Chapter 42

FULLER’S WORKS, COMPLETE.

LINCOLN, EDMANDS & CO. have recently published this valuable work, in two large octavo volumes, on a fair burgeois type and fine paper, at the very reasonable price of 6 dollars. The cost of the former edition (14 dollars) precluded many students from replenishing their libraries; and they are now gratified in being able to possess a work so replete withdoctrinalarguments andpracticalreligion. No Christian can read Fuller without having his impulses to action quickened—and every student ought tostudyhim, if he wishes to arm himself against the attempts of every enemy.

Since this edition has been issued, several periodicals have noticed it with full commendation. We have recently given extracts from notices in the Boston Recorder, Christian Watchman, &c.—and we now make a few extracts from an able review of the work, which appeared in the October number of the American Baptist Magazine. It was written by the President of a College, at the South, and is admired for its elegant and just view of the sentiments of this great author.

He says:—“This work, in the material and style of execution, is highly creditable to the American press. The publishers, in issuing this work, have conferred an obligation upon community, and will, doubtless, be rewarded in a liberal return of their investment. Mr. Fuller was among the few extraordinary men who have ever appeared in this world. He possessed great vigor of intellect, an uncommon share of good sense, inflexible integrity, and the most ardent love for truth. All his powers, therefore, were early consecrated to the service of the church. His mind was turned, even before he entered the ministry, to the study of those great truths, which involve the highest honor of God, and the dearest interests of man. These truths he embraced with all the affections of his heart, and maintained with wonderful acuteness, and by invincible arguments; for they were indeed the sheet-anchor of his soul. He possessed very clear and consistent views of human depravity, and of the grounds of moral obligation. To gain them, however, he had to endure heavy trials and severe studies.

“The grand design of Mr. Fuller, as a writer, was to produce moral action. He believed in the divine purpose, that the rest of heaven shall be gained through constant vigilance and labor. In this way the Christian character is to be formed, and the soul fitted for future blessedness. But notwithstanding the necessity of this painful care and effort, man is much inclined to be heedless and slothful; and this proneness has been strengthened by ingenious and plausible theories in religion. Of this truth Mr. Fuller had abundant evidence. In his life and travels, he witnessed the hyper-calvinistic, or antinomian spirit, sweeping over the churches, withering up, like the Sirocco’s blast, their vital principle, and converting them into barren wastes. Nor was the influence of this spirit confined to professors. Its legitimate tendency is, to keep both saints and sinners in a state of inaction. For it exalts the former above obligation, and sinks the latter below it. This spirit he knew had its origin in the false notion, that human apostacy releases sinners from the duties of piety, and that the gospel dispensation is designed to render the law useless, and to excuse the people of God from complying with its requirements. Over these things Mr. Fuller prayed and wept. And when he took up his pen, it was his chief purpose to correct these errors, and thus to rouse the church from their paralyzing influence. In accomplishing his object, he resorted to no unwarranted expedients. He believed that God had provided adequate agents to sway the soul, and that these are principally three: truth, motive, and the influences of the Divine Spirit. Truth convinces the understanding, motive affects the heart, and the Spirit overcomes the will. The great cause, he believed, why the means of salvation have produced so little effect, is—that their power has been greatly weakened by human devices. Truth has been eclipsed, conscience stupified, and the heart allured by unscriptural motives. The constant aim, therefore, of this eminent man, was to disperse the darkness, in which truth was involved, that it might shine forth in all its heavenly lustre. He labored to remove from the divine law the deadening swathe with which it had been bound, by those who feared its edge, that it might act with unobstructed force. It has been said of the immortal Butler, that he has done more than any other man to restore to conscience her sovereign sway in the human soul. So we may say, that Fuller has, probably, done more than any other divine, to restore to the law of God, or to gospel truth, its sacred dominion in the economy of grace. Truth and the voice of conscience are the two great ruling powers in the moral world. Hence the well-being of society requires, that they should be constantly kept in the clearest light. And that man, who is the instrument, in giving these chief elements of power the freest action upon the human mind, renders the most important service to his fellow-men.

“There is another light in which we are anxious the publications of Mr. Fuller should be viewed—in their adaptedness to prevent two evils, to which the Christian world at the present day are peculiarly exposed. These are, first, losing sight of that mysterious and divine agency, on which the success of all their efforts must depend. And, second, failing to keep in full view those cardinal truths of the gospel, by which they must gain and support all their victories in the empire of darkness. In every period the church has been inclined to forget her dependence on divine influences; but, perhaps, never so much so, as in the present.

“Though for thirty years we have been conversant with the writings of Mr. Fuller, yet we must say, that this revision of them has greatly heightened them in our estimation. And viewing them in the light we do, we cannot but indulge the belief, that they will, for ages yet to come, continue to enlighten and bless the church of Christ.”

This edition was printed from a London edition, just revised, by Mr. A. G. Fuller, who says, in his preface, “In presenting to the public what has long been called for, viz. a complete edition of the works of my revered father, it is unnecessary to offer any remarks on the character of the writings, most of which have for many years been before the public, and must now be supposed to stand on their own merits. It may, however, be proper to state, that the present edition not only contains a great number of valuable pieces which had been before unavoidably omitted, but also a portion of original manuscript, part of which is woven into the memoir, and part inserted in the last volume.”

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTESSilently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.Footnotes were re-indexed using numbers and collected together at the end of the last chapter.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

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