Newspapers / Zion’s Landmarks (Wilson, N.C.) / Aug. 15, 1877, edition 1 / Page 4
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c 148 Zion’s Landmark. By request, I publish the following discourse, copying it as published in a newspaper of Georgia, called the Oedarto'im Fxpress, in its issue of May 4th, 1877 ; and make some re marks on the same: A. SERMON ON ELECTION. PY REV. S. P. RICHxVEDSOK. “ For the children being not yet born, nei ther having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth.” —liomans 19 :11. In the discussion of the doctrines of Particular Election and Final Per severance of the Saints, (these sub jects being so vital, and standing so nearly related to the whole plan of redemption, and especially the dis tinctive doctrines held by both Cal- vanists and Arminians,) it is difficult t(x discuss them without constant al lusion to the distinctive views held by both parties on all fundamental doctrines taught in their creeds. If the doctrine of Particular Elec tion can be proved true, by the Bi ble, then, as effect follows cause, the doctrine of Final Perseverance must also be true. But if the doc trine of personal election to salvation is f*lse,, then the doctrine of final perse verance must also be false. It isdif- lioult to give the common reader an intelligent view of these doctrines, yyithout first giving a synopsis of the theological views held by both par ties. The Predestinariahs hold and teach tliai: when Adam fell, God was under * nd."ooiigfttion (fither to him or his posterity; that he might in instice have allowed them to perish, !)nt if he had done so his mercy would have suffered ; therefore God entered into a covenant with His ^ Son to redeem so many of the race, to the praise of His mercy, and left the rest where they were, to perish under the law which Adam had vio lated, and they had violated in him as, their federal head—to the praise of His justice. The doctrines of Effectual Calling, Imputed Righteousness, and Final Perseverance, all hang upon the doc trine of' Particular Election. If it were possible for any one of these doctrines, to be true, then all might be true. But there is not one text m all the Bible, when interpreted by the Bible, that favors any such views. The Arminians believe and teach when Adam fell, God might in justice have visited the penalty of the law upon him, but could not in j ustice allow him to live a fallen man r.nd propagate a race of fallen chil- Iren, without their knowledge or con sent,, and make no provision for their recoverv. They teach that God there fore entered into a covenant with Adam,, through Christ, for his re demption, and the redemption of the race.. This-cov.enant he renewed with .ibraham> Isaac and Jacob, and down 'o the fulfillment of it in Christ.— They teach that by the death of Christ aif'men are redeemed, from the pen- 'Ity of Adam’s, transgression. Ro- tuans 5-. :• 18,—“ Therefore by the. of- *ense of one, [or one ofiteuse] Judge-- m.ent eam.e-upon all men to condem-- •latiou;- even so by the- righteousness, -'•^one, [or one righteousijessj the free- came upon all men uuto.justlfica-’- tion of life. Adam having fallen from the platform of creation and holiness on which he was created, God in re demption took him, and all his pos terity, and placed them on the plat form of grace, embracing the entire race in the covenant, giving all men a fair chance to work out their salva tion under a dispensation of grace. They teach that no man is absolutely saved by the death of Christ, and no man is absolutely damned for the sin of Adam ; that all men may be saved if they wdll, and all men may be damned if they choose. Therefore, if a man can, by the grace of God, get religion, or secure his election, then by neglect, or willful disobe dience, he may lose the favor of God, and )crish everlastingly. In a word, if he has the power by the grace of God to get religion, he has the pow er by the same grace to lose his re ligion. The bible reveals the knowledge of God, the creation of man, his fall, and redemption in Christ; and there ideally no mystery in the Word of God as it respects the doctrine of salvation, when the the bible is al lowed to explain its own teachings. We now propose to examine and explain what is supposed to be the most difficult doctrine taught in the bible—the doctrine of Election as it stands connected with the plan of re demption. When Adam fell, buf for the grace of God which interposed, he would have died under the penalty of the law which "tie Jtad violated. IIiV> name would have been stricken from the roll of creation, and his posterity would have passsd into oblivion.— The earth would have been a perma nent solitude, and creation a failure. The Lord might have repeated his work in creating another Adam ; but the same results might have followed. It may be asked. Why did God make man as he did ? It may be replied, Why did he make him at all ? or Why not make him more or less than a man ? We have only to do with man as he was, and man as he is ; not to teach Infinite Wisdom what he might have done, or what he has left undone. It is our duty to learn in humility and gratitude what the Lord has been pleased to reveal, for his glory and our good. The bible plainly teaches that after the fall of our first parent, God alone could af ford him any help. There was no other source to which he could look with any degree of hope. Inffnite wisdom, power and love must save, or all was lost. Neither angels nor men had any hand in planning the recovery of man by redemption.— The whole plan of salvation is froni God alone. To speak of the eternal counsels of the Godhead, is to talk ir. the dark. InSnite Wisdom in coun-' cil IS absurd. Ged in justice aud mercy devised, the wdiole plan of re-» demption. The plan, originated in divine love),and. not in divine sover eignty. “ God; so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son^ that whosoever belieyeth in hjoi) sliould net perisli, but have everlast ing life/'^-Jiohni 3;:. 