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diff --git a/30119-0.txt b/30119-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fc63137 --- /dev/null +++ b/30119-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2550 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30119 *** + +THE + +CALVINISTIC DOCTRINE + +OF + +PREDESTINATION + +EXAMINED AND REFUTED: + + +BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF + +A SERIES OF DISCOURSES + +Delivered in St. George's M. E. Church, Philadelphia, + + +BY + +FRANCIS HODGSON, D. D. + + +PHILADELPHIA: + +HIGGINS AND PERKINPINE. + +No. 40 NORTH FOURTH STREET, + +1855. + + +Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by + +FRANCIS HODGSON, + +in the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United +States in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. + + +PHILADELPHIA: + +T. R. AND P. G. COLLINS, PRINTERS. + + +PHILADELPHIA, July 13, 1854. + + + +Rev. FRANCIS HODGSON, D. D. + + +DEAR SIR: We, whose names are hereunto annexed, having heard your +recent series of discourses upon the "Divine Decrees," and +believing that their publication at this time would be of great +service to the cause of truth, earnestly desire that such +measures may be taken as will secure their publication at an +early period. We therefore respectfully solicit your concurrence, +and that you would do whatever may be necessary on your part to +further our object:-- + + JAMES B. LONGACRE, P. D. MYERS, + GARRET VANZANT, R. MCCAMBRIDGE, + JOHN J. HARE, THOMAS W. PRICE, + DANIEL BREWSTER, CHAS. MCNICHOL, + WM. G. ECKHARDT, THOS. M. ADAMS, + CHAS. COYLE, FRANCIS A. FARROW, + BENJAMIN HERITAGE, THOS. HARE, + J. O. CAMPBELL, SAMUEL HUDSON, + JAMES HARRIS, JOSEPH THOMPSON, + WM. GOODHART, DAVID DAILEY, + R. O. SIMONS, JNO. R. MORRISON, + AMOS HORNING, JAMES HUEY, + ENOS S. KERN, JOHN FRY, + JNO. P. WALKER, E. A. SMITH, + JOHN STREET, JAMES D. SIMKINS, + J. W. BUTCHER, S. W. STOCKTON, + JACOB HENDRICK, FOSTER PRITCHETT. + + + +DEAR BRETHREN:-- + + +The motives which induced me to preach the discourses on the +"Divine Decrees" are equally decisive in favor of their +publication, as you propose. I have taken the liberty to +rearrange some parts of them for the benefit of the reader. + +Yours, + +FRANCIS HODGSON. + + +To Brothers LONGACRE, + +MYERS, and others. + + + +PREDESTINATION. + + + +DISCOURSE I. + + +"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."--EPH. i. 11. + +IT would very naturally be expected of a preacher, selecting this +passage as the foundation of his discourse, that he would have +something to say upon the subject of predestination. It is my +purpose to make this the theme of the occasion; and this purpose +has governed me in the selection of the text. The subject is one +of great practical importance. It relates to the Divine +government--its leading principles and the great facts of its +administration. Some suppose that the Methodists deny the +doctrine of Divine predestination, that the word itself is an +offence to them, and that they are greatly perplexed and annoyed +by those portions of Scripture by which the doctrine is +proclaimed. This is a mistaken view. We have no objection to the +word; we firmly believe the doctrine; and all the Scriptures, by +which it is stated or implied, are very precious to us. + +There is a certain theory of predestination, the Calvinistic +theory, which we consider unscriptural and dangerous. There is +another, the Arminian theory, which we deem Scriptural and of +very salutary influence. My plan is, _first_, to refute the false +theory; and, _secondly_, to present the true one, and give it its +proper application. + +My discourse or discourses upon this subject may be more or less +unacceptable to some on account of their controversial aspect. +This disadvantage cannot always be avoided. Controversy is not +always agreeable, yet it is often necessary. Error must be +opposed, and truth defended. What I have to say, is designed +chiefly for the benefit of the younger portion of the congregation. +I feel that there devolves upon me not a little responsibility in +reference to this class of my hearers. Many of them, I am happy to +learn, are eagerly searching for truth, and they have a right to +expect that the pulpit will aid their inquiries, and throw light +upon their path. + +The theory of predestination to which we object affirms that God +has purposed, decreed, predetermined, foreordained, predestinated, +whatsoever comes to pass, and that, in some way or other, he, by +his providence, brings to pass whatever occurs. + +The advocates of this doctrine complain loudly that they are +misunderstood and misrepresented. The Rev. Samuel Miller, D. D., +late of Princeton College, N. J., in a tract on _Presbyterian +Doctrine_, published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication, +complains thus: "It may be safely said that no theological system +was ever more _grossly misrepresented_, or more _foully_ and +_unjustly vilified_ than this." "The gross misrepresentations +with which it has been assailed, the _disingenuous_ attempts to +fasten upon it consequences which its advocates disavow and +abhor; and the _unsparing calumny_ which is continually heaped +upon it and its friends, have _scarcely been equalled_ in any +other case in the entire annals of theological controversy." "The +opponents of this system are wont to give the most _shocking_ and +_unjust_ pictures of it. Whether this is done from _ignorance_ or +_dishonesty_ it would be painful, as well as vain, at present, to +inquire." "The truth is, it would be difficult to find a writer +or speaker, who has distinguished himself by opposing Calvinism, +who has fairly represented the system, or who really appeared to +understand it. They are forever fighting against a _caricature_. +Some of the most grave and venerable writers in our country, who +have appeared in the Arminian ranks, are undoubtedly in this +predicament: whether this has arisen from the want of knowledge +or the want of candor, the effect is the same, and the conduct is +worthy of severe censure." "Let any one carefully and dispassionately +read over the _Confession of Faith_ of the Presbyterian Church, and +he will soon perceive that the professed representations of it, +which are _daily_ proclaimed from the _pulpit_ and the _press_, +are _wretched slanders_, for which no apology can be found but in +the ignorance of their authors." + +He places himself in very honorable contrast with those whom he +thus severely condemns: "The writer of these pages," says he, "is +fully persuaded that Arminian principles, when traced out to +their natural and unavoidable consequences, lead to an invasion +of the essential attributes of God, and, of course, to blank and +cheerless atheism. Yet, in making a statement of the Arminian +system, as actually held by its advocates, he should consider +himself inexcusable if he departed a hair's-breadth from the +delineation made by its friends." (pp. 26, 27, 28.) + +This writer reiterates these charges, with interesting +variations, in his introduction to a book on the Synod of Dort, +published by the same establishment. "They," says he, "are ever +fighting against an imaginary monster of their own creation. They +picture to themselves the consequences which they suppose +unavoidably flow from the real principles of Calvinists, and +then, most unjustly, represent these consequences as a part of +the system itself, as held by its advocates." Again: "How many an +eloquent page of anti-Calvinistic declamation would be instantly +seen by every reader to be either calumny or nonsense, if it had +been preceded by an honest statement of what the system, as held +by Calvinists, really is." (_Synod of Dort_, p. 64.) + +The Rev. Dr. Beecher says, in his work on _Skepticism_: "I have +_never heard a correct_ statement of the Calvinistic system from +an opponent;" and, after specifying some alleged instances of +misrepresentation, he adds: "It is needless to say that +falsehoods _more absolute_ and _entire_ were never stereotyped in +the foundry of the father of lies, or with greater industry +worked off for gratuitous distribution from age to age." + +The Rev. Dr. Musgrave, in what he calls a _Brief Exposition and +Vindication of the Doctrine of the Divine Decrees, as taught in +the Assembly's Larger Catechism_, another of the publications of +the Presbyterian Board, charges the opponents of Calvinism in +general, and the Methodists in particular, with not only +_violently contesting_, but also with _shockingly caricaturing_, +and _shamefully misrepresenting_ and _vilifying_ Calvinism--with +"systematic and wide-spread defamation"--with "wholesale +traduction of moral character, involving the Christian reputation +of some three or four thousand accredited ministers of the +gospel." His charity suggests an apology for much of our +"misrepresentation of their doctrinal system" on the ground of +our "intellectual weakness and want of education;" but, for our +"dishonorable attempts to impair the influence" of Calvinistic +ministers, and "injure their churches," he "can conceive of no +apology." + +The Rev. A. G. Fairchild, D. D., in a series of discourses +entitled _The Great Supper_, likewise published by the Presbyterian +Board of Publication, complains in these terms: "Sectarian partisans +are interested in misleading the public in regard to our real +sentiments, and hence their assertions should be received with +caution. Those who would understand our system of doctrines, must +listen, not to the misrepresentations of its enemies, but to the +explanations of its friends." (p. 40.) Again: "As these men cannot +wield the civil power against us, they will do what they can to +punish us for holding doctrines which they cannot overthrow by fair +and manly argument. God only knows the extent to which we might +have to suffer for our religion, were it not for the protection of +the laws! For, if men will publish the most wilful and deliberate +untruths against us, as they certainly do, for no other offence +than an honest difference of religious belief, what would they not +do if their power were equal to their wickedness?" (p. 73.) + +This writer expresses his sense of the "wickedness of those who +oppose Calvinism" in still stronger terms: "If, then, the +doctrines of grace [Calvinism] are plainly taught in the +Scriptures, if they accord with the experience of Christians, and +enter largely into their prayers, then it must be exceedingly +sinful to oppose and misrepresent them. Those who do this will +eventually be found _fighting against God_. We have recently +heard of persons praying publicly against the election of grace, +and we wonder that their tongues did not cleave to the roof of +their mouth in giving utterance to the horrid imprecation." (p. +178.) Ah! These Methodists are very wicked! + +The Rev. L. A. Lowry, author of a recent work, entitled _Search +for Truth_, published by the same high authority, discourses as +follows:-- + +"When I see a man trying to distort the proper meaning of words, +and, presenting a garbled statement of the views of an opponent, +I take it as conclusive evidence that he has a bad cause; more +when he is constantly at it, and manifests in all that he does a +feeling of uneasiness and hostility towards those who oppose him. +During my brief sojourn in the Cumberland Church, I was called +upon to witness many such exhibitions, that, in the outset of my +ministerial labors, made anything but a favorable impression on +my mind. I found there, in common with all others who hold to +Arminian sentiments, the most uncompromising and _malignant_ +opposition to the doctrines of the Presbyterian Church, while +there was _not_ a man that I met in all my intercourse, that +_could_ state fairly and fully what those doctrines are. Their +views were entirely one-sided; the truth was garbled to suit +their convenience; and the creations of their own fruitful fancy +were constantly being presented before the minds of the people, +thereby deepening their prejudices, and drawing still closer the +dark folds of their mantle of ignorance and bigotry." (pp. 65, +66.) + +Again: "It is painful to witness the ignorance and stupidity of +men--their malignity and opposition to the truth--who have +learned to misrepresent and abuse Calvinism with such bitterness +of feeling, till, like a rattlesnake in dog-days, they have +become blinded by the poison of their own minds." (p. 156.) + +In this attempt to destroy confidence in the veracity of +Arminians, so far, at least, as it is connected with their +representations of Calvinism, leading individuals are singled out +for special animadversion. Dr. Miller assails the moral character +of Arminius. He says of him that, "On first entering upon his +professorship, he seemed to take much pains to remove from +himself all suspicion of heterodoxy, by publicly maintaining +theses in favor of the received doctrines; doctrines which he +afterwards zealously contradicted. And that he did this contrary +to his own convictions at the time, was made abundantly evident +afterwards by some of his own zealous friends. But, after he had +been in his new office a year or two, it was discovered that it +was his constant practice to deliver one set of opinions in his +professional chair, and a very different set by means of private +confidential manuscripts circulated among his pupils." (_Synod of +Dort_, p. 13.) + +Dr. Fairchild speaks thus of a passage by Mr. Wesley: "In the +doctrinal _Tracts_, p. 172, is an address to Satan, which we have +no hesitation in saying is fraught with the most concentrated +blasphemy ever proceeding from the tongue or pen of mortal, +whether Jew, Pagan, or Infidel, and all imputed to the Calvinists. +One cannot help wondering how such transcendent impieties ever +found their way into the mind of man; I am not willing to transfer +the language to these pages; but the work is doubtless accessible +to most readers, having been sown broadcast over the land." +(_Great Supper_, p. 150.) He also indorses the charge of forgery +which Toplady made against Mr. Wesley. (See p. 111.) + +The late Dr. Fisk is charged with garbling the _Confession of +Faith_ for sinister purposes (p. 111); and with "scandalous +imputations" against Calvinism. (p. 150.) + +It is not impossible that our Calvinistic brethren should be +misrepresented. Nor is it impossible that they should misrepresent +both themselves and others. I do not admit that they are thus +misrepresented by their Methodist opponents, but it is not my +intention to refute these charges at this time. I refer to them +now to justify the special caution which I shall observe in +presenting their tenets. They make it necessary for us to prove +beyond the possibility of doubt that they hold the doctrines +which we impute to them. I shall give their views in their own +words. + +Calvin says, in his _Institutes_: "Whoever, then, desires to +avoid this infidelity, let him constantly remember that, in the +creatures, there is no erratic power, or action, or motion, but +that they are _so governed _by the secret counsel of God, that +_nothing can happen_ but what is subject to his knowledge, and +DECREED _by his will_." (Vol. i. p. 186.) + +Again: "All future things being uncertain to us, we hold them in +suspense, as though they might happen either one way or another. +Yet, this remains a _fixed principle_ in our hearts, that _there +will be_ NO _event which God has not_ ORDAINED." (_Ib_. p. 193.) + +Again: "They consider it absurd that a man should be blinded by +the will and command of God, and afterwards be punished for his +blindness. They, therefore, evade this difficulty, by alleging +that it happens only by the permission of God, and not by the +will of God; but God himself, by the most unequivocal declarations, +rejects this subterfuge. That men, however, _can effect_ NOTHING +but by the secret _will_ of _God_, and can _deliberate_ upon +nothing but what he has _previously decreed_, and DETERMINES by +his _secret direction_, is proved by express and innumerable +testimonies." (_Ib_. p. 211.) + +Again: "If God simply foresaw the fates of men, and did not also +_dispose_ and _fix_ them by his _determination_, there would be +room to agitate the question, whether his providence or foresight +rendered them at all necessary. But, since he foresees future +events only in consequence of _his decree that they shall +happen_, it is useless to contend about foreknowledge, while it +is evident that ALL _things come to pass rather_ by ORDINATION +and DECREE." (Vol ii. p. 169.) + +Again: "I shall not hesitate, therefore, to confess plainly, with +Augustine, 'that the _will_ of God is the _necessity of things_, +and that _what_ he has _willed_ will _necessarily come to pass_.' +" (_Ib_. p. 171.) + +Again: "With respect to his secret influences, the declaration of +Solomon concerning the heart of a king, that it is inclined +hither or thither according to the Divine will, certainly extends +to the whole human race, and is as much as though he had said, +that WHATEVER CONCEPTIONS we form in our minds, they we +_directed_ by the _secret_ INSPIRATION of GOD." (_Ib_. p. 213.) + +Finally, for the present: "_What God decrees_," says this +celebrated writer, "must NECESSARILY _come to pass_." (_Ib_. p. +194.) + +I think it will not be said, by any one who has heard me +attentively, that I either misrepresent, or misunderstand, +Calvin, when I impute to him the doctrine that God has purposed, +decreed, determined, foreordained, predestinated whatsoever comes +to pass, and that he in some way or other brings to pass whatever +occurs. + +But it may be objected that we ought not to hold modern +Calvinists responsible for all the doctrines of Calvin; that they +"no further indorse them than as they are incorporated into their +acknowledged creeds." To this we cordially assent. By this rule +we will abide. What, then, is the language of the _Westminster +Confession of Faith_, the established standard of orthodoxy in +the American Presbyterian Churches? The third chapter commends +thus: "God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy +counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain +whatsoever comes to pass" (p. 15); and, at the commencement of +the fifth chapter, we read: "God, the great Creator of all +things, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, +actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his +most wise and holy providence." + +Observe, he, according to this statement, not only _upholds_ and +_governs_ all creatures, but _directs_ and _disposes_ all +_actions_ and things, from the _greatest_ even to the _least_. + +The _Larger Catechism_ says, in answer to the question, "What are +the decrees of God?" "God's decrees are the wise, free, and holy +acts of the counsel of his will, whereby, from all eternity, he +hath, for his own glory, unchangeably foreordained _whatsoever +comes to pass in time_, especially concerning angels and men." + +The _Shorter Catechism_ answers the same question by these words: +"The decrees of God are, his eternal purpose according to the +counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath +foreordained _whatsoever comes to pass_." + +The next question in this Catechism is: "How doth God execute his +decrees?