To the objection that it is unjust thus to dispense or withhold mercy at his own good pleasure, Paul's an- swer is, tliat any attribute which the Scriptures ascribe to God, and an}' prerogative which he actually exei*- cises, we must admit rightfullj' to belong to him. If God, in liis Word, claims this prerogative of having mere}' on whom he will have mercy, and if he actually exercises it in his providence, and in the dispensation of his grace, it is vain for us to deny or to protest. The judge of all the earth must do right.
Besides, as the inspired writer continues his argu- ment, if the potter has the right of the same mass of clay to malve one vessel to honor and another to dis- honor, has not the infinite God the same right over his fjllen creatures.' Can anj' one complain if, to mani- fest his mercj', he saves some of the guilty children of men, and to manifest his justice he allows others to bear the just recompense of their sins.' This is only doing what every good and wise human sovereign is expected and required to do.
It cannot fail to be noticed that the character of the apostle's doctrine is determined l)y the objections to it. Had he taught that God chooses as vessels of mercji' those who he foresees will believe, and leaves to perish those who he foresees will reject the Gospel, there had been no pretext for the charge of injustice. It was because he taught that God gave repentance and faith to some and not to others that his opponents charged him with teaching what was inconsistent with impartial justice on the part of God.
3. That God is sovereign in the election of the heirs of salvation is plain, because men are chosen to lioli- ness ; faith and repentance are gifts of God, and fruits of his Spirit. If it is election to salvation which se- cures repentance and faith, repentance and faith can- not be the ground of election. Tlie passages of Scrip- ture already quoted distinctly assert that election ])re- cedes and secures the exercise of faith. In Eph. i, 4, it is said. We wore chosen, before the foundation of the world, to be holy. In chap, ii, 8, of the same ejiistlo, it is said, " Faith is the gift of God ;" and in v. 10, that we were foreordained unto good works. In ( "olos- sians, faith is said to be " of the operation of God" (ii, 12). In E])h. i, 11), it is referred to "the mighty pow- er of God," which wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead. In 1 Pet. i, 2, it is said, we are elected "unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Clirist." Vocation, that is, regenera- tion, the fruits of which are faith and holy living, fol- lows election, as tiiught in Rom. viii, 30, "whom he did predestinate, them he also called." In a preceding verse of that chapter, it is said, we arc predestinated
ELECTION OF GRACE
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ELECTION OF GRACE
" to be conformed to the image of his Son." But con- formity to the image of Christ includes all that is good in us. Christ was exalted "to give repentance and forgiveness of sin" (Acts v, 31). "If God peradven- ture will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth" ("2 Tim. ii, 25). " Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith" (James ii, 5). " It is of him ye are in Christ Jesus" (1 Cor. i, 30). It is, however, un- necessary to multiply quotations. The Bible is full of the doctrine that regeneration is the gift of God ; that all holy exercises are due to the working of his Spirit. All Christians recognise this truth in their prayers. Thej' praj' earnestlj' for the conversion of those dear to them. This takes for granted that God can and does change the heart; that all that pertains to salvation, the means as well as the end, are his gifts. If he gives us repentance — if the fact be due to him that we, and not others, turn from our sins to the living God, then surely he does not choose us and not others because of such repentance.
4. Salvation is by grace. Grace is not mere benev- olence, nor is it love in the form in which God loves the holy angels. It is love to the unholy, the guilty, to enemies. It is mysterious love. It is compared to the instinctive love of a mother for her child, which is independent of its attractions. This is the most won- derful, and,perliaps, the most glorious of all the known attributes of God. We are distinctly told that the special ol)ject of the redemption of man was the reve- lation of this divine perfection ; it was for the manifes- tation "of the glory of the riches of his grace" (Eph. i, ()). He hath quickened us, raised us np, made us sit in heavenl}' places, "that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness to us through Christ Jesus" (Eph. ii, 5-7). Such be- ing the design of redemption, it must, in all its stages, be a work of grace. It was a matter of grace that re- demption was provided for man and not for angels ; it was a matter of grace that God gave his Son for our salvation. To make the mission of Christ a matter of justice, something to which our fallen race had a righteous claim, would alter the whole character of the Bible. The incarnation, sufferings, and death of the Son of God are everywhere set forth as manifestations of the unmerited and iniinite love of God. But if a matter of grace that salvation was provided for the cliildren of men, it was a matter of gi-ace that the knowledge of the plan of salvation was communicated to some and not to others — to the Jews and not to the Gentiles. It is of grace that any sinner is justified, that he is sanctified and saved. From first to last sal- vation is of grace. To introduce the element of works or merit into any part of the plan vitiates its charac- ter. It is expressh' taught that regeneration or con- version, the fact that one man is converted and not another, is a matter of graced This is what the apostle specially insists upon in the first chapter to the Corin- thians, already referred to. He calls upon his readers to look at their calling, to see who among them were called. It was not the wise or the great, but the fool- ish and the insignificant, whom God chose, for the very purpose that no flesh should glory in his presence. It was necessar}' that the subjects of salvation should feel and acknowledge that they were saved by grace ; that it was not for any merit of their own, not for any- thing favorably distinguishing them from others, but simply that (Jod, and the riches and sovereiLrnt}' of his grace, should be magnified in them. Such is the form of apostolic Christianit}-, and such is the form in which it reveals itself in the heart of the believer. His theory maj' be one thing, but his inward and, it may be added, his delightful consciousness is that he owes his salvation to the grace of God alone.