CHAPTER IV.

An Enquiry concerning Evangelical
Preaching.

THE preaching of the Gospel by the Apostles, had certainly the authority of a Divine command and it is, I think, justly inferred, that their regular successors in the ministry, in every age, act under the same authority, in every thing which pertains to the ministerial office.

It is not however to be understood, that the ministers of the Gospel, since the days of the Apostles, are inspired in the manner they were, so that they never deliver any thing but what is strictly true.

They are frail, and liable to errors, as well as other christians. Yet their discourses, professedly founded upon the word of God, ought to be listened to with reverence, and examined with candour. Like the Bereans of old, the hearer should search the scriptures daily, that they may be the better able to judge of the correctness of the doctrines,

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which from time to time, they may hear delivered.

We are not, in these days, to expect any new revelation of the will of God. The Holy Scriptures contain every thing necessary for us to know, believe, and practise. Agreeably to this, the 6th Article of the Church says, "Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an Article of Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation." All public preaching or teaching, therefore, must have for its foundation and uide, the word of God contained in the Holy Scriptures; and any doctrine which is not therein taught, or which may not be fairly deduced from them, has no infallible claim to our assent, It will follow, of course, that any doctrine which is clearly revealed in the Holy Scriptures, ought to be believed, and received as true. It will not, however, from hence follow, that all scripture doctrines and truths are of equal importance, and ought to

be equally often inculcated. Some truths are evidently more important than others: and the circumstances of a people or congregation may be such, as to render it necessary to insist oftener, and more largely, upon some doctrines and duties, than upon others and this must always be left to the judgment and discretion of the preacher.

But a distinction is attempted to be made by many, b between what is termed Evangelical, and Moral preaching. A distinction, which, I apprehend, is often an improper one representing the gospel as at variance with itself; and which, therefore, has an unhappy and pernicious tendency.

What, then, are we to understand by Evangelical Preaching, or Evangelical Doctrines ? For undoubtedly, it must be the doctrines alone, and not the manner in which they are delivered, which properly come under this inquiry. According to the best authorities, I believe the meaning of the word Evangelical, is, agreeable to the gospel. If this is a correct definition of the word, it will of course follow, that all doctrines which are contained

in the gospel, or which are agreeable to the gospel, are Evangelical doctrines. And those preachers who inculcate such doctrines, and none but such, are truly, and in the proper sense of the word, Evangelical preachers. If then, a preacher enforces the necessity of obedience to the moral law, and of living in the practice of the Christian, moral, and social virtues ; such as sobriety, temperance, patience, meekness, tenderness, hospitality, brotherly love, courtesy, and the like; though he may be called a moral preacher, yet he is certainly an Evangelical preacher, because these things are clearly contained in, and agreeable to the gospel.

But, what is understood to be Evangelical preaching, by those who make the distinction between that and moral preaching? In their catalogue of Evangelical doctrines, would probably be the following, to wit: The fall of Man, Total Depravity, The Sovereignty of God, The Decrees of unconditional Election, and Reprobation of Angels and Men, The Atonement made for the Elect by Jesus Christ, Common and Special Grace, or the or

dinary and extraordinary (or irresistible) Influences of the Spirit; (the common and ordinary given to the non-elect, or reprobates, and the special and extraordinary to the elect;) Conviction and Conversion, or Regeneration by the irresistible operations of the Spirit, in the day of God's Power; Final Perseverance, and a Day of Judgment, when the Righteous, or Elect, shall be received into the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Wicked, or Reprobates, cast down to Hell, for not believing in Jesus Christ, and for rejecting or resisting the offers of his grace, and the influences of his spirit.

These, by some, are supposed to be in a peculiar sense, Evangelical doctrines; and those who, in their preaching, do uot go pretty nearly the full length and breadth of this catalogue, are not regarded as Evangelical preachers. And hence it is, I suppose, that the objection is often made, that the clergy of the Episcopal Church are not, in their preaching, sufficiently Evangelical. It is true, there are several of the above mentioned doctrines which we do not preach, because we do not find them contained, nor believe them to be