--_Ans_. God executeth his decrees in the works of +creation and providence." + +In a work, entitled _An Exposition of the Confession of Faith of +the Westminster Assembly of Divines_, by the Rev. Robert Shaw, +published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and revised +by the Committee of Publication, we find the following passages: +"That God _must have decreed all future things_ is a conclusion +which flows necessarily from his foreknowledge, independence, and +immutability." (p. 58.) + +Again: "The decrees of God relate to all future things without +exception; _whatever is done in time was foreordained before the +beginning of time_." (p. 59.) + +Again: "If from all eternity he knew all things that come to +pass, then from eternity he _must_ have _ordained_ them" (p. 60). +Again: "The foreknowledge of God will necessarily infer a decree; +for God could not foreknow that things would be, unless he had +decreed they should be." (p. 59.) + +In another publication of this Board, entitled _Fisher's +Catechism_, we find the following questions and answers:-- + +"_Q_. What are the decrees of God?--_Ans_. The decrees of God are +his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, +for his own glory, he hath _foreordained whatsoever comes to +pass_." (p. 51.) + +"_Q_. Are all the decrees of God then unchangeable?--_Ans_. Yes: +from all eternity, he hath, for his own glory, unchangeably +foreordained whatsoever comes to pass." (p. 53.) + +"_Q_. Does anything come to pass in time but what was decreed +from eternity?--_Ans_. No: for the _very reason why anything_ +comes to pass in time, is _because God decreed_ it." (p. 54.) + +"_Q_. Are things that are casual or accidental positively +decreed?--_Ans_. Yes." (_Ib_.) + +"_Q_. What has the decree of God fixed with respect to man's +continuance in this world?--_Ans_. It has _immovably fixed_ the +precise moment of _every_ one's _life_ and _death_, with _every +particular circumstance thereof_." (_Ib_.) + +"_Q_. How does God execute his decrees?--_Ans_. God executes his +decrees in the works of creation and providence." (p. 57.) + +"_Q_. What is it for God to execute his decrees?--_Ans_. It is to +bring them to pass; or give _an actual being in time_, to what he +_purposed from eternity_." (_Ib_.) + +"_Q_. Does not God leave the execution of his decrees to second +causes?--_Ans_. Whatever use God may make of second causes, in +the execution of his decrees, yet they are _merely tools_ in his +overruling hand, to bring about his glorious designs, and must do +all his pleasure." (_Ib_.) + +"_Q_. Are there not certain means by which the decrees of God are +executed?--_Ans_. Yes; but these _means_ are _decreed as well as +the end_." (p. 52.) + +"_Q_. Is there an exact harmony or correspondence, between God's +decree and the execution of it?--_Ans_. When the thing decreed is +brought actually into being, it _exactly corresponds_ to the idea +or platform of it _in_ the infinite _mind_ of _God_." (p. 57.) + +"_Q_. Can none of the decrees of God be defeated or fail of +execution?--_Ans_. By no means." (_Ib_.) + +"_Q_. Does God's governing providence include in it his +_immediate concurrence_ with every action of the creature?--Ans. +Yes; God not only _efficaciously concurs_ in _producing_ the +action, as to the matter of it; but likewise _predetermines_ the +creature to such or such an action, and _not to another, shutting +up all other ways of acting_, and leaving _that only open_ which +he had _determined_ to be done." (p. 67.) + +"_Q_. Why are the decrees of God said to be _absolute_?--_Ans_. +Because they depend upon no condition without God himself, but +entirely and solely upon his own sovereign will and pleasure." +(p. 52.) + +On page 67 he tells us that "the _worst action_ that was ever +_committed_, the _crucifying_ of the Lord of glory, was _ordered_ +and _directed_ by God." + +The Rev. Dr. Musgrave says, &c.: "In the former chapter, we +endeavored to explain and prove the three following propositions:-- + +"1. That _all things that come to pass_ in time, have been +_eternally_ and _unchangeably foreordained_, because most +certainly foreknown to the infinitely perfect Jehovah." (p. 18.) + +The Rev. Dr. Boardman, of this city, in his discourses on the +doctrine of election, not only quotes with approbation that part +of the Confession of Faith which says, "God, from all eternity, +did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely +and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass" (p. 49), but +also says: "Some persons appear to think that the Divine decrees +are restricted to spiritual matters. This is so far from being a +correct opinion, that the Scriptures represent ALL EVENTS, +however _trivial_, as being embraced in those decrees." In this +connection, he also affirms "that the Divine decrees embrace not +only _ends_ but _means_, and that both in temporal and spiritual +things, where an end is decreed, the _means_ by which it is to be +reached or accomplished are _also decreed_." (pp. 56, 57.) + +Dr. Chalmers, in his discourse on Predestination, says: "Let us +not conceive that the _agency_ of _man_ can bring about _one +single iota_ of _deviation_ from the _plans_ and the _purposes_ +of _God_, or that he can be compelled to vary in a single case by +the movement of any of those subordinate beings whom he hath +himself created. There may be a diversity of operations, but it +is God who worketh all in all. Look at the resolute and +independent man, and you then see the purposes of the human mind +entered upon with decision, and followed up by vigorous and +successful exertions. But these _only make up one diversity of +God's operations_. The _will of man_, active, and spontaneous, +and fluctuating as it appears to be, is an _instrument in his +hand_--and he turns it at his pleasure--and he brings other +instruments to act upon it--and he plies it with all its +excitements--and he measures the force and proportion of each of +them--and _every step_ of _every individual_ receives as +_determinate_ a _character_ from the _hand of God_, as every mile +of a planet's orbit, or every gust of wind, or every wave of the +sea, or every particle of flying dust, or every rivulet of +flowing water. This power of God knows no exception. It is +absolute and unlimited, and while it embraces the vast, it +carries its _resistless_ influence to all the minute and +unnoticed diversities of existence. It reigns and operates +through all the secrecies of the inner man. _It gives birth to +every purpose. It gives impulse to every desire. It gives shape +and color to every conception_. It wields an entire ascendency +over every attribute of the mind, and the will, and the fancy, +and the understanding, with all the countless variety of their +hidden and fugitive operations, are submitted to it." + +It may be supposed that while we have shown clearly and +indubitably that the doctrine which we propose to examine and +refute is held by Old School Presbyterians, it would be an act of +injustice upon our part, should we impute it to those of the New +School. Many think that the New School have rejected the leading +doctrines of Calvinism, as set forth in the Confession of Faith. +This is a very erroneous impression. A writer in the _Presbyterian +Quarterly Review_--a work recently originated and sustained by New +School Presbyterians--remarks as follows: "Whatever difficulties +there may be in the philosophy of the fact, it is certain that the +idea of Presbyterianism actuates itself theologically in Calvinism." +(Vol. i. No. I. p. 18.) + +Again: "So far as we are informed, there is not a minister of our +body who does not love and cherish the Westminster Confession of +Faith as the best human delineation of Biblical theology." (p. +5.) + +Again: "After fifteen years, in the body with which we are +connected, no man has moved to alter a tittle of the Confession +of Faith." (p. 3.) + +Again: "As we love the Confession of Faith and the Catechisms, we +shall stand ready to vindicate them from Arminian, Socinian, and +infidel assaults on the one side, as well as Antinomian glosses +on the other." (p. 10.) + +Again: "We must then, if we would obey the voice of God's +providence, teach our children the priceless glories of their +faith" (p. 152). "Who tells them that the Westminster Confession +of Faith is a model of noble writing?" (p. 153.) + +The _Westminster Confession of Faith_, with the _Catechisms_, has +recently been republished by the authority of the New School +General Assembly, as the creed of their Church. Had they made any +material changes in their creed, so far as Calvinism is +concerned, this would have been the time to manifest them. But +the New School _Confession of Faith_ is a mere reprint of that of +the Old School. + +The Rev. Albert Barnes, in a sermon in behalf of the American +Home Missionary Society, preached in New York and in Philadelphia, +says of that institution: "It cannot be denied, it need not be +denied, that the form of Christianity which it seeks and expects +to propagate, is that which has been much spoken against in the +world, and known as the Calvinistic form, and that it expects to +make its way because there are minds in every community that are +likely to embrace Christianity in that form, because it is +presumed that the more mind is elevated, and cultivated, and +brought into connection with schools and colleges, the more +likely it will be to embrace that form." (p. 38.) + +Again, in a sermon preached before the New School General +Assembly, May 20, 1852, he commences a paragraph with these +words: "The Calvinistic denomination of Christians, of which we +are a part" (p. 12). Again, he says: "As this form of Christianity +is represented in the great denominational family to which we +belong, it combines two things--the Presbyterian form of government, +and the Calvinistic or Augustinian type of doctrine." (_Ib_.) + +This eminent writer, whom I hold in very high esteem for his +learning, intelligence, and piety, notwithstanding his Calvinism, +expresses his views of the Divine decrees in these words:-- + +"But on this point, the entire movement of the world bears the +marks of being conducted according to a plan. We defy a man to +lay his finger on a fact which has not such a relation to other +facts as to show that it is a part of a scheme; and if of a +scheme, _then of a purpose formed beforehand_." (_Introd. to +Butler's Analogy_, p. 53.) + +Again: "The event which was thus foreknown, must have been, for +some cause, _certain_ and _fixed_, since an uncertain event could +not possibly be foreknown. To talk of foreknowing a contingent +event as certain, which may or may not exist, is an absurdity." +(_Notes on Romans_, viii. 29.) + +Again: "We interpret the decrees of God, so far as we can do it, +by _facts_; and we say that the actual _result_, by whatever +means brought about, is the expression of the _design_ of God." +(_Introd. to Butler's Analogy_, p. 43.) + +The _Saybrook Platform and Confession of Faith_, which contains +the faith of the New England Congregationalists, holds precisely +the same language respecting the Divine decrees, with the +Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian Churches. + +I am in possession of a work entitled _A Confession of Faith put +forth by the Elders and Brethren of many Congregations of +Christians (baptized upon profession of their faith) in London +and the country_; adopted by the Baptist Association, met at +Philadelphia, September 25, 1752. The chapters in this Confession +which relate to "God's decree" and "Providence," are, with very +slight variations of phraseology, not affecting the sense, the +same with those in the _Westminster Confession of Faith_, and the +_Saybrook Platform_. It is thoroughly Calvinistic. + +The _Baptist Catechism_, published by the American Baptist +Publication Society, contains the following question and answer:-- + +"_Q_. What are the decrees of God?--_Ans_. The decrees of God are +his eternal purposes, according to the counsel of his will, +whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes +to pass." + +The _Confession of Faith_ of the Dutch Reformed Church says: "We +believe that the same God, after he had created all things, did +not forsake them or give them up to fortune or chance, but that +he rules and governs them according to his holy will, so that +_nothing happens in this world without his appointment_." Again: +"This doctrine affords us unspeakable consolation, since we are +taught thereby, that nothing can befall us by chance, but by the +direction of our most gracious and Heavenly Father." Mark, +according to this, NOTHING _happens_ but with the APPOINTMENT and +by the DIRECTION of our Heavenly Father. + +My hearers will, by this time, be fully convinced that I have not +misstated the Calvinistic doctrine of Divine predestination. + +The application of this doctrine to the final destinies of men +and angels constitutes the Calvinistic doctrine of election and +reprobation. Upon this point, Calvin says:-- + +"Predestination we call the eternal decree of God, by which _he +has determined in himself what he would have become of every +individual of mankind_. For they are _not all created with a +similar destiny_, but _eternal life is foreordained for some_, +and _eternal damnation for others_. Every man _therefore being +created for one or the other of these ends_, we say he is +predestinated either to eternal life or death." (Vol. ii. p. 145.) + +Again: "Observe; all things being at God's disposal, and the +decision of salvation or death belonging to him, he orders all +things by his counsel and decree in such a manner, that _some men +are born devoted from the womb to certain death_, that his name +may be glorified in their destruction." (_Ib_. 169.) + +Again: "I inquire, again, how it came to pass that the fall of +Adam, _independent of any remedy_, should involve so many nations +with their _infant children_ in eternal death, but because such +was _the will of God_. Their tongues, so loquacious on every +other point, must here be struck dumb. It is an awful decree, I +confess but no one can deny that God foreknew the future final +fate of man before he created him, and that he did foreknow it +_because it was appointed by his own decree_." (_Ib_. 