Thus also in the cultivation of our land, though it is decreed that on such a field there shall be this very season a crop of wheat, this was not independent of providential virtue giving the increase, the genial showers, the solar warmth, and the vivifying air. It is not unconnected with the proper seed sown, needful tillage, plowing and harrowing, and the quality of the soil. And the same holds true as to the health of the body, and the prolongation of life to an appointed period. He who dies must first have life; he who grows to manhood must arrive at it through the previous stages of youth, childhood and infancy. So likewise an the education of our children; if learning be the end, that supposes the previous means of application; and if it is determined who shall be the first scholar of the age in which he lives, it is equally determined that he shall begin with the rudiments of letters, and diligently prosecute his literary studies. And respecting religious attainments the matter is equally plain; if life or eternal glory be the end predestinated, the previous steps of purity of heart, justification and a new birth unto righteousness, preservation in Christ, and every individual event and circumstance preceding, is included in the decree, as far as there is any goodness in them. As to the evil with which any events or circumstances are blended, that has been already accounted for on another principle. Nothing can be more true or plain, God had predestinated an everlasting righteousness to be brought in by the Lord Jesus Christ. But is it not equally true and plain that the birth of Jesus, and of his virgin mother, the existence of David, the call of Abraham, the preservation of Noah, and the creation of Adam and Eve were predestinated?—Let us therefore guard against separating the end and the means; and what God joins together in his predestinating care and love, let no man put asunder.—We now come
II. To consider some proofs of this doctrine.—That the scriptures, especially those of the New Testament, appear, at least, to maintain the doctrine in question, no person of common modesty will deny. Thus, for instance, Rom. viii. 29, 30. “Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.” Again, Eph. i. 4-6. “According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace.” And again, ver. 11. “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.” Believers are said to be “called according to God’s purpose;” and certain discriminations are made between man and man, between nation and nation, “that the purpose of God according to election, might stand, not of works but of him who calleth.” “The election hath obtained it.” “So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” “Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?”—“I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”
These are some of the many passages of holy writ which at least seem to hold this doctrine. But it is of importance to observe, that to establish this very doctrine is the main drift of the apostle Paul’s elaborate argument in a considerable part of his epistle to the Romans. See Rom. ix.-xi.—But more particularly,
1. It is evidently inconsistent with God’s infinite perfection to suppose that he has no purposes, designs, or aims in his operations; or, which is virtually the same thing, to suppose that he decrees or predestinates nothing. Wherein would he then differ from blind, unmeaning chance, which hath neither wisdom, power, nor properties? An intelligent spirit without any plan or purpose, is inconceivable; much less is the infinitely perfect Jehovah such a being.
But if he purposes any thing, what can be conceived of in this world of higher importance, or more worthy of his predestinating care, than the salvation of his people, that is, of those who are eventually saved? Shall he purpose from eternity to give his Son to appear in the form of a servant, to suffer an ignominious death, and to be head over all things to the church, at an uncertainty? Does he bestow his Holy Spirit without knowing, or without intending, who shall be ultimately changed into the divine image from glory to glory, and made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light? Truly, if in time he draws with loving-kindness, it is because he has loved with an everlasting love.
2. What scripture and experience teach of man’s condition as a sinner, utterly excludes every other cause of salvation but God’s predestinating love. From our very birth we are sinful, guilty, and without strength. The carnal mind is enmity against God. The graceless heart is a heart of stone; in spiritual concerns unfeeling and impenetrable. Well may our Lord say to his disciples, Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. If then those who were dead in trespasses and sins have been quickened, if persecutors have been arrested and alarmed, if those who were fully bent on rebellion have been instantly rendered humble, meek, loving and obedient, to what can we rationally ascribe it but to the discriminating and sovereign pleasure of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will? If such are not predestinated, how came they to be called, converted, and regenerated?
Consult the good man’s experience. Will he coolly and deliberately arrogate any thing to himself? Follow him to the throne of grace; what is his language before God? Listen to his most holy, happy, and animated praises in the church. Attend to him in his happiest frames—or, when emerging from the deep waters of affliction—when restored from backslidings—or with faltering speech on the brink of eternity; and you will find him steady to one point; “Behold, God is my salvation.” My recovery from sin and woe is all of grace. Yea, follow him to heaven, when he joins the noble army of martyrs, and the countless myriads of the redeemed from among men, and there he shouts aloud in chorus, “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”—“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” If we search eternally into the origin and cause of our deliverance from sin, and our exaltation to happiness and glory, none can be found but God’s predestinating love.
3. Nothing short of eternal predestination could secure that which is demonstrably the most worthy, the most glorious, the most real end of God in the salvation of man, that is, the praise of the glory of his grace. No end can be compared to this in excellence; it is expressly the end which God has proposed to himself in the salvation of his people; “having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace.” If there be no predestination, how can such an end ever be proposed, and how infallibly secured? Can there be any effect without an adequate cause? Or can the invention of men or angels discover any other cause than predestination?
On any other supposition, how can divine love, grace, and mercy be glorified, infallibly glorified? Is the honour of these glorious and blessed perfections of Jehovah to be suspended on a feeble peradventure? Or is the spiritual temple constructed of some materials which come by chance, or approach of themselves, while others are brought forth by a divine hand out of the quarry of nature, and placed on the living foundation? Is the glory of the Creator to depend upon the precarious will of man? The supposition is too absurd to admit a thought.—Again,
4. Predestination to life is essentially necessary to secure the full end of the death of Christ and the efficacy of divine influence. What though he laid down his life for his sheep, if after all he do not bring them into his fold? For him to lay down his life a ransom for many, and then leave it to them whether they should come for life, and all the benefits of his death, righteousness and grace, is to suppose them possessed of more power than Adam had before the fall. For the power he needed was only that which might keep him from falling; but the power which fallen man requires is that by which he may rise from his fallen state, and enter into the favour of God, into union with Christ, into spiritual sensibility and life, into wisdom, righteousness and holiness, and into eternal glory. Now what can be adequate to this but omnipotent power helping our infirmities?