PRELUDE
It is at once a pleasing and painful service to place on record a word of appreciation for this volume, which bears the name of our beloved and lamented brother, George P. Pardington.
The writer had the privilege of knowing him from his very boyhood, and having some part in the training of his mind and the shaping of his ministry. Beginning with the great advantage of a liberal and careful education, the power and usefulness of his ministry were further heightened by the intense earnestness and devotion of his heart and life. To him theology was not a cold science gathered from books and lectures, but sprang as a molten stream from his own living experience of the truths he believed and his Spirit-baptized study of the Scriptures for himself. He accepted no truths second-hand, but believed his beliefs and proved his convictions in a victorious and deeply tested life.
Victorious suffering was perhaps the prominent feature of his earthly life, and it gave a touch of reality to all he believed and taught.
His system of Christian doctrine, which is reproduced in this volume, grew out of his professional labors as a teacher of Bible students, ministers, and missionaries. Repeated from year to year and melted down in the furnace fire of practical class work and considerable criticism, these lectures came to represent at length the deep and settled convictions of a highly trained mind and a deeply consecrated spirit.
Perhaps the best credential of the author was the love, admiration, and appreciation of his large and ever-changing classes and the glorious fruition that came back to him in their consecrated lives as they went forth from the heavenly atmosphere of his class room and his “Quiet Hour” to live the gospel he taught and to be witnesses for Christ and His fulness in every part of this land and to the uttermost part of the earth.
We thank God for the precious and abiding heritage our beloved brother has left us in this volume in which the Holy Spirit has enabled him to crystallize “the faith once for all delivered unto the saints.”
A. B. Simpson
CHAPTER WITH SUBJECTS
01. BIBLIOLOGY
1. Revelation
2. Canonicity
3. Genuineness
4. Authenticity
5. Divine Authority
6. Inspiration
7. Ultimate Authority
02. THEOLOGY
PART ONE. THE CHARACTER OF GOD
1. The Existence of God
2. The Personality of God
3. The Trinity of God
4. The Attributes of God
5. The Perfections of God
6. The Names of God
PART TWO. THE WORKS OF GOD
1. The Decrees of God
2. Creation
3. Preservation
4. Providence
03. ANGELOLOGY
1. Good Angels
2. Evil Angels
3. Demons
4. Satan
04. ANTHROPOLOGY
1. The Creation of Man
2. The Essential Elements of Man
3. The Moral Nature of Man
4. The Image of God in Man
5. The Probation of Man
6. The Temptation of Man
7. The Fall of Man
05. HAMARTIOLOGY
1. The Origin of Sin
2. The Reality of Sin
3. The Nature of Sin
4. The Extent of Sin
5. The Result of Sin
6. The Penalty of Sin
06. CHRISTOLOGY
PART ONE. THE PERSON OF CHRIST
1. The Preexistence of Christ
2. The Incarnation of Christ
3. The Exaltation of Christ
PART TWO. THE WORK OF CHRIST
1. Christ as Prophet
2. Christ as Priest
3. Christ as King
07. PNEUMATOLOGY
PART ONE. THE PERSON OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
1. Personality
2. Deity
3. Names
4. Symbols
PART TWO. THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
1. The Holy Spirit in Creation
2. The Holy Spirit in Christ
3. The Holy Spirit in the Scriptures
4. The Holy Spirit in the Old and New Dispensations
5. The Holy Spirit in the Church
6. The Holy Spirit in the World
7. The Holy Spirit in the Believer
08. ECCLESIOLOGY
1. The Idea of the Church
2. The Twofold Meaning of the Church
3. The Local Church
4. The Organization of the Church
5. The Government of the Church
6. The Worship of the Early Church
7. The Discipline of the Church
8. The Ordinances of the Church
9. The Ministry of the Church
10. The Destiny of the Church
09. ESCHATOLOGY
1. The Dispensations
2. The Second Coming of Christ
3. The Millennium
4. The Resurrection
5. The Judgments
6. The Closing Scenes of Time