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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Doctrines of Predestination,
+Reprobation, and Election, by Robert Wallace
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Doctrines of Predestination, Reprobation, and Election
+
+Author: Robert Wallace
+
+Release Date: February 17, 2009 [EBook #28103]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOCTRINES OF PREDESTINATION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Keith G. Richardson
+
+
+
+
+EVANGELICAL UNION DOCTRINAL SERIES.
+
+(_FIFTH ISSUE_.)
+
+
+
+
+THE DOCTRINES
+
+OF
+
+PREDESTINATION, REPROBATION, AND ELECTION.
+
+
+
+
+_EVANGELICAL UNION DOCTRINAL SERIES._
+
+
+_The following Volumes of the Series are now ready,
+
+Price is. 6d. each:_--
+
+
+REGENERATION: Its Conditions and Methods. By the Rev. ROBERT
+CRAIG, M.A.
+
+THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD. By the Rev. ROBERT MITCHELL.
+
+THE HOLY SPIRIT'S WORK: Its Nature and Extent. By the Rev. GEORGE
+CRON.
+
+THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. By the Rev. WILLIAM ADAMSON, D.D.
+
+
+_OTHERS IN PREPARATION._
+
+
+
+
+THE DOCTRINES
+
+OF
+
+PREDESTINATION, REPROBATION,
+
+AND ELECTION.
+
+BY
+
+
+ROBERT WALLACE,
+
+_Pastor of Cathcart Road E. U. Church, Glasgow._
+
+
+LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO.
+
+GLASGOW: THOMAS D. MORISON.
+
+1880.
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+WERE a number of shipwrecked mariners cast upon an island, one of
+their first inquiries would be, Is it inhabited? Having observed
+footmarks upon the sand, and other tokens of man's presence, another
+question would be, What is the character of the people? Are they
+anthropophagi, or are they of a friendly disposition? The importance
+of such questions would be realised by all. Their lives might depend
+upon the answer to the latter.
+
+We look around upon the universe, and everywhere observe marks of
+design, or the adapation of means to ends. The conviction gathers
+upon us with deepening power, that there must have been a supreme
+intelligence arranging the forces of nature. If I throw the dice box
+twenty times, and the same numbers always turn up, I cannot resist
+the conclusion that the dice must have been loaded. The application
+is simple. But, as in the case of the mariners, a second question
+arises, viz.:--What is the character of the Being revealed in
+nature? Is He beneficent, or like the fabled Chronus, who devoured
+his children? It is substantially with this second question that the
+following work has to do. It is a treatise concerning the character
+of God.
+
+The subjects discussed have been for many years the occasion of much
+controversy and difficulty. Whilst to certain minds it were more
+agreeable to read exposition of Christian truth, yet the followers
+of Christ may often have to contend for the faith once delivered to
+the saints. Our Lord's public ministry showed how earnestly He
+contended for the truth. At every corner He was met by the men of
+"light and leading" amongst the Jews, and who did their best to
+oppose Him. Paul, too, when he lived at Ephesus, disputed "daily in
+the school of one Tyrannus, and this continued by the space of two
+years." The period of the Reformation was also one of earnest
+discussion between the adherents of the old faith and the followers
+of Luther. The questions discussed in those days, both in apostolic
+and post-apostolic times, were eminently practical; but they were
+not a whit more so than the questions of Predestination,
+Reprobation, and Election. These touch every man to the very centre
+of his being when he awakes from the sleep of indifference, and
+wishes to know the truth about the salvation of his soul. It has
+been our object, in the present volume, to dispel the darkness which
+has been thrown around those subjects, and to let every man see that
+the way back to the bosom of the heavenly Father is as free to him
+as the light of heaven.
+
+The following treatise consists of an Introduction bearing on the
+history of the questions discussed; Part I. treats of Predestination;
+Part II. is on Reprobation, and Part III. on Election.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+_PART I.--PREDESTINATION._
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE WORD PREDESTINATION, AND THE DOCTRINE AS HELD BY CALVINISTS.
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+CALVINISTIC PREDESTINATION IN REFERENCE TO DIVINE WISDOM.
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO ALMIGHTY
+POWER.
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+PREDESTINATION CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO DIVINE FOREKNOWLEDGE.
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+PROOF-TEXTS FOR CALVINISTIC PREDESTINATION EXAMINED.
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+OBJECTIONS TO CALVINISTIC PREDESTINATION.
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE DOCTRINE.
+
+
+_PART II.--REPROBATION._
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE CALVINISTIC DOCTRINE OF REPROBATION STATED.
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE BIBLE USAGE OF THE WORD REPROBATION.
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+PROOF-TEXTS FOR CALVINISTIC REPROBATION EXAMINED.
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+OBJECTIONS TO CALVINISTIC REPROBATION.
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+SUMMARY OF THE BIBLE DOCTRINE OF REPROBATION.
+
+
+_PART III.--ELECTION._
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THEORIES OF CALVINISTIC ELECTION.
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+CALVINISTIC ELECTION INVOLVES POSITIVE REFUSAL TO PROVIDE SAVING
+GRACE FOR THE LOST.
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+CALVINISTIC ELECTION CONSIDERED IN REFERENCE TO THE SOVEREIGNTY OF
+GOD.
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+CALVINISTIC ELECTION JUDGED BY THE REASON.
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+BIBLE TEXTS IN PROOF OF CALVINISTIC ELECTION CONSIDERED.
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+OBJECTIONS TO THE CALVINISTIC DOCTRINE OF ELECTION.
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE SCRIPTURAL VIEW OF EVANGELICAL ELECTION.
+
+
+
+
+For God so loved the world that He gave His only beloved Son, that
+whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
+life.--_Jesus._
+
+
+I reject the Calvinistic doctrine of Predestination, not because it
+is incomprehensible, but because I think it irreconcilable with the
+justice and goodness of God.--_Bishop Tomlin._
+
+
+God our Saviour will have all men to be saved.--_Paul._
+
+
+
+
+THE DOCTRINES
+
+OF
+
+PREDESTINATION, REPROBATION, AND ELECTION.
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+REGARDING the predestinarian controversy, it has been said, "Hardly
+one among the many Christian controversies has called forth a
+greater amount of subtlety and power, and not one so long and so
+persistently maintained its vitality. Within the twenty-five years
+which followed its first appearance upwards of thirty councils (one
+of them the General Council of Ephesus) were held for the purpose of
+this discussion. It lay at the bottom of all the intellectual
+activity of the conflicts in the Mediaeval philosophic schools; and
+there is hardly a single subject which has come into discussion
+under so many different forms in modern controversy" (_Ch. Encyc_.)
+
+Although the controversy between Pelagius and Augustine began in the
+fifth century, it is an interesting inquiry--What was the mind of
+the earlier Christian writers on the subject? Of course their
+opinion cannot settle the truth of the question in debate, but it
+has a very important bearing upon the subject. The late Dr. Eadie
+claimed the voice of antiquity for the system of the Confession of
+Faith. He says, "The doctrine of predestination was held in its
+leading element by the ancient Church, by the Roman Clement,
+Ignatius, Hermas, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus, before Augustine
+worked it into a system, and Jerome armed himself on its behalf"
+(_Ec. Cyc._) This statement may be fairly questioned, and, we think,
+successfully challenged. Dr. Cunningham, in his _Historical
+Theology_, remarks, "The doctrine of Arminius can be traced back as
+far as the time of Alexandrinus, and seems to have been held by many
+of the Fathers of the third and fourth centuries." He attributes
+this to the corrupting influence of Pagan philosophy (_Hist. Theo._,
+Vol. II., p. 374). This is not a direct contradiction to Eadie, but
+it shows that truth compelled this sturdy Calvinist to admit that
+non-Calvinistic views were held in the earlier and best period of
+the Church. The question, however, is one that must be decided by
+historical evidence, and not by authority. And what is that
+evidence? Mosheim, in writing of the founders of the English Church,
+says, "They wished to render their church as similar as possible to
+that which flourished in the early centuries, and that Church, as no
+one can deny, was an entire stranger to the Dordracene doctrines"
+(_Reid's Mos._, p. 821). The Synod of Dort met in A.D. 1618, and
+condemned the Arminian doctrine, and decided in favour of Calvinism;
+but, according to Mosheim, this system of Calvin was unknown to the
+early Church. Faber maintains the same. He says, "The scheme of
+interpretation now familiarly, though perhaps (if a scheme ought to
+be designated by the name of its _original_ contriver) not quite
+correctly, styled Calvinism, may be readily traced back in the Latin
+and Western Church to the time of Augustine. But here we find
+ourselves completely at fault. Augustine, at the beginning of the
+fifth century, is the first ecclesiastical writer who annexes to the
+Scriptural terms 'elect' and 'predestinate' the peculiar sense which
+is now usually styled Calvinistic. With him, in a form scarcely less
+round and perfect than that long and subsequently proposed by the
+celebrated Genevan reformer himself, commenced an entirely new
+system of interpretation previously unknown to the Church Catholic.
+What I state is a mere dry historical fact" (_Faber's Apos. Trin._,
+_Cooke's Theo._, p. 305).
+
+Prosper of Acquitania was a devoted friend and admirer of Augustine,
+and not wishing to be charged with propagating new views, wrote to
+the Bishop of Hippo (Augustine) desiring to know how he could refute
+the charge of novelty. "For," saith he, "having had recourse to the
+opinion of almost all that went before me concerning this matter, I
+find all of them holding one and the same opinion, in which they
+have received the purpose and the predestination of God according to
+His prescience; that for this cause God made some vessels of honour
+and other vessels of dishonour, because He foresaw the end of every
+man, and knew before how he would will and act" (_Whitby's Pos._, p.
+449). This was a frank acknowledgment on the part of Prosper, who
+was a man of ability, and Secretary to Leo, and it carried much
+farther than was intended. The fact, however, was patent that the
+Christian Church for some four hundred years was a stranger to what
+is known as the doctrine of Calvin. The view thus stated is
+confirmed by Neander. When Prosper and Hilary appealed to the Bishop
+of Rome, they doubtless expected that he would favour the system of
+Augustine, and condemn the Semi-pelagians (modern E.U.'s). If so,
+they were mistaken. The bishop was chary, and whilst speaking
+contemptuously of those presbyters who raised "curious questions,"
+he left it undecided what the curious questions were. He had said in
+his letter to the Gallic bishops, "Let the spirit of innovation, if
+there is such a spirit, cease to attack the ancient doctrines;" but
+he did not say what was ancient and what was novel. Neander upon
+this remarks: "The Semi-pelagians, in fact, also asserted, and they
+could do it with even more justice than their opponents, that by
+them the ancient doctrine of the Church was defended against the
+false doctrine recently introduced concerning absolute predestination,
+and against the denial of free-will tenets, wholly unknown to the
+ancient Church" (Vol. IV., p. 306). The concluding words are almost
+identical with those of Mosheim, just quoted.
+
+Bishop Tomline, who gave special attention to this phase of the
+subject--viz., the state of opinion in the Church previous to
+Augustine, says, "If Calvinists pretend that absolute decrees, the
+unconditional election and reprobation of individuals, particular
+redemption, irresistible grace, and the entire destruction of free
+-will in man in consequence of the fall, were the doctrines of the
+primitive Church, let them cite their authority, let them refer to
+the works in which these doctrines are actually taught. If such
+opinions were actually held we could not fail to meet with some of
+them in the various and voluminous works which are still extant. I
+assert that no such trace is to be found, and I challenge the
+Calvinist of the present day to produce an author prior to Augustine
+who maintained what are now called Calvinistic opinions" (Preface
+VII.)
+
+The extracts which he gives from the writings of the Fathers are so
+many and extended that we can only give a few. Clement of Rome, a
+contemporary of the apostles, says: "Let us look stedfastly at the
+blood of Christ, and see how precious His blood is in the sight of
+God, which, being shed for our salvation, has obtained the grace of
+repentance for all the world" (p. 288). Justin Martyr, who lived
+about the middle of the second century, says, "But lest anyone
+should imagine that I am asserting things that happen according to
+the necessity of fate, because I have said that things are
+foreknown, I proceed to refute that opinion also. That punishments
+and chastisements and good rewards are given according to the worth
+of the actions of every one, having learnt it from the prophets, we
+declare to be true; since if it were not so, but all things happen
+according to fate, nothing would be in our own power; for if it were
+decreed by fate that one should be good and another bad, no praise
+would be due to the former, nor blame to the other; and, again, if
+mankind had not the power of free-will to avoid what is disgraceful
+and to choose what is good, they would not be responsible for their
+actions" (Tom., p. 292). Irenaeus, who lived near the end of the
+second century, says, "The expression 'How often would I have
+gathered thy children together, and ye would not' (Matt. xxiii. 37),
+manifested the ancient law of human liberty, because God made man
+free from the beginning, having his own power as he had also his own
+soul to use the sentence of God voluntarily, and not by compulsion
+from God. For there is no force with God, but a good intention is
+always with Him. And therefore He gives good counsel to all. But He
+has placed the power of choice in man, in that those who should obey
+might justly possess good, given indeed by God, but preserved by
+ourselves" (Tom., p. 304). Tertullian (A.D. 200), "Therefore, though
+we have learned from the commands of God both what He wills and what
+He forbids, yet we have a will and power to choose either, as it is
+written, 'Behold I have set before you good and evil, for you have
+tasted of the tree of knowledge'" (Tom., p. 320). Origen (A.D. 230)
+says, "We have frequently shown, in all our disputations, that the
+nature of rational souls is such as to be capable of good and evil"
+(Tom., p. 323). Ambrose (A.D. 374) says, "The Lord Jesus came to
+save all sinners" (Tom., p. 377). Chrysostom (A.D. 398) says, "Hear
+also how fate speaks, and how it lays down contrary laws, and learn
+how the former are declared by a Divine spirit, but the latter by a
+wicked demon and a savage beast. God has said, 'If ye be willing and
+obedient,' making us masters of virtue and wickedness, and placing
+them within our own power. But what does the other say? That it is
+impossible to avoid what is decreed by fate, whether we will or not.
+God says, 'If ye be willing ye shall eat the good of the land;' but
+fate says, 'Although we be willing, unless it shall be permitted us,
+this will is of no use.' God says, 'If ye will not obey my words, a
+sword shall devour you;' fate says, 'Although we be not willing, if
+it shall be granted to us, we are certainly saved.' Does not fate
+say this? What, then, can be clearer than this opposition? What can
+be more evident than this war which the diabolical teachers of
+wickedness have thus shamelessly declared against the Divine
+oracles" (Tom., p. 458).
+
+Besides the names thus given, Tomlin appeals to and gives quotations
+from the following authors of antiquity as confirming his statement
+--viz., Tatian, Clement of Alexandria, Cyprian, Lactantius, Eusebius,
+Athenasius, Cyril, Hilary, Basil, Ambrose, Jerome, &c. The testimony
+of the Fathers is clearly against the Calvinistic system. We do not,
+of course, claim them as settling the controversy; this must be done
+by an appeal to reason and the Scriptures; but it is nevertheless
+deserving of attention, that for some 400 years the stream of
+opinion in the Church ran in a contrary direction to that of Geneva.
+The system of Calvin is, that God wishes only some men to be saved,
+and that everything is fixed; and it was clearly held before
+Augustine's time, that God wished all men saved, and that men were
+free, which they could not be if all things were foreordained.
+
+Besides this, it is a remarkable fact that the errors of the early
+heretics bore a close resemblance to those held by the followers of
+Calvin. Irenaeus, writing of Saturnius, says, "He first asserted
+that there are two sets of men formed by the angels, the one good
+and the other bad. And because demons assisted the worst men, that
+the Saviour came to destroy bad men and demons, but to save good
+men" (Tom., p. 515). Gregory of Nazianzum, warning his readers
+against heresy, says, "For certain persons are so ill-disposed as to
+imagine that some are of a nature which must absolutely perish," &c.
+(Tom., p. 522). Jerome, commenting on Eph. v. 8, remarks,. . .
+"There is not, as some heretics say, a nation which perishes and
+does not admit of salvation" (Tom., p. 525). Do not the heretical
+opinions denounced by the Fathers bear a close resemblance to the
+"elect" and the "reprobate" of the Confession of Faith?
+
+The departure from the ancient creed of the Church arose out of the
+controversy with Pelagius. This monk, surnamed Brito (from being
+generally believed to be a native of Britain), is supposed to have
+been born about the middle of the fourth century. Nothing is now
+known regarding the place of his birth, or precise period when he
+was born. His name "is supposed to be a Greek rendering of
+(Pelagios, of or belonging to the sea) the Celtic appellative
+Morgan, or sea-born." He never entered holy orders. If tradition is
+to be trusted, he was educated in a monastery at Bangor, in Wales,
+of which he ultimately became abbot. In the end of the fourth
+century he went to Rome, having acquired a reputation of sanctity
+and knowledge of the Scriptures. Whilst here he made the
+acquaintance of Coelestius, a Roman advocate, who espoused his
+views, and gave up his own profession, and devoted himself to extend
+the opinions of his master. About A.D. 405, they began to make
+themselves known, but attracted little attention; and after the sack
+of the city by the Goths, A.D. 410, they left and went to Africa.
+The two friends seem to have separated here. Pelagius went to
+Jerusalem, whilst Coelestius remained in Africa. The latter desired
+to enter into holy orders, and sought ordination. His opinions had
+become known, however, and objections were lodged against him. He
+appealed to Rome, but did not prosecute his case. He went to Ephesus
+instead. The proceedings at Carthage in this matter are noteworthy,
+as they were the occasion of introducing Augustine into the
+controversy. He was determined not to let the subject rest, and sent
+Orosius, a Spanish monk, to Jerusalem, and got the question brought
+before a synod there in A.D. 415. This assembly, however, refused to
+condemn Pelagius. In A.D. 418, the emperor banished the heresiarch;
+and after this history fails to give any reliable account of him. He
+had spoken what he thought, and had stirred the minds of men in
+three continents. When the Council of Carthage met, there were
+twelve charges of heresy laid against him. A summary of his opinions
+is given by Buck, and is as follows:--(1.) That Adam was by nature
+mortal, and whether he had sinned or not, would certainly have died.
+(2.) That the consequences of Adam's sin were confined to his own
+person. (3.) That new-born infants are in the same situation with
+Adam before the fall. (4.) That the law qualified men for the
+kingdom of heaven, and was founded on equal promises with the
+Gospel. (5.) That the general resurrection of the dead does not
+follow in virtue of the Saviour's resurrection. (6.) That the grace
+of God is given according to our merits. (7.) That this grace is not
+given for the performance of every moral act, the liberty of the
+will and information in points of duty being sufficient. If these
+were the opinions of Pelagius, then, according to our finding, he
+had erred from the truth. I say "if," because it is not safe to
+trust an opponent when professing to give the views of an
+antagonist. He is apt to confound deductions with principles which
+are denied.
+
+Although we do not know where and when Pelagius was born, nor the
+place and time of his death, we have reliable information on these
+points regarding Augustine. He was born at Tagaste, a town in north
+Africa, on 13th Nov., A.D. 354. He was the child of many prayers by
+his devoted mother Monica. The early portion of his life was spent
+in idleness and dissipation, but he was at last converted in a
+somewhat remarkable manner. He turned over a new leaf in his moral
+life, and became a most devoted Christian. Although considered
+inferior to Jerome (his contemporary) as regards Biblical criticism,
+he was a man of genius, and a strong controversialist. He contended
+against the Donatists, the Manichaeans, and the Pelagians. When the
+Vandals were besieging Hippo, he died on the 28th of August, A.D.
+430, in the 76th year of his age. No father of the early Church has
+exercised a greater influence upon theological opinion than he has
+done.
+
+The system now known as Calvinism should be designated
+"Augustinianism," Augustine being, as remarked, the real author of
+the system, and not the Genevan divine. Regarding the central tenets
+of his creed, it is said: "He held the corruption of human nature,
+and the consequent slavery of the human will. Both on metaphysical
+and religious grounds he asserted the doctrine of predestination,
+from which he necessarily deduced the corollary doctrines of
+election and reprobation; and, finally, he supported against
+Pelagius, not only these opinions, but also the doctrine of the
+perseverance of the saints," (_Ch. En._, Aug.) Besides introducing a
+new theological system, Augustine put his imprimatur upon the
+burning of heretics. When the magistrate Dulcitius had some
+compunctions about executing a decree of Honorius, Augustine wrote
+to him and said, "It is much better that some should perish by their
+own fires, than that the whole body should perish in the everlasting
+fires of Gehenna, through the desert of the impious dissension"
+(_Ch. En._, Aug.) Calvin therefore could not only claim the
+authority of Augustine for his dogmas, but he might have claimed him
+also as justifying the burning of Servetus. But this by the way.
+
+With the voice of the Fathers against him, and, as we think,
+unwarranted by the light of philosophy and the true interpretation
+of Scripture, how came it about, it may be asked, that Augustine
+adopted the system which should be called by his name? The true
+answer to this will be found, we apprehend, in a variety of
+considerations. His early dissipated life, his nine years connection
+with Manichaeism, the extreme statements of Pelagius, his own
+strange conversion by hearing, when weeping and moaning under a fig
+-tree, a young voice saying quickly, "_Tolle lege, tolle lege_" (take
+and read, take and read), and which he took as a Divine admonition;
+these, combined with the commotion of the times, would lend their
+influence to the position he came to occupy. His system, whilst it
+accords glory to God, is one-sided, by ignoring the function man has
+to perform in applying the remedial scheme.
+
+Although Pelagius had got many to espouse his opinions, yet his
+tenets were again and again condemned by the councils of the Church.
+The controversy, however, very soon diverged from strictly Pelagian
+lines, and entered upon a new track--viz., that of Semi-pelagianism,
+to which is closely allied the principles advocated by the
+Evangelical Union of Scotland. From extremes there is generally a
+recoil, and this was the case as regards Augustinianism. Certain
+monks at Adrumetum drew conclusions from the system which, whether
+they are admitted or not, are its logical outcome. They said, "Of
+what use are all doctrines and precepts? Human efforts can avail
+nothing, it is God that worketh in us to will and to do. Nor is it
+right to reproach or to punish those who are in error, and who
+cannot sin, for it is none of their fault that they act thus.
+Without grace they cannot do otherwise, nor can they do anything to
+merit grace; all we should do, then, is to pray for them" (Neander,
+Vol. IV., p. 373). Augustine endeavoured to neutralise these
+opinions by writing two books explaining his views. Regarding these
+answers, Neander observes, "But such persons," as the monks, "must
+rather have found in this a further confirmation of their doubts."
