declaring that the hearts of men are in his hand, and that He turns them as the rivers of water ; that He makes his people willing in the day of his power, working in them to will and to do, according to his good pleasure ; it is so inconsistent with the promise to give repentance and faith, with the assertion of his power to change the heart ; it is so incompatible with the hopes and confidence of the behever, that God can keep him from falling ; and so subversive of the idea of God as presented in the Bible and revealed in our nature, that the Church has, almost with one accord, preferred to leave the mystery of evil unexplained, rather than to seek its solu- tion in a principle which undermines the foundation of all religion.
The Scriptural Doctrine.
The third method of dealing with this question is to rest satis- fied with the simple statements of the Bible. The Scriptures teach, (1.) That the glory of God is the end to which the promo- tion of holiness, and the production of happiness, and all other ends are subordinate. (2.) That, therefore, the self-manifestation of God, the revelation of his infinite perfection, being the highest conceivable, or possible good, is the ultimate end of all his works in creation, providence, and redemption. (3.) As sentient creatures are necessary for the manifestation of God's benevolence, so there could be no manifestation of his mercy without misery, or of his grace and justice, if there were no sin. As the heavens declare the glory of God, so He has devised the plan of redemption, " To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God." (Eph. iii. 10.) The knowledge of God is eternal life. It is for creatures the highest good. And the promotion of that knowledge, the manifestation of the manifold perfections of the infinite God, is the highest end of all his works. This is declared by the Apostle to be the end contemplated, both in the punishment of sinners and in the salvation of believers. It is an end to which, he says, no man can rationally object. " What if God, willing to shew his wrath (or justice), and to make his power known, en- dured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to de- struction : and that He might make known the riches of his glory on the vessel of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory." (Rom. ix- 22, 23.) Sin, therefore, according the Scriptures, is permit^G;d, that the justice of God may be known in its punish- ment, and his grace in its forgiveness. And the universe, without tbe knowledge of these attributes, would be like the earth without the liffht of tlie sun.
436 PART I — THEOLOGY. [Ch. V.~ Divine Attributes.
The glory of God being the great end of all things, we are not obliged to assume that this is the best possible world for the pro- duction of happiness, or even for securing the greatest degree of holiness among rational creatures. It is wisely adapted for the end for which it was designed, namely, the manifestation of the manifold perfections of God. That God, in revealing Himself, does promote the highest good of his creatures, consistent with the promotion of his own glory, may be admitted. But to reverse this order, to make the good of the creature the highest end, is to per- vert and subvert the wliole scheme ; it is to put the means for the end, to subordinate God to the universe, the Infinite to the finite. This putting the creature in the place of the Creator, disturbs our moral and religious sentiments and convictions, as well as our intel- lectual apprehensions of God, and of his relation to the universe.
The older theologians almost unanimously make the glory of God the ultimate, and the good of the creature the subordinate end of all things. Twesten, indeed, says ^ it makes no difference whether we say God proposes his own glory as the ultimate end, and, for that purpose, determined to produce the highest degree of good ; or that He purposed the highest good of his creatures, whence the manifestation of his glory flows as a consequence. It, however, makes all the diflference in the world, whether the Cre- ator be subordinate to the creature, or the creature to the Creator ; whether the end be the means, or the means the end. There is a great difference whether the earth or the sun be assumed as the centre of our solar system. If we make the earth the centre, our astronomy will be in confusion. And if we make the creature, and not God, the end of all things, our theology and religion will in like manner be perverted. It may, in conclusion, be safely asserted that a universe constructed for the purpose of making God known, is a far better universe than one designed for the pro- duction of happiness.
§ 14. The Truth of aod. Truth, is a word of frequent occurrence and of wide significa- tion in the Bible. The primary meaning of the Greek word aXijdeia (from d and XrjOoi) is openness ; what is not concealed. But in the Hebrew, and therefore in the Bible, the primary idea of truth is, that which sustains, which does not fail, or disappoint our expectations. The true, therefore, is, (1.) That which is real, as opposed to that which is fictitious or imaginary. Jehovah is 1 Dogmatik, vol. ii. p. 89.