Beecher, Lyman. The Faith once delivered to the Saints. A Sermon, delivered at Worcester, Mass. Oct. 15, 1823, at the Ordination of the Rev. Loammi Ives Hoadly, to the Pastoral Office over the Calvinistic Church and Society in that place. Boston: Printed by Crocker and Brewster, 1823. First Edition. [11354]
Removed, no wrapper, small library stamp bottom of title page, 8 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches. 48 pages, light foxing. Good. Pamphlet.
A sermon on the text Jude 3, "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith, which was once delivered to the saints."
"By the faith once delivered to the saints, is to be understood the doctrines of the gospel." The author has these points: I. The doctrines of the evangelical system are in accordance with the most direct and obvious meaning of the sacred text. II. It is the uniform testimony of the Bible, tha the righteous love the truth; and that the wicked are opposed to it. III. The Evangelical System produces the same effects universally, was were produced by the faith once delivered to the saints. IV. A departure from the faith once delivered to the saints, producing divisions in the church, was denominated a heresy during the first three centuries. V. The Martyrs who suffered under Pagan and Papal persecutions, held the same faith, and that the faith which they held, and for which they suffered, is the faith that was delivered unto the saints. Dr. Beecher then gives five ways in which Christians should contend for the faith.
Lyman Beecher, D.D. (1775-1863), “an eminent Presbyterian minister, was born at New Haven, Connecticut…was sent to Yale College, where he graduated A.B. in 1797…In 1825 he accepted a call to the Hanover Street Church, Boston, where he spent six years of immense activity and popularity, distinguished also by his boldness and success with which he opposed Dr. Channing and grappled Unitarianism…In 1832 he accepted the Presidency of Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati, in which service, and that of the Second Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, he remained during twenty eventful years…The doctrinal views of Dr. Beecher has always been moderately Calvinistic, and he was charged by some of the stronger Calvinists with heresy. A trial ensued, ending in 1835, by the adoption of resolutions to which Dr. Beecher assented; but the controversy went on until at last the Presbyterian church was rent in twain by it. In 1852 Dr. Beecher resigned the presidency of the seminary and returned to Boston.” – M’Clintock & Strong.
Dr. Beecher was the father of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and the father of the preachers Henry Ward Beecher, Charles Beecher, Edward Beecher, and Thomas Beecher.
