OBJECTIONS TO CALVINISTIC PREDESTINATION.
THERE are very grave objection's to this doctrine, that God hath
foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. They are so formidable,
indeed, that in view of them the doctrine to our finding must be
rejected. On another occasion we stated several of these, which,
with a few modifications, were the following:--
(1.) In the first place, we object to the doctrine of universal
foreordination because, if adhered to, it makes science and
philosophy _impossible_. These are all based upon the trustworthiness
of consciousness, and if this is false we have no foundation to
build upon. When we interrogate consciousness it testifies to our
freedom. But if every volition is fixed, as it is held it is, by a
power _ab extra_ from the mind exercising the volition, then
consciousness is mendacious; it lies when it testifies to our
freedom, and, therefore, cannot be trusted; thus, science,
philosophy, and religion become impossible. The old Latin saw
_falsum in uno, falsum in omnibus_, which, when freely translated,
is--one who gives false evidence on one point may be doubted on
all points. And where does this lead to? It leads to Pyrrhonism
in science and philosophy, and indifferentism in religion. The
doctrine is thus a foundation for universal scepticism.
(2.) In the second place, we object to universal foreordination
because it leads to Pantheism, a phase of Atheism. Pantheism as
Pantheism may be viewed statically or dynamically. The static
Pantheist assumes that all properties are properties of one
substance. This was the feature of the vedanta system of Hindu
philosophy, which holds that nothing exists but Brahma. "He is the
clay, we are the forms; the eternal spider which spins from its own
bosom the tissue of creation; an immense fire, from which creatures
ray forth in myriads of sparks; the ocean of being, on whose surface
appear and vanish the waves of existence; the foam of the waves, and
the globules of the foam, which appear to be distinct from each
other, but which are the ocean itself." Now, if our consciousness is
only a dream, which this doctrine of foreordination makes it out to
be, what are we all, in such a case, but mere _simulacra_, ghosts,
shadows? This, and nothing more. We thus reach the fundamental
principle of the Hindu philosophy, which is this, _Brahma only
exists, all else is an illusion_.
The dynamic Pantheist holds that all events are produced by one and
the same cause. This is precisely the doctrine of the out-and-out
Calvinist. God is said to be the "fixer" of whatsoever comes to
pass; and Pantheism says every movement of nature is necessary,
because necessarily caused by the Divine volition. He is the soul of
the world, or as Shelley says--
"Spirit of nature, all-sufficing power,
Necessity, thou mother of the world."
The only platform from which Pantheism can be assailed is our
consciousness of self,--of our own personality and freedom,--from
which we rise to the personality and the freedom of God. The tenet
of universal foreordination takes from us this "coigne of vantage,"
and lands us in dynamic Pantheism.
(3.) In the third place, we object to universal foreordination
because it destroys all moral distinctions. Praise has been bestowed
upon Spinoza because he showed that moral distinctions are
annihilated by the scheme of necessity. But, indeed, it requires
very little perception to see that this must be the case. If God
has, as is said, determined every event, then it is impossible for
the creature to act otherwise than he does. A vast moral difference
stands between the murderer and the saint. But if the doctrine of
universal foreordination is true, we can neither blame the one nor
praise the other. Each does as it was determined he should do, and
could not but do, and to blame or praise anyone is impossible.
"Man fondly dreams that he is free in act;
Naught is he but the powerless worthless plaything
Of the blind force that in his will itself
Works out for him a dread necessity."
There is therefore, according to this system, no right, no wrong, no
sin, no holiness; for wherever necessity reigns, virtue and vice
terminate. "Evil and good," says the Pantheist, "are God's right
hand and left--evil is good in the making." Everything being fixed
by God we can no more keep from doing what we do, than we can keep
the earth from rolling round the sun. Since this monstrosity in
morals results from the doctrine, it is evidently false.
