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hardness and humiliation as united to him who was on the cross, so she should exhibit something of supernatural energy as united with him who is on the throne." Luther: "We tell our Lord God, that if he will have his church, he must look after it himself. We cannot sustain it, and, if we could, we should become the proudest asses under heaven."

(c) With respect to his church triumphant, it is a kingdom of glory; he rewards his redeemed people with the full revelation of himself, upon the completion of his kingdom in the resurrection and the judgment.

John 17: 24" Father, that which thou has given me, I desire that, where I am, they also may be with me; that they may behold my glory "; 1 Pet. 3: 21, 22-Jesus Christ; who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him "; 2 Pet. 1: 11-"thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

Luther: "Now Christ reigns, not in visible, public manner, but through the word, just as we see the sun through a cloud. We see the light, but not the sun itself. But when the clouds are gone, then we see at the same time both light and sun." We may close our consideration of Christ's Kingship with two practical remarks: 1. We never can think too much of the cross, but we may think too little of the throne. 2. We can not have Christ as our Prophet or our Priest, unless we take him also as our King. On Christ's Kingship, see Philippi, Glaubenslehre, IV. 2 : 342-351; Van Oosterzee, Dogmatics, 586 sq.; Garbett, Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King, 2: 243-438; J. M. Mason, Sermon on Messiah's Throne, in Works, 3: 241–275.

CHAPTER II.

THE RECONCILIATION OF MAN TO GOD, OR THE
APPLICATION OF REDEMPTION THROUGH

THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

SECTION I.THE APPLICATION OF CHRIST'S REDEMPTION IN ITS PREPARATION.

(a) In this Section we treat of Election and Calling; Section Second being devoted to the Application of Christ's Redemption in its Actual Beginning-namely, in Union with Christ, Regeneration, Conversion, and Justification; while Section Third has for its subject the Application of Christ's Redemption in its Continuation — namely, in Sanctification and Perseverance.

The arrangement of topics, in the treatment of the reconciliation of man to God, is taken from Julius Müller, Proof-texts, 35. "Revelation to us aims to bring about revelation in us. In any being absolutely perfect, God's intercourse with us by faculty, and by direct teaching, would absolutely coalesce, and the former be just as much God's voice as the latter" (Hutton, Essays).

(6) In treating Election and Calling as applications of Christ's redemption, we imply that they are, in God's decree, logically subsequent to that redemption. In this we hold the Sublapsarian view, as distinguished from the Supralapsarianism of Beza and other hyper-Calvinists, which regarded the decree of individual salvation as preceding, in the order of thought, the decree to permit the fall. In this latter scheme, the order of decrees is as follows: 1. the decree to save certain, and to reprobate others; 2. the deree to create both those who are to be saved and those who are to be reprobated; 3. the decree to permit both the former and the latter to fall ; 4. the decree to provide salvation only for the former, that is, for the elect. Richards, Theology, 302-307, shows that Calvin, while in his early work, the Institutes, he avoided definite statements of his position with regard to the extent of the atonement, yet in his latter works, the Commentaries, he acceded to the theory of universal atonement. Supralapsarianism is therefore hyper-Calvinistic, rather than Calvinistic. Sublapsarianism was adopted by the Synod of Dort (1618, 1619). By Supralapsarian is meant that form of doctrine which holds the decree of individual salvation as preceding the decree to permit the fall; Sublapsarian designates that form of doctrine which holds that the decree of individual salvation is subsequent to the decree to permit the fall.

(c) But the Scriptures teach that men as sinners, and not men irrespective of their sins, are the objects of God's saving grace in Christ (John 15: 19; Rom. 11: 5, 7; Eph. 1:4-6; 1 Pet. 1:2). Condemnation, moreover,

is an act, not of sovereignty, but of justice, and is grounded in the guilt of the condemned (Rom. 2: 6-11; 2 Thess. 1: 5-10). The true order of the decrees is therefore as follows: 1. the decree to create; 2. the decree to permit the fall; 3. the decree to provide a salvation in Christ sufficient for the needs of all; 4. the decree to secure the actual acceptance of this salvation on the part of some — or, in other words, the decree of Election.

