4th. The whole plan of redemption in all its parts is founded upon it. Justification, sanctification, adoption, and all else that makes the gospel the wisdom and power of God unto salvation, can be understood only in the light of this fundamental truth.
5th. As an historical fact it is beyond dispute that in whatever church the doctrine of the trinity has been abandoned or obscured, every other characteristic doctrine of the gospel has gone with it
C HAP TER IX.
THE DECREES OF GOD IN GENERAL.
1. What are the decrees of God ?
See Con. of Faith, chap, in., Larger Cat., Q. 12, and Shorter Cat., Q. 7.
The decree of God is his eternal, unchangeable, holy, wise and sovereign purpose, comprehending at once all things that ever were or will be in their causes, conditions, successions and rela- tions, and determining their certain futurition. The several con- tents of this one eternal purpose are, because of the limitation of our faculties, necessarily conceived of by us in partial aspects, and in logical relations, and are therefore styled Decrees.
2. How are the acts of God classified, and to which class do theologians refer the decrees ?
All conceivable divine actions may be classified as follows :
1st. Those actions which are immanent and intrinsic, belong- ing essentially to the perfection of the divine nature, and which bear no reference whatever to any existence without the Godhead. These are the acts of eternal and necessary generation, whereby the Son springs from the Father, and of eternal and necessary procession whereby the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, and all those actions whatsoever involved in the mutual society of the divine persons.
2d. Those actions which are extrinsic and transient, i. e., those free actions proceeding from God and terminating upon the creature, occurring successively in time, as God's acts in creation, providence and grace.
3d. The third class are like the first inasmuch as they are in- trinsic and immanent, essential to the perfection of the divine
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THE DECREES OF GOD IN GENERAL.
nature and permanent states of the divine mind, but they differ, on the other hand, from the first class, inasmuch as they have re- spect to the whole dependent creation exterior to the Godhead. These are the eternal and immutable decrees of God respecting all beings and events whatsoever exterior to himself.
3. How may it be proved that the decrees of God are eternal ?
1st. As God is infinite, he is necessarily eternal and unchange- able, from eternity infinite in wisdom and knowledge, and abso- lutely independent in thought and purpose of every creature. There can never be any addition to his wisdom, nor surprise to his foreknowledge, nor resistance to his power, and therefore there never can be any occasion to reverse or modify that infinitely wise and righteous purpose which, from the perfection of his nature, he formed from eternity.
2d. Scripture directly affirms it. — Acts xv., 18, (dn'' dt&vog, from eternity,) Matt, xxv., 34 ; Eph. i., 4 ; 2 Thes. ii., 13 ; 2 Tim. i., 9 ; 1 Cor. ii., 7. Time is limited duration measured by succession, and therefore commenced at the creation; "before the world" therefore, means " before time" or from eternity ; " iEternitas est una, individua, et tota simul."
4. How may it be proved from Scripture that the decrees of God relate to all events ?
Eph. i., 10, 11 ; Acts xv., 18 ; xvii., 26 ; Job xiv., 5 ; Isa. xlvi., 10. Even the free acts of men, (Eph. ii., 10,) even their wicked actions. — Acts ii., 23 ; iv., 27, 28 ; Ps. lxxvi., 10 ; Prov. xvl, 4. Also what men call accidental events. — Prov. xvi., 33, compare with Acts xv., 18. All things in heaven and on earth. — Dan. iv., 34, 35.
5. Prove the universality of God's decrees from providence.
It follows from the eternity, immutability, and infinite wis- dom, foreknowledge, and power of God, that his temporal work- ing in providence must in all things proceed according to his eternal purpose. — Eph. i., 11, and Acts xv., 18. But both Scrip- ture and reason alike teach us that the providential government of God comprehends all things in heaven and on earth as a whole}
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and every event in detail. — Prov. xvi., 33 ; Dan. iv., 34, 35 ; Matt. x., 29, 30.
6. Prove this doctrine from prophecy.