Section 1177
II. To consider what he has to say to the doctrine of eternal Election, though he chiefly militates against that of Reprobation
Our author’s harangue upon this head is mere plagiarism, being stolen out of Dr. Whitby upon the Five Points, as anyone may easily observe, by comparing it with the sec ond chapter of his first discourse concerning Election and Reprobation, and many other passages in that performance; and since I have lately considered the arguments and reasonings of that writer, I might at once dismiss this subject, by referring the reader to the answer I have already given; but as that may not be in the hands of everyone to whom this may come. I choose to take some notice of what is here advanced. The sum of the charge against this doctrine is, that “it is unmerciful, unjust, insincere, and uncomfortable.”
1. It is charged with cruelty and unmercifulness; God is said to be, [5477] according to this doctrine, “a most cruel Being, and more hard-hearted than Pharao h; ” but I hope it carries no mark of cruelty and unmercifulness in it to the elect, who are vessels of mercy afore prepared unto glory: it can only be thought to do so to the rest, for whom God has ordained no help; and to raise the idea of cruelty towards them, they are represented [5478] under the lovely characters of God’s offspring, his creatures, and his children; but not a word said of their rebellions, sins and transgressions, or of their being “the children of wrath, the children of hell, and the children of the Devil; ” and to increase this idea, they are considered [5479] as in distress and misery, in a perishing condition, through some misfortune, and not upon the account of any sin or iniquity they have been guilty of. With the same view their number is taken notice of; “the human race is said to be infinite, and help decreed only for a very few; whilst God has resolved not to help millions of undone creatures, and to torment them millions of years and ages, for what they could not help; and this only to shew what his power and wrath can do, or from pure ill nature.” But supposing God had decreed help for none of the infinite race of his fallen offspring, as this author calls them, but had determined to leave them all, being fallen to the perversity of their hearts and ways, and to punish them for their sins and transgressions committed against his righteous law; would this have been deemed cruelty and unmercifulness? Has he not proceeded in such a manner with the whole body of the apostate angels, those millions of undone perishing creatures, whom he has resolved not to help, and who are equally his offspring, his creatures, and his children, as the fallen race of Ada m, so considered? And is this ever esteemed cruelty, and pure ill nature? Now if it was not acting the cruel and unmerciful part, not to ordain help for any of the fallen angels, it would not have been acting such a part, had God resolved not to help any of the fallen race of Ada m; and if it would not have been an act of cruelty to have determined not to help any of the race of mankind, surely it can be no act of cruelty or unmercifulness to ordain help for some of them, when he could in justice have condemned all. The doctrine of Election is no unmerciful one, yea, it is more merciful than the contrary scheme, since it infallibly secures the salvation of some; whereas the other does not ascertain the salvation of any single person, but leaves it uncertain, to the precarious and fickle will of man.
2. This doctrine is charged [5480] with injustice, and God is represented as “a most unrighteous Being; since, according to it, he threatens a feverer damnation, if men accept not his offer, which he knows they cannot accept; has decreed to damn millions of men for being fallen in Adam; a decree, it is said, [5481] which none but a Devil could make; and a thousand times more unjust than the decree of Pharaoh to drown all the male children, because they were born of Israelitish parents, or were born males; and also has decreed to damn men for not believing in a Christ who never died for them, and for not being converted, when he has decreed not to convert them.” To all which I reply, that God’s act of election does no injustice either to the elect or non-elect; not to the elect, to whom it secures both grace and glory; nor to the non-elect, or to the rest who are left out of it: for as God condemns no man but for sin, so he has decreed to condemn no man but for sin. And where is the unrighteousness of such a decree? It would have been no unrighteousness in God to have condemned all mankind for sin, and would have been none in him, if he had decreed to condemn them all for sin. If therefore it would have been no injustice in him to have decreed to condemn all mankind for sin, it can be none in him to decree to condemn some of them for sin, when he could have decreed to have condemned them all. Herein he shows both his clemency and his justice; his clemency to some, his justice to others. As to the things particularly instanced in, I answer, that when this author points out any offers of help in a saving way God has made to all mankind, or to any to whom he has decreed no saving help, and then threatens them with a severer damnation for non-acceptance of them, I shall attend to the charge of unrighteousness. That all men sinned in Adam, and that by his offense judgment came upon all men to condemnation, the scriptures declare; (Romans 5:12, 18) and therefore to say that God condemns men, or has decreed to condemn them for the offense of Adam, or for their sinning in him, and being fallen with him in his first transgression, cannot be disagreeable to them; though we do not say that any of the sons of Adam, who live to riper years, are condemned only for the sin of Adam, but for their numerous actual sins and transgressions. And as for infants dying in infancy, their case is a secret to us; yet inasmuch as they come into the world children of wrath, should they go out as such, would there be any unrighteousness in God? Again; as God will not condemn the heathens, who never heard of Christ, for not believing in him, but for their sins against the law and light of nature; nor such as have heard of him, for not believing that he died for them, nor for not being converted, but for their transgressions of God’s law; of which condemnation, their disbelief and contempt of Christ and his gospel will be an aggravation, of which they had the opportunity of being informed: so we do not say that God has decreed to condemn or damn men for the things mentioned by this writer.