That saving grace presupposes the fall, and that men as sinners are the objects of it, appears from John 15: 19-"If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you"; Rom. 11: 5-7-"Even so then at the present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. What then? That which Israel seeketh for, that he obtained not; but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened." Eph. 1: 4-6-"Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love: having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which be freely bestowed on us in the Beloved"; 1 Pet. 1: 2-elect, "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus: Grace to you and peace be multiplied." That condemnation is not an act of sovereignty, but of justice, appears from Rom. 2: 6-9-"who will render to every man according to his works... wrath and indignation.. upon every soul of man that worketh evil"; 2 Thess. 1: 6-9-"a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you. . . . rendering vengeance to them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall suffer punishment. Particular persons are elected, not to have Christ die for them, but to have special influences of the Spirit bestowed upon them.

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(d) Those Sublapsarians who hold to the Anselmic view of a limited Atonement, make the decrees 3. and 4., just mentioned, exchange places,— the decree of election thus preceding the decree to provide redemption. The Scriptural reasons for preferring the order here given have been already indicated in our treatment of the Extent of the Atonement (pages 421, 422).

When '3.' and '4.' thus change places, ‘3.' should be made to read: "The decree to provide in Christ a salvation sufficient for the elect"; and '4.' should read: "The decree that a certain number should be saved"-or, in other words, the decree of election. Sublapsarianism of the first sort may be found in Turretin, loc. 4, quæs. 9; Cunningham, Hist. Theol., 416-439.

I. ELECTION.

Election is that eternal act of God, by which in his sovereign pleasure, and on account of no foreseen merit in them, he chooses certain out of the number of sinful men to be the recipients of the special grace of his Spirit, and so to be made voluntary partakers of Christ's salvation.

1. Proof of the Doctrine of Election.

A. From Scripture.

We here adopt the words of Dr. Hovey: "The Scriptures forbid us to find the reasons for election in the moral action of man before the new birth, and refer us merely to the sovereign will and mercy of God, that is, they teach the doctrine of personal election." Before advancing to the proof of the doctrine itself, we may claim Scriptural warrant for three preliminary statements (which we also quote from Dr. Hovey), namely, First, that "God has a sovereign right to bestow more grace upon one subject than upon another grace being unmerited favor to sinners.' Mat. 20:12-15-"These last have spent but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us..... Friend, I do .. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?" Rom. 9: 20, 21-"Shall the thing

thee no wrong....

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formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus? Or hath not the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?"

Secondly, that "God has been pleased to exercise this right in dealing with men.

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Ps. 147: 20" He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them "; Rom. 3: 1, 2-"What advantage then hath the Jew? or what is the profit of circumcision? Much every way: first of all, that they were intrusted with the oracles of God"; John 15: 16" Ye did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit"; Acts 9: 15" He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel."

Thirdly, that "God has some other reason than that of saving as many as possible for the way in which he distributes his grace."

Mat. 11: 21-Tyre and Sidon "would have repented," if they had had the grace bestowed upon Chorazin and Bethsaida; Rom. 9: 22-25-"What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long suffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction: and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory?"

The Scripture passages which directly or indirectly support the doctrine of a particular election of individual men to salvation may be arranged as follows:

(a) Direct statements of God's purpose to save certain individuals;

Acts 13: 48" As many as were ordained (TеTayμévo) to eternal life believed "— here Whedon translates: "disposed unto eternal life," referring to kaτηρtɩσμéva in verse 23, where "fitted "fitted themselves." The only instance, however, where ráoow is used in a middle sense is in 1 Cor. 16: 15-"set themselves"; but there the object, éavroús, is expressed. Here we must compare Rom. 13: 1-"the powers that be are ordained (TeTayμévai) of God"; see also Acts 10: 42-"this is he which is ordained (wpioμévos) of God to be the Judge of quick and dead." Rom. 9: 11-16"For the children being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth . . . . I will have mercy on whom I have mercy.... So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that hath mercy"; Eph. 1: 4, 5, 9, 11" chose us in him before the foundation of the world [not because we were, or were to be, holy, but], that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love: having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.... the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure.... in whom we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his will"; Col. 3: 12-"God's elect"; 2 Thess. 2: 13-"God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth."

(b) In connection with the declaration of God's foreknowledge of these persons, or choice to make them objects of his special attention and care; Rom. 8: 27-30-" called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son "; 1 Pet. 1: 1, 2-"elect.... according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." On the passage in Romans, Shedd, in his Commentary, remarks that "foreknew," in the Hebraistic use, "is more than simple prescience, and something more also than simply to fix the eye upon,' or to 'select.' It is this latter, but with the additional notion of a benignant and kindly feeling toward the object."

