Systematic Theology: Lectures HB

Although the Southern Presbyterian Church of the last century produced many volumes of enduring spiritual importance, it was only this work which came ‘nearest to a complete text of Systematic Theology’. For its preparation Robert L. Dabney, ‘the best teacher of theology in the United States, if not in the world’ (A.A. Hodge), was certainly suited. While his exposition and vindication of credal Christianity is akin to that of other reformed authors, he has a literary force and ability to stimulate thought which is distinctive. In his concern to see the truth understood and lived, in his wrestling with hard points and his mastery of detail, Dabney is second-to-none. The fact that his Systematic Theology, first published in 1871, is now in its ninth edition is proof in itself that the volume is not superfluous.

His biographer, Thomas Cary Johnson, wrote of him: ‘He believed that “feeling s the temperature of thought” and was not ashamed to be seen to feel for the truth. Hence the truth he taught burnt in on the student, and made an indelible impression. He begot in is men something akin to his own vigor and strength, his love of truth and of God’.

ENDORSEMENT

‘R.L. Dabney was the most conspicuous figure and the leading theological guide of the Southern Presbyterian Church, the most prolific theological writer that Church has as yet produced, and for a period of over forty years one of the most distinguished and probably the most impressive teacher of its candidates for the ministry. As a preacher, as a teacher and as a writer equally he achieved greatness, and in the counsels of the State and of the Church alike he was a factor of importance. In the wider theological history of the country and of the epoch he finds a worthy place as one of the younger members of a remarkable company of theologians to whose lot it fell to reassert and reorganize the historical faith of the Reformed Churches in the face of the theological ferment which marked the earlier years of the Nineteenth Century.’– B.B. WARFIELD

‘Hodge gives an excellent, general statement of the Reformed Faith, yet Dabney adds something beyond the general treatment of most subjects. When his method of teaching is recalled, of sending his students to the standard texts on theology (including Hodge), and then adding his own observations on each doctrine in the class from which his “Theology” was derived, it is to be expected that his work would have a certain freshness to it, and this is just what is found. He begot in his men something akin to his own vigor and strength, his love of truth and of God.’– Morton H. Smith

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Lecture

1 Preface: and Existence of God 5

2 Existence of God, (continued) 15

3 Evolution 26

4 Divine Attributes 38

5 Divine Attributes, (continued) 46

6 Materialism 55

7 Immortality of the Soul and Dejects of Natural Religion 64

8 Sources of our Thinking 78

9 Sources of our Thinking, (continued) 94

10 Ethical Theories (continued) 110

11 Free Agency and the Will 119

12 Responsibility and Province of Reason 133

13 Revealed Theology God and His Attributes 144

14 Divine Attributes, (continued) 154

15 God’s Moral Attributes 164

16 The Trinity 174

17 Divinity of Christ, 182

18 Divinity of the Holy Ghost and of the Son 193

19 Personal Distinctions in the Trinity 202

20 Decrees of God 211

21 Predestination 223

22 Predestination, (concluded) 235

23 Creation 247

Appendix – Geologic Theories and Chronology 256

24 Angels 264

25 Providence 276

26 Man’s Estate of Holiness, and the Covenant of Works 292

27 The Fall, and Original Sin 306

28 Original Sin, (continued) 321

29 Original Sin, (concluded) 332

30 The Decalogue 351

31 The First Table – (1st, 2nd and 3rd Commandments) 358

32 First Table – (4th Commandment) 366

33 Second Table – (5th and 6th Commandments) 398

34 Second Table – (7th and 8th Commandments) 406

35 Second Table – (9th and 10th Commandments) 419

36 The Covenant of Grace 429

37 Covenant of Grace, (continued) 440

38 Covenant of Grace, (concluded) 452

39 Mediator of the Covenant of Grace 464

40 Mediator, (continued) 477

41 Mediator, (concluded) 485

42 Nature of Christ’s Sacrifice 500

43 Nature of Christ’s Sacrifice, (continued) 515

44 Results of Christ’s Sacrifice, as to God’s Glory and other Worlds 536

45 Christ’s Humiliation and Exaltation 546

46 Effectual Calling 553

47 Effectual Calling, (continued) 560

48 Arminian Theory of Redemption 579

49 Arminian Theory of Redemption, (continued) 859

50 Faith 600

51 Union to Christ 612

52 Justification 618

53 Justification, (continued) 628

54 Justification, (concluded) 640

55 Repentance 651

56 Sanctification, and Good Works 660

57 Sanctification, and Good Works, (continued) 674

58 Perseverance of the Saints 687

59 Assurance of Grace and Salvation: 698

60 Prayer 713

61 The Sacraments 726

62 The Sacraments, (continued) 737

Appendix – Apostolic Succession and Sacramental Grace shown to be a Blunder 748

63 Baptism 758

64 Baptism – the mode 768

65 Subjects of Baptism 777

66 Subjects of Baptism, (concluded) 789

67 The Lord’s Supper 800

68 The Lord’s Supper, (concluded) 809

69 Death of Believers 817

70 The Resurrection 829

71 General Judgment and Eternal Life 842

72 Nature and Duration of Hell – Torments 852

73 The Civil Magistrate 862

74 Religious Liberty and Church and State 873