d from one
person to another, than personal sin. 2. If Christ's personal
righteousness were transferred to believers, they would be as
perfectly holy as Christ, and so stand in no need of forgiveness.
3. But believers are not conscious of having Christ's personal
righteousness, but feel and bewail much indwelling sin and
corruption. 4. The Scripture represents believers as receiving
only the _benefits_ of Christ's righteousness in justification, or
their being pardoned and accepted for Christ's righteousness'
sake; and this is the proper Scripture notion of imputation.
Jonathan's righteousness was imputed to Mephibosheth when David
showed kindness to him for his father Jonathan's sake."

The Hopkinsians warmly contend for the doctrine of the divine decrees,
that of particular election, total depravity, the special influences of
the Spirit of God in regeneration, justification by faith alone, the final
perseverance of the saints, and the consistency between entire freedom and
absolute dependence, and, therefore, claim it as their just due, since the
world will make distinctions, to be called HOPKINSIAN CALVINISTS.

The statistics of this denomination are included with those of the
_Calvinists_, near the close of this volume.

ARIANS.

The followers of Arius, a presbyter of the church of Alexandria, about A.
D. 315, who held that the Son of God was totally and essentially distinct
from the Father; that he was the first and noblest of those beings whom
God had created, the instrument by whose subordinate operation he formed
the universe, and, therefore, inferior to the Father, both in nature and
dignity; also, that the Holy Ghost was not God, but created by the power
of the Son. The Arians owned that the Son was the Word, but denied that
Word to have been eternal. They held that Christ had nothing of man in him
but the flesh, to which the Word was joined, which was the same as the
soul in us.

In modern times, the term _Arian_ is indiscriminately applied to those who
consider Jesus simply subordinate to the Father. Some of them believe
Christ to have been the creator of the world; but they all maintain that
he existed previously to his incarnation, though, in his preexistent
state, they assign him different degrees of dignity.

(See Matt. 4:10; 19:17; 27:46. Mark 5:7; 13:32 John 4:23; 14:28; 20:17.
Acts 4:24. 1 Cor. 1:4; 11:3; 15:24. Eph. 1:17; 4:6. Phil. 1:3, 4