+
+Whilst the monks of Adrumetum drew natural conclusions from the
+dogmas of Augustine, there came determined opposition to the new
+creed. It came from the south of France. John Cassian, who had been
+a deacon under Chrysostom, had established a cloister at Massila
+(Marseilles), and had become its abbot, entered the lists against
+the Bishop of Hippo. He departed from the opinions of Pelagius
+regarding the corruption of human nature, and he recognised "grace"
+as well as justification in the sense of Augustine. But he widely
+differed from him, as will be seen from the summary of Semi
+-pelagianism given by Buck. It is as follows: "(1.) That God did not
+dispense His grace to one man more than another in consequence of an
+absolute and eternal decree, but was willing to save all men if they
+complied with the terms of the Gospel. (2.) That Christ died for all
+mankind. (3.) That the grace purchased by Christ, and necessary to
+salvation, was offered to all men. (4.) That man before he received
+this grace was capable of faith and holy desires. (5.) That man was
+born free, and consequently capable of resisting the influence of
+grace, or of complying with its suggestions." Buck remarks, "The
+Semi-pelagians were very numerous, and the doctrine of Cassian,
+though variously explained, was received in the greatest part of the
+monastic schools in Gaul, from whence it spread itself far and wide
+through the European provinces. As to the Greeks and other Eastern
+Churches, they had embraced the Semi-pelagian doctrine before
+Cassian." Yet when, as in 1843, similar opinions were proclaimed in
+Scotland, they were everywhere met with the cry of "New Views,"
+although they had been held so extensively 1400 years before! So
+much for ignorance.
+
+The name "Semi-pelagians" was not assumed by the party, lest they
+should be held as maintaining the dogmas of Pelagius; neither was it
+given until long after the early heat of the controversy. Their
+opponents still stigmatised them as Pelagians, although they had
+departed from the system advocated by the British monk.
+
+The controversy continued to occupy the mind of the Church during
+the latter part of the fifth and beginning of the sixth centuries.
+In A.D. 475 a synod held at Arles sanctioned the views of the Semi
+-pelagians, and compelled the presbyter Lucidus, who was an earnest
+advocate of Augustinianism, to recant. Another synod, held at
+Lugdunum in the same year, put also its imprimatur upon them. But
+there was not complete agreement, and the divines who had been
+banished by the Vandals from northern Africa held a council in A.D.
+523, and under their auspices Fulgentius of Ruspe composed a defence
+of Angustine's views; (Kurtz, p. 213)
+
+For a considerable time after this the controversy may be said to
+have remained quiet, but broke forth with great fury in the ninth
+century. Gottschalk, the son of a Saxon count, had been dedicated by
+his parents to the service of religion, and in due course entered
+the monastery of Fulda. He did not take to cloister life, and
+petitioned an assembly held at Metz to be released from his monastic
+vows. His request was granted, but Rabanus Maurus, who was the
+abbot, appealed to Lewis the Pius, and endeavoured to show that all
+_oblati_ (lay brethren dedicated to the service of the Church) were
+bound to perpetual obligation. Lewis revoked the decision of the
+assembly, and Gottschalk had to go back to cloister life, which he
+did by entering the monastery of Orbais. Here he became an ardent
+student of the writings of Augustine, and sought to propagate his
+views. "He affirmed a _proedestinatio duplex_, by virtue of which
+God decreed eternal life to the elect, and the elect to eternal
+life; and so also everlasting punishment to the reprobate, and the
+reprobate to everlasting punishment, for the two were inseparably
+connected" (Neander, Vol. VI., p. 180).
+
+On returning from a pilgrimage to Rome Gottschalk happened to meet
+Noting (Bishop of Verona), and expounded to him his views. Sometime
+after this meeting the bishop had a conversation with Rabanus (who
+was now Bishop of Mayence), and informed him regarding Gottschalk's
+opinions. Rabanus promised to send a reply, which shortly afterwards
+he did, in two "thundering epistles." The controversy now waxed
+warm, too much so for the monk. He was condemned, imprisoned, and
+scourged. He threw his treatises into the fire, but intimated his
+willingness to go through the ordeal of stepping into cauldrons of
+boiling water, oil, and pitch, being thoroughly convinced that he
+had the truth upon his side. His offer was treated by Hincoma as the
+boast of a Simon Magus. He died in prison.
+
+In the Middle Ages the schoolmen took sides in this controversy, but
+there was no general agitation upon the subject. The "Dark Ages" had
+set in, and remained until the Renaissance and the revival of
+learning in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The European
+countries had been greatly agitated by the Crusades, which had
+collateral issues of an important character. Turbulent spirits had
+been weeded but, and the royal authority had become better
+established. Independence of thought began to assert itself in
+Wickliffe; and Huss and Jerome of Prague paid the penalty of
+martyrdom for gainsaying Rome. But a bright morning was at hand.
+Luther arose. His voice, like a clarion trumpet among the Alps,
+produced echoes all around. His doctrines spread like wild-fire.
+Amongst the countries which readily received them was Holland.
+Charles V. was determined to crush the nascent spirit of liberty in
+that portion of his dominions, and inaugurated a persecution by
+which 50,000 people lost their lives. The Dutch maintained their
+rights, and in due course the Protestant religion was that of the
+land. The opinions of Calvin were adopted generally. He had adopted
+the system of Augustine, as already intimated, and he had a great
+influence upon the Protestants generally outside Germany. James
+Arminius was born at Oudewater in 1560. He lost his father when
+quite young, and the merchants of Amsterdam undertook his education
+upon condition that he would not preach out of their city unless he
+got their permission. Having gone to Geneva, he sat at the feet of
+Theodore Beza, one of the most rigid of Calvin's followers. After
+travelling in Italy he returned to Holland, and was duly appointed a
+minister of religion in Amsterdam. About this time certain clergymen
+of Delft had become dissatisfied with the doctrine of predestination,
+and Arminius was commissioned to answer them. But in prosecuting his
+inquiries he began to doubt, and then to change his views. He saw
+that he could not defend the system of Calvin, and having the
+courage of his convictions, he spoke out his mind. He excited
+intense opposition, and was visited, without stint, with the
+_odium theologicum_. All the pulpits began to fulminate against him.
+In the midst of the controversy he died, 19th October, 1609. He was
+admitted by his opponents to have been a good man. In 1610 his
+followers presented a Remonstrance to the assembled States of the
+province of Holland. From this circumstance they have been called
+Remonstrants. In this celebrated document the following propositions
+were stated:--"(1.) That God had indeed made an eternal decree, but
+only on the conditional terms that all who believe in Christ shall
+be saved, while all who refuse to believe must perish; so that
+predestination is only conditional. (2.) That Christ died for all
+men, but that none except believers are really saved by His death.
+The intention, in other words, is universal, but the efficacy may be
+restricted by unbelief. (3.) That no man is of himself able to
+exercise a saving faith, but must be born again of God in Christ
+through the Holy Spirit. (4.) That without the grace of God man can
+neither think, will, nor do anything good; yet that grace does not
+act in men in an irresistible way. (5.) That believers are able, by
+the aid of the Holy Spirit, victoriously to resist sin; but that the
+question of the possibility of a fall from grace must be determined
+by a further examination of the Scriptures on this point." The last
+proposition was decided in the affirmative in the following year
+(1611).
+
+A synod was convened at Dort in 1618, from which the followers of
+Arminius were excluded. It put its approval upon the views of
+Calvin. The discussion soon assumed a political aspect, which
+Maurice of Orange turned to his own account, put Oldenbarnveldt to
+death, and sent Grotius to prison.
+
+In the Church of England divines may hold either view of this
+question. The saying has been ascribed to Pitt: "The Church of
+England hath a Popish liturgy, a Calvinistic creed, and an Arminian
+clergy" (Bartlett). Whilst she has had such genuine Calvinists as
+Scott and Toplady, she has also produced men who held that the
+Saviour died for all--viz., Hales, Butler, Pierce, Barrow, Cudworth,
+Tillotson, Stillingfleet, Patrick, and Burnet. The Wesleyan body are
+decidedly anti-Calvinistic.
+
+In 1643 an assembly of divines met at Westminster, and although they
+could not agree about church government, they came to a finding
+about doctrines, and drew up the Confession of Faith and the
+Catechism, which are thoroughly Calvinistic. The Church of Scotland
+adopted these formularies, and although there have been several
+secessions from her, they were not upon the ground of doctrine as
+expressed in the creed. In 1843, however, a decided departure took
+place in this respect, in one of the offshoots of the Church--viz.,
+in that of the United Secession Church. The Rev. James Morison had
+declared it to be his belief that Christ died for all men. He was
+charged with heresy and deposed. Other brethren threw in their lot
+with him, and in due course the Evangelical Union was formed. Its
+primary doctrines are that the Divine Father loves all men, that
+Christ died for all men, and that the Divine Spirit gives sufficient
+grace to all men, which, if improved, would lead to their salvation.
+
+Such, then, is a brief outline of the main historical facts in this
+controversy, and it is worthy of note, as remarked, that for the
+first 400 years of the Christian era the Calvinistic system of
+theology was unknown to the Christian church. It began, as we have
+seen, with Augustine, and being adopted by Calvin was widely spread
+in those countries which received at the Reformation Protestant
+principles. It comprehends truths of vast value to man, but which
+are not peculiar to it. They are held as firmly by opponents as by
+the followers of Calvin; such, for instance, as the inspiration of
+the Bible, the doctrine of the Trinity, the inability of man to work
+out a glory meriting righteousness, justification by faith alone,
+and the necessity of the Spirit's work in regeneration. As in the
+Church of Rome, there have also been ranged under the banner of the
+Genevan divine men of the most varied accomplishments and the most
+saintly character. But men are often better than their professed
+creed, and often worse. As a system it has passed its meridian, and
+although ministers and elders are still required to profess their
+faith in its peculiarities, it has lost its hold on the popular
+mind. Mr. Froude, in his celebrated address to the St. Andrew's
+students, said, "After being accepted for two centuries in all
+Protestant countries as the final account of the relations between
+man and his Maker, Calvinism has come to be regarded by liberal
+thinkers as a system of belief incredible in itself, dishonouring to
+its object, and as intolerable as it has been itself intolerant. To
+represent man as sent into the world under a curse, as incurably
+wicked--wicked by the constitution of his flesh, and wicked by
+eternal decree; as doomed (unless exempted by special grace, which
+he cannot merit, or by an effort of his own obtain), to live in sin
+while he remains on earth, and to be eternally miserable when he
+leaves it; to represent him as born unable to keep the commandments,
+yet as justly liable to everlasting punishment for breaking them, is
+alike repugnant to reason and to conscience, and turns existence
+into a hideous nightmare. To deny the freedom of the will is to make
+morality impossible: to tell men that they cannot help themselves,
+is to fling them into recklessness and despair. To what purpose the
+effort to be virtuous, when it is an effort which is foredoomed to
+fail; when those that are saved are saved by no effort of their own
+and confess themselves the worst of sinners, even when rescued from
+the penalties of sin; and those that are lost are lost by an
+everlasting sentence decreed against them before they were born? How
+are we to call the Ruler who laid us under this iron code by the
+name of wise, and just, or merciful, when we ascribe principles of
+action to Him which, as a human father, we should call preposterous
+and monstrous?" Error, however, like disease, is not easily
+eradicated; but as men get better acquainted with God, those dark
+and heathenish conceptions regarding him entertained by Calvinists,
+such as the foredooming of children and men to endless misery, will
+give place to nobler thoughts of the Author of our being.
+
+    "I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs,
+    And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns."
+
+In 1879 the United Presbyterian Church adopted what is known as the
+"Declaratory Act," which is a clear departure from the rigid
+Calvinism of the Confession of Faith. In this declaration God's love
+is said to be world-wide, and the propitiation of Christ to be for
+the "sins of the whole world." They hold the Confession dogmas in
+harmony with the Declaratory Act, but it is an attempt to put the
+new cloth on the old garment, or the new wine into the old bottles.
+It is impossible that God can love the whole world, and yet foredoom
+millions to be lost. The two views are destructive of each other.
+This church, one of the most intelligent in the country, cannot
+stand where it now is. It is bound to go forward.
+
+
+
+
+PART I.--PREDESTINATION.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+THE WORD PREDESTINATION, AND THE DOCTRINE AS HELD BY CALVINISTS.
+
+
+THE word "predestinate" signifies, according to the _Imperial
+Dictionary_, "to predetermine or foreordain," "to appoint or ordain
+beforehand by an unchangeable purpose." The noun, according to the
+same authority, denotes the act of decreeing or foreordaining
+events; the act of God, by which He hath from eternity unchangeably
+appointed or determined whatsoever comes to pass. It is used
+particularly in theology to denote the preordination of men to
+everlasting happiness or misery. The term is used four times in the
+New Testament, and comes from the Greek word _proorizo_, which
+signifies, "to determine beforehand," "to predetermine" (Liddell and
+Scott). Robinson gives as its meaning, "to set bounds before," "to
+predetermine," "spoken of the eternal decrees and counsels of God."
+According to the lexicographers, the meaning--as far as the word is
+concerned--is plain enough. It is quite clear from the Scriptures
+that God predestinates or foreordains. This is admitted on all
+sides. But here the questions arise--What is the nature of God's
+predestination? and does it embrace all events? The Confession of
+Faith gives the following deliverance on the subject--"God from all
+eternity did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will,
+freely and unchangeably foreordain whatsoever comes to pass." The
+Larger and Shorter Catechisms express the same idea. This was the
+opinion of the Westminster divines, and is the professed faith of
+Presbyterians in general in Scotland. One of the most eminent
+theologians of the school of Calvin--Dr. C. Hodge--vindicates this
+deliverance of the Assembly. He says, "The reason; therefore, why
+any event occurs, or that passes from the category of the possible
+into that of the actual, is that God has so decreed" (Vol. I., p.
+531). He says again, "The Scriptures teach that sinful acts, as well
+as those which are holy, are foreordained" (Vol. I., p. 543). And,
+again, "The acts of the wicked in persecuting the early Church were
+ordained of God, as the means of the wider and more speedy
+proclamation of the Gospel" (Vol. I., p. 544). He says, moreover,
+"Whatever happens God intended should happen, that to Him nothing
+can be unexpected, and nothing contrary to His purposes" (Vol. II.,
+p 335). The same writer, in speaking of the usage of the term
+"predestination," remarks, "It may be used first in the general
+sense of foreordination. In this sense it has equal reference to all
+events, for God foreordains whatsoever comes to pass:" It will thus
+be seen that the Confession, and the Catechisms, and Hodge, as one
+of the most eminent expounders of these formularies, uphold the
+doctrine, that everything which happens was foreordained by God to
+happen. The doctrine as thus stated is clearly the foundation of the
+whole system of Calvinism. If this is shaken, the entire structure
+topples to its base. Being so important, its advocates have sought
+to strengthen it by appealing to the Divine attributes and to
+passages from holy writ. Let us then examine their arguments derived
+from the attributes, and the texts they have adduced.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+CALVINISTIC PREDESTINATION IN REFERENCE TO DIVINE WISDOM.
+
+
+THE wisdom of God is held as proving universal foreordination. Being
+infinitely wise--such is the argument--He will act upon a plan, as
+in creation, and as wise people do in regard to affairs in general.
+And this is perfectly correct. The question, however, is not whether
+God has a plan, but what that plan comprehends? Sin being a factor
+in the programme of life, the Divine wisdom or plan will be
+exercised in reference to it. There are two ways in which this may
+be done. It may be foreordained as part of the plan, as is seen in
+the above extracts. But another way is this: The Divine wisdom may
+be exercised in regard to sin, not as ordaining it, but as
+overruling it, and in turning it to account. That the evil deeds of
+men bring into view features of the Divine character which would not
+otherwise have been seen, is no doubt true, but this does not save
+the wrong-doers from the severest blame. But what is wisdom? It is
+the choosing of the best means to effect a good end. The ultimate
+end of creation is the glory of God, as He is the highest and the
+best of beings. There can be nothing higher than himself He desires
+the _confidence_ and the _love_ of men.
+
+    "Love is the root of creation, God's essence.
+    Worlds without number
+    Lie in His bosom like children; He made them for this purpose only,--
+    Only to love and be loved again."--TEGNER.
+
+Men are asked to give Him their trust and love. It is right that
+they should do so, for He is infinitely worthy of them. But what are
+sinful actions? Essentially they are foolish, and issue in misery.
+And if God foreordained them, how can we esteem Him as wise and
+good? And if not to our intelligence wise and good, how can we give
+Him our confidence and love? Trust and love are based upon the
+perception of the true and the good. If I find a man who is
+destitute of these qualities of character, to love him with approval
+is, as I am constituted, an impossibility. But to ordain the "acts
+of the wicked," as Hodge says that God did, in order to spread
+Christianity, was neither just nor good. It was doing evil that good
+might come. Instead of being wise it was, if it were so, an
+exhibition of unwisdom as regards the very end of creation, as it
+was fitted to drive men away from, instead of bringing them to, God.
+And yet wisdom, Divine wisdom, was exercised in reference to those
+very persecutions. It was true, as Tertullian said, that the "blood
+of the martyrs was the seed of the Church." By means of the
+sufferings of the early Christians men's minds were directed to that
+religion which supported its adherents in the midst of their
+accumulated sorrows. Their patience, their heroic bravery in facing
+grim death, threw a halo of moral glory around the martyrs which
+touched the hearts of true men who lived in the midst of general
+degeneration. The Christians were driven from their homes, but they
+carried the truth with them.
+
+"The seeds of truth are bearded, and adhere we know not when, we
+know not where." In the world of nature there are seeds with hooks,
+and others have wings to be wafted by the breeze to their proper
+habitat. And if Divine wisdom watches over the seeds of the
+vegetable kingdom, does it not stand to reason that it will do so in
+regard to truth? God overrules the evil, and makes it the occasion
+of good. Joseph was immured in jail, but from it he ascended to a
+seat next the throne. Christ was crucified, but from the blessed
+cross came streams of blessing. Paul was incarcerated, but from his
+prison came "thoughts that breathe and words that burn," that have
+kept alive the flame of piety for more than a thousand years. The
+people of God still suffer, but, like the asbestos cloth when thrown
+into the fire, they, by these sufferings, become purified and made
+meet for the coming glory. In thus overruling evil, God, we say,
+shows the highest wisdom and love fitted to secure our trust and
+affection; but to ordain evil would be an illustration of supreme
+folly, fitted to lower him in the estimation of angels and of men.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+THE DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO ALMIGHTY
+POWER.
+
+
+THE POWER OF GOD is held as supporting universal foreordination. As
+in the case of wisdom, God's power must be recognised as infinite.
+It is true, indeed, that creation does not prove this, since it is
+limited, and no conclusion can be more extensive than the premises.
+But looking at the nature and multitude of His works, we cannot
+resist the conviction that there is nothing (which does not imply a
+contradiction) that is "too hard for the Lord." He is infinite in
+power. But the power of God is guided by His wisdom and His love,
+just as is the power of a good and a wise king. In governing His
+creation, it stands to reason that He will govern each creature
+according to its nature--brute matter by physical law, animals by
+instinct, and man in harmony with his rational constitution. God
+does not reason with a stone, or plead with a brute; but He does so
+with man. "Come, now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord"
+(Isa. i. 18). It would be absurd to punish a block of granite
+because it was not marble, or to condemn the horse because he could
+not understand a problem in Euclid. To do so would be to treat the
+creatures by a law not germane to their nature. It is, indeed, a
+radical vice in Calvinistic reasoning that, because God is
+omnipotent, He can as easily therefore create virtue in a free being
+as He can waft the down of the thistle on the breeze. It is quite
+true that "whatsoever the Lord pleased that did He in heaven and in
+earth" (Ps. cxxxv. 6). But the question is--What is His pleasure in
+regard to the production of virtue? Is it a forced or free thing?
+Every good man will cheerfully ascribe to God the praise of his (the
+good, man's) virtue. God gave him his constitution; God's Spirit
+brought to bear on him the motives of a holy life. Had there been no
+Spirit, there would have been no holy life. Yet there is a sense in
+which the personal righteousness of the good man is his own
+righteousness. It consists in right acts, in right acts as regards
+God and as regards man. God told him what to do, and when he did it
+the acts became his acts, and were not the acts of God, nor of any
+other. When he does the thing that was right, he is commended--when
+he does not, he is blamed. Conversing one day with a Calvinistic
+clergyman, he intimated that a certain person had declared that the
+only thing stronger than God in the world was the human will. We
+remarked that we did not approve of such a mode of expression. And
+rightly so. It implies a confusion of ideas, confounding physical
+power which is almighty, and moral power, which is suasory and
+resistible. Stephen charged the Jews with resisting the Spirit. "Ye
+stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always
+resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye" (Acts vii.
+51). Because they resisted him, would it be right to say that they
+were physically stronger than God? We replied to the clergyman that
+we supposed that the person who used the expression meant that God
+did not get people to do what He wished. The reply was that we were
+equally wrong. We then asked, "Do you think that God wishes people
+to keep His law?" He refused to answer the question. But why would
+he not? Aye, why? He was in this dilemma: If he said that He did
+wish them to keep His law, he would have been met by the question,
+Why then does He not make them do so? Everywhere the law is broken.
+If he said that God did not wish them to keep His law, would not
+this have been to put the Holy One on a level with the great enemy
+of man? This brings out the idea that whilst God is possessed of
+infinite power, in the exercise of that power He has respect to the
+constitution of man in the production of virtue. He does not
+override the constitution, and treat it as if it were a nullity. To
+do so would be absurd, for forced virtue is not virtue at all. God
+is all-powerful, but He is also ALL-WISE.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+PREDESTINATION CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO DIVINE FOREKNOWLEDGE.
+
+
+THE FOREKNOWLEDGE of God is held as evidence that He has
+foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. He foreknows, so it is
+argued, but He does so because He has foreordained. Calvin says,
+"Since He (God) doth not otherwise foresee the things that shall
+come to pass than because He hath decreed that they should so come
+to pass, it is vain to move a controversy about foreknowledge, when
+it is certain that all things do happen rather by ordinance and
+commandment" (B. iii.) Toplady says "that God foreknows futurities,
+because by His predestination He hath rendered their futurition
+certain and inevitable." Bonar says, "God foreknows everything that
+takes place, because he Has fixed it" (_Truth and Error_, p. 50).
+The same doctrine is held by the younger Hodge--that foreknowledge
+involves foreordination.
+
+There have been some who have denied the infinitude of God's
+knowledge, notably Dr. Adam Clarke. He held that God, although
+possessed of omnipotence, yet as He chooses not to do all things, so
+also although He possesses the power of knowing all things, yet He
+chooses to be ignorant of some things. In refuting this notion, Dr.
