Part 1, Chapter 2

PART I - DIVINE FOREORDINATION

CHAPTER II.
THE DOCTRINE OF DIVINE FOREORDINATION STATED, AND THE STATEMENT SHOWN TO BE
IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE SCRIPTURES, THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH,
AND WITH STANDARD CALVINISTIC WRITERS. The purposes of God relate to the creation and the government of all things.

1. God created all things. This truth no Christian disputes; nor will any one pretend, that the work of creation was an accidental work. All will readily admit; that God first formed the purpose to create, and then put forth the creative act in fulfilment of that purpose. All Christians will adopt the language of the Psalmist,-"O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all." All unite in saying, -"The heavens declare the glory of God,"-the glory of his wisdom, power and benevolence.

2. But God purposed to govern the world which he created. No Christian believes, that the creation of this world was the end of God’s purposes concerning it,-that he determined to create the world and place man in it, and then to leave both the world and man to their fortunes. All must agree, (for the Scriptures abundantly declare it,) that in creating the world he had in view some great end or ends worthy of his infinite perfections; and that he is now governing the world so as to accomplish those ends. Of the purposes of God concerning the affairs of this world, we read in such passages of Scripture as the following: "I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not. yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure."[Isaiah 46:9, Isaiah 46:10] Again,--"The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations."[Psalms 33:10, Psalms 33:11] Again,-"There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand."[Proverbs 19:21] From these and a multitude of similar passages, it is clear that God has many purposes concerning this world, and concerning men; and that all those purposes will certainly be fulfilled. Indeed the most important prophecies of the Old and New Testaments are not so much predictions of what will come to pass, as revelations of what God has purposed to bring to pass. But what was the great purpose for which our world was created? The Scriptures teach us, that the great end of creation was the manifestation of the glory of God. "The Lord," says Solomon, "hath made all things for himself."[Proverbs 16:4] And holy beings around the throne of God, sing,-" Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."[Revelation 4:11] But though all the works of God declare his glory, it was by man, created in his moral image, that God designed chiefly to manifest his glory. "The final cause of man’s creation," as Rev. Richard Watson, a Methodist writer, well remarks, "was the display of the glory of God, and principally his moral perfections."[Theol. Inst. pt. 2, ch. 18] But how is God to be glorified by men? Before they were created, God foresaw the fall of the human race into sin. He could not have designed, therefore, that they should glorify him by continuing in a state of holiness. Accordingly we are taught in the Scriptures, that Christ "was foreordained before the foundation of the world" to become the Saviour of fallen men. And Paul the Apostle uses the following language on this subject: "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Christ Jesus: to the intent that now unto the princicipalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord."[Ephesians 3:8-11] From this language we learn, that God from eternity purposed to; manifest to his rational creatures his manifold wisdom by means of the church redeemed by Christ, and that in fulfilment of this purpose he created all things by Christ.- Even Watson, though a decided Arminian, says,-"The redemption of man by Christ was certainly not an after-thought brought in upon man’s apostacy; it was a provision, and when man fell, he found justice hand in hand with mercy."[Theol. Inst. pt. 2, ch. 18] We are warranted, then, in the conclusion, that God from eternity designed this world to be the theatre on which he would display his manifold wisdom by the redemption of fallen men. For the accomplishment of this glorious design God has governed the world from the beginning, and will govern it to the end. When our Saviour gave his Apostles the great commission to go and teach all nations, he said,-"All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." And Paul teaches us, that Christ is now "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 that God "hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church." And for the salvation of his church, "he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet." We can never understand the providence of God over our world, unless we regard it as a complicated machinery, having ten thousand parts, directed in all its operations to one glorious end,-the display of the manifold wisdom of God in the salvation of the Church of Christ. And even when viewed in this Scriptural light, there are many things too deep for our limited powers; and we are obliged to exclaim, as did Paul concerning the dispersion of the Jews,-"0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out!" The government of the world is naturally divided into the government of matter and the government of mind. Concerning the former, there is no dispute amongst Christians. Whilst all all agree that God governs matter, in some sense, by fixed laws, all must admit that he so interposes as to send his blessings or his judgments upon his creatures as his infinite wisdom dictates. At one time he sends the early and the latter rain, and blesses the land with fruitful seasons; at another, he curses it with drought and famine. New he commissions the breezes to bear upon their bosoms the blessings of health; then he loads them with pestilential vapors, spreading death and mourning in their course. How he exerts this controlling influence over matter, we know not; but that he does so, no one who believes the Scriptures, can doubt. But the most important, as well as the most difficult part of this subject, relates to the government of mind. To what extent and by what influences does God govern men and angels? They are divided into two classes,-the righteous and the wicked; and they perform two classes of actions,-the good and the bad.

