to do as he pleases." Of course, having made the will of God wholly arbitrary, they proceed to deny that it is arbitrary, or that wilfulness in God can possibly be wilful. But all this is using "words of wind for the Almighty," and "accepting his person."

Methodism, on the contrary, denies that God foreordaius whatsoever comes to pass, holding foreordination to be a causative act.* It also denies that man is guilty for inher ited sin, or i: any way responsible for his depraved nature. He only becomes responsible when he begins to act freely. He may suffer for inherited evil, but cannot justly be punished for it. Thus Methodism avoids the rude injustice of the Calvinistic system. And yet, as Schleiermacher has shown,† if it accepts total depravity, it must also consistently accept the Calvinistic doctrine of election. For if man is totally depraved, he cannot take a single step towards his own salvation. God must, in every case, take the initiative, and begin the conversion of each man who is converted. Therefore, if we ask why one man is converted, and another not, the only answer possible is this-that God chose to convert one, and not the other. Schleiermacher accepts and defends the doctrine of election, but by connecting it with that of universal restoration, which reduces it to the statement that God saves all, but in a certain order, which order is determined by himself, without regard to any foresight of merit or demerit in man.

§ 2. Scripture Basis for this Doctrine.-The principal passages relied upon for the doctrine of absolute decrees are found in Rom. 8:30, and 9: 8-24. In these passages, Paul is, no doubt, speaking of an unconditional election. In the

* "Doctrines of Methodism." By Rev. Dr. Whedon. Bibliotheca Sacra, April, 1862.

"Theologische Zeitscrift." Herausgegeben von Dr. Friedr. Schleierma cher, Dr. W. M. L. DeWette, und Dr. Friedr. Lücke. Erstes IIeft, Berlin, 1819. Ueber die Lehre von der Erwählung.

first, he declares that the gift of Christianity to those who received it was no accident. God had known them long ago as individuals, known them before they were born, known the character they were to have. He had foreordained them to become Christians, to be made into the likeness of Christ. IIc had called them to be Christians by his providen e; he had forgiven them their sins; he had glorified them, filling them with the glory of the new life of faith and love. In the other passage, Paul shows the Jews that God selects races and families, not according to any merit of theirs, but for reasons of his own, to do his work. Ishmael as well as Isaac was a child of Abraham, but Isaac was selected. Esau as well as Jacob was a child of Isaac, but Jacob was selected. It is no merit of the man which causes him to be chosen, no fault which causes him to be rejected, but that one is made for the work, and the other not. One is influenced to obey and serve; one is allowed to resist God's will; and yet both of them he who obeys and he who resists serve the divine purpose. The Jewish Christians, therefore, may believe that their nation, in resisting Christ, is blindly serving the providential designs of God, and making way for the Gentiles to come in; and then, the Gentiles, in turn, will help them to come in, "and so all Israel shall be saved." But in neither of these passages is any reference to final salvation or damnation. All that is spoken of is the predestined and divinely arranged order, the providential method, in which gifts are bestowed and opportunities offered. In fact, in Rom. 11:28, election is formally opposed to the gospel. As regards the GOSPEL, or the reception of Christianity, the Jews are enemies; that is, are left out of the circle of God's gifts, in order that the Gentiles may come in. But as regards the ELECTION, they are still the chosen people, inheriting all the qualities, powers, position, which their fathers had before them, since God never takes back his

*

gifts. So also in Ephesians 1:5, 11, Paul says that we, Christians, have been chosen in Christ before the foundation cf the world, and predestined to be adopted as children, and obtained an inheritance in Christianity. But neither here is anything intended concerning final salvation. It all refers to their having received the gift of Christian faith, in the plan of God, by a wise providence of his, and not by accident. So also, in Timothy (2 Tim. 1:9), Paul says that God hath saved us out of the world, and called us to be Christians, not because of any merit of ours, but simply according to a gracious purpose which he always had, that the Gentiles should come into his kingdom with the Jews. In none of these passages is any final doom or destiny hereafter intended: all of them refer to the gift of Christianity in this world. The apostle softens the exultation of the Gentiles, and consoles the sorrow of the Jewish Christians, by telling them that the acceptance of the Gentiles and rejection of the majority of the Jews is part of a great plan of Providence, which will finally redound to the good of both.