+Hodge remarks, "But this is to suppose that God wills not to be God,
+that the Infinite wills to be finite. Knowledge in God is not
+founded on His will, except so far as the knowledge of vision is
+concerned--_i.e._, His knowledge of His own purposes, or what He has
+decreed shall come to pass. If not founded on His will it cannot be
+limited by it. Infinite knowledge must know all things actual or
+possible" (Vol. I., p. 546). Although the motive underlying Clarke's
+argument is good, yet it is not wise to sacrifice the Divine
+intelligence to the Divine goodness. God is the infinitely perfect
+one, but to suppose that He is ignorant of what will happen tomorrow
+is to limit His perfections, and make Him a dependent being. But
+neither can we accept the Calvinistic doctrine, that God foreknows
+because He has foreordained. This, properly speaking, is not
+foreknowledge, but _after_ knowledge, since it comes after the
+decree. It is, moreover, simply assertion. It is not a self-evident
+proposition, and is neither backed by reason nor Scripture. The
+great difficulty, however, with our Calvinistic friends is regarding
+certainty. If God is certain that an event will happen, then, so it
+is argued, it must happen. If we deny that there is an absolute
+necessity for the event as an event happening, then it is replied
+that God in that case was not certain. But this is sophistical
+reasoning--slipshod philosophy. God was certain that the event would
+happen, but He was also certain that it need not have happened. The
+Divine knowledge is simply a state of the Divine intelligence, and
+never causes any thing. It comprehends all that is past, all that
+now is, and all that will ever be. But it comprises more than this,
+and herein lies the key of the mystery. It takes in the possible, or
+that which is never realised in the actual. Human knowledge does
+this--and how much more the Divine! God knows that the thief will
+steal; He is certain that he will do it, but He is also certain that
+he need not do it. His being certain that the theft will take place
+does not necessitate the theft. It (the certainty) exercises no
+controlling agency upon the wrong-doer. Dr. W. Cooke remarks, "What
+is involved in necessity? It is a resistless impulse exerted for a
+given end. What is freedom? It involves a self-determining power to
+will and to act. What is prescience? It is simply knowledge of an
+event before it happens. Such being, we conceive, a correct
+representation of the terms, we have to inquire, where lies the
+alleged incompatibility of prescience and freedom? Between freedom
+and necessity there is, we admit, an absolute and irreconcilable
+discrepancy and opposition; for the assertion of the one is a direct
+negation of the other. What is free cannot be necessitated, and what
+is necessitated cannot be free. But _prescience_ involves no such
+opposition. For simple knowledge is not coercive; it is not impulse;
+it is not influence of any kind: it is merely acquaintance with
+truth, or the mind's seeing a thing as it is. If I know the truth of
+a proposition of Euclid, it is not my knowledge that makes it true.
+It was a truth, and would have remained a truth, whether I knew it
+or not, yea, even, if I had never existed. So of any fact in
+history; so of any occurrence around me. My mere knowledge of the
+fact did not make it fact, or exercise any influence in causing it
+to be fact. So in reference to the Divine prescience; it is mere
+knowledge, and is as distinct from force, constraint, or influence
+as any two things can be distinct one from the other. It is force
+which constitutes necessity, and the total absence of force which
+constitutes liberty; and as all force is absent from mere knowledge,
+it is evident that neither foreknowledge nor afterknowledge involves
+any necessity, or interferes in the least degree with human freedom.
+Man could not be more free than he is, if God were totally ignorant
+of all his volitions and actions" (_Deity_, p. 293). Calvinists
+sometimes entrench themselves behind God's foreknowledge as behind a
+rampart of granite, but it gives in reality no support to their
+system. That God knows the possible, and the contingent, was
+illustrated in the case of David at Keilah. He had taken up his
+temporary residence in this town. Saul was out on the war path, and
+David wished to know if he would visit Keilah, and if so, whether
+the men of Keilah would deliver him up. The answer was that Saul
+would come, and the people would deliver him up. Receiving this
+answer from God, he left. This shows that God's knowledge does not
+necessitate an event (see 1 Sam. xxiii.)
+
+He knows what might be, but which never will be. He saw how men
+would act in regard to David, but His knowledge did not make them do
+it. And He knows how men will act regarding the rejection of
+salvation, but this does not necessitate them to ruin their souls.
+He is certain that they might have been saved. There was a perfect
+remedy for their need; they had power to take it, and refused. The
+lost might have been saved; or, in other words, every man in hell
+might have been in heaven.
+
+The late Lord Kinloch in his _Circle of Christian Doctrine_, has
+several judicious remarks on this subject. In his chapter on
+predestination he says:--"The choice of free agents cannot have been
+predestinated in any proper sense of the word, that is, cannot have
+been fixed beforehand so as to fall out in one way, and no other,
+irrespectively of his own will. To say that it has been so, involves
+a contradiction in terms, for it is to say that a man chooses and
+does not choose at one and the same moment. The choice may be
+foreseen, must indeed in every case be foreseen by God, otherwise
+the government of the universe could not be conducted. But to
+foresee and foreordain are essentially different things" (p. 121).
+He says again, "What God appoints; He, to whom the whole of futurity
+lies open at a glance, necessarily appoints beforehand. Hence arises
+the axiomatic distinction which I find the key to the subject. All
+that God is himself to do He not merely foresees but foreordains.
+All that He does not do himself, but leaves man to do by the very
+act of creating him a free agent, the choice, namely, between one
+course and another, is foreseen but not predestined" (p. 124). The
+ideas of Lord Kinloch are sound, and we deem them irrefutable.
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+PROOF TEXTS FOR CALVINISTIC PREDESTINATION EXAMINED.
+
+
+THE Scriptures are supposed to teach the doctrine that God hath
+foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. It were impossible within the
+compass of this short treatise to consider at large all the passages
+that have been imported into this controversy. We shall, however,
+consider a few which seem to favour the dogma.
+
+THE SONS OF ELI.--In 1 Sam. ii. 25, it is written regarding the sons
+of Eli, "Notwithstanding they hearkened not to the voice of their
+father, _because_ the Lord would slay them." The whole stress of the
+argument from this passage lies in the word "_because_." They were
+not able to hearken to their father, because God had determined to
+slay them. There are two objections to this view, the first critical
+and the second moral. The Hebrew particle translated because is
+--_ki_. It is again and again translated by the word "that," and there
+is no reason in the world why it should not have been so translated
+in this passage. By substituting "that" for "because," there is no
+support to predestination. It simply denotes, in such case, that
+they would not believe their father, which doubtless was the case
+from their depraved habits. The _moral_ objection is that God had
+made their return to good impossible, whilst He declares that He is
+not willing that any should perish. On these grounds we reject the
+interpretation.
+
+MICAIAH AND AHAB.--The parabolic representation of Micaiah is held
+as proving not the bare permission of an event, but the actual
+deception of Ahab. The matter is recorded in 1 Kings xxii.
+Jehoshaphat had paid a visit to his neighbour, the King of Israel,
+Ahab. The latter proposed that the former should accompany him in an
+attack upon Ramoth-gilead. Ahab's prophets had promised success to
+the enterprise. Jehoshaphat wished to inquire of the prophet of the
+Lord. Ahab told them that there was one, Micaiah by name, but that
+he hated him as he always prophesied evil of him. He was sent for,
+however, and when he came he was asked if they should go up against
+Ramoth-gilead. He answered, "Go and prosper; for the Lord shall
+deliver it into the hand of the king." This was evidently spoken in
+such a tone and manner, that Ahab said, "How many times shall I
+adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the
+name of the Lord?" The prophet then uttered a few words about the
+dispersion of the army, which were very unpalatable to the king. He
+then said, "I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host
+of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left." A
+question was asked who would persuade Ahab to go up, and at last one
+answered that he would go and be a lying spirit in the mouth of the
+prophets, and that he would persuade him. The narrative proceeds,
+and it is added, "And He (the Lord) said, Thou shalt persuade him,
+and prevail also: go forth, and do so. Now therefore, behold, the
+Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets"
+(1 Kings xxii.) It is held that this narrative proves that God
+intended to deceive Ahab. I could understand an infidel trying to
+make capital out of such a passage; but for a professed Christian to
+go to it to prove that God intended to deceive Ahab, appears at
+first sight to transcend belief. To do so is to sap the foundations
+of religion. How much reason has the Bible to say, "Save me from my
+friends!" No doubt, the interpretation of the passage given lies on
+the same lines with the general system of the true Calvinists, and
+is quite of a piece with their declaration that God foreordained the
+Jews to crucify Christ. But, let us look at the passage. If God had
+intended to deceive Ahab, as saith Calvin, the course taken was the
+very opposite of what was fitted to secure the end. Micaiah was His
+recognised prophet; He spoke through him, and warned Ahab against
+going up. The result, if he did, was predicted; was this deception?
+The method adopted by the prophet was highly dramatic, and fitted to
+impress both the kings with the folly of the enterprise. It was a
+LYING spirit that was to inspire the emissaries of Baal, and advise
+the attack. And if God's prophet intimated disaster--which actually
+occurred--where was there deception? When it is said that God told
+the lying spirit to go and deceive Ahab, this is the mere drapery of
+the parable, and must be held as denoting sufferance, and not
+authoritative command. When the literal meaning of a passage leads
+to absurdity, we are required, to seek for its spirit or other
+explanation. Christ said, "Give to him that asketh of thee; and from
+him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away." To carry this
+out literally would be impossible; but the _spirit_ of the passage
+is beautiful, teaching, as it does, the heavenly charity
+characteristic of the good man. Christ demanded of those who would
+become His disciples, that they should hate their brethren; but no
+honest interpreter would take this literally. The passage evidently
+means that we owe a higher allegiance and love to Christ than any
+earthly relationship. The parable of Micaiah, taken literally, makes
+God to take part in the work of Satan, whilst He also works against
+himself, in inspiring His own prophet. Such a method must be
+rejected. The great truth brought out in the parable is this--viz.,
+that a man rejecting heavenly counsel becomes a prey to evil
+spirits, which drive him to ruin.
+
+LIMITATION OF DAYS.--Job xiv. 5 is appealed to. The words are,
+"Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with
+thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass." We do not
+see any bearing the passage has upon the subject under discussion
+--universal predestination, It brings before us the Divine
+Sovereignty, by virtue of which God has determined the laws of the
+constitution of man, and that there is a period in his life beyond
+which he cannot go. But he may shorten this period, for "bloody and
+deceitful men do not live half their days," and many people commit
+suicide, and break one of God's commands. Does God determine the
+number of suicides? Yes, if Calvinism is true; for, according to it,
+He hath "foreordained whatsoever comes to pass."
+
+RESTRAINT ON WRATH.--Psalm lxxvi. 10 is appealed to. The words are,
+"Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath
+shalt thou restrain." Dying men catch at straws, and, to appeal to
+this passage is as if one were catching at a straw. It brings before
+us the great truth that God overrules evil, and brings good out of
+it. The methods by which God does this are not stated, but would be
+suited to the peculiar circumstances of each case. We see
+illustrations of the principle in the destruction of the Egyptians,
+the deliverance of the three Hebrews from the furnace, and the
+general history of the Church. But to bring good out of evil and cut
+down persecutors, are very different things from "foreordaining
+whatsoever comes to pass."
+
+THE STANDING OF THE COUNSEL.--Isaiah xlvi. 10 is appealed to. It is
+as follows:--"My counsel shall stand, and I shall do all my
+pleasure." Now there is no doubt that God's counsel shall stand, nor
+that He will do all His pleasure; but the questions are, what is His
+counsel, and what is His pleasure? To bring the passage forward on
+behalf of universal foreordination is to assume the point in debate,
+and it is therefore inadmissible. God has a definite purpose
+regarding individuals and nations. It is to make the best out of
+every man that He can in harmony with the freedom of the will; and
+it is the same regarding nations. The principle of His dealing is
+stated in these words,--"If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat
+the good of the land; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be
+devoured by the sword" (Isa. i. 19). This is the Divine counsel and
+pleasure regarding man still.
+
+EVIL IN THE CITY.--Amos iii. 6 is appealed to. It is as follows:
+--"Shall the trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be
+afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done
+it?" The word rendered "_evil_" (_ra_) occurs more than 300 times in
+the Old Testament, and has various shades of signification. It is
+translated as meaning "sorrow" (Gen. xliv. 29), "wretchedness" (Neh.
+xi. 15), "distress" (Neh. ii. 17). It is applied to "beasts,"
+"diseases," "adversity," "troubles." It stood as the opposite of
+"good," and sometimes meant "sin." To determine its meaning in any
+particular instance, we must consider the context. In the beginning
+of the third chapter of Amos, punishment is threatened against the
+people: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth;
+therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities." When trouble
+and distress come upon a people, they may be said to come from God
+as the result of their disobedience. He vexes them in His "sore
+displeasure."
+
+There are various species of evil--as metaphysical evil, or the evil
+of limitation; physical evil, or departure from type; moral evil, or
+sin; and penal evil, or the punishment of sin. Looking at the
+context, it is perfectly clear that the prophet has reference to the
+last-mentioned. The people had broken God's laws, and were punished
+by God for their misdeeds. It might take the form of pestilence or
+famine, but whatever was its shape, it was a messenger from God. He
+sent it because the people had done wrong. This interpretation is in
+harmony with the usage of the word, and satisfies the moral
+conscience.
+
+The passage in Isaiah xlv. 7, "I make peace and create evil," has
+obviously the same meaning, as it stands in contrast to "peace."
+"Peace" is representative of blessings; "evil" is the synonym of
+distress and sorrow. The prophet is supposed to allude to the
+Persian religion, according to which there were two great beings in
+the universe--viz., Oromasden, from whom comes good, and Ahriman,
+from whom comes evil. It is very doubtful whether the prophet had
+any such reference. Barnes says,--"The main object here is, the
+prosperity which should attend the arms of Cyrus, the consequent
+reverses and calamities of the nations whom he would subdue, and the
+proof thence furnished that JEHOVAH was the true God; and the
+passage should be limited in the interpretation to this design. The
+statement, then, is that all this was under His direction."
+
+PREDESTINATION AND THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST.--Acts ii. 23 is
+appealed to. It reads thus: "Having been delivered by the
+determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by
+wicked hands have crucified and slain." But how can these words
+prove universal foreordination? It might be said, that if God
+foreordained the bad deeds of the crucifiers, the principle is
+established. True; but did He foreordain them? The words simply
+declare that God had given up Christ, and that in so doing He had
+acted in harmony with a settled plan, and that the Jews had wickedly
+taken the Saviour and slain Him. From the throne of His excellency
+God saw the character of the people that lived in A.D. 33; that they
+stood upon religious punctilio, and "as having the form of godliness
+whilst destitute of its power," that they would do as the Scriptures
+foretold; and yet He determined to send His son into their very
+midst, and when He came, they took Him and crucified Him. In all
+that they did they acted freely. Had it not been so, had they been
+acting under an iron necessity, then the apostle could not have
+brought against them the charge of having done what they did with
+"wicked hands." That charge, that homethrust, explodes the
+Calvinistic argument, as far as the verse is concerned.
+
+Another passage is Acts iv. 27, 28. It reads thus: "For of a truth
+against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod
+and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel,
+were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy
+counsel had determined before to be done." But the question is
+simply this,--what was it that God had determined to be done? We
+cannot admit that God had fixed unalterably the doings of Herod,
+Pilate, and their unholy allies, for the simple reason given in
+explaining Acts ii. 23--viz., that if such were the case, then there
+is no foothold upon which to condemn those high-handed sinners. They
+were verily guilty, but we cannot find a shadow of fault with them
+if they were only doing what they were foreordained to do. What,
+then, had God determined to be done? He had determined to send His
+son into the world to make an atonement for sin. But this might have
+been done without the betrayal, the trial, and the crucifixion. I
+may determine to go to a distant city without determining the _mode_
+of travel. One way may be pleasant, another disagreeable in the
+highest degree, and yet the latter may be chosen because of certain
+collateral issues.
+
+So Christ's death might have been determined on, but not the _mode_.
+Atonement might have been made in another way than on the cross. It
+was not the crucifixion that made the atonement, but its value lay
+in the death of the Son of God. Had He expired during the sore agony
+in the garden, would not His death have been meritorious? The
+adjuncts, the trial and crucifixion, were not therefore necessary to
+give His death atoning power. But God saw what the Jews would do,
+--that they would, in the exercise of their free agency, and without
+any decree, put Christ to death; and yet He sent Him at the time He
+did. All the glory of grace, therefore, redounds to the praise of
+the Lord, and the ignominy rests upon the Jews and the Gentiles. As
+a proof of universal foreordination, the passage proves nothing.
+
+GOD WORKETH ALL THINGS.--Ephes. i. 11 is adduced as upholding the
+predestination of all events. It reads thus: "In whom also we have
+obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
+purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own
+will." The stress of the passage as a proof rests on the words, "who
+worketh all things." But according to the canon of interpretation
+already stated--viz., that when the literal interpretation of a
+passage leads to absurdity, it cannot be the true one. John in his
+first epistle (ii. 20) says, "But ye have an unction from the Holy
+One, and ye know all things." To take these words literally would be
+to make those Christians to whom they were addressed to possess all
+knowledge, and thus make them equal to God, which is absurd. The
+words must be limited to the subject matter in which they are found.
+The apostle is speaking of the anointing of Christians, the
+imparting unto them of the Holy Ghost, and the phrase "all things"
+denotes things necessary to salvation, It is said (Acts ii. 44) that
+the first Christians "had all things common." But to take the words
+literally would be to outrage propriety. In Philippians ii. 14, it
+is written: "Do all things without murmurings and disputings." Here,
+again, the words must be limited in their application, otherwise the
+Christians were commanded to do all kinds of evil if commanded,
+without a murmur or dispute. This could not be, hence the words must
+be restricted to the duties devolving on them. So there must, of
+necessity, be restriction upon the passage in Ephesians quoted in
+the Confession of Faith. It must be restricted, otherwise it will
+follow that God is the only worker in the universe. And what is done
+in the world? God's laws are broken; but if He is the only worker,
+then He is the only breaker of His own laws! This is absurd, hence
+the literality must be given up. The obvious meaning is, that in the
+redemptive scheme God has wrought it all out according to the wise
+plan He had formed respecting it, just as He works out all His plans
+in nature and in providence.
+
+We know of no stronger passages than those mentioned, although
+others have been quoted. It is the easiest thing in the world to
+quote verses from the Bible as supporting a dogma; it is quite a
+different thing to show that they prove it.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+OBJECTIONS TO CALVINISTIC PREDESTINATION.
+
+
+THERE are very grave objection's to this doctrine, that God hath
+foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. They are so formidable,
+indeed, that in view of them the doctrine to our finding must be
+rejected. On another occasion we stated several of these, which,
+with a few modifications, were the following:--
+
+(1.) In the first place, we object to the doctrine of universal
+foreordination because, if adhered to, it makes science and
+philosophy _impossible_. These are all based upon the trustworthiness
+of consciousness, and if this is false we have no foundation to
+build upon. When we interrogate consciousness it testifies to our
+freedom. But if every volition is fixed, as it is held it is, by a
+power _ab extra_ from the mind exercising the volition, then
+consciousness is mendacious; it lies when it testifies to our
+freedom, and, therefore, cannot be trusted; thus, science,
+philosophy, and religion become impossible. The old Latin saw
+_falsum in uno, falsum in omnibus_, which, when freely translated,
+is--one who gives false evidence on one point may be doubted on
+all points. And where does this lead to? It leads to Pyrrhonism
+in science and philosophy, and indifferentism in religion. The
+doctrine is thus a foundation for universal scepticism.
+
+(2.) In the second place, we object to universal foreordination
+because it leads to Pantheism, a phase of Atheism. Pantheism as
+Pantheism may be viewed statically or dynamically. The static
+Pantheist assumes that all properties are properties of one
+substance. This was the feature of the vedanta system of Hindu
+philosophy, which holds that nothing exists but Brahma. "He is the
+clay, we are the forms; the eternal spider which spins from its own
+bosom the tissue of creation; an immense fire, from which creatures
+ray forth in myriads of sparks; the ocean of being, on whose surface
+appear and vanish the waves of existence; the foam of the waves, and
+the globules of the foam, which appear to be distinct from each
+other, but which are the ocean itself." Now, if our consciousness is
+only a dream, which this doctrine of foreordination makes it out to
+be, what are we all, in such a case, but mere _simulacra_, ghosts,
+shadows? This, and nothing more. We thus reach the fundamental
+principle of the Hindu philosophy, which is this, _Brahma only
+exists, all else is an illusion_.
+
+The dynamic Pantheist holds that all events are produced by one and
+the same cause. This is precisely the doctrine of the out-and-out
+Calvinist. God is said to be the "fixer" of whatsoever comes to
+pass; and Pantheism says every movement of nature is necessary,
+because necessarily caused by the Divine volition. He is the soul of
+the world, or as Shelley says--
+
+    "Spirit of nature, all-sufficing power,
+    Necessity, thou mother of the world."
+
+The only platform from which Pantheism can be assailed is our
+consciousness of self,--of our own personality and freedom,--from
+which we rise to the personality and the freedom of God. The tenet
+of universal foreordination takes from us this "coigne of vantage,"
+and lands us in dynamic Pantheism.
+
+(3.) In the third place, we object to universal foreordination
+because it destroys all moral distinctions. Praise has been bestowed
+upon Spinoza because he showed that moral distinctions are
+annihilated by the scheme of necessity. But, indeed, it requires
+very little perception to see that this must be the case. If God
+has, as is said, determined every event, then it is impossible for
+the creature to act otherwise than he does. A vast moral difference
+stands between the murderer and the saint. But if the doctrine of
+universal foreordination is true, we can neither blame the one nor
+praise the other. Each does as it was determined he should do, and
+could not but do, and to blame or praise anyone is impossible.
+
+    "Man fondly dreams that he is free in act;
+    Naught is he but the powerless worthless plaything
+    Of the blind force that in his will itself
+    Works out for him a dread necessity."
+
+There is therefore, according to this system, no right, no wrong, no
+sin, no holiness; for wherever necessity reigns, virtue and vice
+terminate. "Evil and good," says the Pantheist, "are God's right
+hand and left--evil is good in the making." Everything being fixed
+by God we can no more keep from doing what we do, than we can keep
+the earth from rolling round the sun. Since this monstrosity in
+morals results from the doctrine, it is evidently false.