I. Perhaps most professing Christians will admit, that God is, in an important sense, the author of all pure affections and actions. The holy angels he created in his own image, as he created man; and he has preserved them in holiness. Since the fall, all men are born into the world totally depraved. In this truth the more evangelical class of Arminians agree with us; and as we design not now to argue with those who deny the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, we shall not stop to prove the doctrine of original sin, but shall take it as admitted. Now it is evident, that from a totally depraved heart pure affections and actions cannot proceed. Consequently whatever of holiness there is in any human being, must proceed from the Spirit of God. And so teaches the inspired Paul. He enumerates the Christian virtues, as love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, and pronounces them all "the fruit of the Spirit"[Galatians 5:22, Galatians 5:23] And all the good works of men he teaches us to regard as effects of regeneration. "For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them."[Ephesians 2:10] And when he exhorts Christians to work out their salvation, he adds,-"for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."[Php 2:12, Php 2:13]

Besides that influence by which the heart is sanctified, God exerts upon good men a directing influence, by which they are guided through life. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way."[Psalms 37:23] What Solomon says of men generally, is specially true of those over whom the good Shepherd exercises a particular care,-"Man’s goings are of the Lord: how can a man then understand his own way?"[Proverbs 20:24] How God exerts upon the human mind a sanctifying and controlling influence without interfering with its free agency and accountability, we cannot explain; but that he does so, is too clear to be disputed. But what shall we say of the government which God exercises over wicked men and their actions? To answer this question satisfactorily, we must inquire into the origin of sin in our world. Our first parents were created in the moral image of God, and were placed on probation in the garden of Eden, "having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfill it; and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject unto change." They were tempted by Satan; they yielded to the temptation, and fell; and all their posterity were involved in the fall. Consequently all men are now born in total depravity, being entirely destitute of holiness and disposed only to sin.

Now let it be understood, we deny that God exerted, or purposed to exert any influence on the minds of our first parents, inclining them to sin. Our Confession teaches distinctly, that they were "left to the liberty of their own will," and were endowed with power to fulfill the requirements of God.[Westminster Confession, ch. 4] Calvin taught, that man in his primitive state possessed reason, understanding, prudence and judgment, not only for the government of his life on earth, but to enable him to ascend even to God and eternal felicity; that to these was added choice to direct the appetites, and regulate all the organic motions, so that be was entirely conformed to the government of reason- that in this integrity he was endued with free will, by which, it, he had chosen, he might have obtained eternal life; and that Adam could have stood if he would, since he fell merely by his own will.[Inst. Book 1, ch. 15] As Adam stood in his trial as the representative of his posterity-, the whole race fell in his fall; and the consequences of his sin passed upon them as well as upon him. Richard Watson teaches, that the death threatened as the penalty of Adam’s transgression included "corporeal, moral or spiritual, and eternal death;" that "the sentence included also the whole of his posterity;" and consequently all are born in a state of spiritual death or of total depravity.[Theol. Inst., pt. 2, ch. 18] We do not believe, however, that original sin, in which all are born, consists in any depravation of the soul, or the infusion of any positive evil. The Confessions of the Reformed Churches, all of which are decidedly Calvinistic, teach, as Rev. Dr. Hodge states, "that original righteousness, as a punishment of Adam’s sin, was lost, and by that defect the tendency to sin, or corrupt disposition, or corruption of nature, is occasioned." And the same able writer agrees with President Edwards, "that the absence of positive good principles, and the withholding of special divine influence, and the leaving of the common principles of self-love, natural appetite, which were in man in innocence, are sufficient to account for all the corruption which appears among men."[Com. on 5th ch. of Rom.]

We have now clearly before us the Calvinistic view of the origin of sin, so far as the human race is concerned, and of the total depravity in which all are born. God created the world, and placed man in it for his own glory. He purposed to display his manifold wisdom by means of the Church redeemed by the blood of Christ. He, therefore, purposed to permit the temptation and the fall of our first parents, and to leave their posterity, deprived of original righteousness, to the workings of their own minds and hearts. All, therefore, are dead in sin.

