I saw the evil of legal preaching, which lies in one of two things, or in both. 1. In laying too much stress upon the works of the law, our duties and strength: Or, 2. In pressing evangelical doctrines without an eye to that which is the spring of the church’s edification, the Spirit of the Lord… O Lord, thou knowest how much of it is in this poor church.
Thomas Halyburton, “Of Legal Preaching” in Memoirs of the Rev. Thomas Halyburton (William Collins, 1838), 261-62.
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Donald John MacLean
Donald John MacLean is President and Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Westminster Seminary, UK. He is a minister in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of England and Wales, and a trustee of the Banner of Truth and Tyndale House. He is married to Ruth and they have two children.
More by Donald John MacLean ›
I tell people that legal preaching ruined me for years afrer my conversion to Christ.
I had a gospel awakening after being in the faith and the church for 30 years. I often call it a re-awakening because I started out trusting Jesus Christ and believing all salvation is in Him and of Him and He had called me into His mercy and grace. It’s like I returned to how I started- believing God not me.