+
+(4.) We object, in the fourth place, to universal foreordination,
+because it makes God the author of sin, the caveat of the Confession
+notwithstanding. It is said that God's foreknowledge involved
+foreordination. If so, the matter may be easily settled thus:--Does
+God foresee that men will sin? Of course He does. But if
+foreknowledge involves foreordination, then by the laws of logic He
+has foreordained sin. Syllogistically thus:--God only foreknows what
+He has fixed; but He foreknows sin, ergo, He fixed sin. We cannot
+resist this conclusion if we hold the premises. The Confession says
+He has foreordained everything, yet is He not the author of sin. But
+is it not clear as day that the author of a decree is the author of
+the thing decreed? David was held responsible for his decree
+regarding Uriah, and justly so. Had he been as clever as the authors
+of the Confession he could have parried that homethrust of Nathan,
+"Thou art the man." If everything that comes to pass was
+foreordained; David might have said, "I beg pardon, Nathan; it is
+true that I made the decree to have Uriah killed, but I did not kill
+him. Is it not the case that the author of a decree is not
+responsible for the sin of the decree?" Would Nathan have understood
+this logic? We think not. But if the Confession had been then in
+existence (if the anachronism may be pardoned), he might have
+appealed to it against Nathan; and we never should have had that
+awful threnody--the fifty-first Psalm. There is, then, no escape
+from the conclusion, that if everything that comes to pass has been
+foreordained, so also must it be the case with sin, for it also
+comes to pass. I open the page of history, and find it bloated with
+tears and blood. It is full of robberies, massacres, and murders. As
+specimens, look at the Murder of John Brown by Claverhouse; the
+massacre of St. Bartholomew; the sack of Magdeburg, when the Croats
+amused themselves with throwing children into the flames, and
+Pappenheim's Walloons with stabbing infants at their mothers'
+breasts. Who ordained these and a thousand such horrid deeds? The
+Confession says that God ordained them, for He foreordains
+whatsoever comes to pass. Tilly, the queen-mother, the infamous
+Catherine de Medici, Charles IX., the bloody "Clavers" were mere
+puppets. The Confession goes past all these, and says that God fixed
+them to take place. This is nothing else, in effect, than to place
+an almighty devil on the throne of the universe. This is strong
+language, but it is time, and more than time, that sickly
+dilettanteism should be left behind, and this gross libel on the
+Creator should be utterly rejected. He foreordains all His own
+deeds, but not the deeds of men.
+
+(5.) We object to the doctrine of universal foreordination, in the
+_fifth_ place, because it makes the day of judgment a farce. The
+books are opened, and men are about to receive acquittal or
+condemnation. This is perfectly right if men were free when on
+earth, but not so if all their deeds were foreordained by God. One
+of the most interesting sights in Strasbourg is the clock of the
+cathedral when it strikes twelve. Then the figures move. A man and a
+boy strike the bell, the apostles come out, and Christ blesses them.
+It is a wonderful piece of mechanism. But the figures are simply
+automatic. They move as they are moved. To try them in a court of
+justice (should anything go wrong), would be simply ridiculous--a
+farce. And if every one of our deeds is fixed, what better are men
+than mere automata? To try them, to judge them, and to award praise
+and blame for what was done, would be to burlesque justice. The
+judgment day, therefore, and foreordination of all things cannot
+stand in the same category. If we hold by the one we must give up
+the other. God foreknows all things, but foreordains only what He
+himself brings to pass. Man will be judged, condemned, or rewarded,
+according as he has acted in life; which judgment implies his
+freedom or the non-foreordination of his acts.
+
+The objections thus adduced are, in our judgment, quite sufficient
+to condemn the dogma of universal foreordination. Yet others of a
+grave character may be urged against it. It is a sacred duty as well
+as a privilege of the Christian, to defend the Divine administration
+when attacked by infidels. But if everything has been fixed how can
+this be done? Look at the fall. God knew that it would occur, but,
+according to Calvinism, He knew it because He had foreordained it.
+But the actors in the whole transaction were severely blamed and
+punished. To the serpent it was said, "Because thou hast done this,
+thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the
+field." The woman was told that because she had done what she did,
+her sorrow was to be multiplied; and the man was driven out of
+Paradise, because he had hearkened unto the voice of his wife. Can
+such declarations be justified if the transactions recorded were all
+foreordained? Each of the parties condemned might have asked, and
+done so pertinently--Why put this punishment upon me when I was
+simply carrying out the Divine decrees? And what answer could be
+given? None that we know of which would satisfy the reason. And
+what, then? This--viz., that in the light of the drama of the fall,
+the doctrine of universal foreordination must be given up as a myth
+which ignores philosophy, and reflects injuriously upon the Divine
+character.
+
+In Jeremiah vii. 29-31 it is written: "Cut off thy hair, O
+Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high
+places . . . for the children of Judah have done evil in my sight,
+saith the Lord: they have set their abominations in the house which
+is called by my name, to pollute it. And they have built the high
+places of Tophet, . . . to burn their sons and their daughters in
+the fire; which I commanded them not, nor came it into my heart."
+Here the Lord expressly declares, that instead of having
+foreordained these deeds, such an idea was never in His heart. There
+is here a clear "Thus saith the Lord" against the dogma of universal
+predestination.
+
+In Mark v. 6, it is said of Jesus that "He marvelled because of
+their unbelief." But we only marvel when we are ignorant of the
+_cause_ of a phenomenon. As soon as we know this the marvel ceases.
+Had Jesus, therefore, known that all was fixed, He never would have
+marvelled. Would you marvel that the fire had gone out when it was
+decreed not to give additional fuel? Would the miller marvel that
+the mill did not go when he had ordained that the water should be
+shut off? The prefixing of all events, and "marvelling" at anything,
+are out of the question. But since Christ did "marvel" it shows that
+He believed that they _could_ and _ought_ to have believed, and that
+He knew of no reason why they did not. It may be said that He was a
+man, and spake and felt like a man. True, but will the followers of
+Calvin maintain that he knew more of divinity than Christ? We should
+think not.
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE DOCTRINE.
+
+
+WE have thus endeavoured to show that the doctrine of universal
+predestination--the foundation of the Calvinistic theology--is not
+based upon the principle of the Divine wisdom, nor upon Divine
+power, nor upon Divine foreknowledge, nor proved by the Scripture
+texts advanced on its behalf. It is closely allied to Pantheism and
+the fate of the Stoics. It shakes hands with Socialism, which
+maintains that man can have no merit or demerit, that he could not
+be otherwise than he has been and is (_Socialism_, by Owen). It is
+the creed of the Mahometans. According to them every action in a
+man's life has been written down in the _preserved tablets_, which
+have been kept in the seventh heaven from all eternity. "No
+accident," saith the Koran, "happeneth on the earth, or on your
+persons, but the same was entered into the book of our decrees
+before we created it. Verily this is easy with God: and this is
+written lest ye immoderately grieve for the good which escapeth you,
+or rejoice for that which happeneth unto you." They might fall in
+battle, but it was so decreed, and at the resurrection they would
+appear with their "wounds brilliant as vermilion, and odorous as
+musk." Since the primary principle of Calvinism is a foundation
+principle of Pantheism, Socialism, Stoicism, and Mahometanism,
+Calvinists may well question whether they have not been building
+upon the sand, instead of the eternal rock of immutable truth.
+
+In view of the doctrine we have advocated, viz., that God has not
+ordained whatsoever comes to pass, but has left each man to be the
+arbiter of his own fate, we can see the propriety of the
+exhortation, "I call heaven and earth to record this day against
+you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and
+cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may
+live" (Deut. xxx. 19). It is the same still. God has provided a
+Saviour for all, and, therefore, for each. It is the province of the
+Holy Spirit to testify respecting Christ,--that He is able to save
+the very worst, and as willing as He is able. Each may choose to
+neglect this Saviour, or reject Him by choosing some other ground;
+or may choose Him as his only refuge. This choice has to be made by
+each man himself. No man can choose for another any more than he can
+eat or drink for another. It belongs entirely to each to do this. To
+choose Him is to choose life. To neglect or reject Him is to choose
+--death. Which will it be? The principle--viz., of choice, runs
+through life. Your happiness here depends on it in numberless
+instances. It is recognised everywhere in the Bible. Its
+exhortations summed up are expressed thus--"Turn ye, turn ye, why
+will you die?" It thus rests with you, and with you only--after what
+God has done for you--whether you shall live or die.
+
+
+
+
+PART II.--REPROBATION.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+THE CALVINISTIC DOCTRINE OF REPROBATION STATED.
+
+
+THE subjects of reprobation and election are so closely connected
+that they might be considered in one chapter. Indeed, so close is
+the connection, that certain verses supposed to prove one of them,
+are also adduced to prove the other, as--"Jacob have I loved, but
+Esau have I hated." It is, however, stoutly maintained that election
+is scriptural, whilst reprobation is repudiated. It is important to
+have clear ideas on the subject.
+
+What, then, are we to understand by the doctrine of reprobation? The
+question is not whether those dying in impenitency shall be
+subjected to suffering; for this is held by the opponents of
+Calvinism as well as by Calvinists themselves. The question is this,
+Is it true that God in a past eternity foreordained millions of men
+to endless misery, that to this end they were born, and to this end
+they must go? John Calvin held that it was so. He says, "All are not
+created on equal terms, but some are foreordained to eternal life,
+others to eternal damnation; and accordingly as each has been
+created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been
+predestinated to life or to death." He says, again, "If we cannot
+assign any reason for God's bestowing mercy on His people, but just
+that it so pleases Him, neither can we have any reason for His
+reprobating others; but His will. When God is said to visit in
+mercy, or to harden whom He will, men are reminded that they are not
+to seek for any cause beyond His will." He says, again, "The human
+mind, when it hears this doctrine, cannot restrain its petulance,
+but boils and rages, as if aroused by the sound of a trumpet. Many,
+professing a desire to defend the Deity from an invidious charge,
+admit the doctrine of election, but deny that any one is reprobated.
+This they do ignorantly and childishly, since there could be no
+election without its opposite--reprobation. Those, therefore, whom
+God passes by He reprobates, and that for no other cause but because
+He is pleased to exclude them from the inheritance which He
+predestines to His children". (_Inst_., b. iii.). Zanchius held--"It
+was therefore the first thing which God determined concerning them
+from eternity--namely, the ordination of certain men to everlasting
+destruction" (_Thesis de Reprob_.). Elnathan Parr maintained, "If a
+man be reprobated he shall certainly be damned, do what he can"
+(_Grounds of Divinity_). Maccovius says that "God has indeed decreed
+to damn some men eternally, and on this account He has ordained them
+to sin but each sins on his own account, and freely." To like
+purpose we might quote Maloratus, Amandus Pollanus, John Norton,
+John Brown of Wamphray, Piscator, &c. (_Vide Old Gospel_, &c.,
+Young, Edin.) Calvin and his followers did not mince the matter, as
+these extracts clearly show.
+
+The Lambeth Articles expressed the same ideas as above. Article
+First says, "God hath from eternity predestinated certain persons to
+life, and hath reprobated certain persons to death." Article Third
+runs thus, "The predestinate are a predeterminate and certain
+number, which can neither be lessened nor increased." Article Ninth
+has these words, "It is not in the will or power of every man to be
+saved." The Lambeth Articles were drawn up as expressing the sense
+of the Church of England, or, rather, a section of it. They were
+merely declaratory, and recommended to the students of Cambridge,
+where a controversy had arisen regarding grace. They received the
+sanction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, and
+a few others.
+
+The Synod of Dort, as intimated, was held in 1618, and had divines
+in it from Switzerland, Hesse, the Palatinate, Bremen, England, and
+Scotland. Its first article runs thus: "That God by an absolute
+decree had elected to salvation a very small number of men, without
+any regard to their faith or obedience whatsoever; and secluded from
+saving grace all the rest of mankind, and appointed them by the same
+decree to eternal damnation, without any regard to their infidelity
+or impenitency" (Tom., p. 567). The Synods of Dort and Arles
+declared that if they knew the reprobates, they would not, by
+Austin's advice, pray for them any more than they would for the
+devils (_Old Gospel_, &c.) In this they were entirely consistent,
+whatever else they might be.
+
+The Westminster Assembly met in London in 1643. They drew up the
+Confession of Faith and the Catechisms. In its third chapter the
+Confession declares:--"By the decree of God, for the manifestation
+of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting
+life, and others foreordained to everlasting death. These angels and
+men thus predestinated and foreordained are particularly and
+unchangeably designed, and their number is so certain and definite
+that it can neither be increased nor diminished." The Confession of
+Faith is the declared standard of doctrine of Presbyterians in
+general in this country. It is proper to note this fact, because it
+has been denied that whilst election is held reprobation is denied.
+They are both in the Confession.
+
+From what we have thus brought forward it appears evident that,
+according to Calvin, reputed Calvinistic divines, the Lambeth
+Articles, the Synod of Dort, and the Westminster Assembly, there is
+a portion of the human family born under the decree of reprobation
+--born--we do not like the expression, but it is the case--born to be
+damned. It is a harsh expression, but the blame does not rest with
+us, but with those who hold the doctrine.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+THE BIBLE USAGE OF THE WORD REPROBATION.
+
+
+THE word "reprobation," according to the _Imperial Dictionary_,
+means "to disallow," "not enduring proof or trial," "disallowed,"
+"rejected." Gesenius says the Hebrew word (_maas_) primarily means
+to reject, and is used (_a_.) of God rejecting a people or an
+individual--Jer. vi. 30; vii. 29; xiv. 19; 1 Samuel xv. 23; (_b_.)
+of men as rejecting God and His precepts--1 Samuel xv. 23. The Greek
+word (_adokimos_) denotes, according to Robinson, "not approved,"
+"rejected." In N. T. Metaph., "worthy of condemnation"--"reprobate"
+--"useless"--"worthless." It occurs seven times in the English
+translation; once in the Old Testament, and six times in the New. In
+none of the instances, however, does it convey the idea of
+unconditionalism.
+
+_First passage_.--In Jer. vi. 30, it is written: "Reprobate silver
+shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them." But why
+were they rejected--reprobated? The answer is contained in the
+context. It is there said, "They are all grievous revolters, walking
+with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters. The
+bellows are burnt, the lead is consumed of the fire, the founder
+melteth in vain; for the wicked are not plucked away." Everything
+had been done to save them, and when all remedial agencies had
+failed, they were declared to be rejected--reprobated.
+
+The _second_ passage is in Rom. i. 28: "And even as they did not
+like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a
+reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient." Here,
+again, we have reprobation; but then they were given over to this
+state on the ground that they did not like to retain God in their
+knowledge. The reprobation was therefore conditional, and not
+Calvinistic.
+
+The _third_ passage is in 2 Cor. xiii. 5: "Know ye not your own
+selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates."
+Grotius explains _adokimoi_--"reprobates," thus: "Christians in name
+only and not in deed." Dr. Hamond as "steeped and hardened."
+Vorstius, "wicked, and unfit for the faith." Dickson, "as unworthy
+of the name of Christian." Calvin, "unless you by your crimes have
+cast off Christ" (Whitby, _ad loc_.) Doddridge paraphrases the
+passage thus: "Are ye not sensible that Jesus Christ is dwelling in
+you by the sanctifying and transforming influences of His spirit,
+unless ye are mere nominal Christians, and such as, whatever your
+gifts be, will finally be disapproved and rejected as reprobate
+silver that will not stand the touch?" The reprobation again implied
+a condition, and was non-Calvinistic.
+
+The _fourth_ passage is as follows:--"But I trust that ye shall know
+that we are not reprobates" (2 Cor. xiii. 6). Barnes's paraphrase of
+the text is this: "Whatever may be the result of the examination of
+yourselves, I trust (_Gr_., I hope) you will not find us false, and
+to be rejected; that is, I trust you will find in me evidence that I
+am commissioned by the Lord Jesus to be His apostle." There is
+nothing in the verse to favour unconditional reprobation.
+
+The _fifth_ passage runs thus: "Now I pray God that ye do no evil;
+not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which
+is honest, though we be as reprobates" (2 Cor. xiii. 7). The meaning
+is plain enough. Paul desired that his readers should live pure and
+honourable lives, although he and these associated with him should
+be rejected as bad silver is rejected--reputed silver that cannot
+stand the tests. The verse gives no countenance to Calvinistic
+reprobation.
+
+The _sixth_ passage is this: "Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood
+Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds,
+reprobate concerning the faith" (2 Tim. iii. 8). But here again we
+have the moral state of those men brought before us--they "resisted
+the truth," and were men of corrupt minds. They could not stand the
+test of examination, and were rejected or disallowed as members of
+the Christian community. There is no unconditionalism here:
+
+The _seventh_ text is as follows: "They profess that they know God;
+but in works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and
+unto every good work reprobate" (Titus i. 16). The passage,
+according to all the ancient commentators who write upon it, refers
+to the Jews (Whitby). Its meaning is finely hit off by Doddridge,
+who; paraphrasing the words, says, "And with respect to every good
+work disapproved and condemned when brought to the standard of God's
+word, though they are the first to judge and condemn others." They
+had been tried in the balance and found wanting. They were so
+utterly bad that in view of good works they were of no account. The
+reprobation was conditional.
+
+The Greek word (_adokimos_) is used in Heb. vi. 8, but is translated
+"rejected." It has reference to ground. But why was the ground
+rejected, or reprobated? Unconditionally? Nay, but because it
+yielded, instead of good fruit, "briers and thorns." The human mind
+is like a field, and God is the husbandman. He uses various methods
+to produce the fruits of righteousness, and when these fail,
+judgment is pronounced against the mind. And is not this just?
+
+As far, therefore, as the word is concerned, there is not the most
+distant support given to the doctrine of an eternal decree
+foredooming millions of men to hopeless misery. It is something
+gained when we find this to be the case.
+
+On what, then, does the doctrine rest, if not upon the use of the
+word? It is supposed to rest upon the sovereignty of God, and
+certain passages of Scripture, although the word "reprobate" is not
+found in them.
+
+The term sovereign is from the French "sovereign," and that again
+from the Latin "supernus." It means supreme in power, supreme to all
+others. That God occupies this position will not be questioned by
+any one who believes in Him. The matter, therefore, is not one of
+sovereignty, or whether God is 'the only' absolute Sovereign in the
+universe. This is admitted. The question is this--what has God, in
+the exercise of His sovereignty, chosen to do? To adduce proofs in
+its support is beside the point, since we hold it as firmly as our
+opponents in this controversy. Nebuchadnezzar uttered a great truth
+when he said that God "doeth according to His will in the army of
+heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth." But what is His
+will? Is man governed by the law of necessity as storms are, and as
+waters are? These creatures do as God desires; is it so as regards
+man? The condemnation that each passes on himself is the best
+answer. Man may transgress, but God by virtue of His absolute
+sovereignty has appointed the penalty, and no one can reverse His
+decree.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+PROOF TEXTS FOR CALVINISTIC REPROBATION EXAMINED.
+
+
+PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE.--There are certain passages of the Bible
+supposed to teach the doctrine of Calvinistic reprobation, and it
+may be well to examine their meaning.
+
+REPROBATION AND THE EVIL DAY.--In Proverbs xvi. 4, it is written:
+"The Lord hath made all things for Himself, even the wicked for the
+day of evil." This passage is supposed to teach the doctrine of
+Calvin, that some men have been reprobated from eternity, and come
+into existence with the doom of death eternal on their brow. The
+first part of the verse presents no difficulty. It brings before us
+the idea that God Himself is the great object of creation. It is
+proper that this should be so. He is the greatest and the best of
+beings, and to have created for a lesser object than Himself would
+not have been conformable to the dictate of the reason. It is the
+second part of the verse which is supposed to teach the doctrine of
+eternal and unconditional reprobation. Calvin's idea of the passage
+is that the wicked were created for "certain death that His name
+(God's) may be glorified in their destruction." Let us suppose this
+to be the meaning--what then? The word "glory" in Hebrew means
+"beauty," "honour," "adornment." All around us lies the beautiful
+--the earth with her carpet of flowers--and the overarching skies
+--the sun, the moon, and the stars, are all beautiful.
+
+    "Oh, if so much beauty doth reveal
+    Itself in every vein of life and motion,
+    How beautiful must be the source itself,
+    The ever bright one."--TEGNER.
+
+But there is a moral beauty in God. It lies in the supreme moral
+excellence of His character; in His holiness, in His love, in His
+truthfulness, in His patience, in His gentleness, in His mercy.
+These attributes existing in God in the highest perfection,
+constitute the glory of the Most High. "Beauty and kindness go
+together" saith the poet; but is there any kindness in creating men
+for the purpose of making them miserable for ever? For ourselves we
+see no beauty, no glory in this--but the reverse. We regard it as a
+libel upon the character of the ever blessed God.
+
+The meaning of the passage is simple enough. God hath appointed good
+for the righteous and evil for the wicked. Though hand join in hand
+the wicked shall not go unpunished. One version of the passage is,
+"Jehovah hath made all things to answer each other, even the day of
+calamities for the wicked" (Davidson's _Commentary_). In Collins'
+_Critical Commentary_ it is explained thus: "For Himself or for its
+answer or purpose . . . . Sin and suffering answer to each other,
+are indissolubly united" (_ad loc_). Thus interpreted, there is
+nothing in the passage to create difficulty.
+
+John xii. 37, 41, reads thus: "But though He had done so many
+miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him: that the saying
+of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who
+hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been
+revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because Esaias said
+again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that
+they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their
+heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said
+Esaias when he saw His glory, and spake of Him." Calvin held that
+John, "citing this prophecy (of Isaiah), declares that the Jews
+could not believe because this curse of God was upon them." The
+first portion of the quotation is from Isaiah liii. 1, "who hath
+believed our report?" &c. The question would imply that
+comparatively few had at first responded to the Gospel invitation.
+The larger portion of the passage is from Isaiah vi. It is as
+follows: "Go ye, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but
+understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart
+of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;
+lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
+understand with their hearts, and convert, and be healed" (vers. 9,
+10). The passage is quoted by Matthew (xiii. 14, 15). Dr. Randolph,
+as quoted by Horne, says on this passage, "This quotation is taken
+almost verbatim from the Septuagint. In the Hebrew the sense is
+obscured by false pointing. If instead of reading it in the
+imperative mood, we read it in the indicative mood, the sense will
+be, 'Ye shall hear, but not understand; and ye shall see, but not
+perceive. This people hath made their heart fat, and hath made their
+ears heavy, and shut their eyes,' &c., which agrees in _sense_ with
+the evangelist and with the Septuagint, as well as with the Syriac
+and Arabic versions, but not with the Latin Vulgate. We have the
+same quotation, word for word, in Acts xxviii. 26. Mark and Luke
+refer to the same prophecy, but quote it only in part." The Hebrew
+vowel points which make the passage in Isaiah to be read in the
+imperative mood were only introduced some 700 years after the birth
+of Christ (Gesenius).