We are now prepared to inquire into the nature of the government or control which God exercises over wicked men. This is a most important question; for God governs wicked men for the purpose of accomplishing his holy ends; and the influence he now exerts upon them, is precisely the influence which from eternity he purposed to exert. The influence which he exerts upon wicked men, is of four kinds, viz:

1. A restraining influence, by which they are prevented from doing what they are naturally inclined to do. Thus God said to Abimelech, king of Gerar, who took Sarah from Abraham,-"For I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her."[Genesis 20:6] And to encourage the Jews to attend their three annual festivals at Jerusalem, he said,-“Neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year."[Exodus 34:24] He promised, during their attendance on their festivals, to restrain the covetous desires of their pagan neighbors.

2. God often exerts an the minds of wicked men what we may call a softening influence, disposing them, contrary to their natural inclination, to do that which will promote his cause. Cyrus, king of Persia, was a pagan and a wicked man; yet in order that the prophecy in Jeremiah might be fulfilled, "the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom," in favor of the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem.[Ezra 1:1] And when Artaxerxes afforded the Jews aid in the same work, Ezra said,-"Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem: and hath extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellors, and before all the king’s mighty princes."[Ezra 7:27, Ezra 7:28]

3. God exerts an the minds of wicked men a directing influence, so that good is made to result from their intended evil. The brethren of Joseph hated him, and determined to kill him. This wicked design God prevented through the instrumentality of Reuben, whose heart was softened. In the absence of Reuben, certain Ishmaelitish merchants passed by; and God permitted them to sell Joseph to them. They were wicked men, and were, therefore, willing to enslave a noble youth for the sake of gain; but God in his providence so ordered things, that they were on their way to Egypt, the country to which he purposed to send Joseph; and that they passed by just at the right time. That the hand of God was in this event and in those which, in the same connection, preceded and followed it, we know; for Joseph said to his brethren,-"God sent me before you, to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance."[Genesis 45:7] This directing influence, which God exerts over wicked men, is constantly spoken of in the Scriptures. Of the proud king of Assyria, God said,-"I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, etc. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so."[Isaiah 10:6, Isaiah 10:7] Solomon says,-"A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps."[Proverbs 16:9] And again,-"The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will."[Proverbs 21:1] Jeremiah says,-"O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps."[Jeremiah 10:23]

4. There is a sense in which God hardens the hearts of wicked men, and blinds their minds. When God commanded Moses to perform miracles in the presence of Pharaoh, and to require him, in the name of the God of Israel, to let his people go, he said,-"But I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go."[Exodus 4:21] And when Pharoah and his army pursued the Jews to the Red Sea, God bade them go forward, and said,-’`Behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them; and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen."[Exodus 14:17] When the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, king of Israel, "an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him."[1 Samuel 16:14] When God would send Ahab to battle to be slain, Micaiah the prophet said, "the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee." Concerning the rebellious Jews who rejected the Saviour, it is said,-"He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.”[John 12:40] By these and similar declarations of the Scriptures, we do not understand, as already stated, that God exerts an influence upon the hearts of men, disposing them to feel and act wickedly. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, as we believe, first, by his being given up of God to his evil dispositions, as were the heathen of whom Paul speaks;[Romans 1:1-32] and, secondly, by the repeated and, to him, irritating command to give up without compensation the enslaved people of God. Saul was given up of God, and left to be tempted and tormented by the devil. Ahab, unwilling to believe the true prophets, was abandoned to be deluded and ruined by false prophets. The unbelieving Jews were left to themselves, and were consequently both hardened and blinded. But in all these cases, God had wise purposes to accomplish, and as the Psalmist had said, the wrath of man was made to praise him; and the remainder of wrath he restrained.[Psalms 76:10]