16; Ged found h’s pooEj.fallen,helpl&sschild ruinedi,. forevec-ruinedi. Gi)dl saw. do. otbeo way tiQ-save him, aJthoqglk hia- fpriC’^ knowledge reached through all eter nity, but to come to the manger for him, and touch his flesh by the in carnation of the Son of God. If God could have saved him, or pardoned him, by a mere act of sovereign pow er, be certainly would not have sub jected himself to the laws of human ity', and the death of the cross. God him.self declaies that there is none other name given under heaven by which man can be saved, but the name of Jesus. It was not the fore knowledge, nor wisdom, nor power, but the love of God that moved him to save fallen man. Foreknowledge saw the end with the begin!ng of the whole plan of redemption, reach ing through four thousand years.— In this grand scheme of salvation, as it develops to the human mind more fully, age after age, the doctrine con tained in my text, of unconditional election, is taught. This form of election is taught in the Old Testa ment, and explained in the New, and specially argued by St. Paul in all his epistles. This form of election refers always and specially to the plan of salvation and never to salvation it self of any one. In redemption man must have a Savior, and that fact must be revealed to his faith. Some one must be elected, or chosen to re ceive the revelation. Christ must be born of a woman, and of the race of Adam. The law of God must be re vealed to some one. The worship and service of God must be estab lished in the earth. Some of the race sjjiTfian must be elect^ Ibi; all, these purposes, from the fact that they all enter into the plan of salvation by the redemption which is in Christ. No part of it could fail on the part of God, and the offer of salvation be made certain to man. God in all this did not and could not (in the relation of things) call to his aid or counsel any creature as an agent in working out the plan of redemption without the possibility of failure, or any division of honor—which he will not share with any creature. He “trod the wine-press alane,”^ and his own arm brought salvation. Here let me say, once for all, that while God chose men, women and angels in working out the plan of redemp tion, not one was ever employed as an agent. The plan of salvation em braces all time as well as all men, and was therefore prospective as well as retrospective.. Men and angels had both been tried, and both had failed;,and what had been in their cases might occur again. Nothing short of the immutability of Gkid’s word and oath could secure a saving trust in the Imraan soul. God no where in his Book requires man, as man, to trust either in men or angels, but in the living God. The question often arises in the mind: of the ortlinary bible readeir. If salvation is of the Lord alone, arid men, women or angels had no agency in it;; and God lta& mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardtenefch;. makes one vessel by bis sovereign power to honor, andi another to dislionor, ont of clay of the-same lura|x;, chooses Jacob- and i^ejpcts. E§au^ bdfore they are born, or Have- done any good, or evil—then , dpQtr,irie of uneondiitioual; dee-- tion must be true. And besides all this, here is the foreknowledge of God—“For whom he did foreknow he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.” The Cal- vanists have been unfortunately able by mixing together the unconrlitional election, as it stands inseparably connected with the plan of salvation, and the unconditional election of the Gentiles to the privileges of the gos pel ; and then still further mixing with the two forms of unconditional election as clearly taught in the bi- ble, a third form of election, which is personal and conditional ; and to make the darkness still more dark the so-called riiystery of all mysteries still more mysterious—they have added another form of election, grow ing out of the foreknowledge of God, and the repentance and faith of the creature. That is, God from all eter nity seeing who would repent and believe, elected them unto eternal life. No wonder the Calvanists themselves should acknowledge the doctrine of predestination an un sol vable mystery. The plain fact is, all the dogmas of their whole system center in the unconditional election of a part of mankind to eternal life.. The Calvanists are not the only peo ple who have tried to make then!-’ selves the peculiar favorites of heav en. The Pharisees belonged to that class. And wonderful it is, that all who believe the doctrine should have the strange infatuation at the same time to believe themselves among thp elect* ,.Tbe apostle Pau) Jev9te| a large part of his epistles to that class of Jews, showing them from; the Old Testament, and from the general teachings of the Savior, that their election to adoption, to the cov enants, their receiving the law, and the service of God, was not of their choosing, but of divine appointment; not on the ground of merit on their part, but of divine necessity in car rying out the plan of redemption ; and that they had, by their uncondi tion election for these purposes,-no more right to eternal life than the rest of mankind. The key to the whole mystery of unconditional election, as clearly taught in the bible, is that all this election specially applies to the xvork- ing out of the plan of salvation, and never applies in any instance to the personal salvation of the parties chosen. God sees things that are not yet, as if they were; and by his foreknowledge the whole plan of sal vation was before him. In perfect ing the work of redemption, fore knowledge and election — uncondi tional election. — were necessities growing out ©f the very nature of the plan of salivation itself. Without foreknowledge God could not have connected the cross with the promise he made to- Eve in Paradise ; and without unconditional ©lection, the plan could not have been, consumma ted with divine certainty. Knowl edge of any event before it takes place, can have no effect upon the event, either in prevent its occur rence or in bringing it to- pass. Tlie existence of the event necessitates the foreknowledge of it,, and not the foreknowledge the event The eye is obliged to, see aa object when, brought
Zion’s Landmarks (Wilson, N.C.)
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Aug. 15, 1877, edition 1
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