+
+Read in this light the passage gives no support to the doctrine
+sought to be fastened on it. The oracle was originally applied to
+the Jews living in the time of Isaiah. They were then exceedingly
+depraved; and the evangelist found that the words were applicable to
+the Jews living in the time of Christ. Horne, writing on
+"accommodation," observes, "It was a familiar idiom of the Jews when
+quoting the writings of the Old Testament to say that it might be
+fulfilled which was spoken by such and such a prophet, not intending
+it to be understood that such a particular passage in one of the
+sacred books was ever designed to be a real prediction of what they
+were then relating, but signifying only that the words of the Old
+Testament might be properly adopted to express their meaning and
+illustrate their ideas" (_Intro_., Vol. II.) "The apostles," he
+adds, "who were Jews by birth, and spoke in the Jewish idiom,
+frequently thus cite the Old Testament, intending no more by this
+mode of speaking than that the words of such an ancient writer might
+with equal propriety be adopted to characterise any similar
+occurrence which happened in their times. The formula, 'That it
+might be fulfilled,' does not therefore differ in signification from
+the phrase, 'then was fulfilled,' applied in the following citation
+in Matt. ii. 17, 18, from Jer. xxxi. 15, 17, to the massacre of the
+infants in Bethlehem. They are a beautiful quotation, and not a
+prediction, of what then happened, and are therefore applied to the
+massacre of the infants, according not to their original and
+historical meaning, but according to Jewish phraseology (_Vide_
+Kitto, Art. Accom.) The principle of accommodation clears away all
+difficulty. It is also in harmony with the context, as applied in
+John. Christ exhorted those around Him to believe in the light, that
+they might be the children of the light. But how could He exhort
+them to believe in the light, if He knew that the Divine Father had
+rendered their doing so an impossibility? Would you ask a man to
+walk who had no legs? to look, if he had no eyes? Underlying the
+exhortation to walk in the light lay the idea that they were able to
+perform it. It has been said that although we have lost the power to
+obey, God has not lost the power to command. Dr. Thomas Reid meets
+this notion thus: "Suppose a man employed in the navy of his
+country, and, longing for the ease of a public hospital as an
+invalid, to cut off his fingers so as to disable him from doing the
+duty of a sailor; he is guilty of a great crime, but after he has
+been punished according to the demerit of his crime, will his
+captain insist that he shall do the duty of a sailor? Will he
+command him to go aloft when it is impossible for him to do it, and
+punish him as guilty of disobedience? Surely if there be any such
+thing as justice and injustice, this would be unjust and wanton
+cruelty" (Hamilton's Reid, p. 621).
+
+Yet whilst there is no decree dooming men to hardness of heart or
+moral blindness, this state may be reached. Many are progressing
+towards it, many are now in it. They have turned a deaf ear to the
+cry of mercy, and are like the ground that has been often rained
+upon, but brought out only briers and thorns. The difficulty of the
+return of such does not lie with God, but in the habit of evil
+contracted and persisted in by the wrong-doers. God desires the
+salvation of all men, and has made the way open for all by the
+propitiation of Christ.
+
+THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.--The apostle of the Gentiles is supposed
+to have clearly established, in this epistle, the doctrine that some
+are born to be saved, and others born to be lost. The ninth chapter
+especially has been the great storehouse of arguments for such as
+hold this view. The strong-minded and the weak-kneed have all
+resorted thither. They entrench themselves behind such passages as,
+"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated;" "Hath not the potter
+power over the clay?" and think, by repeating them, that they have
+settled the controversy.
+
+JACOB AND ESAU.--We shall consider the proof texts in this chapter
+under the form of inquiry, and answer. Inquirer: "But does not the
+passage 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated' (verse 13),
+prove that the man Jacob was elected to eternal live, and the man
+Esau reprobated or doomed to eternal death?" Answer--Far from it, as
+we shall soon see. The passage is a quotation from Malachi i. 2, 3.
+If you look at the context of the quotation you will see that the
+prophet is speaking of the _people_ "Jacob" and the people "Esau,"
+or the Edomites. It is of the utmost moment to see this, as it has a
+most important bearing upon the controversy. The fourth and fifth
+verses read thus:--"Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we
+will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the Lord of
+hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call
+them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the
+Lord hath indignation for ever. And your eyes shall see, and ye
+shall say, The Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel."
+The plural pronouns used, "we," "us," "ye," "they," and the term
+"people," prove that the prophet was speaking, not of the man
+"Jacob," nor of the man "Esau," but of the respective peoples which
+had descended from them. Look now at the word "loved." It has been
+taken to mean God's electing love. But if this were so, then it will
+follow that all the Jewish people would be saved. And if so, why was
+it that Paul was so distressed about them, as he says, in the first
+part of the chapter, that he was? He had great "heaviness and
+continual sorrow" regarding the spiritual state of his countrymen;
+but if they were unconditionally elected to eternal life, then Paul
+was certainly carrying a useless burden. The "love" spoken of was
+representative of God's kindness in bestowing upon the people Jacob
+the privilege of being the Messianic people. The word "hated" will
+thus signify, as the opposite of "loved," that the people Esau might
+be said (from a certain standpoint) to be "hated;" that is, "less
+loved" in comparison with the favour bestowed upon the people Jacob.
+This meaning is in harmony with Hebrew idiom. The words "loved" and
+"hated" are used in a relative sense. Christ says, "If any man come
+to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,
+and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be
+my disciple" (Luke xiv. 26). This passage throws an important light
+on the subject. No one will contend that Christ meant that we should
+hate our parents. He simply brings before us this truth, that we
+were to love Him above all relatives; but the use of the term "hate"
+by Him takes it out of the category of the absolute, and places it
+in the relative. And this must be its meaning as used by Paul. If
+not, if it means that the race of Esau has been reprobated, then
+there is no Gospel for them, and Christ's command to preach the
+Gospel to every creature must be limited. To send a missionary to
+the Arabs would be absurd if this doctrine is true. Thank God it is
+not so.
+
+The Jews took up the position that they must be saved; that they did
+not need the Gospel; that being Abraham's seed they could not
+possibly be damned. Paul felt deeply grieved with respect to the
+position they occupied, and sought to dislodge them from it. "As to
+the fine logic of his argument, bear in mind that he has been
+proving in the preceding context that the lineal descent of the Jews
+from the patriarch Abraham did not, as they fancied it did, make
+them curse-proof for eternity. He proves this in the sixth, seventh,
+eighth, and ninth verses . . . by showing that the Ishmaelites could
+boast of a descent as lineal and patriarchal as theirs, and yet it
+did not suffice to instal them in the medium Messianic privilege of
+being Abraham's favoured children for time. By showing this, he
+leaves us to draw the natural inference that the lineal descent
+which could not instal Ishmaelites in the medium Messianic privilege
+of being Abraham's highly-favoured children for time, could never be
+sufficient to instal the infatuated Christ-rejecting Jews in the
+peerless privilege of being Abraham's glory-inheriting and curse
+-proof spiritual seed, his highly-favoured children for eternity. . . .
+He then proceeds to prove again his already proved position, and
+thus to clench his argument. This he does in the third section of
+the chapter, which begins with the tenth verse and ends with the
+thirteenth. . . . His proof consists of the fact that the Edomites
+were as purely descended from Abraham through Isaac, as were the
+Israelites; and yet, as is manifest at once from the declaration
+made to Rebecca, 'the greater people shall be inferior to the
+lesser,' and from the stronger statement made to the Israelites
+themselves by God in Malachi, 'the people Jacob have I loved, but
+the people Esau have I hated,'--this pure-lineal patriarchal descent
+of the Rebecca-born Edomites was not sufficient to elevate them to
+the enjoyment of the medium privilege of Abraham's Messianic
+children. This being the case, it was scarcely short of perfect
+madness for the Israelites to suppose that _their_ pure descent from
+Abraham would suffice to constitute them his glory-inheriting and
+curse-proof spiritual children, his highly-favoured seed for
+eternity. Such is the fine and matchless logic of the apostle's
+argumentation" (Morison, _Romans IX_.).
+
+The interpretation thus given makes the apostle to be consistent
+with himself, and in harmony with the "analogy of faith." The
+Calvinistic interpretation makes the apostle inconsistent with
+himself, and the command to preach the Gospel to every creature--a
+nullity.
+
+MERCY ON WHOM HE WILL.--_Inquirer_,--"But did not God claim the
+right to extend mercy to whom He pleased, and to withhold it from
+whom He pleased?"
+
+_Answer_,--It is even so. Paul says, "For He saith to Moses, I will
+have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on
+whom I will have compassion" (Rom. ix. 15). The quotation is from
+Exodus xxxiii. 19. The Israelites had committed the sin of making
+the golden calf, and were threatened with destruction; but God was
+entreated not to destroy them utterly, and Moses was assured that
+God would extend mercy as He should see fit. The quotation has a
+bearing upon the position of the Jews and Paul's argument. They were
+filled with self-sufficiency and pride, and in great danger. In the
+reply to Moses, God claimed the right of extending mercy as He
+pleased, and would not allow Moses to interfere with His
+prerogative. The Jews were reminded by the quotation that God had a
+right to say on what terms He would have mercy upon sinners. He does
+not state the principle after the quotation, but does so in verses
+30-33 of this chapter. He extends mercy to those who believe in
+Jesus:
+
+PHARAOH.--_Inquirer_,--"But what do you make of Pharaoh? Was he not
+a typical illustration of the unconditionally reprobated?"
+
+_Answer_,--It is thought so. The apostle refers to the wicked king
+in the seventeenth verse. His case was analogous to that occupied by
+the Jews. He had been raised up from a sick bed, treated most
+graciously, but became hardened under the influence of mercy, and
+was at last destroyed. The Jews had also been very generously dealt
+with, but instead of yielding were becoming indurated, and unless
+they repented, would, as Pharaoh was, be destroyed. It is said that
+God hardened Pharaoh's heart, and also that He hardened his own
+heart. Both statements are true, but looked at from different
+standpoints. God softens or hardens human hearts as they keep the
+mind in truth or falsehood.
+
+THE POTTER AND THE CLAY.--_Inquirer_,--"But what of the potter and
+the clay, verse twenty-one?"
+
+_Answer_,--The question discussed in the ninth of the Romans is a
+question of Divine sovereignty, or God's right to appoint the
+destinies of men after their moral probation is over. The potter
+claimed the right to say what he should do in respect of the vessels
+which he had made. Should one become marred in his hands, he makes
+it into a vessel of dishonour or inferiority. If not, if it turned
+out as he wished it, then it occupied the position of a vessel of
+honour. The illustration came with crushing power against the Jews.
+The attitude of hostility which they then occupied was that of being
+marred in the hands of God, and He claimed the right of appointing
+them their destiny. If they refused the Saviour whom Paul preached,
+if they continued morally unregenerated, then the mere fact of being
+Abraham's seed would not save them. As regards their fate hereafter,
+they would be as clay in the hands of the potter.
+
+We have thus seen that those passages so much relied on have really
+no bearing upon reprobation or predestination. They refer to another
+and distinct question--namely, that of SOVEREIGNTY. Had God a RIGHT
+to select the Jacobites as the Messianic people instead of the
+Edomites? The Jews would not dispute this. But had He a right to
+extend mercy as He saw fit? Had He a right to destroy Pharaoh when
+he refused to yield? Had He a right to deal with the destinies of
+men as He judged right? If He had, then the Jews had not a foot to
+stand upon in their absurd contention, that because they had
+descended from Abraham they must needs be saved. According to Paul's
+theology, God, in the exercise of sovereignty, had appointed faith
+as the condition of salvation, and if they refused to comply with
+the condition, then, as the Israelites were destroyed in the
+wilderness for lack of faith, as Pharaoh was destroyed in the sea
+when he refused obedience, and as the potter assigned an inferior
+position to the marred vessel, so would the Divine Ruler visit the
+Jews with evil if they refused to accept of Christ.
+
+There is nothing in this ninth chapter to frighten any one. The Jew
+expected to be saved by works (see vers. 30-33), and on the ground
+of his descent from Abraham. The apostle sweeps both of these away,
+and presents Christ as the only ground for them. And the ground that
+was for them is for all.
+
+THE STONE OF STUMBLING.--In 1 Peter ii. 8 it is written: "And a
+stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which
+stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were
+appointed." This text is supposed to teach that the parties spoken
+of were appointed to be disobedient. At the first glance it would
+seem to teach this. But the principle of interpretation to which we
+have referred--namely, that when the mere grammatical construction
+of a passage is clearly absurd, it is clear it cannot be the true
+one, and we must look for another meaning. Now, if the "whereunto"
+refers to the "disobedient," how could they be charged with
+disobedience if they were just doing what they were appointed to do?
+If Christ was put before those unbelievers for the purpose of making
+them disobey, then would not this be to put a stumbling-block in
+their way? Surely such conduct is infinitely the opposite of a good
+God.
+
+Another translation of the passage, including verse 7, is this:
+--"Unto you, therefore, who believe He is precious; but unto those who
+disbelieve, the stone which the builders disallowed has become the
+head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence.
+They, disbelieving the word, stumble--that is, fall or perish,
+whereunto also they were appointed." That is, unbelievers are
+appointed to perish if they continue unbelievers. Horne says, "Hence
+it is evident that 1 Peter ii. 8 is not that God ordained them to
+disobedience (for in that case their obedience would have been
+impossible, and their disobedience no sin), but that God, the
+righteous Judge of all the earth, had appointed or decreed that
+destruction and eternal perdition should be the punishment of such
+disbelieving persons who willingly reject all the evidences that
+Jesus Christ was the Messiah, the Saviour of the world. The mode of
+pointing above adopted is that proposed by Drs. John Taylor,
+Doddridge, and Macknight, and recognised by Greisbach in his
+_Critical Edition of the New Testament_, and is manifestly required
+by the context" (Vol. IV., p. 398). The passage as thus explained
+has no difficulty. Blessings come to those believing, evil to those
+disbelieving.
+
+FOREORDAINED TO CONDEMNATION.--In Jude, verse 4, it is written thus:
+"For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were of old
+foreordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of
+our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our
+Lord Jesus Christ." The passage contains the reason why the apostle
+had urged the Christians to contend earnestly for the faith once
+delivered to the saints. The term "ordained" in the passage means
+"to write before," or "aforetime," "to post up publicly in writing."
+Certain men of bad character had got into the church, but the
+condemnation of such had been intimated before. Macknight says,
+"Jude means that these wicked teachers had their punishment before
+written--that is, foretold in what is written concerning the wicked
+Sodomites and rebellious Israelites, whose crimes were the same with
+theirs." To write regarding certain characters, and intimating their
+punishment, is a widely different thing from unconditional
+reprobation.
+
+The passages thus examined are the principal ones brought forward to
+prove that some men are foreordained to everlasting ruin. We do not
+think they prove this, and we reject the doctrine.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+OBJECTIONS TO CALVINISTIC REPROBATION.
+
+
+_In the first place_, we object to it because it impeaches the
+Divine Fatherhood. God sustains to the human family the relation of
+a Father. He is the Creator of the sun and stars, but not their
+father. Fatherhood carries in it two ideas,--creation and similarity
+of nature. He is the Creator of the sun and stars, but they do not
+possess a nature like His. But in man there is a Divine likeness, an
+epitome of God. There is the power of thought, will, and feeling. In
+this broad view every man is a son of God. He has been created by
+Him, and, so far, is like Him. It is very true that man has rebelled
+and ignores the relationship. But denial of relationship does not
+abolish it. A son may deny his own father, and claim another to be
+so; and men have denied God, and acted as the children of the devil.
+But although they have rebelled, He earnestly remembers them. They
+are prodigals, but they are His prodigals. He made them, and He
+feels for them. A good father feels for all his children. Could we
+call a father a good father who foreordains that one-half of his
+offspring should be burned? But this is the doctrine of Calvinistic
+reprobation! It cannot stand in the light of the parable of the
+prodigal son. As that father in that parable felt to his prodigal
+child, so God _feels_ to every one of His prodigals.
+
+We reject this doctrine of unconditional reprobation,
+
+_In the second place_, because it impeaches the Divine _sincerity_.
+Sincerity is descriptive of the harmony that exists between the
+feelings of the heart and the utterances of the lips.
+
+    "Sincerity,
+    The first of virtues, let no mortal leave
+    Thy onward path, although the earth should gape,
+    And from the gulph of hell destruction cry
+    To take dissimulation's winding way."
+
+An insincere man, who professes one thing whilst he feels another,
+is universally despised. Now, when I take up the Bible, what do I
+find? I find it full of invitations to all men to come and be saved.
+"Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be saved." "Ho, every
+one that thirsteth; come ye to the waters." "Turn ye, turn ye, why
+will you die?" Now, these invitations are addressed to all alike.
+Their value turns on this--does God _mean_ what He says? Not so if
+Calvinistic reprobation be true. But if He does mean what He says
+--that He really wishes all saved--then these utterances reveal the
+great heart of God as it gathers round every human being; and the
+Calvinistic dogma of unconditional reprobation is a huge lie, that
+should be thrown back to the place whence it came.
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+SUMMARY OF THE BIBLE DOCTRINE OF REPROBATION.
+
+
+THERE is a doctrine of reprobation taught in the Bible. The word, as
+we have seen, is several times used in the sacred writings. It
+means, according to classic Greek, "not standing the test,"
+"spurious, base, properly (1.) of coin, (2.) of persons," "ignoble,
+mean" (Liddell and Scott). In the Bible it signifies the same thing,
+"disapproved," "rejected," "undiscerning," "void of judgment."
+Cruden says, "This word among metallists is used to signify any
+metal that will not undergo the trial, that betrays itself to be
+adulterate or reprobate, and of a coarse alloy. . . . A reprobate
+mind, that is, a mind hardened in wickedness, and so stupid as not
+to discern between good and evil." We are quite familiar with the
+idea in everyday life. Ships, horses, land, governments,
+individuals, are being constantly subjected to trial, and, being
+found wanting, are rejected, _reprobated_. And what thus takes place
+in the lower plane of things, takes place in the sphere of morals.
+Men are now on trial for eternity. If they act as God wishes them,
+they shall walk with him in white, and sit down at the marriage
+-supper of the Lamb; but if not, then they will be rejected. The
+great principle is neither more nor less than this--namely, that men
+shall reap as they sowed. The principle is just. If men sow nettle
+-seed or the seed of briers and thorns, is it not fair that they
+should reap the fruit? The great principle, then, of the Bible is
+this: "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the
+land; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured by the sword"
+(Isaiah i. 19, 20).
+
+It is a blessed thing, then, to know that on your head there is no
+decree of unconditional reprobation. You may be saved. Your heavenly
+Father wishes you saved, for He is "not willing that you should
+perish" (2 Peter iii. 9); and He wishes "all men saved" (1 Timothy
+ii. 4), and therefore you. He has done all He can for you. Will you
+be saved? It rests with you to build only on Christ, and conform
+your life after the pattern He has left.
+
+
+
+
+PART III.--ELECTION.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+THEORIES OF CALVINISTIC ELECTION.
+
+
+IF the question of Calvinistic reprobation is fitted to freeze the
+blood and repel the mind from God, that of election, as represented
+by the same school, is calculated to perplex and disturb the
+inquirer after truth. At the noonday meeting in Glasgow, some time
+ago, the prayers of those present were requested on behalf of a lady
+who was troubled with the doctrine of election! She is, we believe,
+a type of thousands. Poor woman! had she listened to the teachings
+of Scripture instead of to those of man, she need have had no
+trouble in the matter. Heaven's order is--"Believe in the Lord Jesus
+Christ, and thou shalt be saved." In other words, believe that God
+loves yourself, that Christ made an atonement for thy sin, and thou
+shalt enter among the saved ones--or the elect.
+
+There are four different theories regarding this subject:--
+
+(1.) There is, _first_, the supralapsarian theory. Those who hold
+this view are high Calvinists. According to this theory, God,
+without any regard to the good or evil works of men, resolved by an
+eternal decree, _supra lapsum_, antecedently to any knowledge of the
+fall of Adam, and independent of it, to reject some and save others;
+or, in other words, that God intended to glorify His justice in the
+condemnation of some as well as His mercy in the salvation of
+others, and for that end decreed that Adam should necessarily fall
+(Buck).
+
+(2.) The _second_ theory is designated _sublapsarianism_. According
+to this view, God permitted the first man to fall into transgression
+without absolutely predetermining his fall; or, that the decree of
+predestination regards man as fallen by an abuse of that freedom
+which Adam had. In other words, they regard the decrees of election
+and reprobation as having reference to man in his fallen condition.
+But according to this theory God loves only a portion of our race
+--gives His Son to die for this only, and His converting grace to this
+only. This portion is designated the elect.
+
+(3.) A _third_ view is that God loves all men, has given His Son to
+die for all men, but His saving grace is not given to all, but only
+to some. This is modern Calvinism. "Election is then," says Dr.
+Payne, "God's purpose to exert upon the minds of certain members of
+the human family that spiritual and holy influence which will secure
+their ultimate salvation" (_Lect. on Sovy_.)
+
+(4.) A _fourth_ view is that God loves all men, that Christ died for
+all men, and that converting grace is given to all men; and that
+those of mankind who believe God's testimony regarding His Son,
+become His elect or chosen ones. It is this view which we support.
+The first three theories have points of difference and agreement,
+but in their last analysis they come to this, that God does not wish
+all men saved, only some--the elect.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+CALVINISTIC ELECTION INVOLVES POSITIVE REFUSAL TO PROVIDE SAVING
+GRACE FOR THE LOST.
+
+
+Dr. PAYNE, one of the subtlest and most accomplished of modern
+Calvinists, argues strongly against the notion that the decree of
+election involves the decree of reprobation. He says "I may
+determine to relieve one out of twenty destitute families in my
+neighbourhood, without positively determining not to relieve the
+others; and if any one should ask me why others are not relieved, it
+would be sufficient to reply that the giving of actual relief can
+only spring from a determination to relieve, which in reference to
+them does not exist. I may determine to take a book from the shelf,
+without a positive determination not to take the others. There may,
+indeed, be such a determination, but it is not necessarily implied
+in the determination to take, and that is all that I am obliged to
+prove--the other books may not even be thought of" (p. 40). Dr.
