- rations of the Holy Spirit, and all the fruits thereof; * and yet they hold that Christ died in this sense indis- cruminately in behalf of all men. There is no doubt that the great mass of learned and able Lutheran theo- logians have explicitly held both of these views. This is certainly a practical proof that both sides of their doctrine may be intelligently held as true in the same mind at the same time. And yet it is no less plain that the several positions they adopt as to sin, human ability, divine grace, foreknowledge, predestination, redemption, &c., are obviously incapable of being reduced even to the appearance of logical consistency. They teach that Christ purchased faith and repentance for all for whom he died. Jf any man repents and believes, they deny his co-operation with grace previous or in order to his regeneration, and they attribute the result solely to the erace of God given for Christ’s sake. If any man does not repent and believe, they deny that Christ has done any less for him, and attribute the result solely to his own sin. But the question must be answered, Who makes the difference? If both have from Adam the same absolute inability, and if both have as the purchase of Christ the same grace, what is the differentiating factor in the case — what determines the infidelity of the one and the faith of the other? The Arminian grants to all men sufficient ability to co-operate with grace, and
* Formula Goncordis, part i. chap. il., and part ii. chap. ii.
CHAPTER 5B a
View of the Re- formed Churches and of the Ar- minians.
340 THE DESIGN OF THE ATONEMENT.
hence consistently makes the free self-determination of the sinner’s own will the seat of difference between the believer and non-believer. The Calvinist, denying the ability to co-operate with grace alike to all men, consist- ently makes a sovereign discriminating grace the seat of the difference between them. The Lutheran holds that all men are alike impotent ; that all men have alike the same grace; that the cause of faith, wherever it exists, is wholly to be attributed to grace, and the cause of unbelief to sin; yet, while there is such difference be- tween faith and unbelief, there is no difference among men either as to sin or grace. But we answer, If it be grace alone that makes one believe, then the other has not the same grace or he also would believe. And if Christ purchased spiritual graces for all those for whom he died, he could not have died for those who fail to receive the grace.
5. The doctrine of the Reformed Church is, that there is no limit whatsoever in the redemption of the Lord Jesus except that which resides in the eternal purpose of God to save thereby the elect and none others. <A divine person suffered the penalty due to human sin, and obeyed that law obedience to which was made the condition of man’s well-being. He did this, because of his divinity, exhaustively and without limit as to in- trinsic sin-expiating and justice-satisfying sufficiency. If the work itself, therefore, be viewed separately from the intention with which it was undertaken, it plainly stands indifferently related to the case of each and every man that ever lived and sinned. It is nota pecuniary solution of debt, which, zpso facto, liberates upon the mere payment of the money. It is a vicarious penal satisfaction, which can be admitted in any case only at the arbitrary discretion of the Sovereign; and which may have a redemptive bearing upon the case of
STATEMENT OF DOCTRINE. 341
none, of few, of many, or of all; and upon the case of cuarrrr one and not of another, and upon that elect case at = whatsoever time and upon whatsoever conditions are pre- determined by the mutual understanding of the Sove-
reion and of the voluntary Substitute. The relations of
the Atonement, as impersonal and general or as personal
and definite, do not spring from considerations of the degree, duration, or kind of suffering, or acts of vicarious obedience, which Christ rendered, but solely from the purpose he had in rendering them.
The Arminian holds consistently that the purpose of Christ was to satisfy divine justice in behalf of all men for the violation of the rule of righteousness embodied in the old Covenant of Works, and so enable God to introduce a new covenant, offering salvation upon the lowered terms of faith and evangelical obedience—con- ditions to be provided by men themselves with the as- sistance of that common grace furnished indifferently unto all. This is a perfectly self-consistent scheme. Christ designed to secure the salvation of all men in- differently. It is the free will of each man alone that makes the difference.