14. Hoio does this doctrine, that God's universal decree ren- ders the occurrence of all future events certain, differ from the ancient doctrine of fate ?
1st. The doctrine of fate supposed the certainty of events to be determined by a law of necessary causation, effecting its end irresistibly and irrespectively of the free choice of the human agents concerned. The Christian doctrine of God's decrees, on the other hand, regards that decree as determining the certainty of the event only in dependence upon, and in relation to all the causes and conditions which precede and attend it. It determines the lree act through the free will of the free agent.
2d. Fate was regarded as the concurrent action of all material causes operating blindly and necessarily.
The decrees of Jehovah, on the other hand, are the infinitely wise and immutable purposes of a righteous and merciful Father.
15. What objection to this doctrine of unconditional decrees is derived from the admitted fact of man's free agency ?
Objection. — Foreknowledge implies the certainty of the event. The decree of God implies that he has determined it to be cer- tain. But that he has determined it to be certain implies, upon the part of God, an efficient agency in bringing about that event which is inconsistent with the free agency of man.
We answer : It is evidently only the execution of the decree, and not the decree itself, which can interfere with the free agency of man. On the general subject of the method in which God executes his decrees, see below, the chapters on Providence, Effectual Calling, and Kegeneration.
We have here room only for the following general statement :
1st. The Scriptures attribute all that is good in man to God ;
170 THE DECREES OF GOD IN GENERAL.
these " he works in us both to will and to do of his good pleas- ure." All the sins which men commit the Scriptures attribute wholly to the man himself. Yet God's permissive decree does truly determine the certain futurition of the act ; because God knowing certainly that the man in question would in the given circumstances so act, did place that very man in precisely those circumstances that he should so act. But in neither case, whether in working the good in us, or in placing us where we will certainly do the wrong, does God in executing his purpose ever violate or restrict the perfect freedom of the agent.
2d. We have the fact distinctly revealed that God has decreed the free acts of men, and yet that the actors were none the less responsible, and consequently none the less free in their acts, Acts ii., 23 ; iii„ 18 ; iv., 27, 28 ; Gen. 1., 20, etc. We never can un- derstand how the infinite God acts upon the finite spirit of man, but it is none the less our duty to believe.
3d. According to that theory of the will which makes the free- dom of man to consist in the liberty of indifference, i. e., that the will acts in every case of choice in a state of perfect equilibrium, equally independent of all motives for or against, and just as free to choose in opposition to all desires as in harmony with them, it is evident that the very essence of liberty consists in uncertainty. If this be the true theory of the will, God could not execute his decrees without violating the liberty of the agent, and certain foreknowledge would be impossible.
But as shown below, in chapter 18, the true theory of the will is that the liberty of the agent consists in his acting in each case as, upon the whole, he pleases, i. e., according to the dispositions and desires of his heart, under the immediate view which his rea- son takes of the case. These dispositions and desires are deter- mined in their turn by the character of the agent in relation to his circumstances, which character and circumstances are surely not beyond the control of the infinite God.
16. What is meant by those ivho teach that God is the author of sin ?
Many reasoners of a Pantheistic tendency, e. g., Dr. Emmons, maintain that as God is infinite in sovereignty, and by his decree determines so by his providence, he effects every thing which
GOD NOT THE AUTHOR OF SIN. 171
comes to pass, so that he is actually the only real agent in the universe. Still they religiously hold that God is an infinitely holy agent in effecting that which, produced/rom God, is righte- ous, but, produced in us, is sin.
17. How may it be shown that God is not the author of sin ?
The admission of sin into the creation of an infinitely wise, powerful and holy God is a great mystery, of which no explana- tion can he given. But that God can not he the author of sin is proved, 1st, from the nature of sin, which is, as to its essence, dvofxia, want of conformity to law, and disobedience to the Law- giver.
2d. From the nature of God, who is as to essence holy, and in the administration of his kingdom always forbids and punishes sin.