The past few weeks have been busy, and we’ve been on a somewhat erratic schedule with posting articles and such.  For that, we apologize.  We hope today’s post makes up for it.

Lord willing, we will be able to have several of these “Friday Freebie” posts this year.

Today’s Freebie is…

The Christian System by Alexander Campbell

This 447-page book is Campbell’s contribution to the world of systematic theology.  We’ve taken the time to correct and update spelling, adding bold font to set apart headings, changing ALL CAPS into bold font, setting apart quotations and several other small formatting changes to make this book more visually appealing.

The download link is at the bottom of this post, but before we get there, here’s the contents of this excellent book:

Part I: The Christian System.

1. The Universe.
2. The Bible.
3. God.
4. The Son of God.
5. The Spirit of God.
6. Man as He Was.
7. Man as He Is.
8. The Purposes of God Concerning Man.
9. Religion for Man, Not Man for Religion.
10. Sacrifice for Sin.
11. The Attributes of a True Sin-Offering.
12. Christ: the Light of the World.
13. The Lordship of the Messiah.
14. Faith in Christ.
15. Repentance.
16. Baptism.
    1. Of The Action of Baptism.
    2. The Subject of Baptism.
    3. The Meaning of Baptism.
17. The Christian Confession of Faith.
18. Conversion and Regeneration.
19. Christians are Persons Pardoned, Justified, Sanctified, Adopted, and Saved.
20. The Gift of the Holy Spirit.
21. The Christian Hope.
22. The Doom of the Wicked.
23. Summary of the Christian System of Facts.
24. The Body of Christ.
25. The Christian Ministry.
26. The Christian Discipline.
27. Expediency.
28. Heresy.

Part II: Foundation of Christian Union.

1. Fact.
2. Testimony.
3. Faith.
4. Confirmation of the Testimony.
5. Fundamental Fact.
6. Purity of Speech.

Part III: Kingdom of Heaven.

GENERAL ESSAYS. 171

1. Patriarchal Age of the World.
   1. Abraham.
   2. Two Promises?
   3. Covenant of Circumcision.
   4. Sinaitic Covenant.
   5. Two Seeds.
   6. The Blessings of Abraham.
2. The Jewish Institution.
3. The Kingdom of Heaven.
   1. The Elements of a Kingdom.
   2. The Name.
   3. Constitution.
   4. The King.
   5. The Subjects of the Kingdom.
   6. The Laws of the Kingdom.
   7. The Territory of the Kingdom.
   8. Manner and Customs of the Kingdom.
   9. Induction into the Kingdom of Heaven.
4. The Coming of the Kingdom.
   1. The Ascension of the Messiah.
   2. Coronation of the Messiah.
   3. Present Administration of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Part IV: Remission of Sins.

1. Proposition 1. Converts were called Pardoned.
2. Proposition 2. Converts were called Justified.
3. Proposition 3. Converts were called Sanctified.
4. Proposition 4. Converts were called Reconciled to God.
5. Proposition 5. Converts were said to be Adopted into the Family of God.
6. Proposition 6. Converts were to consider themselves Saved.
7. Proposition 7. A change of views must come before a change in state–and they are not the same thing.
8. Proposition 8. The Gospel has a command in it, and thus must be obeyed.
9. Proposition 9. Only an action resulting from our faith can change our state.
10. Proposition 10. Immersion and the Washing of Regeneration are the same thing.
11. Proposition 11. The early Christian writers uniformly connect immersion to Regeneration and Remission of Sins.
    1. Barnabas.
    2. Clement and Hermas.
    3. Testimony of Dr. W. Wall, Author of the History of Infant Baptism.
    4. Justin Martyr.
    5. Tertullian.
    6. Origen.
    7. Cyprian.
12. Proposition 12.  Even the denominational creeds agree to this, though they won’t carry it out in practice.
    1. Episcopalian.
    2. Presbyterian.
    3. Methodist.
    4. Baptist.
13. Objections.
14. Recapitulation.
15. Conclusion.
16. Effects of Modern Christianity.
17. Immersion Not a Mere Bodily Act.
18. Justification Ascribed to Seven Causes.
19. Peter in Jerusalem, Paul in Philippi, Reconciled.

Part V: Regeneration.

1. Regeneration.
   1. Repentance.
   2. Reformation.
   3. Regeneration.
2. The Bath of Regeneration.
   1. New Birth.
   2. Renewing of the Holy Spirit.
3. The New Life.
4. Physical Regeneration.
5. The Use of the Theory of Regeneration.
6. The Regeneration of the Church.
7. The Regeneration of the World.
   1. Regeneration of the Heavens and the Earth.
8. A Word to the Moral Regenerators of Any Age.

Part VI: Breaking the Loaf.

1. Proposition 1 – There is a house on earth, called the house of God.
2. Proposition 2 – In the house of God there is always the table of the Lord.
3. Proposition 3 – On the Lord’s table there is of necessity but one loaf.
4. Proposition 4 – All Christians are members of the house or family of God, are called and constituted a holy and a royal priesthood, and may, therefore bless God for the Lord’s table, its loaf, and cup–approach it without fear and partake of it with joy as often as they please, in remembrance of the death of their Lord and Savior.
5. Proposition 5 – The one loaf must be broken before the saints feast upon it, which has obtained for this institution the name of “breaking the loaf.”
6. Proposition 6 – The breaking of the loaf and the drinking of the cup are commemorative of the Lord’s death.
7. Proposition 7 – The breaking of the one loaf, and the joint participation of the cup of the Lord, in commemoration of the Lord’s death, usually called “the Lord’s Supper,” is an instituted part of the worship and edification of all Christian congregations in all their stated meetings.
8. Objections Considered.

Part VII: Concluding Addresses.

1. ADDRESS TO THE CITIZENS OF THE KINGDOM.
2. A WORD TO FRIENDLY ALIENS.
3. ADDRESS TO BELLIGERENT ALIENS.

We truly hope you find this book to be useful and worth the time to read!

Campbell, Alexander – The Christian System