clear impression is given to the
sinner that his eternal destiny hangs on this movement of his feet.
"Just As I Am," the precious hymn perhaps most
frequently sung for the altar call, was written in 1836 by Charlotte
Elliott
Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bid'st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
The phrase, "O Lamb of God, I come, I come," has
been widely used to encourage people to "come" down the aisle. But it is
significant that Miss Elliott wrote the hymn for the infirm and that it
first appeared in a hymnal prepared especially for invalids, (9). To Miss
Elliott, coming to Christ was not walking an aisle.
Although most who use the altar call realize that
coming to Christ is not synonymous with coming to the altar, they do give
the impression to sinners that the first step in coming to Christ is
walking the aisle. I am purposefully being very careful not to misstate
the case. I understand the sincerity of those who practice the altar call,
it having been a part of every service from my earliest memory until
college. In fact, I grew up in Christian circles unaware that evangelical
Christianity existed without the altar call. In many services during this
time my mind was centered on the glorious person of Christ and His
suffering on the cross only to find the whole focus of the worship service
suddenly changed at the conclusion from seeing the glories and sufferings
of Christ to walking an aisle. Many others have spoken of the same
experience —that the altar call and the clever appeals at the conclusion
of meetings, the decision to walk or not to walk and the wondering how
many will respond, have distracted them from seeking Christ and from
worshipping God in spirit and truth.
Do you remember how the crowds physically followed
our Lord Christ until He began to preach some unpopular truths? Then the
crowds turned back (John 666). Why? Had they not come to Jesus with their
feet? Yes, but this is not the coming to Him that is necessary for
salvation. Christ said, "All that the Father gives me shall come to me;
and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 637). And again
He said, "No man can come to me except the Father draw him" (John 644). In
neither of these instances was Jesus speaking of the physical movement of
the feet. Men today need to be reminded that coming to Christ is not
walking an aisle, but is casting oneself on Christ for life or death. May
God cause the Church to return to the Scriptures for its methods of
winning men to Christ. May sinners be charged not to come forward in a
meeting but to come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Decisional Regeneration and Preaching
The false teaching of "Decisional Regeneration" has
polluted even the structure of the sermon. Jack Hyles, considered by many
to be an authority on preaching, gives the following advice to his
fellow-ministers "Many of us in our preaching will make such statements
as, 'Now, in conclusion'; 'Finally, may I say'; 'My last point is . . .'.
These statements are sometimes dangerous. The sinner knows five minutes
before you finish; hence he digs in and prepares himself for the
invitation so that he does not respond. However, if your closing is abrupt
and a lost person does not suspect that you are about finished, you have
crept up on him and he will not have time to prepare himself for the
invitation. Many people may be reached, using this method," (10).
At the first reading of such a teaching one mignt
believe, or at least hope, that he misread Mr. Hyles. The second, third
and fourth readings, however, confirm that Mr. Hyles actually teaches that
men may be converted to Christ as a result of some clever method a
minister uses in his sermon, and that one's eternal destiny may be
determined by the impulse of an unguarded moment. This idea that a man's
salvation may depend upon his being "crept up on" and giving his unwilling
consent is in direct conflict with what the Scriptures teach concerning
the receiving of Jesus Christ. In reality the kind of Preaching that tries
to creep up on sinners results for the most part in bringing people to
religion, not to Christ. Can there be any more terrible result of a sermon
than the bringing of people to something other than our Lord Jesus Christ?
True preaching is not a clever device of man, but a
demonstration of the Spirit of God as the truth of God is proclaimed. I
can never forget hearing Dr. David Martyn Lloyd- Jones illustrate what
true preaching is with an account of George Whitefield preaching in the
church of Jonathan Edwards "There was this genius Jonathan Edwards
listening to Whitefield, who wasn't in the same field, of course, from the
standpoint of genius and ability and so on. But as he was listening to
Whitefield, his face, says Whitefield, was shining. Edwards' face was
shining and tears were streaming down his face. Edwards was recognizing
this authentic, authoritative note—this preaching. Whitefield was in the
Spirit. Edwards was in the Spirit, and the two were blended together. The
whole congregation and the preacher were one in the hand of God. That is
preaching. May God enable us to practice it and experience it,"(11). The
preaching of which Dr. Lloyd-Jones is speaking of and which the New
Testament speaks is far removed from the trickery used in much modern
preaching. Biblical preaching declares that men are not born again by the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 113).