(4.) We object, in the fourth place, to universal foreordination,
because it makes God the author of sin, the caveat of the Confession
notwithstanding. It is said that God's foreknowledge involved
foreordination. If so, the matter may be easily settled thus:--Does
God foresee that men will sin? Of course He does. But if
foreknowledge involves foreordination, then by the laws of logic He
has foreordained sin. Syllogistically thus:--God only foreknows what
He has fixed; but He foreknows sin, ergo, He fixed sin. We cannot
resist this conclusion if we hold the premises. The Confession says
He has foreordained everything, yet is He not the author of sin. But
is it not clear as day that the author of a decree is the author of
the thing decreed? David was held responsible for his decree
regarding Uriah, and justly so. Had he been as clever as the authors
of the Confession he could have parried that homethrust of Nathan,
"Thou art the man." If everything that comes to pass was
foreordained; David might have said, "I beg pardon, Nathan; it is
true that I made the decree to have Uriah killed, but I did not kill
him. Is it not the case that the author of a decree is not
responsible for the sin of the decree?" Would Nathan have understood
this logic? We think not. But if the Confession had been then in
existence (if the anachronism may be pardoned), he might have
appealed to it against Nathan; and we never should have had that
awful threnody--the fifty-first Psalm. There is, then, no escape
from the conclusion, that if everything that comes to pass has been
foreordained, so also must it be the case with sin, for it also
comes to pass. I open the page of history, and find it bloated with
tears and blood. It is full of robberies, massacres, and murders. As
specimens, look at the Murder of John Brown by Claverhouse; the
massacre of St. Bartholomew; the sack of Magdeburg, when the Croats
amused themselves with throwing children into the flames, and
Pappenheim's Walloons with stabbing infants at their mothers'
breasts. Who ordained these and a thousand such horrid deeds? The
Confession says that God ordained them, for He foreordains
whatsoever comes to pass. Tilly, the queen-mother, the infamous
Catherine de Medici, Charles IX., the bloody "Clavers" were mere
puppets. The Confession goes past all these, and says that God fixed
them to take place. This is nothing else, in effect, than to place
an almighty devil on the throne of the universe. This is strong
language, but it is time, and more than time, that sickly
dilettanteism should be left behind, and this gross libel on the
Creator should be utterly rejected. He foreordains all His own
deeds, but not the deeds of men.
(5.) We object to the doctrine of universal foreordination, in the
_fifth_ place, because it makes the day of judgment a farce. The
books are opened, and men are about to receive acquittal or
condemnation. This is perfectly right if men were free when on
earth, but not so if all their deeds were foreordained by God. One
of the most interesting sights in Strasbourg is the clock of the
cathedral when it strikes twelve. Then the figures move. A man and a
boy strike the bell, the apostles come out, and Christ blesses them.
It is a wonderful piece of mechanism. But the figures are simply
automatic. They move as they are moved. To try them in a court of
justice (should anything go wrong), would be simply ridiculous--a
farce. And if every one of our deeds is fixed, what better are men
than mere automata? To try them, to judge them, and to award praise
and blame for what was done, would be to burlesque justice. The
judgment day, therefore, and foreordination of all things cannot
stand in the same category. If we hold by the one we must give up
the other. God foreknows all things, but foreordains only what He
himself brings to pass. Man will be judged, condemned, or rewarded,
according as he has acted in life; which judgment implies his
freedom or the non-foreordination of his acts.
The objections thus adduced are, in our judgment, quite sufficient
to condemn the dogma of universal foreordination. Yet others of a
grave character may be urged against it. It is a sacred duty as well
as a privilege of the Christian, to defend the Divine administration
when attacked by infidels. But if everything has been fixed how can
this be done? Look at the fall. God knew that it would occur, but,
according to Calvinism, He knew it because He had foreordained it.
But the actors in the whole transaction were severely blamed and
punished. To the serpent it was said, "Because thou hast done this,
thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the
field." The woman was told that because she had done what she did,
her sorrow was to be multiplied; and the man was driven out of
Paradise, because he had hearkened unto the voice of his wife. Can
such declarations be justified if the transactions recorded were all
foreordained? Each of the parties condemned might have asked, and
done so pertinently--Why put this punishment upon me when I was
simply carrying out the Divine decrees? And what answer could be
given? None that we know of which would satisfy the reason. And
what, then? This--viz., that in the light of the drama of the fall,
the doctrine of universal foreordination must be given up as a myth
which ignores philosophy, and reflects injuriously upon the Divine
character.
In Jeremiah vii. 29-31 it is written: "Cut off thy hair, O
Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high
places . . . for the children of Judah have done evil in my sight,
saith the Lord: they have set their abominations in the house which
is called by my name, to pollute it. And they have built the high
places of Tophet, . . . to burn their sons and their daughters in
the fire; which I commanded them not, nor came it into my heart."
Here the Lord expressly declares, that instead of having
foreordained these deeds, such an idea was never in His heart. There
is here a clear "Thus saith the Lord" against the dogma of universal
predestination.
In Mark v. 6, it is said of Jesus that "He marvelled because of
their unbelief." But we only marvel when we are ignorant of the
_cause_ of a phenomenon. As soon as we know this the marvel ceases.
Had Jesus, therefore, known that all was fixed, He never would have
marvelled. Would you marvel that the fire had gone out when it was
decreed not to give additional fuel? Would the miller marvel that
the mill did not go when he had ordained that the water should be
shut off? The prefixing of all events, and "marvelling" at anything,
are out of the question. But since Christ did "marvel" it shows that
He believed that they _could_ and _ought_ to have believed, and that
He knew of no reason why they did not. It may be said that He was a
man, and spake and felt like a man. True, but will the followers of
Calvin maintain that he knew more of divinity than Christ? We should
think not.