F I N N E Y F I N I S
(Finney's End)
Miles J. Stanford
FINNEY'S "PELAGIAN" THEOLOGY
ORIGINAL SIN -- We deny that the human constitution is morally depraved, because it is impossible that sin should be a quality of the substance of the soul or body. It is, and must be, a quality of choice or intention, and not of substance. To represent the constitution as sinful, is to represent God, who is the author of the constitution, as the author of sin. What ground is there for the assertion that Adam's nature became in itself sinful by the fall? This is a groundless, not to say ridiculous, assumption, and an absurdity (Finney's Systematic Theology, pp. 249,250).
REGENERATION -- Regeneration implies an entire present change of moral character, that is, a change from entire sinfulness to entire holiness (Ibid., p. 291).
JUSTIFICATION BASED UPON SANCTIFICATION -- We see that, if a righteous man forsake his righteousness, and die in his sin, he must sink to hell. Whenever a Christian sins he becomes under condemnation, and must repent and do his first works, or be lost (Ibid., p. 124).
OBEDIENCE -- That which the precept demands must be possible to the subject. That which demands a natural impossibility cannot be moral law. To talk of inability to obey moral law is to talk nonsense (Ibid., p. 2).
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION -- It is self-evident, that entire obedience to God's law is possible on the ground of natural ability. To deny this, is to deny that a man is able to do as well as he can. The very language of the law is such as to level its claims to the capacity of the subject, however great or small that capacity may be.
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." Here then it is plain, that all the law demands, is the exercise of whatever strength we have, in the service of God. Now, as entire sanctification consists in perfect obedience to the law of God, and as the law requires nothing more than the right use of whatever strength we have, it is, of course, forever settled, that a state of entire sanctification is attainable in this life, on the ground of natural ability (Ibid. , p. 407).
THE SECURITY OF THE BELIEVER -- It is not intended that saints, or the truly regenerated, cannot fall from grace, and be finally lost, by natural possibility. It must be naturally possible for all moral agents to sin at any time. Saints on earth and in heaven can by natural possibility apostatize and fall, and be lost. Were not this naturally possible, there would be no virtue in perseverance (Ibid., p. 550).
FINNEY'S MAN-MADE METHODS
DR. MARTYN LLOYD-JONES wrote:
Finney was a man who taught quite definitely that, if one applied a given technique, one could have a revival at any time. This is the essence of Finney's teaching in his books on revivals. But history has surely proved that Finney was quite wrong.
Many have tried to plan revivals by using his technique and have done so honestly, sincerely, and thoroughly, but the desired revival has not come. One of Finney's cardinal errors was to confuse an "evangelistic campaign" and a revival, and to forget that the latter is always given in the sovereignty of God. It never results from the adoption of certain techniques, methods, or organization.
Indeed, in copies of the Oberlin Evangelist containing articles by Finney (after his period as an evangelist and when he had become a professor of theology), there are indications that the writer himself had become somewhat suspicious of his own techniques.
There are statements written by Finney such as the following:
"If I had my time over again I would preach nothing but holiness. The converts of my revivals are a disgrace to Christianity!"
"If I had the strength to go through the churches again, instead of preaching to convert sinners, I would preach to bring the churches to the spiritual standard of holy living."
The suggestion is that the tremendous pressure which this evangelist's methods brought to bear upon the will and emotions, produced only temporary results (Conversions, Psychological and Spiritual, p. 31).
FINNEY'S FAILURE
FINNEY wrote:
In a revival, the Christian's heart is liable to get crusted over, and lose its relish for divine things; his unction and prevalence in prayer abate, and then he must be renewed again. It is impossible to keep him in such a state as not to do injury to the work, unless he passes through such a process every few days. I have never labored in revivals in company with any one who would keep in the work and be fit to manage revival continually, who did not pass through this process of breaking down as often as once in every two or three weeks (E.E. Shelhamer, Finney On Revival, p. 63).
JAMES BOYLE -- As a co-worker with Finney, Boyle wrote on December 25th, 1834:
Dear brother Finney, let us look over the fields where you and others have labored as revival ministers, and what is now their moral state? What was their condition within three months after we left them? I have visited and revisited many of these fields, and groaned in spirit to see the sad, frigid, carnal, contentious state into which the churches have fallen--and fallen very soon after our first departure from them (B.B. Warfield, Perfectionism, p. 26).
ASA MAHAN -- wrote:
The people were left like a dead coal which could not be re-ignited; the pastors were shorn of all their spiritual power, and the evangelists--and I was personally acquainted with nearly all of them--I cannot recall a single man, brother Finney and father Nash excepted, who did not after a few years lose his unction, and become equally disqualified for the office of evangelist and that of pastor (Ibid., p. 27).
No individual, I believe, ever disciplined Christians so severely and with such intense and tireless patience as my brother Finney. Appalled at the backsliding which followed his revivals of 1831-32, his most earnest efforts were put forth to induce among believers permanence in the divine life. In accomplishing this he knew of but one method: absolute and fixed renunciation of sin, consecration to God, and purpose of obedience.
During his pastorate at Chatham Street Chapel in New York City, for example, he held for weeks in succession special meetings in his church for perfecting his work, and never were a class of poor creatures carried through a severer process of discipline than were these.
Years afterward, as their pastor informed me, those believers affirmed that they have never recovered from the internal weakness and exhaustion which had resulted from the terrible discipline through which Mr. Finney had carried them, and this was all the good that had resulted from his efforts.
When he came to Oberlin, and entered upon the duties of his professorship, he felt that God had given him a blessed opportunity to realize in perfection his ideal of a ministry for the churches. He had before him a mass of talented and promising theological students, who had implicit confidence in the wisdom of their teacher, and with equal sincerity would follow his instructions and admonitions.
He accordingly, for months in succession, gathered together those students at stated seasons, instructed them most carefully in regard to the nature of the renunciation of sin, consecration to Christ, and purpose of obedience, required of them.
Then, under his teachings and admonitions, they would renew their renunciations, consecrations and purpose of obedience, with all the intensity and fixedness of resolve of which their natures were capable. The result, in every case, was one and the same: not the new life, and joy and peace, and power that was anticipated, but groaning bondage under the law of sin and death.
At the commencement, and during the process of each meeting, their confessions and renunciations, their solemn consecrations and vows of obedience, were renewed, if possible, with fuller determination than ever before.
Each meeting, however, was closed with the same dirge song: "Look, how we grovel here below," or, "Where is the blessedness I knew, when first I saw the Lord?" or, "Return, O Holy Dove, return." And as they went out, not their songs of joy and gladness were heard, but their groans became more and more terribly audible (Autobiography, pp. 244,245).
QUESTION -- How would you like to have Mr. Finney hold a series of "revival" meetings in your church? Do you recognize any of his tactics in present day "revival" meetings?
"Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly" (2 Pet. 3:18; 1 Pet. 5:2).