+Payne was a very subtle dialectician, but we fear he has here
+imposed upon himself in these illustrations. It is very true that
+when I determine to select book "A" from my library, that book "B"
+may not have been before my mind, and that I did not knowingly
+determine to reject it. But it may have been, and if it was, then
+the selection of "A" only, carried with it the rejection of "B." A
+father sees his two children perishing in the waters. He jumps into
+a boat, and reaches the scene of disaster. The children are sinking
+from sheer exhaustion. He takes one into the boat, and returns to
+shore. He could easily have saved the other, but did not, and he
+tells the people this on landing, and that he must be simply judged
+by his act of saving the rescued child, and that he is not to be
+held as passing a decree of reprobation against the other. This, we
+submit, is Dr. Payne's case. And will it bear looking at? I don't
+think it. Dr. Payne adds, "This reasoning applies yet with greater
+force to the great Eternal. There must exist in the mind of God a
+determination to do what He actually does, because His actions are
+the result of His volitions or determinations. But where God does
+not act, where He does nothing, He determines nothing. It is
+childish to suppose that because when He acts, there must be a
+determination to act, when he does not act, there must be a
+determination not to act, since a determination is necessary to a
+state of action, but it surely is not necessary to a state of rest.
+When Jehovah created the present universe, is it necessary to
+suppose that there existed in His mind a positive determination not
+to create any of the other possible universes which were present to
+His views? Surely not." But we should say, Surely yes. If twenty
+plans are presented to me, and I select one only, does not this
+imply the rejection of the others? To the Divine mind there must
+have been present the conception of many different kinds of worlds
+than the one we are in; but of the possibles He chose the present
+system as, all things considered, the best. Had there been a better
+world and God did not make it, it must have been, according to the
+optimists, either because God did not know of it, or was unable to
+make it, or was unwilling,--all of which suppositions are either
+incompatible with the omniscience, the omnipotence, or the goodness
+of God. When the Creator selected the present system, He rejected
+the "possibles" that might have been brought into being. I am
+surprised that Dr. Payne should say that "determination" is not
+necessary to a state of rest, or non-action. In thousands of
+instances non-action--rest--is as much the result of volition as is
+the most determined activity. The old divines used to divide sin
+into acts of commission and omission. But in every sin of omission
+there was action implied. If I do not help the needy when he crieth,
+my non-help--my rest as regards aid--carries action in it
+--determination. Dr. Payne again says, "When God determined to save
+man, did that volition necessarily imply a positive determination
+not to save the angels who kept not their first estate? No one, it
+is presumed, Will answer in the affirmative. It implies, indeed,
+that fallen angels were not included in the merciful purpose of God,
+that there was no volition to save them; but no degree of ingenuity
+can gather any conclusion beyond this from the facts of the case.
+Why, then, should a positive determination, on the part of God, to
+save some of the human family be supposed to imply of necessity a
+counter and positive determination not to save the other members of
+the family. Not to save men is not to act, it is just doing
+nothing." But this is a very partial view of the case. What God did
+in the case of the fallen angels we know nothing, and can affirm
+nothing. But one may do nothing from one side of things, and do a
+great deal from another. The priest and the Levite just did nothing
+as far as helping the man was concerned. They rested, but in this
+rest there was action which has covered them with obloquy for all
+time. And if God has special influence at His disposal, and
+determines to give it to some when He KNEW that others needed it as
+much, and yet withholds it from them, His withholding it is as much
+an act as the gift of it. He passed the non-elect over in applying
+the influence, and no ingenuity can make it otherwise. But what He
+does in time He determined to do in eternity--He determined to pass
+them over. The illustration, therefore, of the book is worthless.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+CALVINISTIC ELECTION CONSIDERED IN REFERENCE TO THE SOVEREIGNTY OF
+GOD.
+
+
+THE Divine sovereignty may be said to be the great foundation on
+which the various shades of Calvinists take their stand. Here they
+think they are as safe as if they stood on adamant. But assertion is
+not argument, and he who asserts must prove.
+
+Dr. Payne, in his preliminary lecture, discusses the question of
+sovereignty, and endeavours to show that there is a difference
+between supremacy and sovereignty. By the former punishment is
+inflicted, by the latter good. If by sovereingty we mean that God
+has absolute power to do whatsoever He pleases, then it will
+comprehend the penalty of transgression, as well as the bestowment
+of good. And this, as we apprehend, is the correct view of the case.
+The Divine sovereignty being one of the main pillars of his system,
+Dr. Payne gives various illustrations of it.
+
+(1.) He instances the varied mental powers bestowed on men. He says,
+"The mind of one man is marked by infantile weakness, of another by
+a giant's strength. Nothing can elevate the former, nothing
+permanently depress and overpower the latter. . . . In the case of
+certain persons, the reasoning powers preponderate; in that of
+others, the imagination. One man has little judgment, but an
+exuberant fancy. Another has received the gift of a piercing
+intellect; but if it be clear as a frosty night, it is also as cold.
+A third is all impetuosity and fire, but it is a fire that scorches
+and consumes everything that comes in its way. We can account for
+these diversities by the principle of sovereignty alone. God
+'divideth to every man severally as He will,' 'He giveth none
+account of these matters,' 'He has a right to do what He will with
+His own.'" Now, we do not question God's right to do what He will
+with His own, but is this difference in mental calibre purely an
+arbitrary act? Has brain, nerve, habit, nothing to do with the case?
+and marriage? and education? Look at the biographies of prominent
+men, and what do we find? Much depends evidently on the mother, as
+in the case of Bacon, Erskine, Brougham, Cromwell, Canning, Byron.
+The last-mentioned, writing of himself, says, that his "springs of
+life were poisoned." His mother was a most passionate woman, and is
+reported to have died of a fit of ill-nature at the sight of her
+upholsterer's bills. The possession, then, of talent is not purely
+arbitrary, but dependent on parentage, training, surroundings. There
+was one question, indeed, which would have upset the whole of these
+illustrations. It was this:--Whence comes insanity? It would never
+be contended that God made some individuals insane and others sane,
+by a merely arbitrary act. We find, in hundreds of instances, that
+it is hereditary. One observer considers that six-sevenths of the
+cases arise from this one cause. When, then, Dr. Payne quotes the
+words, "He giveth none account of these things," we ask, is it so?
+Has He not written His mind in the providence around us? Let certain
+habits be encouraged, certain marriages entered into, and we require
+no ghost to rise and tell us what the issue will be. God is telling
+it to us every day. Departure on the part of parents from organic
+laws entails misery, even to imbecility, on the children. We do not,
+of course, deny that there are diversities among men; but we do deny
+that these are purely arbitrary, like the gift of special grace, and
+are therefore inept as illustrative of it.
+
+(2.) Dr. Payne refers to providential blessing as illustrative of
+sovereignty. He remarks, "That inequalities in the external
+condition and circumstances exist, is manifest to all. The
+questions, then, which force themselves upon our attention are
+these: Do these inequalities originate with God, or with man?" He
+asks, "Why one is born rich, and another poor? How is it to be
+explained that two persons equal in talent and moral worth, obtain
+such unequal measure of success? . . . The facts are entirely to be
+resolved into Divine sovereignty. God is here exercising the right
+of testimony, the bounties of His providence upon men, as it seems
+good in His sight." It is very true that God is the source of all
+the good in the world, but does He bestow it arbitrarily? If a man
+neglects being _thrifty_, and lives beyond his means, his offspring
+will inherit his poverty. There are economic as well as physical
+laws in the world, and the non-observance of them descends unto the
+third and fourth generations.
+
+Dr. Payne appeals to health as illustrating his position. He says,
+"It is impossible to account for the fact that of two individuals
+equal in point of moral worth, one is the constant subject of bodily
+infirmity, and the other the habitual possessor of health; but by
+admitting that the hand of sovereignty confers upon the latter a
+measure of good to which he has no claim" (p. 32). Doubtless, health
+is a precious blessing; but is it given arbitrarily, like special
+grace? Every one knows that its possession depends upon the
+observance of laws, both in parents and offspring. It is the result
+of complying with _conditions_, and there is no analogy between it
+and the gift of special influence, which is entirely unconditional.
+
+The chief illustration which Dr. Payne gives of Divine sovereignty
+is, "The exertion of that holy influence upon the minds of the
+chosen to salvation, by which they are brought to the knowledge and
+belief of the Gospel, together with the Divine purpose to exert this
+influence of which it is at once the index and the accomplishment"
+(p. 33). We shall, however, endeavour to show that there is no such
+irresistible influence as that for which the doctor contends. God is
+a sovereign--the only absolute sovereign in existence; but He is
+all-wise and all-good, not willing that any should perish.
+
+We have thus examined those illustrations of Dr. Payne. They are a
+kind of stock in trade of those who build their faith upon the
+dogmas of Calvin.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+CALVINISTIC ELECTION JUDGED BY THE REASON.
+
+
+THE reason is supposed to affirm the doctrine that God has chosen
+some men to get saving grace, and some men only. The question is
+asked, "Is God the cause or author of man's salvation, or is man the
+author of his own salvation?" It is maintained that God being
+entirely the author of man's salvation, and that as man is brought
+into a state of safety by infallible grace, and as God exercises
+this grace, He must have determined to do it in eternity. The
+doctrine of election is thus supposed to be affirmed by the reason.
+But this is a very summary process of settling the question. How
+stands the case? If by "salvation" is meant the _meritorious ground_
+of salvation, then the question about its authorship is very single.
+God is the sole author. He devised the plan, He wrought it out, and
+He applies it to the hearts of men. To Him belongs all the glory.
+
+But the question of merit being settled, there is another. It is
+this--Are there _immeritorious_ grounds of salvation, and are men
+required to be active in their moral regeneration? We must
+distinguish between God's action and that of man. To confound them
+is a grand mistake. In the Bible we find certain moral conditions
+insisted upon in order to moral deliverance. There is a human side
+in the matter. Are not men called upon "to look?" "to hear?" "to
+come?" "to eat?" "to repent?" "to choose?" these terms represent
+acts which men are called upon to perform. God does not "look" or
+"choose" or "repent" for men. They must "choose" or die. The Spirit
+comes to them, points out their sinful state, and places Christ
+before them as their Saviour. When they give ear unto him, and put
+their trust in Jesus, they become saved. They have no more merit in
+the matter than a beggar has when he accepts alms, or a prisoner
+when he accepts a pardon.
+
+Salvation, then, as regards merit, is entirely of God, but men are
+required to be active in their own deliverance. But why do some
+yield, and some not? This question has often been asked, and it is
+supposed that it stops all further argument. Let us look, however,
+at the saved man. God has wrought out the remedy, the Holy Spirit
+plies the sinner with motives for accepting the Saviour, and under
+His persuasion he yields himself up unto God, and gives Him all the
+glory of His salvation. Both scripturally and philosophically the
+man's saved condition is accounted for. And can anything be said
+against it? Look now at the unsaved man: why has he not believed? To
+press for an answer to this question is just to press for an answer
+to another--viz., why do men sin? Can any one give a reason for it
+that will stand scrutiny? No one, not even God; and to demand an
+answer in these circumstances is unphilosophical and impertinent.
+The one believes through grace, and the other resists and dies. We
+submit that this is a fair explanation of the case. The believer
+acts in harmony with the reason, the unbeliever is guilty of sin;
+and no reason can be given for sin.
+
+The view thus advocated has been held as a denial of the Spirit's
+work. If by the Spirit's work is understood a faith-necessitating
+and will-overpowering work, then certainly the Spirit's work is thus
+denied. But this is to cut before the point. There are, for
+instance, different views of inspiration, as the inspiration of
+direction, superintendency, elevation, and suggestion. Suppose I
+were asked what theory of inspiration I held regarding any portion
+of the Bible, and I answered that I had none, but took the
+Scriptures as God's message to men, would it be fair argument to
+assert that I denied inspiration? Manifestly not. But neither is it
+fair to raise the cry that the Spirit's work is denied because a
+particular theory regarding that work is denied, the theory, namely,
+which makes it to be physical or mechanical.
+
+Incorrect views of the Spirit's work have been entertained by
+theologians in consequence of erroneous conceptions regarding the
+degeneracy of human nature. Augustine held that man can do nothing
+which will at all contribute to His spiritual recovery. He is like a
+lump of clay, or a statue without life or activity. In consequence
+of these views, he held that grace in its operation on the heart was
+irresistible,--sometimes through the word, at other times without
+it. Dr. Knapp says, "God does not act in such a way as to infringe
+upon the free will of man, or to interfere with the use of his
+powers" (Phil. ii. 12, 13). Consequently, God does not act on men
+immediately, producing ideas in their souls without the preaching or
+reading of the scriptures, or influencing their will in any other
+way than by the understanding. Did God act in any other way than
+through the understanding, he would operate miraculously and
+irresistibly, and the practice of virtue under such an influence
+would have no intrinsic worth; it would be compelled, and
+consequently incapable of reward (_Theo_., p. 408). He says again,
+"The doctrine of the Protestant church has always been that God does
+not act immediately on the heart in conversion, or, in other words,
+that He does not produce ideas in the understanding, and effects in
+the will, by His absolute Divine power without the employment of
+external means. This would be such an immediate conversion and
+illumination as fanatics contend for, who regard their own
+imaginations and thoughts as effects of the Spirit" (p. 400). If our
+creed on this subject is to be based on the Bible, it leaves us in
+no doubt upon the matter. In speaking of the new birth it is
+written, "Of His own will begat He us by the word of truth, that we
+should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures" (Jas. i. 18). Here
+the truth is used as the medium in conversion, and not a syllable
+about irresistible influence. The apostle Peter states the same
+thing: "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
+incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for
+ever" (1 Peter i. 23). Our Lord, in explaining the parable of the
+sower said--"The seed is the word of God," and seed, in order to
+germination, must have an appropriate soil.
+
+CALVINISTIC ELECTION UNCONDITIONAL:--The followers of Calvin,
+however they differ among themselves regarding certain standpoints,
+agree in this, that evangelical election is unconditional. The
+Confession of Faith declares that election is "without any foresight
+of faith or good works or perseverance in either of them, or any
+other thing in the creature as conditions or causes moving Him (God)
+thereunto" (_Confess_., Chap. III.) Dr. Payne says of the elect,
+"They were not chosen to salvation on account of their foreseen
+repentance, and faith, and obedience, for faith and repentance are
+the fruit, not the root of predestination" (p. 47.) And again, "The
+electing decree, which is unconditional" (p. 38).
+
+The Bible has been appealed to as supporting this view, that
+election is eternal and unconditional, and we shall consider certain
+of the passages thus appealed to.
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+BIBLE TEXTS IN PROOF OF CALVINISTIC ELECTION CONSIDERED.
+
+
+IN Matthew xx. 16 it is written: "For many are called, but few are
+chosen." These words occur at the conclusion of the parable of the
+marriage of the king's son. A great feast had been provided and
+parties invited. A second invitation was sent out, in harmony with
+oriental usage; but those first invited made excuses, and refused to
+come. The servants were then commissioned to go out and give an
+invitation to all and sundry, and the wedding was furnished with
+guests. When the king came in to see the guests, he found a man
+without a wedding garment, and asked him how he had come in not
+having on one. The man remained speechless. It is then added, "many
+are called, but few are chosen." Now, the election which Calvinists
+contend for is eternal and unconditional. Does the above passage
+prove this? We think it proves the reverse. There was a rejection
+and a choosing, but each was based on state or personal condition.
+The man was rejected because he had not on the wedding garment; the
+others were chosen because they had it on. Suppose that there was no
+robe for the man, would he or should he have been speechless? Might
+he not have risen up in the midst of the assembly, and said, "Sire,
+I received the invitation in the highway. I was pressed to come to
+the feast. When I came there was no robe for me, and even if there
+had been one, there was no one to help me to put it on; and by a
+fatal accident in childhood I lost an arm, and was unable to do it
+myself. Yet I received the invitation, and that is the reason why I
+am here." Would not such a speech have been perfectly satisfactory?
+And where the justice of condemning the man to be cast, in these
+circumstance, into outer darkness? But the punishment meted out to
+the man, showed that there was a robe for him, and that he might
+have put it on. The choice, therefore, of sitting at the marriage
+feast was conditional, and not, as Calvinists contend, unconditional.
+
+The choice, moreover, was after the calling, and is _yet_ to take
+place, and as a consequence the passage does not prove that election
+is eternal. No doubt, whatever God does in time He purposed to do in
+eternity, but we should distinguish between a purpose to choose and
+the choice itself.
+
+There is nothing, then, in this passage to perplex any one. God, the
+infinite Father and heavenly King, has provided a feast of love for
+all men, and therefore for you, O reader, whosoever you are. Christ
+has wrought out a robe of righteousness for all, and therefore for
+you. The Holy Spirit prays you to be clothed with it--that is, to
+depend on Christ and Christ only, and not upon your doings or upon
+your feelings. When you cease to depend on self and to rest entirely
+on Jesus, there springs up in the heart an aspiration to be Christ
+-like, and to be wholly His. By being clothed with Christ's
+righteousness you will have, by God's grace, a title to sit down at
+the heavenly feast, and a moral meetness for heavenly society.
+
+THE ELECT FOREKNOWN.--In Romans viii. 29, 30, it is written: "For
+whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to
+the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many
+brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called;
+and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified,
+them He also glorified." This passage is one of the strongholds of
+the view we contend against; but if it prove eternal election, it
+will also prove much more than this. If the persons spoken of were
+eternally elected, then they were also eternally called, and
+eternally justified, and eternally glorified. They would thus be
+justified before they sinned, and glorified before they had a being.
+The verbs are all in the aorist tense, and what is true of one verb
+is true of all the others. An interpretation burdened with such
+consequences cannot be true.
+
+Dr. Payne has very few remarks on the passage, but they are emphatic
+enough. "The passage is so conclusive," he says, "that it scarcely
+seems to require or even to admit of many remarks," and he does not
+give many. The simple question is this: does this passage prove
+unconditional election? Is there anything in the context to prove
+the reverse? We think that there is. In the twenty-eighth verse the
+apostle says, "And we know that all things work together for good to
+them that love God, to them that are the called according to His
+purpose." He is thus writing of a certain class of persons, or of
+persons in a certain moral state, that moral state being that they
+were lovers of God, as he expressly states in verse 28. He does not
+say that they were visited by a special and irresistible influence
+bestowed on them and withheld from others. He simply asserts that
+those lovers of God had all things working for their good; that they
+were called or invited to glory, as (in 1 Peter v. 10) it is said,
+"But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory
+by Christ Jesus." And having intimated their call, Paul goes on to
+show what was the destiny awaiting the believer. He says, "For whom
+He did foreknow," and when he said this he could not mean the mere
+knowledge of entities, or of persons, for this reason, that God
+knows the finally lost as well as the finally saved. The apostle
+therefore could only mean that God, knowing beforehand those who
+would love him, fore-appointed or decreed in eternity that those who
+possessed this moral state should be conformed to the image of His
+Son, or personal appearance of Christ (1 John iii. 2). Those lovers
+of God thus predestinated are invited to heavenly bliss, and will be
+ultimately justified before the world, and glorified. The twenty
+-eighth verse, then, lays down the condition upon which the whole
+passage rests; and to bring forward the text as a proof of
+unconditional election, is simply to ignore the context. As far as
+this portion of the Bible is concerned, there is nothing to perplex
+the most simple. Become a lover of God, and the destiny sketched by
+the apostle awaits you. We become lovers of God by believing in His
+love to us. "We love Him," says John, "because He first loved us" (1
+John iv. 19).
+
+THE UNBORN CHILDREN.--Romans ix. 11, is appealed to. It reads thus:
+"For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good
+or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand,
+not of works, but of Him who calleth." This verse is parenthetical,
+lying between the tenth and twelfth verses. They read thus, verse
+10: "And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one,
+even by our father Isaac;" verse 12: "It was said unto her, the
+elder shall serve the younger." It is the eleventh verse which is
+taken as proving Calvinistic election. It is supposed to refer to
+the spiritual and eternal condition of the respective parties. But
+how stands the case? The original statement is found in Genesis xxv.
+22, 23: "Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall
+be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger
+than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." Now,
+if we take the passage in the Calvinistic sense, that it refers to
+salvation, what will follow? This, namely, that all the descendants
+of Jacob would be saved, and all the descendants of Esau utterly
+lost. If this were so, then why should Paul have been so troubled
+about the spiritual state of his countrymen, as he says he was, in
+the preamble of this very chapter? The hypothesis, makes the apostle
+to stultify himself as a logician.
+
+The Calvinistic interpretation will not stand looking at, there
+being, in fact, no reference to salvation in the passage. The
+apostle quotes the text, the purport of which is that in a certain
+respect the people of Esau would be inferior to the people of Jacob.
+The Jews held that, being Abraham's seed, they were safe for
+eternity. The apostle's argument, then, is this: The people of Esau
+were as truly descended from Abraham as you, my countrymen, are, and
+yet this descent did not entitle them to be the Messianic people;
+and if mere descent did not entitle to this, how much less would it
+entitle to heavenly glory? The text, then, has really no bearing
+upon evangelical election, but simply to the election of the Jews to
+theocratic privileges.
+
+CHOSEN BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.--Ephesians i. 4, is
+appealed to. It reads thus: "According as He hath chosen us in Him
+before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
+without blame before Him in love." This is an old favourite text in
+support of eternal and unconditional election. But does it prove it?
+Those Christians to whom Paul wrote were chosen before the
+foundation of the world. True, but what does this mean? Does it
+prove eternal election? To elect is to "pick out," "to select." But
+the parties spoken of could not be _actually_ elected or chosen
+before they existed. Before you can take a pebble from an urn, it
+must first be in the urn. So before man can be _actually picked_ out
+of the world, he must _first_ be in it: hence election must be a
+work of time. Paul speaks of his kinsmen who were in Christ before
+him (Rom. xvi. 7); but if election is eternal, then the one could
+not be in Christ before the other. The language then in Eph. i. 14,
+can only refer to the _purpose_ of God to select certain persons in
+time--BELIEVERS--to be "holy and without blame." The bearing of the
+passage, then, is the same as many others, and is simply this, that
+whatever God does in time, He determined to do in eternity. His
+purpose was formed before the foundation of the world, or in
+eternity.
+
+Neither is there any countenance given to the idea that the election
+was _unconditional_. This is clearly shown by the words "IN HIM."
+The Catechism asks the question, "Did God leave all mankind to
+perish in the estate of sin and misery?" and the answer is, "God
+having out of His mere good pleasure from all eternity elected some
+to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver
+them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into a
+state of salvation by a Redeemer." If this is a true version of the
+case, then the saved were elected first when they were _out of_
+Christ. But the passage in Ephesians says the reverse of this. They
+were elected being IN CHRIST. To be in Christ is just to be united
+to Him by faith--a believer in Christ as the great High Priest of
+humanity.
