The sithjctt of tlie DECREE is uniformly conceived as God in the fulness of His moral personality. It is not to chance, nor to necessity, nor yet to an abstract or arbitrary will,— to God acting inad- vertently, inconsiderately, or by any necessity of nature,— but specifically to the almighty, all-wise, all-holy, all-rigliteous, faithful, loving God, to the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Chri.st, that is ascribed the predetermination of the course of events. Naturally, the contemplation of the plan in accordance with which all events come to pass calls out primarily a sense of the unsearchaMe wisdom of Him who framed it, and of the illiiuit- able power of Him who executes it ; and tliese attributes are accordingly much dwelt upon -vvhen the Divine predestination is adverted to. But the moral attributes are no less emphasized, and the Biblical writers find tlieir comfort continually in the assurance that it is tlie righteous, lioly, faith- ful, loving God in whose hands rests the determina- tion of the sequence of events and all their issues. Just because it is the determination of God, and represents Him in all His fulness, the decree is ever set forth further as in its nature eternal, absolute, and immutable. And it is only an ex- plication of these qualities when it is further insisted upon, as it is throughout the Bible, that it is essentially one single composite purpose, into which are worked all the details included in it, each in its appropriate place; that it is the pure deter- mination of the Divine will— that is, not to be confounded on the one hand with an act of the Divine intellect on which it rests, nor on the other with its execution by His power in the works of creation and providence ; that it is free and un- conditional—that is, not the product of compulsion from without nor of neci-ssity of nature from witliin, nor based or conditioned on any occur- rence outside itself, foreseen or unforeseen ; and that it is certainly ethcacious, or rather cnnstitutes the unchanging norm according to which He who is the King over all administers His governmont over the universe. Nor is it to pass beyond the nece.ssary implications of the fundamental idea when it is further taught, as it is always taught throughout the Scriptures, that the olijo-t of the decree is the whole universe of things and all their activities, so that nothing comes to pass, whether in tlie sphere of necessary or free causation, whether good or bad, save m accordance with the provisions of the primal phm, or more mecisely save as the outworking in fact of what had lain in the Divine mind as imrpose from all eternity, and is now only unfolded into actuality as the fulUlinent of His all-deturmiMing will. Finally, it is equally unvaryingly represented that the end wliicli the decreeing God had in view in framing His purpo.se is to be souglit not without but williin Himself, and may be shortly declared as His own praise, or, as we now comnionly say, the glory ot God. Since it antedates the existence of all "things outside of God and ]inivi<los for their coming into being, they all without excel.- tioii n-ust be ranked as means to its end, which
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cau be discovered only in the glory of the Divine purposer Himself. The whole Jjible doctrine of the decree revolves, in a word, around the simple idea of j)urpose. Since God is a Person, the very mark ot His being is purpose. Since He is an infinite Person, His purpose is eternal and inde- pendent, all-inclusive and effective. Since He is a moral Person, His purpose is the perfect exposition of all His inlinite moral perfections. Since He is the personal creator of all that exists, His purpose can lind its final cause onlj' in Himself.
At;ainst this general doctrine of the decree, the Ijible doctrine of ELECTION is thrown out into special prominence, being, as it is, only a particular application of the general doctrine of the decree to the matter of the dealings of God with a sinful race. In its fundamental characteristics it there- fore partakes of all the elements of the general doctrine of the decree. It, too, is necessaril3' an act of God in His completeness as an inlinite moral Person, and is therefore eternal, absolute, immutable — the independent, free, unconditional, elieciive determination by the Divine will of the objects of His saving operations. In the develop- ment of the idea, however, there are certain elements which receive a special stress. There is nothing tiiat is more constantly emphasized than the absolute sovereignty of the elective choice. The very essence of the doctrine is made, indeed, to consist in the fact that, in the whole administra- tion of His grace, God is moved by no considera- tion derived from the special recipients of His saving mercy, but the entire account of its distri- bution is to be found hidden in the free counsels of His own will. Tliat it is not of him that runs, nor of him that wills, but of God that shows mercy, that the sinner obtains salvation, is the stead- fast witness of the whole body of Scripture, urged with such reiteration and in such varied con- nexions as to exclude the possibility that there may lurk behind the act of election considerations of foreseen characters or acts or circumstances — all of which ajipear rather as results of election as wrouglit out in fact by t\i& providentia special- issiiiM of the electing God. It is with no less constancy of emphasis that the roots of the Divine election are planted in His unsearchable love, by which it ajipears as t/ie supreme act of grace, Con- tenqilation of the general plan of God, including in its provisions every event which comes to pass in the whole universe of being during all the ages, must redound in the tirst instance to the praise of the inlinite wisdom which has devised it all ; or as our apjireciation of its provisions is deepened, of the glorious righteousness by which it is informed. Contemplation of the particular element in His pur- pose which proviiles for the rescue of lost sinners from the destruction due to their guilt, and their restoration to right and to God, on the other hand draws our thou;;hts at once to His inconceivable love, and must redound, as the Scriptures delight to phrase it, to the praise of His glorious grace. It IS ever, therefore, specifically to the love of God that the Scriptures ascribe II is elective decree, and they are never weary of raising our eyes from the act itself to its source in the Divine com- passion. A similar emphasis is also ever>'where cast on the piirliculariti/ of the Divine election. So little is it the designation of a mere class to be (illed uji by undeteniiincd individuals in the exercise of their own determination ; or of mere conditions, or characters, or i|ualities, to be fullilled or attained by the undetermined activities of in- dividuals, foreseen or unforeseen ; that the Biblical writers take special pains to carry home to the heart of each individual believer the assurance that he himself has been from all eternity the particular object of the Divine choice, and that