EARLHAM LECTURES:
1. A Compend of Christian Doctrine.
2. The
Ritualistic Law and its Antitype in Christ.
3. History of Christianity to
Constantine.
BYBARNABAS C. HOBBS,
A. M., LL. D.,First President of Earlham College, and subsequently Superintendent of
Public Instruction for the State of Indiana.
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RICHMOND, IND.:
NICHOLSON & BRO., PUBLISHERS.
1885.
Entered according to Act of Congress,
In the office of the Librarian of
Congress at Washington, D.C., 1885,
By BARNABAS C. HOBBS.
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M. CULLATON & CO., PRINTERS,
Richmond, Ind.
INTRODUCTION.
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The following pages are a brief of modern and New Testament Theology as the writer has read and accepted it. It is commended to the acceptance of the reader who seeks to know the truth.
The purposes of God in redemption are many sided in their adaptation to the condition of man in the epochs of his history, and they are multiform in blessing. The Redeemer of men has looked to the wants of every kindred, tongue, and people, young and old, wise and ignorant.
There are foundation doctrines on which all parts of the superstructure must directly or indirectly rest, and the following pages are formulated with that as a leading thought. How well he has succeeded he must leave for the reader to judge.
Many valuable helps have been found in the terse and concentrated Compend of Theology by Amos Binney and Daniel Steele, D. D., and Merrill. He is also indebted to the Bampton Lectures by Edward Hatch, to Wakefield's Theology, Pressense's Early Years of page: iv[View Page iv] Christianity, Dean Stanley's Christian Institutions, Blackburn's Church History, Albert Barnes' Atonement, together with a large number of valued authors in the Society of Friends.
He has made it a chief purpose to concentrate much into small space, hoping what is presented may serve as a guide to more thorough examination of the subjects touched upon.
He does not claim to have attained to perfection, but trusts to the favorable consideration of the intelligent reader. He feels conscious that he has ventured upon a task which exposes him to the adverse criticism of many honest Christian believers, in respect to opinions which make differences in churches, but rejoices in the discovery of a large breadth of vital, saving, Christian faith common to all churches.
One fact rises above many: the more and better we are acquainted, personally, with Christ, the better we will know His doctrine.
