herd; he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom. For thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place; with him also, that is of a contrite and humble spirit; to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. Seraphim and Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities and Powers, feel no employment, no honour, no happiness, so great, as to worship, serve, and glorify, God for ever and ever. With wonder, awe, adoration, and transport, they surround his throne, veil their faces, cast their crowns at his feet, and cease not day nor night, crying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who wast, and who art, and who art to come. If men possessed the disposition of angels; their employments, their views, and their happiness, would in substance be the same. No Polytheists, no Atheists, no Infidels, would ever have disgraced the human name. To this end, no enlargement of our understanding is necessary. A mere change of disposition would convert this world into one great temple of Jehovah; in which one faith would command and control, and one worship ascend, as the odour of sweet incense, from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same. Holiness to the Lord would be written on the hearts, the lips, the employments, and the pleasures, of the great family of Adam. Every heart would glow with love and rapture; and every hill and valley become vocal with praise. In all his wonderful works, God would be sought and seen, acknowledged, and glorified. Every being and event would be viewed only as a manifestation of God; and the universe contemplated as a vast picture, exhibiting, in forms and varieties innumerable, the wisdom and power, the benevolence and amiableness, the beauty and glory, of JEHOVAH. SERMON XIV. THE DECREES OF GOD. JOB Xxiii. 13.-But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and, what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. IN this passage of Scripture, Job asserts, that the mind, or will of God, is one, and unchangeable, or incapable of being turned; and that all its dictates, or desires, are carried by him into execution. As God does whatsoever he chooses; it is hardly necessary to observe, that he does nothing but what he chooses. As his mind is unchangeable, and but one; so, this being admitted, it is intuitively certain, that it has always been but one. As all things were originated, are preserved, directed, and controlled, by God; so it is plain, that they all come to pass exactly according to his pleasure. This doctrine is therefore clearly contained in the text: That all things, both beings and events, exist in exact accordance with the purpose, pleasure, or what is commonly called The Decrees, of God. Before I begin the direct discussion of this doctrine, I shall make a few preliminary observations. It is well known to the Christian world at large, that no subject has been the foundation of more, or more strenuous, controversy, than this. By various classes of Christians, and some of them very numerous, it has been roundly, and steadily, denied in form. The things, which have been written concerning it with heat and obstinacy, would fill many volumes. It has been asserted to be injurious to the divine character, and destructive of all finite moral agency. Those, who have holden the doctrine, have been charged by their antagonists with denying the free agency of God himself; and with introducing into the Christian system the Stoical doctrine of Fate, and making an iron-handed Necessity, or blind Destiny, the ultimate and irresistible disposer of all things. At the same time, it has been alleged, that they shroud all human hopes in midnight darkness; and prevent, or destroy, every effort of man to become finally virtuous and happy. Such things, as these, certainly prove, that there is, in the human mind, a strong bias against the doctrine. This appears often in the conduct of those, who believe it; many of whom seem desirous, that it should either rarely, or never, be brought into the desk. Multitudes appear utterly unwilling even to converse concerning it; and perhaps equal multitudes decline to make it a subject of contemplation. It must be acknowledged, that this doctrine has been indiscreet ly handled, both in Sermons, and in other discourses. As many things, pertaining to it, are in their nature very abstruse; and many others lie without the reach of the human understanding; so it will be easily believed, that in the ardour of investigation, disputants will, of course, be in danger of asserting many things, which are neither satisfactorily evinced, maturely considered, nor well understood, by themselves; and extend their inquiries to many other things, about which inquisition is fruitless, because discovery is impracticable. The bounds of the human mind, as well as of the hu man race, are fixed; and beyond them it cannot pass. They are, however, distant enough from each other to leave a field of investigation so ample, as to allow of the utmost employment of the greatest talents. Every attempt to push our inquiries beyond them. is unwise; both because it is vain, and because it is a waste of that time, which might be usefully employed on things within our reach. But, if the doctrine, which I have stated, is true; if it is a doctrine revealed in the Scriptures; it cannot fail to be a proper subject of thought, of conversation, and of preaching: for all Scripture is given by inspiration of God: and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. Perhaps it is unnecessary, and would not be useful, to make it a subject of very frequent discussion in the pulpit. A considerable number of persons in every congregation must be regarded, as being imperfectly competent to judge advantageously of such a subject from such discussions. Such persons, to say the least, would fail of being instructed; and, if not instructed, would probably be bewildered. At the same time, though frequently asserted, it is very little discussed, in the Scriptures: and the Apostle Paul, alluding to it, breaks out into this exclamation: O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! No occasion can be more proper for the introduction of this doctrine into the desk, than the present. I have just finished a series of Sermons on the Being, and Perfections, of God. His decrees, or counsels, are the next subject of inquiry in a system, professedly comprising all the important doctrines of Theology. That the doctrine concerning this subject, which is true, and