"Decisional Regeneration" does not bring men to
Christ any more than does Baptismal Regeneration. It is true that some are
converted under such preaching, but this is in spite of the false methods
used, not because of them. The Bible is clear in its declaration that only
by the Spirit of God can men be born again. True repentance and saving
faith come as the result of the new birth and are never the cause of the
great change. Repentance and faith are the acts of regenerated men, not of
men dead in sins (Eph. 21, 5). However, God does not act for us; He does
not believe for us; and He surely cannot repent for us—He has no sin for
which to repent. We must personally, knowingly and willingly trust in
Christ for salvation. Nor are we saying that preachers should not urge,
yea, plead with men to repent and believe. Any preaching which merely
rehearses the facts of the gospel without calling men to repentance and
faith in Christ as a merciful and mighty Saviour of sinners is not
biblical preaching.
The apostles taught that God saves His elect
through the foolishness of preaching. All new methods devised by man can
only fall far short of this ordained means of converting the sinner. The
Church must forsake its carnal inventions and once again be guided by the
teaching of Scripture if it is to expect God to bless its efforts and
multiply its harvest. The Scriptural means of evangelizing is to "preach
Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks
foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (I Cor. 123-24).
Decisional Regeneration and Theology
Whether it is openly recognized or not, there are
always certain doctrinal presuppositions which underlie the methods used
in evangelism. What kind of teaching, then, has allowed the Church to
depart from historic Christianity and to take up these new devices?
The new birth according to our Lord Jesus Christ is
sovereign work of the Spirit of God in the heart of man (John 38). Yet in
conflict with Christ's teaching, one of the forefathers of this new
evangelism states that "Religion is the work of man." This is a shocking
statement, especially since it is found on the very first page of Lectures
on Revivals of Religion, the most influential of all of Charles G.
Finney's writings, (12). The great theological difference between modern
evangelism and biblical evangelism hinges on this basic question whether
true religion is the work of God or of man. At best, the doctrine of
"Decisional Regeneration" attributes the new birth partly to man and
partly to God.
J. H. Merle d'Aubigne (1794-1872) in his history of
the Reformation in England states that "to believe in the power of man in
the work of regeneration is the great heresy of Rome, and from that error
has come the ruin of the Church. Conversion proceeds from the grace of God
alone, and the system which ascribes it partly to man and partly to God is
worse than Pelagianism," (13). One of the greatest American theologians,
Charles Hodge (1797-1878), also points out the danger of this teaching "No
more soul- destroying doctrine could well be devised than the doctrine
that sinners can regenerate themselves, and repent and believe just when
they please. . . As it is a truth both of Scripture and of experience that
the unrenewed man can do nothing of himself to secure his
salvation, it is essential that he should be
brought to a practical conviction of that truth. When thus convicted, and
not before, he seeks help from the only source whence it can be obtained."
(14)
In both the above statements stress is put upon
man's helplessness to be born anew, and the necessity for God to create
life. It is especially in these two areas that the doctrine of "Decisional
Regeneration" deviates from the biblical doctrine of regeneration. This
brings us to the foundational issue of "Decisional Regeneration" What is
the spiritual condition of man?
Can a man be born again by answering "yes" to a
certain group of questions? Can a man be born from "above" by walking to
the front of a building? Can a man become a true Christian by responding
to an invitation as a result of being "crept up on" unawares? Your answers
to these questions will be determined by your view of man's spiritual
condition. What is man's spiritual state?
The grand old Scottish theologian Thomas Boston
(1676-1732) very vividly illustrated man's spiritual condition by
comparing the unconverted person to a man in a pit. He can only get out of
the pit in one of two ways he may through much toil and difficulty scale
the sides of the pit to the top, which is the way of works; or, he may
grab hold of the rope of grace let down by Christ and be pulled out of his
misery. Yes, he may decide to pull himself up by the rope of the gospel,
"but, alas! the unconverted man is dead in the pit, and cannot help
himself either of these ways."(15)
Man is spiritually dead in trespasses and sins and
cannot please God (Eph. 21; Rom. 88). Our Saviour Himself portrayed man's
condition as one of utter helplessness "No man can come to me except the
Father who has sent me draw him"; "No man can come to me except it were
given to him of my Father" (John 644, 65).