170.) + +Upon this point, the _Presbyterian Confession of Faith_, the +_Saybrook Platform_, and the _Baptist Confession of Faith_, hold +the following language:-- + +"By the decree of God for the manifestation of his glory, some +men and angels are predestinated to everlasting life, and others +foreordained to everlasting death. + +"Those angels and men, thus predestinated and foreordained, are +particularly and unchangeably designed; and their number is so +certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or +diminished. + +"Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God, before +the foundation of the world was laid, according to his eternal +and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure +of his will, hath chosen in Christ, unto everlasting glory, out +of his mere free grace and love, 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 +thereunto, and all unto the praise of his glorious grace." + +I do not say that Calvinists never contradict any of these +statements. Nor do I profess to have spread out the entire theory +of Calvinism. The question now relates to their doctrine of +Divine decrees. + +I am fully convinced that the times demand a review and +comparison of the two opposing systems, Calvinism and +Arminianism. Our Calvinistic brethren, both Old and New School, +are putting forth high claims in behalf of their system, and +speaking of ours in very disparaging terms. + +The Rev. Albert Barnes tells us, in his sermon in behalf of the +Home Missionary Society, preached in 1849, that the more mind is +elevated, and cultivated, and brought into connection with +colleges and schools, the more likely it will be to embrace the +Calvinistic form of Christianity. He thinks that Calvinists will +be increased just in proportion as schools and colleges can be +founded, and an intelligent and educated ministry sent out. He +does not suppose that the entire mind of the west will embrace +Calvinistic views, but he does "expect that a considerable +portion of the _educated_ and _ruling_ mind will" (p. 40). He +tells us, in his sermon delivered before the New School General +Assembly, convened in Washington in 1852, that past history has +shown that the class of minds most likely to embrace the +Calvinistic system "is most likely to be found among the +thinking, the sober, the educated, the firm, the conservative, +and the free" (p. 10); that "the Calvinistic system identifies +itself with education, and a large portion of the cultivated mind +of a community will be always imbued with the sentiments of the +system." (p. 15.) + +This seems to imply, whatever may be intended, that Arminianism +has special affinities for ignorance; that it is more indebted to +ignorance than to intelligence for its diffusion; that its +chances for success will be diminished, in proportion as sound +education advances, and the ministry becomes intelligent. If this +be so, Arminians are pursuing a suicidal policy; for no Christian +denomination has established as many colleges and academies in +the same length of time as the Methodists. That Arminianism takes +better than Calvinism with _the masses_ is undeniable; but this +may be because it possesses a superior adaptation to the wants of +humanity. Our Saviour gave it as a distinctive mark of the +ushering in of the last dispensation that the poor have the +gospel preached unto them, which implies that the poor, and +consequently the uneducated, may understand it. + +Mr. Barnes goes further. He intimates that the different +theological systems are "the result of some _original peculiarity_ +in certain classes of minds;" that "there are minds, not a few in +number, or unimportant in character, which, when converted, will +_naturally_ embrace Calvinism." He "will not undertake to say +whether John Wesley _could_ have been a Calvinist, but he can say +that Jonathan Edwards _could never have been anything else_." He +repeats this sentiment three years after, in these words: "There +are minds, indeed, and those in _many respects_ of a high order, +that _will not_ [mark the phraseology!] see the truth of the +Calvinistic system; but there are minds that _can never_ see the +truth of an opposite system. We could not perhaps undertake to +say whether John Wesley could ever have been a Calvinist, but we +_can_ say that Jonathan Edwards could never have been anything +else; and if there be a mind in any community formed like that +of Edwards, we anticipate that it will embrace the same great +system which he defended." + +Now it is inconceivable that Mr. Barnes should consider the +Arminian superior or equal to the Calvinistic mind. That must be +the best mental structure which is most in harmony with the best +theory. The tenor of his remarks indicates clearly his opinion +upon this point. + +I can hardly express the astonishment which I felt upon reading +this strange sentiment from so justly distinguished a writer. It +appeared to me to be grossly unphilosophical, implying either +that truth is not homogeneous; that contradictory propositions +may be equally true; or that God has constituted some minds +falsely. It is presumable that between truth and mind, in its +original normal condition--mind not perverted by erroneous +education, or prejudice, or passion, or depravity in any form-- +there will be a strict congeniality, so that truth will be +preferred to error. But this doctrine implies that one set of +minds will, under the same circumstances, from their peculiar +natural constitution, prefer the truth, and another set reject +it. It is obviously of very dangerous practical tendency. While +the Calvinist may refer to it to account for his being a +Calvinist, and the Arminian to account for his being an Arminian, +the infidel may claim that it is from the same cause that he is +an infidel. His rejecting the Bible is the natural inevitable +result of the peculiar mental constitution which God gave him. + +Mr. Barnes tells us that Calvinism does not appeal to passion; +but, if I am not very greatly mistaken, and you may judge whether +I am or not, its advocates appeal very significantly to pride of +intellect. It offers gross flattery as the price of adhesion and +support. What else can be inferred from the passages which I have +quoted, than that by becoming Calvinists you will class +yourselves with minds of a superior structure, and with the +educated and cultivated, and will occupy an elevation from which +you can look down upon the less favored Arminians? + +A writer in the New School _Quarterly Review_ has this remark: +"Our physical frame could about as well be erect, and adapted for +its purposes without a backbone, as piety be complete without +Calvinism." (Vol. i. No. I. p. 19.) + +The Rev. Mr. Lowry, in his _Search for Truth_, claims that "the +doctrine of human depravity--the complete ruin of man--the +justice of his condemnation--the legal or covenant relation of +Adam and his posterity--the necessity of an atonement--and its +vicarious nature," "belong exclusively to the Calvinistic +system." He admits that the "Arminian often makes use of the same +phraseology as the Calvinist," but then he rejects the "proper +and scriptural sense." "The Arminian," he says, "attempts to +connect with his system the doctrine of a vicarious atonement, +because the phrase is a popular one, and he cannot well do +without it; but when we come to examine its meaning, we find that +lie has no claim to it whatever. He may hold on to the name, but +nothing more. The substance is as different from the view which +forms a part of his creed, as a city on the Atlantic coast +differs from a small village in the backwoods." (pp. 55, 56.) + +Again: "The principles which lie at the foundation of the +Arminian doctrine of _ability_ and _grace_, are not only +calculated to destroy the energies of the Church, and unhinge the +institutions of society, as I have endeavored to show, but they +go still further; they enter the Christian's closet, and destroy +the life and soul of his private devotions. They are calculated +to dry up every fountain, and destroy every spring of religious +feeling and action." (p. 86.) + +Again: "Arminians are without any consistent and harmonious +system of doctrine. It is true that, on speaking of the doctrines +of those who hold to Arminian sentiments, we are in the habit of +using the word _system_, but it is only as a matter of convenience +and courtesy. Some of those doctrines may sustain a logical +connection with others--such as the doctrine of falling from grace, +and the denial of divine efficiency in conversion and sanctification +--but Arminianism, as a whole, is a coat of many colors, that has +been patched and pieced since the days of Pelagius, according to +the taste and caprice of the man that wears it." (p. 156.) + +Again: "It requires but half an eye to see, that the view of the +fall of man and the relation we sustain to Adam, as found in the +standards of the Methodist Church, vitiate the whole Gospel +scheme; that the principles growing out of the view there +presented, lead to fundamental error with regard to the nature of +virtue and vice, and destroy all human accountability; that the +nature of the remedy found in the same standards necessarily +destroys all motive to intelligent action and labor upon the part +of the Church in the great work before her, holds out no +encouragement to prayer; degrades the character of God to that of +a debtor and apologist for injuries he has done to the creature; +and exalts the creature to heaven by a kind of semi-omnipotence +of his own. Such consequences as these I say are _dangerous and +ruinous_." (p. 157.) + +This book derives its importance from its being adopted by the +Presbyterian Board of Publication, and its bearing the _imprimatur_ +of that institution. It is commended by their catalogue as "well +worthy of perusal by those who have doubts as to the scriptural +character of those doctrines which ignorance and prejudice brand +as the horrible dogmas of Calvinism.'" It was published in 1852. + +A writer in the _Presbyterian_, of June 25, 1853, thus expresses +his views of Arminianism: "Did we preach Arminianism to the +people, we could get ten into our churches where we now get one; +for it must be remembered that Arminianism is far more palatable +to depraved nature than Calvinism." Again: "These brethren go too +fast, get men into the visible kingdom too soon; lull them to +everlasting sleep by their soporific measures and doctrinal +anodynes, thereby breaking down the barriers which separate the +Church from the world, and ruining hundreds of souls where they +save one. Let our young men be made to feel rather that +Arminianism is a dangerous delusion wherever it is preached, and +uphold with all their might and main real old-fashioned +Calvinism." + +It is a very common thing with Calvinists to refer opposition to +Calvinism to depravity, as its source. The _Presbyterian Banner_, +for Nov. 5, 1853, contains the following: "The natural heart +recoils from predestination. The ungodly hate it. Our whole +system is too humbling to human pride to find friends even among +the vicious. This is to us a strong affirmation of its truth." + +They also claim for Calvinism that it is not only specially +conducive to civil and religious liberty, but that it is +essential thereto. The Rev. Dr. Wilson, of the New School +Presbyterian Church, in an address delivered before the literary +societies of Delaware College, in 1852, went out of his way to +eulogize Calvinism in these terms: "Calvinism and human liberty +flourish side by side, or rather the latter is not found without +the former; and nowhere at this hour is there _true freedom_, +true independence of opinion in Church or State where Calvinism +is not the foundation." Calvinists must be very forgetful of +their history, or they must suppose that all others are ignorant +or forgetful of it. But it is not my intention, at present, to +reply to this extravagant pretension. + +I do not object to the publication of these views from the pulpit +and the press. If our brethren entertain them, they have a right +to publish them. It is manly to do so. But it may be obligatory +upon us to stand up for what we believe to be the truth, and to +oppose what we believe to be error. I shall endeavor to do so, +the Lord being my helper. + + + +DISCOURSE II. + + +"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."--EPH. i. 11. + +IN the preceding discourse, I called attention to the fact that the +opponents of Calvinism are frequently charged with misunderstanding +through ignorance, or grossly misrepresenting it. I read passages +from several, charging us with calumny, defamation, slander, and +even blasphemy. + +In view of these charges, often made and reiterated, and widely +spread, with high official sanction, and likely to be repeated +whenever Calvinism is boldly investigated, I deemed it necessary +to show, by numerous quotations, that I do not misrepresent it +when I impute to it the doctrine that God has willed, proposed, +and decreed whatsoever comes to pass, and that, in some way or +other, he brings to pass whatever occurs. For this purpose, I +referred to the acknowledged publications of the Presbyterian, +Congregational, Baptist, and Reformed Dutch Churches. I noted, +particularly, that this doctrine is held by the New School +Presbyterians, because it is supposed by many that they have +abandoned it, and that their rejection of it constitutes one of +the points of difference between them and the Old School. + +I also quoted largely to show that earnest efforts are in +progress to exalt Calvinism, and disparage Arminianism and +Arminians. + +We now propose to test this dogma of Calvinism by reason and +Scripture. We shall not, at present, enter upon the examination +of the proof-texts, though we hold the Holy Scriptures to be the +ultimate authority on all theological questions, but shall +compare it with acknowledged Scripture principles. And, yet, it +may be very reasonably expected that some attention will be paid +to the passage which, according to custom, has been selected as +presenting the subject of discourse. It is the very first proof +-text adduced by the _Westminster Confession of Faith_, but it +fails to meet the demand made upon it. It does not contain the +doctrine sought to be proved. It does, indeed, assert the +predestination of believers to certain blessings, a point not in +dispute, and also that they are predestinated to these blessings +according to God's purpose; but all this is very far from +teaching that _God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass_. +The proof is supposed by some to be contained in the remaining +portion of the passage--"who worketh all things," &c. But we must +take the entire expression of the apostle in order to get his +meaning, "who worketh all things after the counsel of his own +will." By this he means to say, merely, that, in whatever God +does towards men or angels, he is uncontrolled. He carries out +his own free purposes. He does not conform to the counsels of +others. He does not yield to the clamors of discontented +subjects, or make concessions to contemporary and independent +powers. The words are thus paraphrased by McKnight, a Calvinistic +commentator: "According to the gracious purpose of him, who +effectually accomplisheth all his benevolent intentions, by the +most proper means, according to the wise determination of his own +will." We may, with as much propriety, argue from the apostolic +injunction, "Do all things without murmurings and disputings" +(Phil. ii. 14), that Christians are required by the law of God to +_do all things_ absolutely, as, from the clause under consideration, +that God has decreed and executes whatsoever comes to pass. But, if +our brethren insist upon so understanding the apostle, we shall +hold them to their interpretation. We shall not allow them to +contradict it whenever the exigencies of the argument may render it +convenient. + +1. In the first place, this theory of predestination is +inconsistent with the doctrine of man's free moral agency. The +force of this objection is readily perceived. It is _impossible_ +that we should be free agents, when all the _external circumstances_ +that affect us, and all our _mental_ and _bodily acts_, are +predetermined and brought about by God. Man is thus reduced to, a +mere passive instrument. He is nothing more than a complicate and +curious machine--a man-machine, an automaton--whose every movement +is conceived, determined, directed, controlled by a supervisor. It +avails nothing to apply to him terms which signify freedom. We may +say that he has _the power to will_; that he _actually wills_; but +the difficulty is not relieved. The being who endowed him with this +faculty has foreordained and brings to pass, by a well-directed +agency, every movement of that faculty. We may say that he _wills +according to his inclinations_, and is therefore free; but God has +decreed and brings to pass all his inclinations. We may say that he +acts according to his will, and not against his will; still nothing +is gained, since all his purposes, and the movements by which he +executes them, are equally preordained and brought to pass by +God. We may say that he is _conscious_ of _acting freely_, but +this is a mere delusion, if the doctrine we are considering be +true. By the very logic which reconciles it with free agency in +man, I will undertake to prove that every steamboat and every +railroad-engine is a free agent. Calvinistic free agency must be +something analogous to Bishop Hughes's freedom of conscience, +indestructible and inviolable, in its very nature and essence; so +that a man may be denied the privilege of reading the Bible, or +of propagating or entertaining any opinions contrary to the +Church of Rome--he may be thrown into prison, and put to torture, +for refusing to subscribe to its dogmas, or to worship according +to forms which he holds to be idolatrous--and yet he enjoys +freedom of conscience. So, according to the teachings of modern +Calvinism, man is a free agent, notwithstanding all the +_circumstances_ which _surround_ him, with all his _sensations, +emotions, desires, purposes, volitions_ and _acts_ were _decreed +from eternity_, and brought to pass by a power which he can +_neither control_ nor _resist_. This free agency must then be +something absolutely inviolable in its nature and essence, +something which God himself cannot destroy