II. The doctrine of Divine decrees, then, may be briefly summed up as follows: 1. God, from eternity, purposed to govern matter as he is now governing it, in accordance generally with fixed laws. 2. God is properly the author of all true holiness in men, and he produces such holiness according to his eternal purpose. 3. God chose to permit some angels and all the human race to fall into sin, and so to overrule their dispositions, softening, restraining, directing, hardening, as to bring good out of evil, to accomplish his all-wise purposes. And this is the doctrine, as taught in the Westminster Confession of Faith. "God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably foreordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby neither is God the author of sin; nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.”[Westmin. Conf. ch. 3] But how is this? If God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass, how is it that he is not the author of sin? The answer to this question may be found in the chapters on the fall of man and on providence. Of the fall of man, the Confession, as we have already seen, says,-"This their sin God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory." Two things only did God purpose to do concerning the fall of man, viz: to permit it, and to overrule it for good. In the chapter on providence we read,-"The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God, so far manifest themselves in his providence, that it 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, in a manifold dispensation, to his own holy ends; yet so as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God; who being most holy and righteous, neither is, nor can be, the author or approver of sin." God fulfills his decrees by his providential and gracious influences. With the sinful actions of angels and men, his providential influence only is concerned. He permits their sinful dispositions, but does not produce them. Yet he does more than barely to permit; he bounds, directs, restrains and controls their actions to his own holy ends. And inasmuch as he simply permits and controls the sinful actions of men, he is not the author or approver of sin. There is nothing inconsistent in the idea, that God hated the treachery of Judas and the cruelty of the Jews toward our Saviour, and that he yet so overruled their conduct, that his name was glorified, and the salvation of an innumerable multitude secured. It is certain, that they did only what his hand and his counsel determined before to be done.[Acts 4:27, Acts 4:28] "And indeed," as Calvin well remarks, "unless the crucifixion of Christ was according to the will of God, what becomes of our redemption?" The doctrine of Divine decrees, as held by the Presbyterian Church and by all enlightened Calvinists, is stated by the late venerable Dr. Green, in his lectures on the Shorter Catechism, in the following language: "All events, of whatever kind, that take place in time, were determined, or foreordained by God from all eternity, thus to take place; and all for the ultimate promotion of his own glory. It ought, however, to be carefully noted here, that all who soundly hold this doctrine, maintain that there is a difference always to be kept up between what have been denominated the efficacious decrees and the permissive decrees of God: His efficacious decrees relate to whatever is morally good; his permissive decrees to whatever is morally evil. In other words, his immediate agency, according to his decree, is concerned in whatever is morally good,-his immediate agency is never concerned in what is morally evil. Evil he permits to take place, and efficaciously overrules it for good, for the promotion of his glory.[Vol. 1, pp. 180, 181] The doctrine is very clearly expressed in the following language of Augustine, quoted with approbation by Calvin: "That they sin, proceeds from themselves; that in sinning they perform this or that particular action, is from the power of God, who divideth the darkness according to his pleasure."[Institutes, B. 2, ch. 4] That is, God permits men to have sinful dispositions and affections; but for his own glory he so directs their course, that he brings good out of their intended evil. The doctrine is perfectly expressed by Solomon, when he says,-"A man’s heart deviseth his way; but the Lord directeth his steps."[Proverbs 16:9] The Westminster Confession teaches further, that "Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass, upon all supposed conditions; yet hath he not decreed anything because he foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass, upon such conditions." God foresaw, that our first parents would yield to the temptation presented by Satan; but he did not purpose to permit the temptation and the fall, because he foresaw it as that which would come to pass. He might have foreseen, that if the temptation were presented, Eve would yield; and he might have purposed to prevent the temptation. But for wise reasons he chose to permit both the temptation and the fall, designing to overrule both to his own holy ends. God did not purpose to send Joseph into Egypt, because he foresaw that his brethren would hate him and sell him, and that the Ishmaelitish merchants would readily buy him. He might have foreseen, that such results would follow under the circumstances; and he might have purposed to deliver Joseph out of their hands. But he had a great and benevolent purpose to accomplish; and, therefore, he so ordered events, that the Ishmaelitish merchants were passing by just when Joseph had been thrown into a pit by his vindictive brethren. God did not decree the crucifixion of his Son, because he foresaw that wicked men would crucify him; but he decreed it because it was necessary to the salvation of men. God has revealed his purpose, on the day of judgment, to pronounce sentence of condemnation upon the wicked "for their sin." He did not form the purpose to condemn them, because he foresaw that he would condemn them; but because he foresaw that they would live and die in sin, and because the ends of justice would require their condemnation. This explanation of the doctrine will, we are confident, remove the difficulties by which, when incorrectly viewed, it has seemed to many to be pressed. The correct statement of it, it will be perceived, destroys the whole force of the objections most plausibly urged against it.