+
+CHOSEN TO SALVATION.--2 Thess. ii. 13, is appealed to. It reads
+thus: "But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you,
+brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
+chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and
+belief of the truth." The question then is, does this passage prove
+eternal and unconditional election? As to its being eternal, the
+only portion of the verse that bears on this is the phrase "from the
+beginning." Barnes says the words mean "from eternity." But the
+words themselves do not prove this. When the Jews asked Jesus who He
+was, He answered, "Even the same that I said unto you from the
+beginning." It clearly does not mean "eternity" here. Again, in 1
+John ii. 7, it is written: "The old commandment is the word which ye
+have heard from the beginning." Here, also, it is evident that the
+words cannot mean from "eternity," since they did not exist in
+eternity. But supposing the words did refer to eternity, then their
+meaning could only denote the purpose of God, since they had in
+eternity no real existence. We take the words to signify the
+commencement of the Christian cause in Thessalonica. Whedon's
+paraphrase is: "From the first founding of the Thessalonian church."
+Watson takes them to denote, "The very first reception of the Gospel
+in Thessalonica." Whatever view is taken of the words, the idea of
+an _actual_ eternal election is excluded.
+
+Dr. Payne depends upon the verse as supporting his view of
+unconditional election. In concluding his criticism of the passage
+he says, "The election, then, here spoken of is not an election of
+future glory founded on foreseen faith and obedience; but an
+election to faith and obedience as necessary pre-requisites to the
+enjoyment of this glory, or perhaps, more correctly speaking, as
+partly constituting it" (pp. 84, 85.) Unfortunately for this
+argument the apostle uses the word "_through_" (en), not "_to_"
+(eis). He says that they were chosen to salvation or glory through
+sanctification of the Spirit on God's part and belief of the truth
+on theirs; or, in other words, he contemplates the Christians at
+Thessalonica as objects of future glory, and they had come to occupy
+this position by God's gracious Spirit dealing with them through the
+truth, and by their believing the truth thus brought to them. The
+passage shows the means by which they had become chosen or elected
+persons. They believed the TRUTH, and you may do the same.
+
+ELECTION AND FOREKNOWLEDGE.--1 Peter i. 1, is appealed to in support
+of Calvinistic election. It reads thus: "Elect according to the
+foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the
+Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ."
+But this cannot prove that the election spoken of was eternal,
+because the Spirit's work takes place in time, and not in eternity.
+Neither does it prove that it was unconditional. It is through the
+Spirit that men are convicted of sin, and led by His gracious
+influences to trust in Jesus. The epistle was written to believers,
+to those who had been "born again" (1 Peter i. 23), and he says that
+they were elected, choice ones, according to God's foreknowledge,
+who knew from eternity that they would believe under His grace; and
+they were, being believers, chosen unto obedience, and also to a
+justified state, or "the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus." To
+contend that if a man believes under what is termed "common grace,"
+this is to make himself to "differ," and to take the praise of
+salvation to himself, is in our opinion entirely wrong. Does the
+patient who takes the medicine under the persuasion of a kind
+physician, and is cured, have whereof to boast? Because the blind
+beggar takes an alms, has he whereof to glory? Neither do we see
+that a poor guilty sinner has any reason for boasting when, under
+the persuasion of the Divine Spirit, he accepts a full pardon of all
+his sins. Were a prisoner who has been condemned to be visited by
+the sovereign, and a pardon put into his hands, to go afterwards
+through the streets shouting, "I have saved myself--I have saved
+myself," we should say the man was crazed. Why will not theologians
+look at things from a commonsense point of view? There is nothing in
+the passage to prevent you at once entering among the elect.
+
+MAKING ELECTION SURE.--In 2 Peter i. 10, it is written thus:
+"Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling
+and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall."
+But the passage says nothing about the _time_ when they were
+elected, nor whether they were elected to get a peculiar influence
+to necessitate faith. It implies the negative of the Calvinistic
+opinion. The Christians were exhorted to make their election sure.
+But if they were elected by an infallible decree, how could they
+make it sure? It was, by the theory, sure, independent of them. The
+exhortation shows that Peter did not know anything of the dogma, and
+that he held that men had to do with watching over their spiritual
+life, so that their calling to glory and their election might not
+fail.
+
+A REMNANT ACCORDING TO ELECTION.--In Romans xi. 5, it is written
+thus: "Even so at the present time there is a remnant according to
+the election of grace." It is true that the words "election" and
+"grace" occur in this passage; but the simple question is, what is
+their meaning? The apostle had asked, in the first verse, "Hath God
+cast off His people?" And he repudiates the idea, and refers to the
+state of matters in the time of Elijah. The prophet had thought that
+he was the solitary worshipper of God; but in this he was mistaken.
+Seven thousand men were yet true to the Lord, and had not bowed the
+knee to Baal. So at the time the apostle wrote there was a few, a
+"remnant" of the nation who had believed through grace, and were
+chosen, elected, to receive the blessings of pardon and the
+indwelling of the Holy Spirit. God had not, therefore, cast off His
+people, since He was saving all of them who believed. In the
+exercise of His sovereign wisdom He has made, however, _faith_ to be
+the condition of salvation both for Jew and Gentile. And there is
+nothing arbitrary in this. In our everyday life we are required to
+exercise, and are constantly exercising, faith. If we wish to cross
+the Atlantic, we must exercise faith in regard to the seaworthiness
+of the ship. We marry, lend money, take medicine, and a thousand
+other things, upon the principle of faith. We will not allow a man
+into our family circle who holds us to be liars. Should he take that
+position we exclude him from friendly fellowship. If he would get
+good from us in a certain sphere of things, faith in us is
+absolutely requisite. It is the same with God. If we would be
+blessed with the sweet peace of pardon, we can only have it by
+believing in the testimony that God has given regarding the Son,
+that He tasted death for every man--died, therefore, for us.
+
+The passages of Scripture we have thus considered are those mainly
+depended on in support of the Calvinistic doctrine of election. The
+doctrine, like the chameleon, has different shades, according to the
+school. The high predestinarians, or, as they are called, "_supra
+-lapsarians_," maintain, as we have seen, that God created a certain
+number to be saved, and a certain number to be lost. The _infra_- or
+_sublap_-_sarians_, maintain that God contemplated the race as
+fallen, and determined to save a given number, and a given number
+only, and to reprobate a given number. Regarding the former a
+Saviour has been provided for them and irresistible grace. The
+modern Calvinists differ, as we have also seen, from both of these
+schools, and hold that God loves all, and has provided a Saviour for
+all, but that converting grace is given only to some. There is a
+consistency, a grim consistency, in the two former views; but the
+latter limps, it divides the Trinity. It makes God's love to be
+world-wide, Christ's death to be for all, but the gracious or
+converting work of the Spirit is limited. But however these systems
+differ from each other, they all agree in this, that God is not
+earnestly desirous of saving all men. And this, as we hold, is the
+damning fact against them all.
+
+There are certain specific objections, however, to which we now beg
+attention.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+OBJECTIONS TO THE CALVINISTIC DOCTRINE OF ELECTION.
+
+
+(1.) WE object, in the _first_ place, to the Calvinistic doctrine of
+election, because it is absurd to call it election. The advocates of
+the three views of election mentioned stoutly maintain that the
+persons chosen are chosen unconditionally; in other words, they are
+chosen not on account of any mental or moral quality in them. It is
+on this account designated _unconditional_. There is nothing
+whatever in the persons chosen on which to ground the choice.
+Supposing this to be the case, can there be any choice, election?
+Mr. Robinson has put the case thus: "What is election? Is it
+possible to choose one of two things, excepting for reasons to be
+found in the things themselves? Ask a friend which of a number of
+oranges he will take. If he sees nothing in them to determine
+selection, he says, 'I have no choice.' Ask a blind man which of two
+oranges, that are out of his reach, he prefers, and you mock him by
+proposing an impossibility. If they are put near him, that he may
+feel them or smell them, or if by any other means he can judge
+between them, he can choose, otherwise he cannot choose. If they lie
+far from him, he may say, 'Give me the one that lies to the east, or
+the west;' but that is a lottery, an accident, chance, certainly no
+choice. Therefore, to assert that the cause of election is not in
+anything in the person chosen, is really to deny that there is any
+election. And it is a curious fact that the most vehement
+predestinarians, while they flatter themselves that they are the
+honoured advocates of the Divine decrees, by sequence set aside
+election altogether. Their hypothesis annihilates the very doctrine
+for which they are most zealous, and, if it may be said without
+irreverence, introduces the dice box into the counsels of heaven"
+(_Bible Studies_, p. 192). If we look into life, we always find that
+when we elect or choose, we do so because of something in the person
+or thing elected. It is so as regards food, drink, dress, houses,
+pictures, statues, books; it is so, too, as regards members of
+Parliament, ministers for pastorates, and in marriage. We are,
+indeed, so constituted that we cannot conceive of choice or election
+except upon the grounds of freedom in the elector, and something to
+differentiate the object chosen from others of like nature. The
+Confession of Faith says, however, that those who are predestinated
+unto life are chosen "without any foresight of faith or good works,
+or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the
+creation, as conditions or causes moving Him thereunto, and all to
+the praise of His glorious grace" (_Con_., chap. iii.) Yet the Bible
+says expressly, "But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is
+godly for himself" (Ps. iv. 3); "Hath not God chosen the poor in
+this world rich in faith?" (Jas. ii. 5.) There is a setting apart,
+or choosing, but it is not unconditional, as these verses show.
+
+No doubt, the _motive_ of those who hold unconditional election is
+good, arising from a desire to give all the glory of salvation to
+God, and from the frequency of the term "grace" in regard to our
+deliverance. But the great object of giving all the glory to God may
+be, and is accomplished, without doing violence to Scripture, or
+trampling upon common sense. The principle or system of Syenergism
+does this. It simply means that man is active in his own conversion.
+It was advocated in his later years by Melancthon. We have not,
+however, to do with the _motive_ of our friends, but with the
+philosophy of the subject; and to assert that men are chosen to
+salvation apart from condition, is only assertion, and an absurd
+assertion, too. Try it in regard to anything, and its folly will be
+apparent. Why, then, insist upon it in religion? Are we to throw
+reason to the dogs when we speak on scriptural subjects?
+
+(2.) In the _second_ place, we object to the Calvinistic theory of
+election, because it ignores and tramples upon a primary principle
+of philosophy. The principle is this: "That a plurality of
+principles are not to be assumed when the phenomena can possibly be
+explained by one" (Hamilton's _Reid_, p. 751).
+
+It is what is known as the law of parsimony. The three views of
+election referred to have bound up with them, as an integral portion
+of the system, the theory of _irresistible_ grace. Take this away,
+and they fall to pieces as a rope of sand. A man who has hitherto
+lived an ungodly life becomes converted, and the question arises
+--how are we to account for this moral phenomenon? Our friends from
+whom we differ account for it in this way: In the past eternity God
+saw that the man would come upon the stage of time, and determined
+to visit his soul with an irresistible influence, under the
+operation of which he became converted. Now this is to them a very
+satisfactory way of accounting for the conversion. But may not this
+change in the man take place without this _tertiam quid_, or third
+something? If it may, then to import it into the controversy is to
+violate the law of parsimony or maxim of philosophy, that it is
+wrong to multiply causes beyond what are necessary. But let us look
+at life: let us enter the sphere of human experience. We find men,
+for instance, who in politics were at one period pronounced
+Radicals, like Burdett, becoming Conservative in their opinions; and
+men, like the Peelites, changing from the Conservative side to that
+of the Liberals. In accounting for this we do not call in a
+mysterious and occult influence to solve the matter. It is
+explainable without this. Take the case of medicine. We find men
+educated in the allopathic system changing, and becoming disciples
+of Habnemann. Ask them how it came about, and they answer at once,
+that it was by considering the results. Take a case of intemperance,
+An old inebriate attends a temperance lecture, listens attentively,
+becomes persuaded of the value of abstinence, signs the pledge, and
+spends the remainder of his life a sober man. He loved the drink,
+and now he hates it. Ask him how it came about? He tells you at once
+that the facts and arguments of the lecture convinced him of the
+evil of the drink, and led him to abandon it for ever. A great
+change has been effected, but in perfect harmony with the known laws
+of mind. Let us now look at religion. Paul arrives at Corinth, and
+preaches the Gospel to the inhabitants of that degenerate city. They
+listened to the wondrous story of redeeming love, and became changed
+through means of it. Was there anything in the nature of the truth
+preached to them and believed by them fitted to do this? We think
+that there was. They had sins--were guilty. Paul told them of a
+Saviour who died for them. This met their case. They were degraded,
+foul; the religion Paul preached appealed to their sense of right,
+to their gratitude, to their fears and their hopes; and believing
+it, they became regenerated in their moral nature. They had been won
+to God by the "Gospel" (1 Cor. iv. 15). As temperance truth
+revolutionises the drunkard, so does Gospel truth the sinner (1
+Peter i. 23, 25). The apostle was the agent employed by the Holy
+Spirit, and believing the message he brought, they were believing
+the Spirit (See 1 Samuel viii. 7). Since, then, the truth believed
+is a sufficient reason for the change, why introduce the theory of
+irresistible grace? It may be replied that this kind of grace is
+used to get the sinner to attend to the message.
+
+But attention to any subject is brought about by considering
+motives. Man has the power over his attention. It is the possession
+of this power which is a main item in constituting him a responsible
+being. He may or may not attend to the voice of God. If he attends
+to it he lives; if not, he dies. If God used force in this matter,
+why reason with men and appeal to them as He does?
+
+We appeal to Christian consciousness. Let any Christian give a
+reason of the hope that is in him--and it is all perfectly
+reasonable. All through, in the great matter of conversion, he acted
+freely. He attended to the Divine message--but there was no
+compulsion. Why, then, insist upon irresistibility when it is
+repudiated by Christian consciousness? We know no reason for it but
+the exigencies of the system. If you are waiting for it you are
+being deceived.
+
+(3.) We object, in the _third_ place, to the Calvinistic view of
+election, because it makes God a respecter of persons. What is it to
+be a respecter of persons? Literally, it means "an accepter of
+faces." According to the _Imperial Dictionary_, it signifies "a
+person who regards the external circumstances of others in his
+judgment, and suffers his opinion to be biased by them, to the
+prejudice of candour, justice, and equity." It is to act with
+partiality. It is of the utmost moment that respect of persons
+should not be shown in the domestic circle, on the bench; or in the
+church. If a father shows favouritism to one son less worthy, say,
+than the others, he lays himself open to the charge of partiality,
+unevenness in his procedure, and it tends to alienate the affections
+of his other children. To show it on the bench is to sully the
+ermine, and bring the administration of justice into disrepute.
+Whoever else may exhibit it, the church is required to have clean
+hands in the matter (James ii.)
+
+We are so constituted that we cannot love or hate by a mere fiat of
+the will. Before we can love one another with complacency, there
+must be the perception of excellence. And it is the same as regards
+God. Hence it is of the last importance that to our mental view He
+should be pure, holy, impartial, good. To love Him if we thought Him
+otherwise, would be impossible. Now God has abundantly shown, both
+in providence and in the Bible, that He is not a respecter of
+persons. He executes His laws indiscriminately--upon all alike. Fire
+burns, poison kills, water drowns all and sundry. If the laws of
+health are broken, the penalty is enforced on each transgressor
+according to the measure of his transgression. It is the same with
+moral penalties. If a man lies, or steals, or is mean, or selfish,
+he will suffer moral deterioration, which will pass through his
+moral being as a leprosy. Our physical, mental, and moral natures
+are thus under their respective laws, and whosoever breaks these
+laws God executes the penalty on the transgressor. There is in this
+respect no favouritism--no respect of persons.
+
+There are, as a matter of course, diversities upon earth. All cannot
+occupy the same place. We have not the brilliancy and luxuriancy of
+the tropics, but we have our compensations. And it is the same with
+life in general. In comparison with the rich the poor have a rough
+road to travel, but they are not without their compensations. The
+moral life is the higher life of man, and in the stern school of
+adversity there are developed noble traits of character.
+
+    "Though losses and crosses
+    Be lessons right severe,
+    There's wit there you'll get there,
+    You'll find no other where."
+
+The diversities we find in life are not arbitrary acts, as we have
+already seen, but dependent upon adherence or non-adherence to law.
+
+The same great principle that regulates the providential government
+of God, is brought clearly out in the Scriptures. It is remarked by
+Cruden that "God appointed that the judges should pronounce their
+sentences without any respect of persons (Lev. xix. 15; Deut i. 17);
+that they should consider neither the poor nor the rich, nor the
+weak nor the powerful, but only attend to truth and justice, and
+give sentence according to the merits of the cause." It is said in
+Proverbs that it is not good to have respect of persons in judgment
+(Prov. xxiv. 23). Peter declared that there is no respect of persons
+with God; and Paul said, "For there is no respect of persons with
+God" (Romans ii. 11). James declared that if the Christians to whom
+he wrote showed respect of persons they committed sin (James ii. 9).
+
+The Bible is thus exceedingly careful to guard the Divine character
+from the charge of partiality. And obviously so. Let but the idea be
+entertained in the mind for a moment, and it leaves a slime behind
+it as if a serpent had passed through the corridor of our dwelling.
+The simple question then is, Does this doctrine of Calvinistic
+election exhibit God as a respecter of persons? It clearly does so.
+According to it, God, irrespective of any conditions in the
+creature, appoints a certain number to be saved and leaves the rest
+to perish. And is not this partiality? Is not this favouritism?
+Since the doctrine thus reflects on the Divine character, it
+deserves condemnation.
+
+(4.) In the _fourth_ place, we object to the Calvinistic doctrine of
+election, _because it is opposed to the letter and spirit of many
+passages of the Bible_. We beg attention to a few. Consider the OATH
+OF GOD. "As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death
+of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn
+ye, turn ye, from your evil way, for why will ye die, O house of
+Israel?" (Ezek. xxxiii. 11). Would not any one reading these words
+naturally conclude that God really wished all the people to be
+saved? Have they not a ring of genuine sincerity about them? We
+cannot conceive that such a question would have been asked, viz.,
+"Why will ye die?" had their death been inevitable. Not only was it
+not inevitable, but the earnest entreaty to return showed that God
+intensely desired their salvation. Yet, if Calvinism is true, the
+oath of God and His earnest entreaty, as far as millions of the
+human race are concerned, are simply as sounding brass and a
+tinkling cymbal. Nay, more, they are a solemn mockery. I see two men
+floundering in deep water; I jump into my boat and save one, and
+bring him safely to shore. I could easily have saved the other had I
+wished it, but did not. Were I then to stand on the bank of the
+river and ask the sinking man, Why will you die? what would be
+thought of me, or any man, who should act such a part? Such conduct
+would be cruel, cruel to any poor soul in its death-struggle. Yet
+this is exactly the part God is made to perform by the high
+Calvinists, and is endorsed by their more modern brethren. He could
+easily save every one if He wished it, they say: But this assertion
+cannot stand in the presence of God's oath and His earnest entreaty
+to turn and live.
+
+THE VINEYARD.--Let us look at the case of the vineyard, as recorded
+in Isaiah v. The house of Israel is there compared to a vineyard
+which God had planted. After detailing what had been done, the
+question is asked, "What could have been done more to my vineyard
+that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should
+bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?" (verse 4). The
+moral condition of Israel was anything but good. God had looked for
+judgment, but there was oppression, and for righteousness, but
+behold a cry! Yet the question in this fourth verse carries the idea
+that He had done all that He wisely could, in the circumstances, to
+reform and save them. But they were not reformed, they were not
+saved. It might indeed be affirmed that this was because they had
+not been visited by "special influence," or converting grace. But if
+this kind of grace is the only kind that is fructifying, and was for
+sovereign reasons withheld, how could the question be asked, "What
+could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in
+it?" The one thing needful had _not_ been done, if this hypothesis
+is true, and in view of it the question could not have been put at
+all. But it was put, and this shows that God had done all that He
+wisely could do to save the people, and that He did not keep back
+the needed grace, for which Calvinists contend.
+
+CHRIST'S TEARS OVER JERUSALEM.--The tears of our Lord over the city
+of Jerusalem are a clear demonstration against the Calvinistic
+doctrine of election. It is said, "When He was come near, He beheld
+the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou,
+at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!
+but now they are hid from thine eyes" (Luke xix. 41, 42). When a
+woman weeps it is not an infrequent phenomenon. Her nerves are more
+finely strung than man's, and a touching tale or sympathetic story
+brings the tears to her eyes and sobs from her lips. When men weep
+it indicates deep emotion; and when Christ looked upon the city, His
+soul was moved with compassion, and He wept. He knew what had been
+done for the guilty inhabitants--how God had borne with them--and
+the doom that, like the sword of Damocles, hung over them, and His
+tender heart found relief in tears. In the presence of this weeping
+Redeemer can we entertain the Calvinistic notion that He could
+easily have saved the people, _if He had only wished it_? He wished
+to gather them as a hen doth her chickens under her wings, but they
+would not come. Were there not another passage in the Bible than the
+one just referred to (Matthew xxiii. 37), it is sufficient to
+dispose of the theory that God uses irresistible grace in saving
+men. He had used the most powerful motives to bring them to himself,
+but they would not come.
+
+John Wesley, in writing on Predestination, says,--"Let it be
+observed that this doctrine represents our blessed Lord Jesus
+Christ, the righteous, the only-begotten Son of the Father, full of
+grace and truth, as an hypocrite, a deceiver of the people, a man
+void of common sincerity. For it cannot be denied that He everywhere
+speaks as if He was willing that all men should be saved. Therefore,
+to say that He was not willing that all men should be saved, is to
+represent Him as a mere hypocrite and dissembler. It cannot be
+denied that the gracious words which came out of His mouth are full
+of invitations to all sinners. To say, then, He did not intend to
+save all sinners, is to represent Him as a gross deceiver of the
+people. You cannot deny that He says, 'Come unto me all ye that are
+weary and heavy laden.' If, then, you say He calls those that cannot
+come, those whom He knows to be unable to come, those whom He can
+make able to come but will not; how is it possible to describe
+greater insincerity? You represent Him as mocking His helpless
+creatures, by offering what He never intends to give. You describe
+Him as saying one thing and meaning another, as pretending the love
+which He had not. Him in whose mouth was no guile, you make full of
+deceit, void of common sincerity; then, especially when drawing nigh
+the city He wept over it, and said, 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou
+that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee,
+how often would I have gathered thy children together, and ye would
+not.' Now, if ye say they would but He would not, you represent Him
+(which who could hear) as weeping crocodile's tears; weeping over
+the prey which himself had doomed to destruction" (Ser. 128).