or impinge except by +terminating the existence of the being in whom it inheres. As +Bishop Hughes's freedom of conscience is very different from what +is generally understood to be freedom of conscience, so the free +agency which may be made to harmonize with this doctrine, is +different from what is usually understood to be free agency. It +is not the power to act otherwise than as we do act, or to choose +or will otherwise than as we do choose or will. + +2. This doctrine, being at variance with man's free agency, is, +by necessary consequence, at variance with his _moral accountability_. +There would be as much reason in holding the _atmosphere_ accountable, +or the _trees_, or the _grass_, or the _clods_, or the _stones_. All +his _views_, _feelings_, and _volitions_, being thus predetermined, +he can no more be accountable for them than for the _circumstances_ +of his _birth_, or the _natural color_ of his _skin_. He cannot +reasonably be made the subject of commendation or censure--of reward +or punishment. + +3. It also follows, from this doctrine, that there is not, and +cannot be any such thing as sin. If man be not a free agent--if +he be incapable of acting otherwise than as predetermined by +Jehovah--he is incapable of either virtue or vice. It would be as +reasonable to predicate virtue or vice of the flux and reflux of +the tides, or the circulation of the blood, as of man or angel +under such circumstances. + +And, mark! if we, for the sake of the argument, should admit that +man is capable of _virtue_, notwithstanding all his acts are +foreordained and rendered infallibly certain by a power which he +cannot successfully resist, he is still incapable of _vice_. He +cannot sin, for this plain, all-sufficient reason--he cannot act +otherwise than according to the will of God. "Nothing comes to +pass in time but what was decreed from eternity." "None of the +decrees of God can be defeated or fail of execution." So +Calvinism explicitly affirms. + +Further, while the inference that there is and can be no sin is +fairly deducible from the supposition that man is not a free +agent, it does not depend upon that supposition. Let it be +admitted, for the purpose of the argument, that man is a free +agent, and capable of sinning, notwithstanding all his actions +were predetermined, and what is the state of the case? _Still he +has not sinned_. He has done nothing but what God freely willed +and ordained he should do. The perfect obedience of Christ +consisted in his doing in all respects the will of the Father. +Either, then, it may be sinful to do the will of God, or there +is--there can be no sin. I do not know of any way in which this +consequence can be avoided. I do not believe that it can. + +Let us take another view of this point. Let the advocates of this +doctrine succeed in proving that man is a free agent, in the +proper sense of the term, and capable of sinning, notwithstanding +all his actions are decreed and brought to pass by God, and we +have before us this remarkable result: _Every individual of the +human race, while in a state of probation, without a knowledge of +God's predetermination respecting him, and without any controlling +influence brought to bear upon him, has, in every instance, willed +and acted in accordance with the will of God_. The result is +_universal voluntary holiness_. Here, then, is a dilemma. Either +there is _no possibility of sin or of holiness_, or, if there be +a possibility of sin or of holiness, there is, in fact, _no sin_ +--there is, in fact, _universal holiness_. + +4. If it be asserted that sin exists, notwithstanding this +perfect coincidence between the will of God and the conduct of +his creatures, it will follow, most conclusively, that _God is +the author of sin_. He has decreed and brings to pass all the +sensations, perceptions, emotions, inclinations, volitions, and +overt actions, of the whole human race. Various attempts have +been made to avoid this result, but they are all futile. The +_Confession of Faith_ says: "God, from all eternity, did, by the +most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably +ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby neither is God +the author of sin." We pay all respect to this as a disclaimer. Our +Presbyterian brethren do not intend to charge God with being the +author of sin. But we are compelled to regard these propositions +as directly contradictory to each other. Is not a being the author +of that which he originally designs and decrees, and subsequently +brings into existence? and is it not maintained that he decreed +from all eternity, and brings to pass whatever occurs? Either sin +has not come to pass, or God is the author of it. It is useless +to say that God has brought to pass the act, but not the sinfulness. +The sinfulness has come to pass. It is useless to say that sin is +man's, and not God's act. Man does nothing but what God has decreed, +and, in some infallible way leads him to do. "God's power," says Dr. +Chalmers, "gives birth to _every purpose_; it gives impulse to +_every desire_, gives shape and color to _every conception_." Says +Fisher, in his _Catechism_: "God not only efficaciously concurs in +producing the action as to the matter of it, but likewise predetermines +the creature to such or such an action, and not to another, shutting +up all other ways of acting, and leaving only that open which he +had determined to be done." We might, with vastly more plausibility, +deny that Paul was the author of his Epistles, because he employed an +amanuensis, or, for the same reason, deny that Milton was the author +of _Paradise Lost_. It is useless here to speculate upon the reasons +which induced God to ordain and bring sin to pass. We are now concerned +with the fact merely, and we hence conclude that he is the author of +sin and the only being properly answerable for it. + +5. If the advocates of this doctrine should still insist that it +does not make God the author of sin; that man is a free agent, +and properly responsible for his actions, notwithstanding they +are foreordained; I press them with this plain consequence--God +is, to say the least, a participant in the sinning. And he is not +merely a _coadjutor_, but the _principal_--the principal in +_every instance of sinning_. He originates the first conception +of the sinning act. He forms the plan. He arranges all the +circumstances. He, by his providence, applies the influence by +which the result is effectuated. Here, then, is a dilemma from +which there is no escape. Either God is, _strictly and properly_, +the _author of sin_, or he is a _participant_ therein, and not +merely accessory, but _the principal_, the _plotter_, the _prime +mover_, the RINGLEADER thereof. + +6. Another inevitable consequence of this doctrine is that, +admitting the existence of sin, God _prefers sin to holiness_ in +every instance in which sin takes place. This consequence is too +plain to require much illustration. If God _freely_ ordained +whatsoever comes to pass; if he was not under a fatal necessity +of ordaining just as he did; if he had it in his power to ordain +otherwise, he could have ordained holiness in the place of sin. +The fact that he was free and unnecessitated in his decrees, and +could ordain the one or the other, according to his good +pleasure, is proof substantial that he prefers sin to holiness in +every instance in which sin occurs. Had he preferred holiness, he +could have decreed it, and it would have come to pass. This +consequence has been admitted, and is, by many Calvinists at this +day, maintained as a doctrine. In fact, it has been a matter of +dispute amongst Calvinists--Dr. Taylor, of Connecticut, taking +one side, and Dr. Tyler, of Connecticut, taking the other. But +what a shocking conception! (See _Christian Spectator_, vol. iv. +p. 465.) + +7. Nor can we resist the further conclusion, from these premises, +that sin is not a real evil, but, on the contrary, a good, and +that in every instance in which it is preferred to holiness, it +is worthy of such preference. This reasoning proceeds upon the +assumption that God is a being of infinite goodness and wisdom, +and, therefore, always prefers good to evil, being, of course, +always able to distinguish the one from the other. + +This inference also has been admitted by many of the advocates of +Calvinistic predestination. They distinctly affirm that sin is +the necessary means of the greatest good, and, as such, so far. +as it exists, is preferable on the whole to holiness in its +stead--that its existence is, on the whole, for the best. I give +as authority for this affirmation, a publication of the +Presbyterian Board, entitled _Old and New Theology_. On the first +page we find this explicit statement: "It has been a common +sentiment among New England divines, since the time of Edwards, +that sin is the necessary means of the greatest good, and as +such, so far as it exists, is preferable, on the whole, to +holiness in its stead." + +I do not charge Dr. Musgrave with holding this inference as a +doctrine, and yet it is very clearly asserted in an argument +designed to prove the Calvinistic doctrine of foreordination. +"There must," says he, "have been a time when no creature +existed, as God alone is from everlasting. Before creation, and +from all eternity, all things that are possible, as well as all +things that actually have or will come to pass in time, must have +been perfectly known to God. He must, therefore, have known what +beings and events would, on the whole, be most for his own glory, +and the greatest good of the universe; and therefore, as an +infinitely wise, benevolent, and Almighty Being, he could not but +have chosen or determined, that such beings and events, and SUCH +ONLY, should come to pass in time." "The conclusion is, +therefore, to our minds, irresistible, that if God be infinitely +wise, benevolent, and powerful, and perfectly foreknew what +beings and events would, _on the whole_, BE BEST, he must have +chosen and ordained that they should exist, or be permitted to +occur; and that, consequently, everything that does actually come +to pass in time, has been eternally and unchangeably foreordained." + +Here it is argued that God, as an infinitely wise, benevolent, +and powerful being, must have _known_ and _preferred_, and +_decreed_, that just such beings should exist and events occur, +as would, on the whole, be most for his own glory, and the +_greatest good_ of the universe, _and such only_; and that, +consequently, he has eternally, and unchangeably foreordained +everything that does actually come to pass in time. Now it is +plain that all the events which have come to pass in time must +answer this description--must be for the best, for his highest +glory--or the argument falls to the ground. + +The Rev. Jas. McChain, one of the editors of the _Calvinistic +Magazine_, in a discourse published in that periodical, December, +1847, thus undertakes to prove that God "has foreordained +whatsoever comes to pass:" "Jehovah is infinitely _wise_; does he +not, therefore, know what it is BEST should take place? He is +infinitely _benevolent_; will he not choose, then, that _shall +take place_ which he knows is FOR THE BEST? He is infinitely +_powerful_; can he not, therefore, cause _to take place_ what he +_chooses shall take place_? The Most High is infinitely wise, and +_knows_ what it is BEST should come to pass--benevolent, and +_chooses_ to bring to pass WHAT IS BEST--powerful, and _does_ +bring to pass what he chooses as BEST." "Surely his infinite +wisdom and goodness will choose and determine whatsoever it is +best should take place, and his almighty power will perfectly +carry out his plan." + +It is not my intention, at this time, to point out the fallacy of +these arguments. I quote them to show that the consequence which +I have deduced from the doctrine that God has decreed whatsoever +comes to pass--that sin is not an evil, but a good, and worthy of +being preferred to holiness in every instance in which it occurs-- +is actually recognized as a truth, and used as a premise in +proof of the Calvinistic doctrine of the decrees. + +8. And how can we avoid adopting as a legitimate conclusion, the +licentious infidel maxim, that "WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT"? + +9. It is obvious, at the first glance, that this doctrine +destroys all reasonable ground for repentance. Of what shall we +repent? Of sinning? Let it first be proved that, according to +this doctrine, any one has sinned, or can sin. But, if sin be +possible, yet in every instance of sinning we have done the will +of God. He freely and unchangeably predestinated the act from all +eternity. His providence brought it to pass. Before we feel +ourselves authorized to repent we should be sure that God has +repented of his purposes and acts. And, even then, there would be +no good reason for repentance upon the part of his creatures. +For, if we, for the sake of the argument, allow that they are +able to act otherwise than as they do, notwithstanding the Divine +decrees, they are morally bound to submit cordially to those +decrees, leaving to God the responsibility of decreeing wisely. +Hence there is no room for repentance. + +This is precisely the application made of this doctrine by an +intelligent Calvinistic lady of New England, Mrs. Elizabeth +Stuart Phelps, daughter of the late Prof. Stuart, of Andover, and +authoress of certain very popular works. In the memorial of her, +prefixed to _The Last Leaf of Sunny Side_, she is quoted as +saying in her diary: "I never _could_ understand or divine +before, my claim upon the Deity's overruling care. Now I do get a +glimpse of it--enough to make me feel like an infant in its +mother's arms. Every event, of every day, of every hour, is +unalterably fixed. Each day is but the turning over a new leaf of +my history, already written by the finger of God--every letter of +it. Should I wish to re-write--to alter--one? Oh, no! no!! no!!!" +Here, you perceive, is no ground for repentance. It is repudiated. +She would not alter an event of her life, a letter of her history. +She carries this acquiescence in the Divine decrees so far as to +say in another place: "I have no hope but in my Saviour and if He +has not saved me, then this too, I know, is just, and God's +decrees I would not change." + +10. Nor can prayer be more reasonable than repentance. For what +shall we pray? That God would reverse his eternal decrees? This +would be to reflect upon his attributes. Are his decrees wrong? +Besides, the doctrine in question affirms them to be unchangeable. +Shall we pray that God may accomplish them? This can add nothing +to the certainty of their accomplishment; for they cannot be +defeated. So we are distinctly assured by the advocates of this +theory. The only apology that can be offered for prayer, on the +part of those who believe this doctrine, is that it is decreed +they shall pray. But a prayer offered in strict logical accordance +with this theory would be a manifest absurdity. + +11. Another legitimate consequence of this doctrine is that man +is not in a state of probation. There is a flat contradiction +between the idea that man is in a state of probation and the +affirmation that the whole series of volitions, states, actions, +and events of his life is fixed, unchangeably, by the Divine +decree, before he comes into existence. I have long regarded this +as an inevitable deduction from the Calvinistic doctrine of +decrees, but it was not until lately that I found it actually +advanced as a doctrine by a Calvinistic writer. On page 77 of +_Fisher's Catechism_, the following occurs:-- + +"_Q_. Is there any danger in asserting that man is not now in a +state of probation, as Adam was?--_Ans_. No." + +"_Q_. What, then, is the dangerous consequence of asserting that +fallen man is still in a state of probation?