Archibald Alexander

Archibald Alexander (April 17, 1772 – October 22, 1851) was an American Presbyterian theologian and professor at the Princeton Theological Seminary. He served for 27 years as that institution's first principal from 1812 to 1840.

All my theology is reduced to this narrow compass, "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners."

Quotes

• No doctrine can be a proper object of our faith which it is not more reasonable to believe than to reject. […] In receiving therefore the most mysterious doctrines of revelation, the ultimate appeal is to reason: not to determine whether she could have discovered these truths; not to declare whether considered in themselves they appear probable; but to decide whether it is not more reasonable to believe what God speaks, than to confide in our own crude and feeble conceptions.
  • Evidences of the Authenticity, Inspiration and Canonical Authority of the Holy Scriptures (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1836), Ch. I: The Right Use of Reason in Religion, pp. 10–11.

• There is no just cause for apprehending that we shall be misled by the proper exercise of reason on any subject which may be proposed for our consideration. The only danger is of making an improper use of this faculty, which is one of the most common faults to which our nature is liable. Most men profess that they are guided by reason in forming their opinions; but if this were really the case, the world would not be overrun with error; there would not be so many dangerous and absurd opinions propagated and pertinaciously defended.
  • Evidences of the Authenticity, Inspiration and Canonical Authority of the Holy Scriptures (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1836), Ch. I: The Right Use Of Reason in Religion, p. 11.

• We lay it down as a first principle—from which we can no more depart than from the consciousness of existence—that MAN IS FREE; and therefore stand ready to embrace whatever is fairly included in the definition of freedom.
  • Outlines of Moral Science (New York: Charles Scribner, 1852), pp. 111–112.

• All my theology is reduced to this narrow compass, JESUS CHRIST came into the world to save sinners.
  • Practical Truths (New York: American Tract Society, 1857), p. 385 (Italics and capitals in original).