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.