--_Ans_. This +dangerous consequence would follow, that mankind are hereby +supposed to be still under a covenant of works that can justify +the doer!" + +I do not mean to be understood that this dogma is held by all +Calvinists, but, whether held or not, it is a legitimate +inference. + +12. Let us now notice the bearing of this strange tenet upon some +of the leading doctrines and facts of Christianity. Take the +doctrine of the Fall--which is understood to be that God made man +in his own image--holy; righteous, capable of standing in his +integrity, yet liable to be seduced from it; and that man +voluntarily transgressed, brought guilt and depravity upon +himself, and involved his posterity in moral degradation and +ruin. But, if the Calvinistic doctrine of decrees be true, there +was obviously no fall in the case. There was a change in the +condition of Adam, but that change was a part of God's eternal +plan. Nothing occurred but what belonged to the divinely +predetermined series of events. If Adam had acted otherwise than +as he did, God's original purposes would have been frustrated. If +there were any fall, it should be predicated of the Divine +decrees rather than of the human subject thereof. + +13. Again: The plan of redemption, it is supposed, was designed +to rescue him from a deplorable, desperate condition, in which +his perverseness had placed him; but, if the doctrine we are +considering be true, the redemption, so called, is nothing but a +part of a chain of predetermined events. He _was, and is, at no +time_, in _any other condition_ than was _devised_ and _decreed_ +by _Jehovah as most conducive to his own glory_ and _the highest +good of the universe_. Thus, the redemption, about which so much +is said, is resolved into a mere nullity. + +14. Again: The glorious doctrine of Christ crucified thrills the +bosom of the church with intense emotions of fear, and penitence, +and hope, and gratitude, and joy. Paul attached so much +importance to it as to say: "For I determined to know nothing +among men save Christ and him crucified." But, view it in the +light of the doctrine that God has decreed whatsoever comes to +pass, and what does it amount to? The sufferings and death of +Christ derive their importance from the fact of their being +propitiatory--an atonement. But for what shall they atone? For +acts which were determined upon, as a part of God's plan, for his +glory, and the good of the universe, millions of ages before the +human actors were born; for acts which no more need to be atoned +for than the actions of Jesus Christ himself. To say that those +acts were wrong is to reflect upon the decrees of God, since +"nothing has come to pass but what was decreed by him;" since, +according to Mr. Barnes, we are "to interpret the decrees of God +by facts, and the actual result, by whatever means brought about, +expresses the design of God." If men need atonement, they need it +for doing the will of God, and for nothing else. Need I add that, +in view of the Calvinistic doctrine of decrees, the doctrine of +atonement by the sufferings and death of Christ is absolute +nonsense? + +15. Again: I affirm of this doctrine that it renders utterly +baseless the _doctrine of pardon_, or the remission of sins. It +renders the offer of pardon a mockery. For what is pardon +offered? For _doing the will of God_--for doing just _what he +decreed_ we should do; for _carrying into effect_ his _eternal +counsels_. How can any man need pardon if this doctrine be true? +Should it be said, in reply, that although the decrees of God +have been invariably fulfilled, yet his _precepts_ have been +violated, I rejoin that the violation of these precepts was, +according to the Calvinistic hypothesis, specifically _decreed_. +Unless decreed, it could not have come to pass. Hence, the +violation was inevitable, from the very nature of the case. God +offers pardon to his creatures, who have invariably, from the +commencement of their being, fulfilled his decrees. He offers +pardon to them for violating commands which it was impossible for +them to keep, inasmuch as he had eternally decreed that they +should not keep them, and his decrees are infinitely wise and +holy, and cannot be, frustrated. + +Further, if God's decrees are righteous (and we are told +explicitly by the creed we are reviewing that they had their +origin in his "wise and holy counsel"), it follows that his +precepts must be unrighteous, whenever they are assumed to be in +opposition to his decrees; and surely no one can need pardon for +pursuing a righteous course in opposition to an unrighteous one. +If it be said that his precepts and his decrees are all equally +righteous, it follows that a course in direct opposition, in all +respects, to a righteous law is, nevertheless, a righteous +course, and thus the distinction between righteousness and +unrighteousness is destroyed. View the subject in whatever light +you may, and the offer of pardon in connection with the +Calvinistic doctrine of decrees, becomes an impertinence and an +absurdity. + +16. And what is the effect of the Calvinistic theory of +predestination upon the doctrine of _regeneration_? Regeneration +is usually understood to be a change by which unholy dispositions +--dispositions at variance with the character and will of God +--are substituted by those in accordance therewith. But, if +Calvinism be true, regeneration is nothing more than a preordained +change from doing the will of God perfectly in one way, to doing +it perfectly in another way. + +17. A consequence of this theory has been incidentally brought to +view in illustrating a preceding argument, which deserves a +distinct statement. It is that God has two hostile wills, in +relation to the same thing--his decrees, and his published +commands and prohibitions. He has enjoined certain modes of +action, by the most solemn legislation, and yet decreed, from all +eternity, that multitudes of those whom he has subjected to those +obligations, shall constantly act at variance therewith; so that +multitudes of human beings are doing his will perfectly, and yet +violating his will at the same time. + +18. This theory makes all civil government manifestly unreasonable. +Civil government proceeds upon the supposition that man is a free +agent, capable of choosing and acting otherwise than as he does; +but this theory, as we have seen, is incompatible with free agency. + +And should we admit, for the sake of the argument, that it is not +incompatible with free agency, it is still irreconcilable with +civil government. Civil legislation prohibits various modes of +acting. It assumes that the forbidden actions are wrong-- +injurious to society--whereas, this theory represents that all +the actions that have been performed, or will be performed, were +freely willed, purposed, decreed, foreordained, and brought to +pass by God himself--that there are no events, and can be none, +but what are in precise harmony with his eternal purposes--so +that, unless we suppose that God has from all eternity freely +decreed what is wrong and injurious, thereby subjecting human +legislators to the necessity of opposing his will in order to +prevent outrage and injury, civil legislation admits of no +justification or apology. + +And if this theory is incompatible with civil legislation, it is +not less so with civil jurisprudence. Men assume the right to +inflict severe punishment upon their fellow-men for doing what +cannot be avoided, or for not doing what they cannot possibly do. +Or, if it be admitted, for the sake of the argument, that they +could act otherwise, still they are punished for doing and +suffering, in all respects, the will of God, for merely +exemplifying his eternal unchangeable decrees. Take either +alternative, and human jurisprudence is palpably iniquitous. + +The only plausible apology that can be offered in behalf of civil +government is, either that human legislators and judges, and +jurors, and counsel, and sheriffs, and constables are passive +instruments in the hands of God, in which case their proceedings +are ludicrous, the actors being mere puppets, exhibiting all the +appearance of self-determined motion, and yet, like those famous +characters called _Punch_ and _Judy_, acting only as determined +and effected by the wire-worker; or, admitting that they are +free, and executing their own determinations, they too are doing +precisely what God has foreordained; so that, in this respect, +the jury who pronounce the verdict of guilty, and the judge who +pronounces the sentence of death, are upon a level with the +alleged criminal. All have done, and are doing, just the things +which God has decreed they should do, neither more nor less. + +19. I cannot but regard this theory as subversive of every +rational idea of a Divine moral government. Moral government +implies precepts or prohibitions, or both, enforced by rewards +and penalties, and addressed authoritatively to beings capable of +either obedience or disobedience. But of what use are precepts or +prohibitions if every act of every individual is fixed beforehand +by the Divine decrees? As well might moral codes be addressed to +steam-engines or to whirlwinds. The only plausible attempt that +can be made to reconcile this theory of predestination with a +Divine moral government, is to apply the term moral government to +a certain class of preordained influences designed to bring about +a certain class of preordained results. But this is moral +government in name merely. The process which the advocates of +this theory call moral government is just as mechanical as that +by which the motions of the planets are controlled. The judiciary +system of the Divine government, with all its solemn pageantry, +is thus reduced to a mere farce. Beings are arraigned, with great +judicial pomp, and condemned, or approved, punished or rewarded +for actions which were decreed innumerable ages before they were +born, and brought to pass by influences beyond their control, for +actions which were devised, decreed, and irresistibly brought to +pass by the judge himself. + +20. We are now prepared for another consequence, which hangs like +a millstone around the neck of this theory, and is sufficient, of +itself, to sink it to the depths. It represents God not only as +decreeing one thing and commanding another directly adverse +thereto, but also as decreeing and bringing to pass opposite and +contradictory events. He ordained that one man should believe the +Holy Scriptures, and reverence them, and that another man should, +at the same time, deny, and hate, and vilify them. He ordained +that men should at one period of their lives preach the gospel, +and write in favor of Christianity, and at another period become +infidel lecturers and disputants. He decreed that some should +believe the Calvinistic doctrine of decrees, and teach it, and +that others should, at the same time, regard it as false and +oppose it. He has ordained that men shall take opposite sides on +all great questions, religious, philosophical, or political. He +ordained the fugitive slave law and the recent Nebraska and +Kansas enactment, and all the opposition from ministers and +laymen, with which these measures have been regarded. He has +ordained that one party shall laud them as just and patriotic, +and that another party shall condemn and hate them as diabolical. +He ordained the arrest of that man on the suspicion of murder, +with all the conflicting opinions as to his guilt or innocence, +the contradictory testimony of the witnesses, the contrary +pleadings of the counsel, the verdict of the jury pronouncing him +guilty, the sentence of the judge condemning him to death, and +the pardon of the governor under the full conviction of his +innocence. All the conflicting opinions and acts in the fiercest +controversy that ever raged, this theory traces up to the Divine +foreordination. + +21. It must have appeared to the audience, by this time, that the +character of God is fearfully involved in this inquiry. + +(1). We have already seen that this theory draws after it the +logical consequences that God is the author of sin, or, if not +the author of it in the strict and proper sense of the term, at +least the plotter--the prime mover of it; that he prefers sin to +holiness in every instance in which sin takes place; that he +regards sin as the necessary means of the greatest good; that he +has, at the same time, two hostile wills relative to the same +thing. And now what shall we say of his _wisdom_, when we find +him decreeing acts, and bringing them to pass, and yet, +peremptorily forbidding them--enjoining acts, by formal solemn +legislation, which, from all eternity he has foreordained shall +never be performed? When we find him ordaining measures for the +promotion, and measures for the counteraction, of his own plans? +When we find him ordaining all the contradictions and vacillations +by which human conduct is diversified and disgraced?--when every +example of the most contemptible folly that ever turned the laugh, +or the sneer, or the frown, or the sentiment of pity upon its +immediate perpetrators, can be traced to the free counsels and +designs of God, and finds its origin there? + +(2). What shall we say of the _sincerity_ of God when we find him +enjoining one class of actions on pain of eternal damnation, +while yet he has decreed, and by unfailing means brings to pass, +in the same subjects, an entirely opposite class?--when we find +him threatening, and expostulating, and professing to be grieved, +on account of conduct which had its origin in his own free +purposes, and is effected by his own providence?--when we find +him engaged in enforcing two wills respecting the same thing, one +directly the opposite of the other, one of which must necessarily +fail of accomplishment, and then, wrathfully charging the failure +upon those who have acted in all respects as he ordained they +should?--when we find him offering salvation to all men, and +solemnly asseverating that it is his will that all men should +come to the knowledge of the truth, while yet the sinning, and +ultimate damnation of myriads, were decreed innumerable ages +before they existed? + +(3). What shall we say of his _holiness_, when the vilest crimes +that ever caused the blush of shame, or the feeling of indignation +or horror--_fornication, adultery, bestiality, fraud, oppression, +lying, murder_--are in perfect coincidence with his eternal +purposes, parts of his great plan, when he chose them in preference +to their opposites, with all the means and appliances, great and +small, by which they were brought to pass? + +(4). And what shall we say of his _equity_ and _justice_, when we +find him placing his subjects under the necessity of violating +his will in one way or another, either his secret decrees or his +published enactments? When we find him rewarding one class of his +subjects for fulfilling his decrees, and damning another class +with everlasting tortures for doing precisely the same thing? + +(5). And where is his _benevolence_, when he freely chooses, +prefers, ordains, and brings to pass all the sin and misery in +the universe? + +22. Again: It is obvious that this theory lays the foundation of +a new system of morals. If it be insisted upon that, notwithstanding +God has decreed whatsoever comes to pass, he is perfectly sincere, +just, holy, and benevolent, we shall have obtained certain ethical +principles which, if carried out into universal practice, would +subvert all social order, and destroy all confidence. For instance, +it will follow:-- + +First. That a ruler may secretly will, purpose, decree, +foreordain, that his, subjects shall act in a certain way. He may +put into operation effective measures to secure their concurrence +with his designs. Meantime, he may profess a profound and +insuperable dissatisfaction with a very large proportion of the +actions which he has predetermined and induced; he may indignantly +condemn and threaten to punish the actors; he may do all this, +and yet be perfectly sincere. In other words, what men usually +regard as the most thorough-paced duplicity, is in entire accordance +with perfect sincerity. By this principle, the worst hypocrite that +ever lived may be fully vindicated from the charge of hypocrisy. + +Again: A being may give existence to a vast multitude of other +beings, inferior, dependent, but yet intelligent. He may assert +over their actions the most absolute control. He may predetermine +and bring to pass every one of their actions. He may "shut up all +other ways of acting, and leave that only open which he had +determined to be done." Meanwhile, he may issue laws peremptorily +requiring conduct directly opposite to his unchangeable +predeterminations, thus placing his creatures under the dire +necessity of violating his secret decrees, or his published laws; +and yet he may, with perfect justice, arraign, condemn, and +punish them for the violation of these laws, consigning them to +eternal misery. This theory will furnish us with a criterion of +moral character--a code by which the Neros, Domitians, Caligulas, +and Diocletians, whom men have reprobated and abhorred as +tyrants, may be triumphantly vindicated and made honorable. + +Again: A being may be the author, or, if not, in the strictest +sense, the author, at least the planner, the prime mover of all +the wickedness that ever existed. He may use effective influences +in bringing it to pass, so that it may be said, in truth, that he +freely and unchangeably preordained and produced it, and yet he +may be perfectly holy. + +And again: A being may purpose, foreordain, and bring to pass all +the sin and misery in the universe, and yet be perfectly +benevolent. Here is a principle of ethics which will more than +cover and vindicate the most atrocious cruelties of the Romish +inquisition. The rum-seller, so called, who is the agent of +incalculable mischief, may find under it the most ample +protection. His designs terminate upon the sale of his liquors, +and the gains which result. If he could sell his fiery commodity, +and secure his gains without the misery, he would. But, according +to our new code of ethical principles, he might go much further. +He might design, as an end, all the wretchedness that results, +and prosecute his traffic as a means to secure that end, and yet +be perfectly benevolent. + +Is it not plain that this theory, if adopted and carried out to +its legitimate logical results, must revolutionize and reverse +all our established conceptions of wisdom, sincerity, holiness, +equity, justice, and benevolence, and introduce an entirely new +estimate of moral conduct? + +23. Further: This theory furnishes the most complete +justification of all the conduct of the worst men that ever +lived, both by the ethical principles which may be deduced