scriptural, whatever it may be, is one, and a very important one, of such a system, will not be questioned either by those who believe, or those who disbelieve, the doctrine, advanced as the principal subject of the present discourse. The controversies about it, and the sentiments expressed by the several disputants, prove this point beyond any necessity of debate. In considering this doctrine, I shall attempt, 1. To explain it ; II. To prove it; and III. To answer the Objections, commonly made against it. This is peculiarly necessary; because, if I mistake not, both its friends and enemies have perplexed it, not a little, by the manner, in which they have represented the doctrine, and each others' opi nions. It has been frequently said, that the Decrees of God are the consequence of his knowledge, and that his foreknowledge is in consequence of his decrees: and it is asked, how it is possible, that God should foreknow the existence of any thing, until he has decreed, that it should exist. This phraseology, if applied to men, or other finite beings, might be correct. Such beings usually consider; then determine; and then, so far as is applicable to their nature and circumstances, foresee, or foreknow, the event. But, when applied to God, it is necessarily erroneous. In the divine Mind, succession is impossible. There is not, there cannot be, one act, by which God knows any or all things; another following it, by which he determines their existence; and then another, by which he foreknows, that they will exist. Whatever exists in the divine Mind exists co-etaneously, and co-eternally, with all other things which exist in it. God, in this respect, is no more the subject of variableness, or any shadow of turning, than in other respects, Whatever is intended by knowledge, foreknowledge, or decrees, all is simultaneous or absolutely co-existent. St. Paul exhibits this subject in a happier manner. Whom he foreknew, says this Apostle, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. By this declaration, we are not to understand, that the predestination, spoken of, followed the foreknowledge, any more than that the foreknowledge followed the predestination. The Apostle says, Whom He foreknew, not, After He had foreknown them. Should it be said, that this phraseology is adopted merely in condescension to human infirmity; and that it is intended to express these things as they exist in the order of nature and not in the order of time: I answer, that the language is still dangerous, because it is incorrect in itself; and so liable to be misunderstood, that it leads both those who use it, and those to whom it is used, into very serious errors. The act, or state, of the divine Mind, which gave birth to the existence of all things, is one; and there never was a period in duration, not even an indivisible moment, in which it was not absolutely and inseparably one. The decrees of God are often said to be general and special; the special decrees being those, which respect the acceptance, or re jection, of mankind; and the general decrees, those which respect other things. This language is, also, in my view erroneous; and leads those, who adopt it, into mischievous consequences. There is no metaphysical, or real, distinction in the nature of the several decrees of God. Nor are they distinguishable from each other, except either numerically, or by means of the objects, which they respect. Nor is there any more specialty pertaining to one of them than to another. God wills, or chooses, the existence, conversion, or salvation, of a man, the fall of a sparrow, or the descent of rain, with a volition in every sense metaphysically, or in its own nature, the same. The strict truth is, that one, indivisible act, perhaps it might be as properly called state, of the Divine Mind, gave birth to the existence of all things. The decrees of God are frequently styled eternal. They are truly eternal, in the same sense in which God is eternal: viz. they are eternally present, and incapable of being compared, metaphysically, with a successive state of being. In this sense they are always, like God himself, possessed of an existence eternally present; being no other than an unchangeable state of the divine mind. Further, the decrees of God are said to be sovereign. In explaining this term, some persons speak of God, as willing, decreeing, &c., because he wills, chooses, or pleases, &c.: while others, on the contrary, suppose that the Decrees of God, in whatever sense understood, must, if they exist, be arbitrary, and therefore unreasonable; and hence they conclude, that there are no such decrees. Both, in my view, think, and speak, erroneously. To say, that God wills a thing, because he wills it, is to speak without meaning. It is impossible, that any thing should be the cause of itself; nor can an act be any more the cause of its own existence, than a being. This doctrine, it is to be observed, is equally true of the final, as of the efficient cause. Nothing can be the end, for which itself exists. The assertion is also injurious to God; because it exhibits him as choosing, or decreeing, without any reason and to no end. This conduct in men, if we suppose it possible, would be folly in the extreme: it can therefore never be imputable to the only wise God. The Decrees, and the conduct, of God, are sovereign, in the true and Scriptural sense; viz. that he does according to his will, independently and irresistibly; and that he gives no account of any of his matters, any farther than he pleases. Still it is equally true, that he wills nothing without the best reason; whether the reason be disclosed to his creatures, or not. Real glory to himself, and real good to his creation, not otherwise attainable, furnish the Reason of the divine choice, whether it respects the existence or motions of an insect, or the conversation and salvation of a man. The kind, the degree, the manner, and many other things, are either wholly, or partially, unknown to us: but the good is always in view, and always the reason of the divine determination. It is observable, that the Scriptures rarely speak of this subject, under the name Decree. This word, and others derived from it, are used in the Old Testament twelve times with a reference to God. In each of these instances, a particular determination, or sentence, concerning a particular thing, is spoken of; and in no instance, that general determination, or system of determinations, usually denoted by this term in Theological discussions. In the New Testament, VOL. I. 31 |