3. The doctrine of God’s choosing some, and leaving others, is charged [5482] with insincerity, and with representing God as “the most deceitful and insincere Being; yea, as the greatest of all cheats, when he offers to sinners a salvation never purchased for them, and which he has absolutely decreed never to give them; and when he offers it upon conditions they cannot comply with, without irresistible grace, and he has decreed never to give them that grace; and when he threatens a heavier damnation if they do not believe and obey the gospel, which he knows they cannot do.” To which I answer, that salvation is not offered at all by God, upon any condition whatsoever, to any of the sons of men, no, not to the elect: they are chosen to it, Christ has procured it for them, the gospel publishes and reveals it, and the Spirit of God applies it to them; much less to the non-elect, or to all mankind; and consequently this doctrine, or God according to it, is not chargeable with delusion and insult. When this author goes about to prove any such offers, I shall attend to them; and if he can prove them, I own, I must be obliged to think again.
4. This doctrine is represented [5483] as “very uncomfortabl e, because it leaves the rest of these children, and millions of his creatures, in helpless misery for ever; and makes it a hundred to one to a man that he is not elected, but must be for ever damned.” But when it is considered that those children are rebellious ones, and those creatures vile and wicked, who are thus left, it can give no unlovely and horrid image of God to such who know that he is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. (Psalm 145:17) Should it be said, that such are also the men that are chosen; it is very true, and therefore they admire and adore electing grace, and receive abundance of spiritual comfort from it: nor is it such a chance matter or uncertain thing to a man, as a hundred to one, whether he is elected or no, to whom the gospel is come not in word only, but also in power, and in the holy Ghost; who from hence may truly know and be comfortably assured of his election of God. (1 Thessalonians 1:4, 5) What true and solid comfort can arise from the universal scheme, or from God’s universal love? When notwithstanding that, and redemption by Christ, and the general offers of mercy, yea, grace itself bestowed, a man may be lost and damned.
One would think, that since this writer takes upon him the name of a Churchman, he might have been more sparing of, and less severe in, his reflections upon this doctrine, seeing it is so expressly and in such strong terms asserted in the seventeenth Article of the Church of England, and there represented as a very comfortable doctrine. The Article runs thus: “Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) he hath constantly decreed, by his counsel, secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of man- kind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honor. Wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God, be called according to God’s purpose, by his Spirit working in due season; they through grace obey the calling; they be justified freely; they be made sons of God by adoption; they be made like the image of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ; they walk religiously in good works; and at length, by God’s mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity.” And then it is afterwards observed, that “the godly consideration of predestination, and our election in Christ, is full of sweet, pleasant and unspeakable comfort to godly persons, and such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh, and their earthly members, and drawing up their minds to high and heavenly things; as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God.”
5. Before I quit this subject, I would just remark the sense this author gives of several texts, which plainly assert a predestination and election, in the epistles of Paul and Peter; by which, I suppose, are meant, Romans 8:29, 30, 9:11, 23, 7, Ephesians 1:4, 5, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, 1 Peter 1:2. The sense of them, according to his reading and judgment, and according to others, whom he esteems the best writers and preachers, is this; [5484] “Those texts, says he, are to be understood of God’s first electing and adopting the seed of Abraha m; and then, upon their crucifying the Son of God, and rejecting his gospel, God’s choosing, electing or adopting all the spiritual seed of Abraham, though amongst the Gentiles; all virtuous and good men, all who believed the gospel; and this agreeable to his ancient designs, before he laid the foundation of the Jewish ages.” But these passages of scripture have not one word, one syllable, one jot nor tittle in them of God’s electing and adopting the seed of Abraham, the natural seed of Abraham, or the Jewish nation, as such; but of some persons only from among that nation, and from among the Gentiles; and that not upon the Jews’ crucifying Christ, and rejecting his gospel, or before the foundation of the Jewish ages were laid; but before the foundation of the world, from the beginning, even from eternity: and though all the spiritual seed of Abraham, whether among Jews or Gentiles, all good men, all who believe in Christ, are elected; yet they were not elected as such, or because they were so, but that they might be so; for such who are chosen in Christ, are chosen, not because they were, or ar e, but that they sh ould be, holy, and without blame before God in love.