from +it, and by the single consideration that their every action is in +perfect harmony with the Divine will. The New Testament speaks of +men being without excuse; but I ask, what better excuse can be +desired than that the conduct in question is in precise +accordance with the will of God? Men sometimes think it an +apology to say that they acted hastily--that they were misled by +others--that they were not aware of the mischief likely to result +from their course; but this doctrine puts them at once upon the +highest possible ground of justification. The poor reprobate may +be silenced, at the day of judgment, by the terrors which +surround him, and by the stern authority of the judge, but _not +by the want of a valid plea_. When the sentence shall go forth +consigning him to perdition for the deeds done in the body, he +will have in readiness, whether allowed to utter it or not, the +unanswerable answer: "Lord, the deeds for which I am condemned +were in all respects what thou didst predetermine. I have +executed from first to last thy wise and holy counsels. Had I +acted otherwise, I should have frustrated thy free purposes, +formed before the foundation of the world. I have, indeed, gone +contrary to thy published law, but that thou didst render +inevitable by making that law antagonistic to thy eternal decree, +which thou dost not allow to be thwarted, in any instance, by man +or angel." + +This plea would be equally conclusive before any human tribunal. +There are Calvinistic lawyers, or lawyers who are members of +Calvinistic churches or congregations. The names of some of these +are appended to a note soliciting for publication Dr. Boardman's +sermons on _Election_. In defending alleged criminals, men of +their profession often tax their ingenuity to the utmost for +arguments. If the insanity of the prisoner can be established, +they expect his acquittal, though he may have perpetrated the +fatal violence. But why do they never offer, in behalf of the +prisoner intrusting his case to them, that he has done nothing +but what God willed and decreed from all eternity he should do? +that, from the beginning to the end of the affair, he was but +executing the counsels of Heaven--counsels which Heaven never +suffers to be frustrated, either as to the end, or the instrument. +Some of them believe the doctrine, and desire that the public +should believe it. Why, then, do they never plead it when pledged +to give their client the benefit of every available argument? Is +it nothing to be able to say for him that he has not swerved a +hair's-breadth from the designs of the great Sovereign of the +universe, at whose judgment-seat all the decisions of human +tribunals will be reviewed? They dare not offer such a plea. +They know that common sense would laugh them out of countenance, +if not out of court. And if all present were believers in the +doctrine, they could not attempt to reduce it to its legitimate +practical application without laughing in each other's faces-- +such is its essential absurdity. They may circulate it in +sermons, in which eloquent nonsense is drivelled with impunity, +but they will not venture to propound it in a court, where common +sense and equity bear sway. + +24. If this doctrine be true, it is wholly unnecessary for any of +you to impose any restraint upon your passions or wills. Are you +tempted to indulge in sensuality, or to defraud your neighbor, +and even to assassinate him? And does the inquiry arise in your +mind whether the act to which you are tempted is according to the +will of God? You have only to do it, and the result proves that +it is decreed. So says Mr. Barnes: "The result, by whatever means +brought about, expresses the design of God." If the act be not +decreed, you cannot do it, though you try. If you can, it is +decreed _that you should_; and your doing it is as inevitable as +destiny itself. So you may just go forward, and the result will +be right; that is, if God's decrees are right. + +25. It is also an obvious consequence of this doctrine that no +man can contribute anything to hip personal salvation; that his +salvation or damnation is fixed wholly by the Divine decrees. He. +cannot influence his destiny by any effort he can make. There is +no use in his trying. Indeed, the _Westminster Confession of +Faith_ informs us directly that man is "altogether passive" in +"regeneration," and that his "perseverance" "depends not upon his +own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of +election." So that all the exhortations of the gospel and of the +pulpit, are utterly irrelevant. There is a very significant +passage bearing upon this point in Chalmer's discourse on +Predestination: "And now," says he, "you can have no difficulty +in understanding how it is that we make our calling and election +sure. _It is not in the power of the elect to make their election +surer in itself than it really is, for this is a sureness which +is not capable of receiving any addition_. It is not in the power +of the elect to make it surer to God--for all futurity is +submitted to his all-seeing eye, and his absolute knowledge +stands in need of no confirmation. But there is such a thing as +the elect being ignorant for a time of their own election, and +their being made sure of it in the way of evidence and discovery." +The amount is that a man may ascertain by exertion the fact of his +election, but he can do nothing towards securing it. Thus Mr. +Wesley's famous consequence is established. "The elect shall be +saved, do what they will; the reprobate shall be damned, do what +they can." It is plain from these reasonings that this doctrine +tends to spiritual inactivity, and countenances licentiousness. + +But we are told, by Dr. Boardman, that the Divine "decrees are +not the rule of our duty;" that "we are not held responsible for +not conforming to them;" that "we are not bound to act with the +least reference to them." (p. 45.) What! The subjects of a +government not bound to act with the least reference to the +decrees of its sovereign!--not responsible for not conforming to +them!! This is surely a strange doctrine. It is an indirect +concession that the practical bearing of the Calvinistic doctrine +of decrees cannot be defended. But it is said that we have no +right to make God's secret decrees our rule. Very true. We are +not arguing from his secret decrees, but from what our brethren +profess to know. If the doctrine in question be a secret, we +would like to know by what authority it is so confidently stated +in the _Confession of Faith_ and the _Catechism_. How did they +come by the knowledge of God's secret decree? They may claim to +be better educated than we are, and more intelligent, to have +minds of a superior natural constitution; but we protest against +their claiming to be intrusted with the secrets of heaven. + +26. This wonderful doctrine makes out the devil and his angels to +be faithful servants of God. They have done, throughout the past, +and are doing now, precisely what God, in his wise and holy +counsel, foreordained they should do. + +27. It leads to Universalism. If all beings do as God has +decreed, upon what ground can God punish any of them, then, in +futurity? You have only to connect with this doctrine the +declaration that God is benevolent, or just, and Universalism +follows. + +28. It leads to rank infidelity. It is to my mind more reasonable +to believe that God has made no written revelation of his will, +than that he has revealed such a doctrine as this. Let the +opinion become prevalent that it is a doctrine of the Bible, and, +as the consequence, the Bible will be rejected by thousands, yea, +hundreds of thousands. It is impossible for the ablest disputant +to maintain a respectable argument against infidelity while +standing upon this ground. He must assume the opposite ground, as +the basis of his argument, or he will fail signally. The infidel +objects to the Bible that it represents God as sanctioning crime, +and making favorites of its perpetrators, and hence concludes +that it cannot be true. + +The usual reply is that, so far from having sanctioned vice and +its perpetrators, he has solemnly prohibited it; that he holds +the perpetrator guilty, condemns him to severe punishment, and +will remit that punishment only in view of repentance, and +reformation, and an atonement which fully vindicates the Divine +government, and most impressively manifests its abhorrence of the +course pursued by the transgressor. But what says this doctrine? +That God has freely, and from all eternity _willed, decreed, +foreordained, whatsoever_ comes to pass. The infidel objects that +the Bible contains contradictions, and hence cannot be the word +of God. The usual answer admits that God cannot contradict +himself, but denies that the Bible is chargeable with self +-contradiction. Whereas, this doctrine declares that God has +decreed and brought to pass all the contradictions that were ever +uttered. Can it be that God is the author of a book which +represents him as ordaining and bringing to pass all the acts of +crime and folly that were ever committed, including all the lies +that were ever uttered, as having two hostile wills in relation +to the same event, as decreeing that his creatures should pursue +a certain course, and yet commanding them to pursue a contrary +course, and then, damning them, thousands upon thousands, for +doing what he decreed they should do? It is impossible for the +infidel to frame a stronger argument than this doctrine supplies +him with. + +I have shown, unanswerably, I think, that this doctrine leads, by +obvious deduction, to the doctrine that God prefers sin to +holiness in every instance in which sin takes place, and that sin +is the necessary means of the greatest good. I will now quote an +eminent Calvinistic minister upon the tendencies of this +doctrine. He is commenting upon what he calls "the third +solution" of the question, "For what reason has God permitted sin +to enter the universe?" which he states to be that "God chose +that sin should enter the universe as the necessary means of the +greatest possible good. Wherever it exists, therefore, it is, in +the whole, better than holiness would be in its place"--the very +doctrine which we are told by high Calvinistic authority, has +been a "common sentiment among New England divines since the days +of Edwards." He says:-- + +"The third solution has been extensively adopted by philosophers, +especially on the continent of Europe; and its ultimate reaction +on the public mind had no small share, we believe, in creating +that universal skepticism which at last broke forth upon Europe, +in all the horrors of the French Revolution. While the profoundest +minds were speculating themselves into the belief that sin was the +necessary means of the greatest good, better on the _whole_, in +each instance, than holiness would have been in its place--common +men were pressing the inquiry, 'Why, then, ought it to be punished?' +Voltaire laid hold of this state of things, and assuming the +principle in question to be true, carried round its application to +the breast of millions. In his _Candide_, one of the most amusing +tales that was ever written, he introduces a young man of strong +passions and weak understanding, who had been taught this doctrine +by a metaphysical tutor. They go out into the world, to 'promote the +greatest good' by the indulgence of their passions; certain that, +_on the whole_, each sin is better than holiness would have been +in its place. But when Candide begins to suffer the natural +consequences of his vices, he feels it to be but a poor consolation, +that others are now reaping the benefit of his sin. Is it surprising +that such a work induced thousands to disbelieve in the holy +providence of God, and prepared multitudes to 'do evil that good +might come?'" (_Christian Spectator_, vol. i. pp. 378, 9.) + +It would be easier, and more reasonable, to believe in a +plurality of gods, than that one God should be capable of such +conflicting counsels. And this would bring us to the verge of +Atheism. + +29. This doctrine covers with the wing of its sanction all the +errors that were ever promulgated or conceived. I do not say that +they all grow out of it, but that it justifies them. Why should I +oppose Romanism, or Universalism, or Socinianism, or Puseyism, or +Infidelity, when they are all decreed by Jehovah? Christendom +presents the strange spectacle of men prying into systems, +bringing to the light, condemning, and holding up to public odium +their errors of theory and practice, and, yet, holding as a +fundamental article of their own creed that God from all eternity +freely decreed, whatsoever comes to pass. Let them first reject +and refute the error which vindicates all errors. What right has +a Calvinist to find fault with anything? + +30. Again: It clearly follows, from this theory, that any attempt +to prevent the commission of sin in our neighbors, is not only in +opposition to the primary--the original will, the eternal +purposes of God, but is also in opposition to the highest good of +the universe; and that we should, as reasonable beings, rejoice +in every instance of sin--of lying, robbery, uncleanness, and +murder--as in every instance of holiness. + +31. I do not identify this doctrine with pagan fatalism, but I +hold that it is akin thereto, and that it tends to the same +practical results. It is, in my opinion, worse than pagan +fatalism. That doctrine represents all events and actions as +strictly necessary, but it binds the gods as well as men. All bow +to that mysterious power called fate. Thus it relieves the gods +of all blame. But Calvinism asserts the freedom of Jehovah, and +then imputes to him the foreordination of whatever occurs in the +whole universe, and thus, by plain logical consequence, fastens +upon him all the just blame of whatever is exceptionable. +Calvinism is not pagan fatalism. It is Christian fatalism. It is +fatalism baptized. + + + +DISCOURSE III. + + +"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being +predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all +things according to the counsel of his own will."--EPH. i. 11. + +IN the preceding discourse, I showed that the Calvinistic +doctrine of the Divine decrees leads to the following consequences, +namely, that man is not a free agent; that he is not properly +accountable for his conduct; that there is no sin in the world; or, +that, if there be sin, God is the author of it; or, that, if he be +not strictly and properly the author, he is at least the prime +mover of it; that, if sin exist, God prefers sin to holiness in +every instance in which sin takes place; that sin is not an evil, +but a real good; that whatever is is right; that there is no +reasonable ground for repentance, or for prayer, or for pardon; +that regeneration is nothing else than a change from perfect +conformity to the will of God in one way, to perfect conformity to +the will of God in another way; that the doctrines of the fall and +redemption by Christ are gross and palpable absurdities; that man +is not in a state of probation; that God has two hostile wills +relative to the same thing; that, not only are his secret decrees +and his written laws at variance, but he has also decreed and brings +to pass opposite and contradictory events; that civil government is +wholly unreasonable; that there is in fact no moral government; that +God is not holy, or just, or wise, or truthful, or benevolent; or, +that if God be nevertheless holy, and wise, and true, and just, and +good, we have the foundation of a new system of morals, which, if +adopted, must reverse all our estimates of moral character; that man +cannot contribute anything to his personal salvation; that the devil +and his angels are as faithful servants of God as any of his elect. +It was shown that it leads to Universalism and to rank infidelity; +that it sanctions all the errors that were ever promulgated; that it +furnishes a complete justification of the worst conduct of the worst +men, that ever lived, tends to paralyze all effort to resist +temptation, and condemns as impious any opposition to the commission +of sin by our neighbors, and, finally, that it is worse than the +pagan doctrine of fatalism. + +I shall now endeavor to present the true doctrine. As has been +said, we do not object to the doctrine of predestination, but to +the Calvinistic doctrine. The question is not whether God is a +Sovereign, or whether he has his purposes or decrees, but how +does he exercise his sovereignty--what are his purposes and +decrees? We deny that he has foreordained whatsoever comes to +pass. + +For all our information upon this great question we must inquire +of the sacred oracles. We understand them to teach that God, +foreseeing, though not ordaining, the transgression of our first +parents, decreed that it should subject them to the penalty of +death--eternal death. "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou +shalt surely die." He also decreed that their condition should +not be at once irremediable, but that a second probation should +be allowed them. He also decreed that an atonement should be +made, by which the claims of his government should be vindicated, +while he granted to the offenders a respite, and the advantages +of a new trial, and which should lay