That the word "know," in Scripture, frequently means not merely to "apprehend intellectually," but to "regard with favor," to "make an object of care," is evident from Gen. 18: 19-"I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Jehovah, to do justice and judgment"; Ps. 1 : 6 "For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous But the way of the wicked shall perish "; Amos 3: 2-"You only have I known of all the families of the earth"; Rom. 7: 15-"For that which I do I know not "; 1 Cor. 8: 3-"If any man loveth God, the same is known by him"; Gal. 4: 9-"Now that ye have come to know God, or rather, to be known of God"; 1 Thess. 5 : 12" We beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them exceeding highly in love for their work's sake." So the word "foreknow": Rom. 11: 2-"God did not cast off his people whom he foreknew "; 1 Pet. 1: 20—Christ, "who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world."

In Rom. 8: 28-30, quoted above, "foreknew" = elected · that is, made certain individuals, in the future, the objects of his love and care; "foreordained" describes God's designation of

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these same individuals to receive the special gift of salvation. In other words, "foreknowledge" is of persons; "foreordination is of blessings to be bestowed upon them. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., Appendix to book v, (vol. 2: 751) —“' whom he did foreknow' (know before as his own, with determination to be forever merciful to them) 'he also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son' - predestinated, not to opportunity of conformation, but to conformation itself." So, for substance, Calvin, Rückert, De Wette, Stuart, Jowett, Vaughan. On 1 Pet. 1: 1, 2, see Com. of Plumptre. The Arminian interpretation of "whom he foreknew" (Rom. 8:29) would require the phrase "as conformed to the image of his Son" to be conjoined with it. Paul, however, makes conformity to Christ to be the result, not the foreseen condition, of God's foreordination; see Commentaries of Hodge and Lange.

(c) With assertions that this choice is matter of grace, or unmerited favor, bestowed in eternity past;

Eph. 1:5-8-" 'foreordained . . . . . according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved... ... according to the riches of his grace"; 2: 8-"By grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God"- here "and that" (neuter TOÛTO, verse 8) refers, not to "faith," but to "salvation." But faith is elsewhere represented as having its source in God (see below). 2 Tim. 1: 9-"his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal."

(d) That the Father has given certain persons to the Son, to be his peculiar possession ;

John 6: 37" All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me"; 17: 2-"that whatsoever thou hast given him, to them he should give eternal life"; 6-"I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world thine they were, and thou gavest them to me"; 9-"I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me"; Eph. 1: 14-"unto the redemption of God's own possession"; 1 Pet. 2: 9-"a people for God's own pos

session."

(e) That the fact of believers being united thus to Christ is due wholly to God;

John 6: 44"No man can come to me, except the Father which sent me draw him "; 10: 26-"Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep "; 1 Cor. 1: 30-"of him [God] are ye in Christ Jesus" your being, as Christians, in union with Christ, is due wholly to God.

(ƒ) That those who are written in the Lamb's book of life, and they only, shall be saved;

Phil. 43"the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life"; Rev. 20: 15" And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire"; 21: 27" there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean.... but only they which are written in the Lamb's book of life" = God's decrees of electing grace in Christ.

(g) That these are allotted, as disciples, to certain of God's servants; Acts 17: 4-(literally)-"some of them were persuaded, and were allotted [by God] to Paul and Silas - as disciples (so Meyer and Grimm); 18: 9, 10"Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to harm thee: for I have much people in this city."

(h) Are made the recipients of a special call of God;

Rom. 8: 28, 30-"called according to his purpose.... whom he foreordained, them he also called "; 9: 23, 24 -"vessels of mercy, which he afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles"; 11: 29" For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance"; 1 Cor. 1: 24-28-"unto them that are called... Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.... For behold your calling, brethren... the things that are despised did God choose, yea and the things that are not, that he might bring to naught the things that are: that no flesh should glory before God"; Gal. 1 : 15, 16" When it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me, even from my mother's womb, and called me through his grace, to reveal his Son in me"; cf. James 2: 23 -"and he [Abraham ] was called [ to be ] the friend of God."

(i) Are born into God's kingdom, not by virtue of man's will, but of God's will;

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