§ 3. Relation of the Divine Decree to Human Freedom. — In order that God shall be the Ruler of the world, and its providence, he must know the course of events, and determine them. In order that man shall be responsible, and a moral being, he must be free to choose, at every moment, between right and wrong, good and evil. In part of his nature and life, man is a creature of destiny; in part, he is the creator of destiny. Every man's character is the result of three factors—organization, education, and freedom. The character he has now has come to him, partly from the organization with which he was born, partly from the influences by which he has been educated, and partly from what

*Rom. 11:29. "The gifts and callings of God are without repentance." By this we understand the apostle to mean the same thing as is implied in Ecclesiastes (3:14): "I know that what God doeth, it is forever." God, having chosen the Jews for a work, will continue to them the gifts, and will see that somehow or other, some time or other, the work is done.

he has done or omitted to do at every moment of his life. Now, the two first of these factors are out of his power. A man born in Africa, or descended from Chinese parents, cannot, by any choice or effort, become what a man born of French or German parents may become. A man born among the Turks or Arabs, and educated by the circumstances surrounding him there, must be a wholly different man from one born in New England. Man's freedom, therefore, may be likened to the power of the helmsman to direct a vessel. He cannot determine what sort of a vessel he shall be in, nor what sort of weather or currents shall come: all he can do at any moment is to steer it to the right or left. If, now, in steering, he guides himself by a compass turning to a fixed point, and by a chart giving the true position of continents and islands, then this power enables him, in spite of storms and calms, to take the vessel round the world, to the harbor he seeks. But if he has no chart and compass, but steers as he chooses from moment to moment, he goes nowhere. His vessel will then drift before the steady winds and constant currents. So is human freedom a great power when it guides itself by eternal truths and fixed laws. But if it does not, then it is not freedom, but only wilfulness, and it accomplishes nothing. Man's freedom is thus surrounded by divine providence. God determines the original organization of every human being; God determines the circumstances which educate him; aud God has fixed the laws by which he must guide himself in ⚫order to become really free. He cannot therefore resist the divine will, except temporarily. He can postpone the time when God's kingdom shall come, and his will be done; but that is all.

§ 4. History of the Doctrine of Election and Predestination. Before Augustine, all the Greek and Latin Fathers of the Church taught the concurrence of free will and grace in human conversion. They taught that man must begin the

work, and that God would aid him. God and man must work together.

Then came the controversy between Augustine and Pelagius. The latter, being at Rome, heard this sentence read from the writings of the former: "Da quod jubes, et jube quod vis". -Give what thou commandest, and command what thou willest. Pelagius objected to this formula. He said, "Since man ought to be without sin, he can be without sin." "There is," said he, "in man, a Can Do,' a 'Will Do,' and a 'Do.'" The first is from God; in the others God and man unite.

Augustine objected that God worked in us both to will and to do. He had first taught that God sends motives which we can obey or resist; but he saw that if God works in us to will, he must also conquer our resistance, and work the power by which we consent.

But to this Pelagius replied, "Then there is no freedom in man."

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Augustine answered, "God does not move us as we move a stone, but rationally; he makes us will what is good, and does not force us against our will. He frees the will from its proclivity to evil, by preparing grace,' and determines it to good by effecting grace.' That some do not yield to this, is not because of their greater resistance, but because God does not choose to conquer their resistance."

This is the point where grace passes into predestination. The Old Church had maintained that God predestined to life those whom he foresaw would repent and obey him. His foreknowledge did not cause this to happen, but he foreknew it because it would happen. It did not take place because Le foresaw it, but he foresaw it because it would take place.

Election, according to the early Fathers, was nothing arbitrary. It depended on man to be saved or lost. So taught Justin Martyr, Origen, Basil, Hilary.

Basil said, "God hardened Pharaoh's heart by his judg