a firm foundation for +whatever acts of mercy should be extended to them and their +posterity. He further decreed that this atonement should be +effected by the suffering and death of his Son, who, for the +purpose of effecting this atonement, should assume our nature, +and become God-man. The apostle instructs us that he was +"delivered" to suffering and death, "by the determinate counsel +and foreknowledge of God." It was also decreed that the benefits +of this atonement should extend to all Adam's posterity--that +Christ should die for all. He gave him "a ransom for all," that +he, "by the grace of God, should taste death for every man." It +was also predetermined in the counsels of Heaven, that a change +should take place in the administration of the Divine government. +The first administration, sometimes called the Adamic law or +covenant, was suited to beings perfectly innocent and pure, but +not to fallen beings, as it made no provision for pardon or moral +restoration. Under its authority the sinner could have no hope. +Another decree provides that the Son of God shall bear the +sceptre of authority--that the government shall be upon his +shoulders. To this arrangement we suppose the words of the +Psalmist to refer: "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of +Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou +art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will +give the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts +of the earth for thy possession." (Ps. ii. 6, 7, 8.) Also the +prayer of the apostle Paul, in which he speaks of "the mighty +power" of God, "which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him +from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly +places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and +dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, +but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under +his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the +church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in +all." (Eph. i. 21, 23.) It is further ordained that, under this +new arrangement, faith shall be the condition of the sinner's +acceptance with God--that whosoever believeth shall be pardoned +justified from all things; that the act of faith which secures +the pardon of one sin shall secure the pardon of all then +chargeable; that whosoever is pardoned shall be made holy, +conformed to the image of the Son of God, and made a child of God +by adoption. "For whom he foreknew, them he also did predestinate +to be conformed to the image of his Son." "Having predestinated +us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, unto himself, +according to the good pleasure of his will;" that the great +mediatorial scheme should be developed in successive dispensations, +usually distinguished as the Patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian +dispensations; that one nation of people should be selected as the +depository of the sacred oracles, and as a theatre for the exhibition +of the true religion; that in the fulness of time, Jews and Gentiles +should be placed upon one common ground of religious privilege, the +partition wall being broken down. It is also decreed that there shall +be a general judgment. God hath appointed a day in the which he will +judge the world; that there shall be a resurrection of the bodies of +men; that the bodies of the saints at the resurrection shall be made +very glorious; that the righteous of every age and country shall +ultimately be gathered into one glorious place, from which all +sin and pain shall be excluded, and shall constitute one undivided +family forever. "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given +me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory." "Having +made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good +pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation +of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things +in Christ, both which are in Heaven and which are on earth." And, +finally, it is decreed that while the righteous shall have life +eternal, the wicked, the finally impenitent, and unbelieving, and +unholy, shall go away into everlasting punishment--shall be +imprisoned in a place originally prepared for the first rebels +against the Divine government--the devil and his angels. + +Such, as I understand it, is the Methodistic, or Arminian, +doctrine of the Divine decrees. There is no difficulty in +sustaining this doctrine by Scripture. It is not liable to any of +the objections which menace fatally the Calvinistic scheme. There +is no difficulty in perceiving its harmony with man's free agency +and moral accountability. It does not give the slightest occasion +for the question whether God is the author of sin. He has issued +decrees respecting it; but they are all condemnatory. None of +them preordain it. It does not admit the supposition of his being +a participant in any unholy deed or device. The question never +came up among Methodist divines, whether God prefers, in any +instance, sin to holiness? They would not, could not, consider it +a debatable question. Nor that other question--Is sin the +necessary means of the greatest good? Calvinism is justly +entitled to the honor of originating such questions as these. No +one would ever think of affirming upon Arminian principles that +whatever is is right. Arminianism lays a firm basis for Divine +moral government, and also for civil government--for rewards and +punishments. It not only relieves the Divine attributes from the +fearful suspicions and imputations with which Calvinism dishonors +them, but surrounds them with a transcendent glory. It protects +the morality of the Bible from the devastating incursions to +which Calvinism exposes it, and presents the most powerful +incentives to piety. It does not throw the protecting shield of +the Divine decrees over every form of error and outrage with +which earth is filled, or represent God as having two hostile +wills. It forms no entangling alliances with heathen fatalism. We +are not under the necessity of warning inquirers against +committing themselves to the practical influence of the Arminian +doctrine of Divine decrees, by saying, with Dr. Boardman, that +"These decrees are not the rule of our duty. We are not held +responsible for not conforming to them. We are not bound to act +with the least reference to them." + +The practical bearing of the Arminian doctrine is eminently and +obviously salutary. It has not a single aspect which is not +favorable to piety and morality. Does a sinner tremble at the +word of God? He is made to feel the force of the inspired +declaration that the way of transgressors is hard, and to ponder +the advantages of reformation? Is he not appalled and paralyzed +by the terrible announcement that all his misdeeds, the tendency, +if not the nature of which he now contemplates with horror, are +the result of a power which he cannot successfully resist; that +he is bound to the hateful course of conduct which he deplores, +by eternal decrees and that, in despite of any feelings or +desires he may have, his course may be predestined to be worse in +the future than in the past. O, no! He is assured that God never +preordained sin. That he commands all men everywhere to repent, +and that what he requires of men he will enable them to do. He is +told that nothing binds him to sin but his depravity, that he may +avail himself of the powerful influences of the Spirit of life in +Christ Jesus, which can make him free from the law of sin and +death; and that whom God foreknew, as repenting, and believing, +and availing themselves of remedial provisions, he "predestinated +to be conformed to the image of his Son"--he hath chosen "to be +holy and without blame before him in love." + +Has the man who is seeking with penitence and prayer the favor of +God profoundly humbling views of himself? Does he think it to be +a wonderful stretch of condescension and mercy in God to forgive +his innumerable and grievous offences? And does he wonder whether +God will, in addition to pardoning him, raise him to those high +relationships to the Godhead to which he has raised others? Will +he extend to me the grace of adoption? Will he constitute and +call me his child? Shall I be favored with those blessed +intimacies--those varied and manifold advantages of which that +relation is the guaranty? How satisfactory the answer! You will. +You will be numbered with his sons and daughters, the coheirs +with his eternal--his only begotten Son. God hath not left this +an open question. "He hath predestinated us to the adoption of +children by Jesus Christ unto himself." "For unto as many as +received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, +even to as many as believe in his name." + +Christians, you entertain high hopes of heaven. And yet, +sometimes, it seems too much for your faith that God should +confer upon you such blessedness and glory. Your faith almost +staggers at the promise. You are ready to say-- + + "How can it be, thou Heavenly King, + That thou should'st us to glory bring-- + Make slaves the partners of thy throne, + Deck'd with a never-fading crown?" + +Let your faith be invigorated by the assurance that this is +settled beyond dispute by God's eternal purpose. It is decreed. +"To him that overcometh will I give to sit down with me on my +throne." "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." Nor has this measure +been forced upon Jehovah. It is sometimes the case that +sovereigns are compelled to yield privileges to restless and +revolted subjects. Sometimes contemporary sovereignties combine +to force a reluctant ruler into arrangements contrary to his +preconceived and preferred policy. Sometimes potent rulers yield +their preferences to the sway of sage and influential counsellors, +and find themselves committed to a policy which they execute with +reluctance, and with exceptions. It is not so with any of the +decrees of the Most High. Who, being his counsellor, hath taught +him? He "worketh all things according to the counsel of his own +will." "It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." +It is no less the pleasure of the Son: "Father, I will that they +also that thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may +behold my glory." And he has power to carry out his purposes to +their entire fulfilment. O, how precious is this doctrine of Divine +predestination! + +You may have enemies. There may be those who would deny you a +place in the church on earth. You may have been excommunicated +and cursed for worshipping the God of your fathers after the +manner which some call heresy. Your enemies would fain keep you +out of heaven. They profess to be able to do so. But they are +mistaken. God has not left it to them to determine who shall +enter heaven and who shall not. He has fixed the conditions of +salvation independently of their counsels--long before they +existed--before the sun began his course. "He will have mercy on +whom he will have mercy." To accomplish their end, they must be +able to go behind all human arrangements to the decrees, the +purposes of heaven, and revoke them. Will they be able to do +that? Or, if unable to revoke, or induce him to revoke his +decrees, will they be able to defeat them by machinations or +physical resistance? Surely not. He will show them "the +immutability of his counsels." He will say to them, "My counsel +shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." "There is no wisdom, +or understanding, or counsel, against the Lord." "He will make +the devices of the people of none effect." "The Lord of Hosts +hath purposed, and who shall disannul it." "Hallelujah, for the +Lord God omnipotent reigneth!" + +And how glorious are the prospects which the decrees of God +unfold! These bodies must decay. One of those decrees consigns us +to the grave; another provides that we shall be recalled--that +death shall be conquered--shall be swallowed up of victory. The +prearrangements of Heaven respecting the bodies of the saints, +are thus disclosed: "It is sown in corruption; it is raised in +incorruption. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It +is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural +body; it is raised a spiritual body." + +Religion does not extinguish or impair our social feelings, but +rather refines and invigorates them; and, among the hopes that we +have been led to cherish, is that of a reunion with departed +friends in heaven, and a participation in the society of the good +of other climes and ages; and it is expressly declared that the +redeemed of subsequent ages shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, +and Jacob, in the Kingdom of God. + +And while this doctrine is so full of consolation to the +Christian, and so fraught with healthful stimulus to piety, it is +terrible to the sinner. He need not think to find anything in it +to justify or to apologize for his crime, or his impenitency. Nor +may he indulge the hope that whatever may be the destiny of other +sinners, he will escape the damnation of hell. There can be no +influence brought to bear upon Jehovah sufficient to induce him +to swerve in a single instance from his plans. The decrees of God +are against him. He that believeth shall be saved. He that +believeth not shall be damned. "These shall go away into +everlasting punishment." And he has power to execute his decrees. +All attempts at resistance will be as nothing. "The Lord +reigneth; let the people tremble." + +I have now presented the two rival theories. There is the +Calvinistic doctrine, and there are the consequences to which it +leads. We can easily detect the wisdom of the requisition that +the teachers of it shall handle it with "special caution," and +account for their studiously keeping it out of sight during +revivals, and in their ordinary ministrations, and then seeking +to divert attention from its practical tendencies by denying that +the decrees of God are to be taken as the rule or test of our +conduct. + +But do I not repeat an Arminian slander when I charge them with +partially concealing or disguising the doctrine? No! We have high +Calvinistic authority for the imputation. The following is the +testimony of a distinguished Congregational minister of New +England, the Rev. Dr. Harvey:-- + +"There is a large number of orthodox ministers in New England +who, from family alliances, from constitutional delicacy of +temper, &c. &c., as I hinted above, will temporize and make +_smooth work_, from an honest conviction that a full disclosure +of the truth would _alienate their hearers_. The bitter revilings +of base men have been gradually and insensibly leading Calvinistic +ministers to _hide their colors_, and _recede_ from their ground. +Dr. Spring's Church, at Newburyport, Park Street, especially in +Dr. Griffin's day, and a few others, have stood like the Macedonian +Phalanx. But others have gone backward. _Caution_, CAUTION, has +been the watchword of ministers. When they do preach the old +standard doctrines, it is in so guarded a phraseology that they are +not understood to be the same." (_Harvey on Moral Agency_, p. 174.) + +This is clear and indisputable. The Methodist preachers are +probably included among the "base men" whose "bitter revilings" +have brought about this state of things, as none have done more +to bring Calvinism into discredit. + +And yet, with all this caution, this doctrine is assiduously +taught to little children in Sabbath-Schools. It is presented to +them and inculcated without disguise. I almost shudder when I +think of it. Were all the wealth of this great city offered to me +for the privilege of teaching this doctrine to my children, with +the understanding that I would withhold counter-instruction, I +would spurn the offer. At least, I would do so until my mind had +become reconciled to the proposition by a slow and painful +process of self-depravation, which, I acknowledge, would not be +an impossibility. The apostle Paul speaks of those who through +"love of money" have "erred from the faith." + +Our Calvinistic brethren may have some ground for claiming that +they are in advance of us in learning and intelligence, but it is +to be hoped that they will not offer their holding this doctrine +as proof of the justness of the claim. And if it be the case that +some minds are determined, by peculiarities in their original +formation, to the belief of Calvinism, I thank God that mine does +not belong to that class. And, further, it may be a source of +consolation to us, in our imputed inferiority, that it does not +require much learning or intelligence to refute Calvinism, or to +make its supporters ashamed of it. + +And when Calvinists ascribe our opposition to their doctrines to +depravity, and call our objections to it "impious cavillings," as +does Dr. Musgrave, we offer this apology, that our objections are +not alleged against what we understand to be the Scripture +doctrine; and that if their doctrine be true, and ours false, we +are, after all, doing nothing but what God has wisely foreordained +we should do. We would also suggest to them that any opposition to +our course is resistance to the will of Heaven, so that it is a +fair question whether the charge of depravity should not take the +opposite direction, But I do not