+
+Consider the _last commission_ of Christ. Before our Lord left the
+world He said to His apostles, "Go ye into all the world, and preach
+the Gospel to every creature." Good news was thus to be proclaimed
+to every human being. If the commission meant anything it meant
+this, that God was honestly and earnestly desirous of saving every
+one. And this is in beautiful harmony with the exhortation in
+Isaiah: "Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth"
+(Isa. xlv. 22). It is also in keeping with the words of Jesus
+recorded by John: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His
+only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
+perish, but have everlasting life" (John iii. 16); and with what the
+apostle Peter says, that "God is not willing that any should perish,
+but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter iii. 9); and with
+what the apostle Paul says, that God "will have all men to be saved"
+(1 Tim. ii. 4). But whilst the commission to preach the good news is
+in harmony with these express statements, it is out of joint and
+incongruous with the Calvinistic doctrine of election, that God
+wishes only a few of the human family saved.
+
+Consider the HOLY SPIRIT'S INVITATION. In Revelation xxii. 17, it is
+written: "And the Spirit and the bride say, come. And let him that
+heareth say, come. And let him that is athirst come, and whosoever
+will let him take the water of life freely." Whilst we are so
+constituted that we cannot believe a proposition the terms of which
+we do not understand, and whilst there is much that is inscrutable
+in the Spirit's work, yet the passage just quoted clearly means, if
+it means anything, that the Holy Spirit invites all to come and
+drink of the life-giving water. We cannot doubt His sincerity. When
+all are invited to drink, it is implied that there is water for all,
+and that it is free to all, and that they have power to drink. We
+may not ask one to drink at an empty fountain without being guilty
+of the sheerest mockery; and neither may we ask the wounded and
+disabled man, who cannot walk a step, to come and drink, without
+being guilty of the same. This invitation of the Spirit, then, is
+inconsistent with the Calvinistic notion that His converting grace
+is limited. Says the late Dr. John Guthrie, "Was it antecedently to
+be supposed that a Divine Father who loves all, and so loved as to
+give His own and only-begotten for our ransom, and that the Divine
+Son, who as lovingly gave Himself, would send the Divine Spirit
+mediatorially to reveal and interpret both, who should not operate
+in the world on the same principle of impartiality and universality?
+What philosophy and theology thus dictate, Scripture confirms.
+Christ promised His disciples an interpreting and applying Spirit,
+who should convince the _world_. Prophets predicted, and Pentecost
+proved, that God was pouring out His Spirit on all flesh. These
+influences were, in their largest incidents, soul-saving; through
+being moral, they were resistible. Ye do always resist the Holy
+Ghost, said Stephen, and the Holy Ghost himself saith to-day, Oh
+that ye would hear His voice; which He would not do if faith came by
+another sort of influence which He only could give, and which He did
+not mean to give till _to-morrow_, or next year, or not at all! In
+that last and most gracious of Gospel invitations, which the
+incarnate Himself utters in Rev. xxii. 17, among other inviters, the
+Spirit says, come! and says it to all; which surely, as He is the
+Spirit of truth, He would not do, if not a soul could come till He
+himself put forth an influence which He had predetermined to bestow
+only on a select and favoured number. The ugly limitation will not
+do. The work and heart of the loving Spirit are, and must be, as
+large as those of the Father and the Son, whom He came to reveal."
+(_Discourses_, Ser. X.)
+
+The objections thus tendered to the Calvinistic theory of election
+are sufficient separately, and much more so collectively, to condemn
+the dogma. We impute no motives to the honoured men who hold the
+doctrine. They are doubtless as sincere in their belief as we are in
+ours. It did seem to us, at one time, that God could convert men if
+He wished it; but the dictum of Chillingworth--"the Bible and the
+Bible alone is the religion of Protestants," overturned that idea.
+The words of Jesus, "How often would I have gathered thy children
+together, . . . but ye would not," showed that Jesus was wishful to
+save the people; but His wish was not realised, because they "would
+not." And the Bible and philosophy are in harmony. We could easily
+conceive, that were certain individuals to be taken by almighty
+effort from one sphere, and placed in another, they would be
+converted. Christ confirms this idea. He said, "Woe unto thee,
+Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works which
+have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
+have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes" (Mat. xi. 21). But as
+God loves all equally with the love of compassion, this exercise of
+miracle in one case would lead to the exercise of miracle in
+another. And what would this involve? It would simply lead to the
+overturning of God's moral providence, which is based upon, and
+carried on in conjunction with, the highest wisdom. Parents may
+often be found sacrificing their wisdom to their love, but it is not
+so with God. All His attributes are in harmony. Justice is not
+sacrificed to love, nor love to justice. There is thus, in the
+Divine character, a firm and unchanging basis for the most profound
+veneration and the most intense affection.
+
+Regarding the particular illustration of the people of Sodom, Tyre,
+and Sidon, and why Christ had not done mighty works there, Dr.
+Morison has remarked, "It was not befitting our Saviour to become
+incarnate at _all times_, or even _at two different epochs_ in the
+history of the world. And when He did appear at a particular epoch
+in time, 'the fulness of the time,' it was absolutely necessary that
+He should live and work miracles, _not everywhere_, but in some _one
+limited area or locality_" (_Com. on Mat., ad loc._)
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+THE SCRIPTURAL VIEW OF EVANGELICAL ELECTION.
+
+
+ALTHOUGH there is much confusion of thought regarding election
+viewing it from a Calvinistic standpoint, the word itself is simple
+enough, as is the doctrine when viewed in the light of Scripture.
+
+THE WORD.--According to Liddell and Scott's Greek Lexicon, the verb
+to elect (eklego) means, "To pick or single out," especially as
+soldiers, rowers, &c. In the middle voice, "to pick out for one's
+self, choose out." Robinson says it means "to lay out together, to
+choose out, to select." In N. T. Mid., "to choose out for one's
+self." Parkhurst gives as its signification, "to choose, choose
+out." It has a variety of applications in the Scriptures, just as it
+has in our common everyday life. It was applied to the Jewish
+nation, regarding which it was said, "The Lord thy God hath chosen
+thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations
+that are upon the earth" (Deut. xiv. 2). The term comprehended the
+whole nation, and no one will contend that the choice spoken of
+indicated that every Jew was safe for eternity. It was applied to
+the apostles, but this did not thereby secure infallibly their
+salvation. Judas fell away, and hanged himself. Paul declared that
+he had constantly to watch himself, lest he should become "a
+castaway." It is applied to David, "But I chose David to be over my
+people Israel" (1 Kings viii. 16). It is used also in reference to
+"place:" "As the place which the Lord your God shall choose" (Deut.
+xii. 5). The prophets of Baal were asked to "choose" a bullock, "and
+call on the name of their gods" (1 Kings xviii. 23). These and other
+applications of the word are quite sufficient to show that the term
+is not necessarily connected with the choosing of a few men to
+eternal salvation, and implying a faith-necessitating work of the
+Holy Spirit. And something is gained when we have gained this. Were
+we therefore asked whether we denied election? we should be quite
+entitled to ask, to what kind of election did our questioner refer?
+since there are several kinds referred to in the Holy Scriptures,
+and a special kind outside of Scripture, entertained by the
+followers of John Calvin.
+
+EVANGELICAL ELECTION. A PROCESS.--Seeing that the word "elect" means
+to "pick out," "to choose, to lay aside for one's self," it may
+denote either an act or a process, according to the object elected.
+If I select a book from the library, or choose an apple from the
+tree, the election thus exercised is simply an act, The book elected
+and the apple were entirely passive, having no will in the matter.
+But suppose I want two servants: I go into the market where a number
+are standing waiting to be employed. I find two, and explain the
+nature of the service, and state the wages and the rules of the
+house. One of the two accepts, the other refuses. I go forward on my
+mission, and find another. I state to him what I stated to the two
+already mentioned. He agrees, and is engaged. I have chosen
+--"elected"--the servants; but it was a process, not a simple act.
+Other wills came into play which differentiated the election in the
+one case from the other, and the concurrence of the two wills
+completed the matter. It is written in the word: "Wherefore, come
+out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch
+not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father
+unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord
+Almighty" (2 Cor. vi. 17, 18). This brings the matter plainly before
+us. There is the Divine exhortation, human concurrence, and the
+result--adoption. It is an absurd and unreasonable supposition to
+imagine that God deals with rational and responsible creatures as He
+does with vegetable and irrational brutes, which He does if the
+theory of irresistible grace is maintained.
+
+THE AUTHOR OF EVANGELICAL ELECTION.--There would not be need for any
+remark on this subject, were it not that objection may be urged
+against the view just stated, that it makes man the author of his
+election. In a secondary, yet important sense, he has to do with his
+election. But God is the Prime Mover and Author of evangelical
+election. The scheme of redemption originated with Him. He tells men
+that He earnestly desires their return, and upon what terms He will
+graciously receive them. If they consent He will take them out from
+amongst the condemned, "select them," "elect them," and place them
+among His children. The Bible confirms this view: "God hath from the
+beginning chosen you" (2 Thes. ii. 13.) "God our Father has chosen
+us in Him" (Eph. i. 3, 4.)
+
+THE OBJECTS OF EVANGELICAL ELECTION,--The people of this country are
+frequently engaged in elections. We elect men for the School Board,
+the Town Council, and for Parliament. When we record our vote we do
+so for a definite object. What, then, are the objects which God has
+in view in evangelical election? The apostle Peter states them in
+his first epistle. He says, "Elect unto obedience and sprinkling of
+the blood of Jesus." (1 Peter i. 2.) In other words, they were
+chosen, having become believers, to the blessings of justification
+and sanctification,--the one having reference to their state, the
+other to their character.
+
+HOW TO ENTER AMONG THE ELECT.--This has been the great puzzle to
+those educated under the teaching of Calvinistic divines. They read
+in the Bible that God wishes all men to be saved, but they are told
+that this means all the elect. At times they are "offered" a
+Saviour, but they are told that in order to believe in Him they need
+the irresistible influence of the Holy Ghost. If they are amongst
+the favoured ones, it will come to them in due time; but if they are
+not, then no prayers, no cries, no tears can alter the Divine
+decree. How long will men stand by a system unknown to the Christian
+church for 400 years, and alike repugnant to the reason and the
+whole spirit of the Gospel, and fitted to plunge the honest inquirer
+into endless perplexity?
+
+    "Oh! how unlike the complex works of man
+    Heaven's easy, artless, unencumber'd plan,
+    No meretricious graces to beguile,
+    No clustering ornaments to clog the pile;
+    From ostentation as from weakness free,
+    It stands like the cerulean arch we see,
+    Majestic in its own simplicity.
+    Inscribed above the portal from afar,
+    Conspicuous as the brightness of a star,
+    Legible only by the light they give,
+    Stand the soul-quickening words--'BELIEVE AND LIVE.'"
+
+Paul in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians tells us how they
+entered among the elect. His words are: "But we are bound to give
+thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because
+God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
+sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" (2 Thes. ii.
+13.) They were thus among the elect, and we are told how it came
+about. The Spirit had brought the Gospel message to Thessalonica by
+his accredited agent, the apostle Paul. In that message the people
+were told of God's infinite love--that He loved them, and that the
+Saviour had died for their sins. He testified to Jesus as mighty to
+save, to save any--to save all--to save to the very uttermost. He
+convinced them that they stood in need of a Saviour, and that Christ
+was the very Saviour they required. These were two great phases of
+the Spirit's work--viz., to produce conviction in the mind of the
+sinner, and to point out Jesus as the Lamb of God which hath taken
+away the sin of the world. The Thessalonians, under His gracious
+testimony, believed the record, or, as it is said, "the truth," and
+became the chosen of God--His elected ones.
+
+That this is true may be seen from the way in which sinners enter
+into God's adopted family. It will be admitted that all who are in
+God's adopted family are in a saved condition--in the same state, in
+short, as are the elected ones. But how do men enter into this
+adopted family? It is stated in John i. 12, "But as many as received
+Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them
+that believe on His name." To believe on His name is just to depend
+upon Him alone for salvation. The apostle Paul in writing to the
+Galatians says, "For ye are all the children of God by faith in
+Christ Jesus" (Gal. iii. 26.) Each one had personally to believe in
+Christ, or to say as Paul said, He "loved me, and gave himself for
+me" (Gal. ii. 20.)
+
+It may be said that this makes the way too easy, too simple. It is
+simple to us indeed, but it cost the Divine Father the sacrifice of
+His only-begotten Son; it cost the Divine Son His sore agony in the
+Garden of Gethsemane, and His offering up of himself upon the cross.
+But the simplicity of the way of salvation is implied in such
+passages as, "Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the
+earth;" and, "Hear and your soul shall live." The reason why it is
+easy is this,--the meritorious work of salvation, the work upon the
+ground of which we get into heaven, is not our feelings, nor our own
+works, but the work, the finished work of Christ.
+
+The system advocated in this treatise may be objected to on the
+ground that it makes man the arbiter of his own destiny. There is no
+doubt that it really does so. But is this a good ground for
+rejecting it? We think not. Let it be remembered that all through
+life man has to exercise the power of election--choice. He has to do
+so in regard to a profession or trade, in regard to securities, and
+in respect of marriage, and it would only be in harmony with what he
+is constantly doing, were he called upon to "choose," or decide,
+upon matters affecting his spiritual condition. Is he not, moreover,
+the maker of his own character? This is his most precious heritage,
+more valuable than thousands of gold and silver. But how is it made?
+By single volitions on the side of the right, the true, and the
+good. And is not the life that is to come a continuance of the life
+that _now is_? And if we exercise choice in the making of our
+characters, this is the same as being the arbiters of our
+destination in eternity. And what is thus plain to the intelligence
+is confirmed by the Scriptures. Their language is, "Choose ye this
+day whom ye will serve;" "Wilt thou not from this day say unto me,
+My father?" They thus clearly make the matter to turn on the
+"_will_."
+
+It may be said that the view for which we have been contending, does
+not give the Christian the comfort of heart which the system opposed
+does. But the primary question with an honest inquirer should not
+be, which view of a subject is the most agreeable? but, what is the
+truth upon the point? It is possible in religious life, as in
+social, to live in a fool's paradise. But what more comfort could a
+man desiderate than is given by the Holy Spirit? The Christian may
+be poor and deformed, but God loves him all the same as if he were
+rich as Croesus, and in form had the symmetry of the Apollo
+Belvidere. He may be tried as silver is tried in the fire, but the
+Lord will sit as the refiner, and not suffer him to be tried above
+what he is able to bear.
+
+But what about the _security_ of the believer? The covenant being
+made between Christ and the Father is well ordered in all things and
+sure, according to the system of Predestination. "Once a saint, a
+saint for ever," it has been said. The Christian, it is argued, may
+make slips, even as David did, but he cannot fall finally away, for
+every one that Christ died for will be ultimately saved. Now if all
+this were true, then doubtless a sense, or feeling if you will, of
+security would be gained. When Cromwell was dying he is said to have
+asked his chaplain whether those who once knew the truth could be
+lost, and being answered in the negative, he replied, "Then I am
+safe." Now, it is not agreeable to be constantly on the watch-tower
+looking out for the foe, or to have to tread cautiously among the
+grass lest you should be bitten by a rattlesnake. But a man may
+imagine himself to be secure when he is not. Many of the
+shareholders and trustees involved in the late Bank catastrophy
+thought they were secure; but they slept upon a slumbering volcano,
+and many lost their all. They thought that they were secure, but it
+was a dream from which they were awakened to a terrible reality. So
+in religion. A man under the shadow of a theory may think himself
+safe, whilst his gourd is only the gourd of Jonah, a thing that
+withers under the heat of the sun. The feeling of security is very
+agreeable; but how, if strict Calvinism is adhered to, is any man to
+get intelligently amongst the elect? If Christ has died only for a
+few, and the names of these are kept a profound secret, how can I
+believe that I am among that few? We cannot believe without
+evidence. If we do, our faith is the faith of the fool--a dream, a
+conceit, and nothing more. Before a man, upon the theory of strict
+Calvinism, can believe that Christ died for him, he would require to
+get a list of the elect. This not being forthcoming, many poor men
+are waiting for the touch of the Almighty's finger to work faith
+within them, and place them among the happy number of the saved. But
+in so waiting they are under a perfect delusion. As a matter of fact
+there are many excellent Christian men who contend earnestly for the
+creed of Calvinism. They read in the Bible that God is willing to
+take sinners back through Christ, and they come to Him, and
+consecrate themselves to His services, and then battle for
+limitation. But in accepting Christ as their Saviour they shut their
+eyes to the doctrine of their creed, and acted on the declarations
+of the word of God. We rejoice that they are Christians, but
+maintain, nevertheless, that in believing they acted illogically.
+
+But to return to security. What more security could any one desire
+than the word of Christ?--"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
+and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life; and they
+shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
+My Father which gave them me is greater than all; and no man is able
+to pluck them out of my Father's hand" (John x. 27, 29). Our Lord is
+here speaking of external foes, and declares that no enemy is strong
+enough to take His sheep from Him. But men enter His service freely,
+and freely they remain. He has no slaves in His household. His
+people are attached to Him because they see in Him a concentration
+of all that is noble and good. His self-sacrifice for them has won
+their hearts, and inspired them with devotedness to His person. That
+it is possible to fall away we admit, from the fact that man is a
+free being surrounded with temptations; and also because we find
+throughout the Bible earnest exhortations to watchfulness, which
+would be quite useless except upon the possibility of letting the
+truth slip from the mind. Hymenaeus and Alexander made shipwreck of
+their faith (1 Tim. i.); and Paul had to keep his body under, lest
+he himself should become a castaway. But the _possibility_ of
+falling away should not disturb the equanimity of any Christian for
+a moment. As free creatures we have the power of throwing ourselves
+into the river, or the fire, or in many other ways taking our own
+life; yet the possession of this power in nowise disturbs our
+tranquillity of soul, or mars our peace of mind. It were, no doubt,
+more pleasing to the flesh to have no fighting, no struggle, no
+watching; but we must accept the logic of facts, and they clearly
+indicate that the Christian life is a battle all the way to the
+gates of the New Jerusalem. But in this spiritual contest, the thews
+and sinews of the soul are made strong. By failing to realise the
+ideal of what a Christian should be, believers feel the need of
+Christ's presence, and the help of the Holy Ghost, and sympathise
+with the sentiments of the hymn.
+
+    "I could not do without Thee,
+      O Saviour of the lost,
+    Whose precious blood redeemed me
+      At such tremendous cost;
+    Thy righteousness, Thy pardon,
+      Thy precious blood must be
+    My only hope and comfort,
+      My glory and my plea.
+
+    "I could not do without Thee;
+      I cannot stand alone,
+    I have no strength or goodness,
+      No wisdom of my own;
+    But Thou, beloved Saviour,
+      Art all in all to me,
+    And weakness will be power
+      If leaning hard on Thee.
+
+    "I could not do without Thee
+      No other friend can read
+    The spirit's strange deep longings,
+      Interpreting its need;
+    No human heart could enter
+      Each dim recess of mine,
+    And soothe, and hush, and calm it,
+      O blessed Lord, but Thine.
+
+Having entered by faith into the family of God, or in other words,
+amongst the elect, it becomes the sacred duty of the believer to be
+careful to maintain good works. He must remember that the way to
+heaven is not strewn with roses. He is Christ's freeman; but it is
+with spiritual freedom as with civil, "eternal vigilance is the
+price of liberty." Neither is it an artillery duel, or firing at
+long range; it is ofttimes a grapple in the fosse for victory or
+death.
+
+But the Christian--the elected one--has not to fight life's battle
+alone. The Holy Spirit having led him to Jesus carries on the good
+work in his heart. He tells him that he is dear to God; that he is
+His son, "His jewel;" His "portion;" that God will never leave him
+nor forsake him; that his strength shall be equal to his day; that
+his foot shall never be moved; and that God, who hath given up for
+him His son, will with that Son freely give him all things. By being
+faithful unto death he shall at last receive the crown of life,
+which shall never fade away.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+ Acts ii. 23, iv. 27, 28
+ Adrumetum, Monks of
+ Amos iii. 6
+ Arles, Synod of
+ Believers, Security of
+ Blinding of men
+ Byron's mother
+ Calvin on Reprobation
+ Cassian, John
+ Charles V.
+ Chosen, The, few
+ Christ, Marvelling of
+ Chrysostom
+ Church of England
+ Clark, Dr. A.
+ Clement of Rome
+ 2 Corinthians xiii. 5, 2 Corinthians xiii. 6
+ Cunningham, his Admission
+ Dort, Synod of
+ Eadie, Dr., View of
+ Elect, The foreknown
+ Elect, The word
+ Elect, the, How to enter amongst
+ Election, Objects in
+ Eli, Sons of
+ Ephesians i. 4, i. 11
+ Evil in the city
+ Faber, Statement by
+ Fathers, their testimony
+ Froude
+ Gal. ii. 20
+ God, His foreknowledge, His oath
+ Gottschalk
+ Great men, Mothers of
+ Guthrie, Dr. John
+ Heb. vi. 8
+ Invitations, Holy Spirit's
+ Irenaeus
+ Isaiah i. 18, xlv. 7, xlvi. 10
+ Jacob and Esau
+ Jeremiah vi. 30, vii. 29
+ Job xiv. 5
+ John xii. 37
+ Jude iv
+ Judgment, The day of
+ Keilah, David in
+ 1 Kings xxii
+ Kinloch, Lord
+ Lambeth, Articles of
+ Luke xiv. 26
+ Mark v. 6
+ Matthew xi. 21, xx. 16
+ Martyr, Justin
+ Mental power
+ Mercy on whom He will
+ Micaiah
+ Moral distinctions destroyed
+ Mosheim, Testimony of
+ Neander
+ Origen
+ Pantheism
+ Pelagianism, what?
+ Persons, Respect of
+ 1 Peter i. 1, ii. 8, 2 Peter i. 10
+ Philosophy ignored
+ Potter, The, and the clay
+ Power, Divine
+ Providential blessings
+ Psalm lxxvi. 10, cxxv. 6
+ Reason, Appeal to
+ Reprobation [1], [2]
+ Romans i. 28, viii. 29, ix. 11, ix. 13, ix. 15, xi. 5
+ 1 Samuel ii. 25
+ Semipelagianism
+ Sin, Author of
+ Sovereignty, God's
+ Sublapsarianism
+ Supralapsarianism
+ Tears, Christ's
+ Tertullian
+ 2 Thessalonians ii. 13
+ 2 Timothy iii. 8
+ Titus i. 16
+ U. P. Church
+ Wesley, John
+ Westminster, Assembly of
+
+
+BELL AND BAIN, PRINTERS, 41 MITCHELL STREET, GLASGOW.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Doctrines of Predestination,
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