This state of death and bondage to sin cannot be
changed by making a decision or by walking an aisle. A man cannot make
himself a Christian. Only the Spirit of God can create a new man in
Christ. God in His grace gives men new hearts. Only then can they
willingly repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. God Himself has
stated this truth by saying "A new heart also will I give you, and a new
spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of
your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my
Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes..." (Ezek. 3626,
27). Jesus Christ also clearly said, "For just as the Father raises the
dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he
wishes" (John 521).
The greatness of God's power in saving sinners can
only be seen against the background of man's desperate condition. What a
glorious doctrine is the new birth to the helpless sinner! May the Church
return to biblical doctrine so that it may evangelize again to the glory
of God.
How helpless guilty nature lies,
Unconscious of its load!
The heart, unchanged can never rise
To happiness and God.
The will perverse, the passions blind,
In paths of ruin stray;
Reason, debased, can never find
The safe, the narrow way.
Can aught, beneath a power divine,
The stubborn will subdue?
Tis Thine, almighty Saviour, Thine,
To form the heart anew.
O change these wretched hearts of ours,
And give them life divine!
Then shall our passions and our powers,
Almighty Lord, be Thine!
Isaac Watts
What Must we Do?
It is not a time to be silent; it is time to speak
out. We have kept quiet too long, somehow feeling that if we opposed these
unbiblical practices we might be hindering the good work of evangelism,
believing that among the multitudes of "decisions" there are some genuine
conversions. But with every passing week thousands are being counseled
into a false hope! Men are directed to walk aisles when they should be
pointed to Christ alone. The high calling of preaching has degenerated
into a series of gimmicks and tricks. These false practices have resulted
from the perversion of biblical doctrine. In the midst of this darkness
let us pray that God may be pleased to revive His Church again. This
revival can come only through Christ. Men must turn afresh to His
directions for counseling, to His free invitations to sinners and to the
preaching of His gospel. Only then will our labors bring glory to God; and
if God grants, many sinners will be converted for His glory.
___________________________
Endnotes:
(1) The word "again" is better rendered "from
above." It points to the ultimate
source of the new birth, the Triune God.
(2) C. H. Spurgeon, The New Perk Street Pulpit
(London, 1964), Vol. 6, p. 171.
(3) Jack Hyles, How To Boost Your Church Attendance
(Grand Rapids, 1958),
pp. 32-35.
(4) Iain H. Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon (London,
1966), p. 110.
(5) Ibid, p. 111.
(6) Robert L. Dabney, Discussions: Evangelical and
Theological (London, 1967),
Vol. 2, p. 13.
(7) Albert B. Dod, "The Origin of the Call for
Decisions," The Banner of Truth
Magazine (London, Dec., 1963), Vol. 32, p. 9.
(8) Murray, op. cit., pp. 107-109.
(9) John Julian, A Dictionary of Hymnology (London,
1907) p. 609.
(10) Hyles, op. cit., pp. 43-44.
(11) Recorded in shorthand from a sermon, "The
Responsibility of Evangelism,"
preached at Grace Baptist Church, Carlisle, Pa., in
June, 1969.
(12) For the clearest statement of Finney's theory
of regeneration read his sermon,
"Sinners Bound To Change their Own Hearts," Sermons
on Various Subjects
(New York, 1835). For a detailed examination of
Finney's theology see "Review of
Lectures on Systematic Theology," The Biblical
Repertory and Princeton Review
(Philadelphia, 1847), Vol. 19, pp. 237-Z77; also
Benjamin B. Warfield, "The
Theology of Charles C. Finney," Perfectionism
(Philadelphia, 1967), pp. 166-215.
(13) J. H. Merle d'Aubigne, The Reformation in
England (London, 1962),
Vol. 1, p. 98.
(14) Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (Grand
Rapids, 1970), Vol. 2, p. 277.
(15) Thomas Boston, Human Nature in Its Fourfold
State (London, 1964), p. 183.