retort it. Methodists never, so +far as I know, seek to raise the slightest suspicion of the piety +of their Calvinistic brethren on the ground of their being Calvinists. + +The assertion that Calvinism is specially and exclusively +favorable to civil and religious liberty, is a _sheer_ pretence. +I will just state a few facts. When the Presbyterians obtained +the ascendency in England, they proceeded to establish themselves +by law. The _Westminster Confession of Faith_ was intended for +the English Establishment. Presbyterianism is the established +religion of Scotland at this day, and also of Holland, Geneva, +and some parts of Germany. Presbyterian ministers in Ireland are +supported, in part, by the British Government. They thus consent +that Methodists, Baptists, and others, shall be taxed for their +support. That Presbyterianism is not the Established Church in +this country may be owing altogether to the fact that it has +always been too weak to place itself in that position. When the +Independents, in Cromwell's time, obtained the ascendency, they +followed the example of the Presbyterians. The Congregationalists +of New England, who are Calvinists, established their system, by +law, in several of the colonies, and continued to be the +Established Church after the Revolution, and until the other +sects, combining with unbelievers, became strong enough to put +them down and change the State constitutions in favor of equal +rights. And, within five or six years of the present time, a +Presbyterian Church, in one of the States of this Republic, +applied to the legislature, and obtained a grant of one thousand +five hundred dollars to be expended upon a Presbyterian church +edifice. Many Calvinists have held, and many do yet hold +doctrines highly intolerant; and the history of Calvinism is +crimsoned by records of blood spilled in support of its tenets. +It would be great wisdom on the part of our Calvinistic brethren +to allow the question of the bearing of Calvinism upon civil and +religious liberty to sleep, undisturbed. + +A very strong presumption of the unsoundness of the Calvinistic +doctrine of decrees arises from the fact that its advocates are +compelled, in answering objections to it, not only to disguise, +but also flatly contradict it, and to substitute for it Arminian +positions; thus virtually conceding that it is indefensible. Dr. +Musgrave, as we have seen, asserts explicitly that God has +foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. He argues that to deny +this, would be in effect to deny that God is infinitely wise, +benevolent, and powerful. He says: "We have proved, both by +reason and revelation, that all things that come to pass are +foreordained." He applies this doctrine to sinful actions in the +following manner: "Now, that the whole of Pharaoh's conduct had +not only been foreknown but foreordained is indisputable." Again, +he says: "In connection with the foregoing statements concerning +the crucifixion of the Saviour, let us single out the case of one +of the individual actors in that awful tragedy, one whose part +was the most perfidious and execrable, and see whether his crime +was not before ordained, and he the individual predesignated as +its perpetrator." He proceeds to the proof of this proposition. +But, when it becomes necessary to meet the palpable and +irrefutable objections that this doctrine makes God the author of +sin, and takes away the responsibility of the creature, he is +compelled to change entirely his ground. He substitutes +_permission_ for _foreordination_, and defines permission to mean +simply not preventing. "And is there no difference," says he, +"between God's making, or exciting men to sin, by his power or +influence, and his _permitting_, or _not preventing_ them from +sinning? Between his determining to produce the evil himself, or +to cause others by his power to do it, and his predetermining to +_permit_ men to abuse their liberty and to commit the evil by the +_unprevented_ exercise of their own voluntary efficiency?" + +I reply--there is a very great difference. It is nothing less +than the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism. He is led +to deny his own doctrine, and take refuge in the one he has tried +so hard to refute. + +The Rev. Dr. Baker, of Texas, in a tract published by the +Presbyterian Board of Publication, and entitled _The Standards of +the Presbyterian Church a Faithful Mirror of the Bible_, attempts +to establish by Scripture the proposition--"God from all eternity +did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely +and unchangeably foreordain whatsoever comes to pass." But in +another, published by the same institution, and entitled _The +Sovereignty of God Explained and Vindicated_, the design of which +is to present the doctrine of Divine decrees in such a light as +will obviate the usual objections to the Calvinistic view, he +says: "Certain things God _brings to pass_ by a positive agency. +Others he _simply permits_ to come to pass. And let it be +remarked, permission and approbation do not, by any means, mean +the same thing." Again: "Does any one ask what is the difference +between _bringing_ to pass, and _permitting_ to come to pass? I +answer: God brought to pass the incarnation of his Son. He +permitted to come to pass his crucifixion. The difference is as +wide as the east is from the west." + +But if God simply permits some things, why do the creed and the +catechism of the Presbyterian Church assert, so unequivocally, +that he has from all eternity foreordained whatsoever comes to +pass, and that he executes, or brings to pass all his decrees? +The contradiction is manifest. + +The Rev. Dr. Fairchild, in his famous _Great Supper_, says: +"Calvinists do not regard the decrees of God as extending to all +events in the same manner. Some things God has determined to +_effect_ by his own agency, and other things he has decreed to +_permit_ or _suffer_ to be." + +But, if the Calvinistic doctrine be that his decrees merely +"extend to all events" (a very different thing from his decreeing +all events), and that while he "decrees" and "effects" some he +merely "permits" or "suffers" other events, what must we +understand to be the Arminian doctrine, against which they are +called to contend so earnestly? Are they prepared to acknowledge +that they have abandoned Calvinism and run into Arminianism? Do +they mean to say that there is no difference between these +systems on the point in question? Not at all. How then do they +preserve the antagonism of the two creeds? What is the Arminianism +against which they are arrayed? Dr. Musgrave thus attempts the +solution of this question. + +"Now, I submit, whether the difficulty, thus confessedly pressing +against both systems, is not capable on our principles, of a much +more full and satisfactory conclusion. For we not only say, as +Wesley does, that 'God knew that it was best, on the whole, not +to prevent the first sin of Adam,' but we add, that, knowing +this, he determined not only to permit that, but all the sins +that he knew would follow from it, and to limit and overrule the +whole for his most excellent glory." + +It seems, then, that the difference between Calvinism and +Arminianism respecting the Divine decrees is that Calvinism +affirms that God knew it was best, on the whole, not to prevent +the sins which he has not prevented, but to permit, and limit and +overrule them, while Arminianism affirms that God knew it would +be best, on the whole, not to prevent the _first_ sin, but +determined to prevent all the sins that he foresaw would flow +from it. What a strange statement! To what shifts are these men +driven by their unfortunate creed! Where does Mr. Wesley, or any +other Arminian writer, say this directly or indirectly? Our +author very wisely declines any references at this point. Mr. +Wesley does, indeed, deny that God permitted sin, even the "first +sin of Adam," in the sense of approving or tolerating it; but +whoever denied that God permits, in the sense of suffering--not +forcibly preventing, the sins which actually occur? He appropriates +to himself, unfairly, Mr. Wesley's doctrine, and then imputes to Mr. +Wesley a tenet so perfectly foolish that it may be doubted whether +any man ever advanced it, whether sane or insane, drunk or sober. + +No! these are not the doctrines of Calvinism and Arminianism +respectively. The reader will see the importance of the pains +taken, in the first discourse, to identify Calvinism. I proved +beyond dispute, that Calvinistic creeds, Catechisms, and other +theological treatises, teach explicitly, that God has purposed, +decreed, foreordained, whatsoever comes to pass; that in some way +or other he brings to pass all events; that nothing will, or can, +come to pass but what he has ordained; that none of his purposes +can be defeated; that it cannot, with truth, be said of any +event--it may or may not occur; and that all actual results, by +whatever means obtained, are expressions of the design, or decree +of God. Arminianism teaches on the contrary, that God has not +ordained whatsoever comes to pass--that some things he has +preordained; that other things he has not, but has, nevertheless, +approved and commanded them, leaving it to the free agency of the +creature to fulfil his requisitions; that other things, he not +only has not foreordained, but, has condemned and prohibited +them, and yet permits or suffers them to be, in preference to +that violent interference with free agency which would be +necessary to their forcible prevention. + +Dr. Fairchild tells us that "this distinction between a decree to +_effect_ and a decree to _permit_ has been adopted by Predestinarian +divines in all ages." + +Yes, in all ages Predestinarian divines have been compelled to +abandon and contradict their creed in the progress, and for the +purpose, of its defence. But Calvin himself formally discards and +protests against this distinction. He says respecting it: "A +question of greater difficulty arises from other passages, where +God is said to incline or draw according to his own pleasure, +Satan himself and all the reprobate. For the carnal understanding +scarcely comprehends how he, acting by their means, contracts no +defilement from their criminality, and even in operations common +to himself and them, is free from every fault, and yet righteously +condemns those whose ministry he uses. Hence was invented the +distinction between _doing_ and _permitting_; because to many +persons this has appeared an inexplicable difficulty, that Satan +and all the impious are subject to the power and government of God, +so that he directs their malice to whatever end he pleases, and uses +their crimes for the execution of his judgments. The modesty of +those who are alarmed at the appearance of absurdity, might perhaps +be excusable, if they did not attempt to vindicate the Divine +justice by a pretence utterly destitute of any foundation in truth. +They consider it absurd that a man should be blinded by the will +and command of God, and afterwards be punished for his blindness. +They therefore evade the difficulty, by alleging that it happens +only by the permission of God, and not by the will of God; but God +himself, by the most unequivocal declarations, rejects this +subterfuge." + +But Calvin protests in vain against resorting to this "evasion" +and "subterfuge." It is the only way in which the advocates of +his doctrine can make a plausible show of argument when pressed +with certain objections. Hence we find the Westminster divines +employing it. They tell us in their Confession of Faith, that God +was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel, to _permit_ +the sin of our first parents. Lest, however, the faithful should +fall into a serious mistake, another part assures them that the +providence of God "extendeth itself to the first fall, and all +other sins of angels and men, and that not by a _bare permission_, +but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding, +and otherwise ordering and governing of them, &c." The nature of +that "ordering and governing" is explained in the declaration that +"God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of his +own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass." +But how learned men can talk of God's permitting what he has +eternally and unchangeably ordained, is a mystery to some of the +unlearned. Is it necessary to tell us, gravely, that God permits +to come to pass that which from all eternity he freely ordained +shall come to pass? He permits men and angels to do what he has +predetermined they shall do, and what they cannot avoid doing! +Wonderful!! + +The apology for this gross misapplication of language, on the +part of men whose learning is sometimes magnified almost into +infallibility, is found in their distressing emergency. In no +other way can they, with any plausibility, meet their opponents. +The usefulness of this term "permit" is admirably indicated by +the account which a Presbyterian colporteur gives of an interview +with some who objected to the Calvinistic doctrine of decrees. He +says:-- + +"I felt myself, however, sometimes compelled to combat with the +opponents of our Calvinistic creed. On one occasion entering a +house, the members of which all attended the Presbyterian Church, +but were not members, I sold a Confession of Faith to the +gentleman; his lady inquired what the name of the book was and on +being told, after turning over its pages in a hasty manner, +exclaimed: 'I could never allow that book to be under my roof--it +should not be read, and it never ought to have been printed.' + +"What was I to do? The doctrine of our Church, so far as election +is concerned, was attacked. After some little conversation on the +subject, I found that she and her son charged our Confession with +teaching that God passed a decree which put the fall of Adam +beyond the possibility of escape." + +Here was an exigency. Let us see how he meets it. That the +Confession does teach the doctrine which the lady and her son +ascribed to it, is as plain as anything can be. He _decreed +whatsoever comes to pass_, and _executes_ his decrees. Does he +ask her what objections she has to this doctrine and offer to +refute them? Does he directly and promptly deny that Calvinism +teaches this doctrine? No! Such a course would be rather +hazardous, considering the character of the books he was seeking +to distribute, and did actually leave with them. What course, +then, does he take? "I told her," says he, "if the chapter on the +fall of man said so, I was as loath to believe it as she was; and +if she could find it so, I would condemn the doctrine." Mark! He +does not say, unconditionally and unequivocally that he condemned +the doctrine, and was as loath to believe it as she was, but _if +the chapter which treated on the fall of man said so_. Well, what +follows: "On turning to the 6th chapter, how surprised was she to +read--This their sin God was pleased according to his wise and +holy counsel to _permit_.'" This word _permit_ helped him out of +his difficulty. "Here was a fact," says he, "of which they had +never heard before, and which gave them no little satisfaction." +He doubtless left them under the impression that the Confession +of Faith does not teach that God decreed and brought to pass the +sin of Adam. However, he did not leave them until they willingly +purchased the _Confession of Faith, the Great Supper_, and +_Fisher's Catechism_, which asserts, as I have already shown, +that "the very reason why anything comes to pass in time is, +because God has decreed it," that "none of the decrees of God can +be defeated, or fail of execution;" and that God "predetermines +the creature to such or such an action, and not to another, +shutting up all other ways of acting, and leaving that only open +which he had determined to be done." + +Another presumption in favor of Arminianism results from the +readiness with which Methodist preachers are installed as pastors +of Calvinistic churches, both old and new school, with the +understanding, if their own statements be reliable, that they are +not required to renounce or contradict the Arminian creed. +Arminian ministers are coming into great demand by Calvinists. +They are admitted into the Methodist ministry with the understanding +that they are sound Arminians. They remain for years without +exciting the least suspicion of their orthodoxy. When, all at once, +without any prior change of ecclesiastical relations, or intimation +of a change of theological views, they walk into Calvinistic pulpits. +I make no remarks at present upon the morality of this course, but +deduce that Arminianism preaching, to some extent, is necessary to +keep up Calvinistic congregations. + +Methodists, you may well prize your creed. Your ministers can +preach it without reserve. You can defend it. The water of life +comes to you through no corrupting medium. You are in no danger +of inhaling poisonous sediment. It will bear analysis. It comes +to you fresh and abundant. Drink it, and dig channels wide and +long for its diffusion, that others may be blest as you are. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Calvinistic Doctrine of +Predestination Examined and Refuted, by Francis Hodgson + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30119 *** |