can be with Him no unforeseen emergency and no inadequacy of means, and nothing can resist the execution of his original inten- tion. To Him, therefore, the causes of change have no existence. With God there is, as the Scriptures teach, " no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James i. 17.) " The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations." (Ps. xxxiii. 11.) " The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying. Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass ; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand." (Is. xiv. 24.) ''lam God .... declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying. My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." (Is. xlvi. 9, 10.) The uniformity of the taws of nature is a constant revelation of the immutability of God.. They are now what they were at the beginning of time, and they are the same in every part of the universe. No less stable are the laws whiph regulate the opei-ations of the reason and conscience. The whole government of God, as the God of nature and as moral gov- ernor, rests on the immutability of his counsels.
E. The Decrees of Crod are Free. This includes three ideas, —
1. They are Rational determinations, founded on sufficient rea- sons. This is opposed to the doctrine of necessity, which assumes
' that God acts by a mere necessity of nature, and that all that oc- curs is due to the law of development or of self-manifestation of the divine being. This reduces Goid to a mere natura naturans, or vis formativa^ which acts without design. The true doctrine is opposed also to the idea that the only cause of events is an intel- lectual force analogous to the instincts of irrational animals. The acts performed under the guidance of instinct are not free acts, for liberty is a lihentia rationalis, spontaneity determined by reason. It is therefore involved in the idea of God as a rational and per- sonal being that his decrees are free. He was free to create or not to create ; to create such a world as now is, or one entirely different. He is free to act or not act, and when He purposes, it is not from any blind necessity, but according to the counsel of his own will.
2. Our purposes are free, even when formed under the influence of other minds. We may be argued or persuaded into certain courses of action, or induced to form our designs out of regara to the wishes or interests of others. God is infinitely exalted above all ab_extra influence. " Who hath known the mind of the Lord ? or who hatnbeen his counsellor? " (Rom. xi. 34.) " Behold,
640 PART I— THEOLOGY. [Ch. IX. - The Decrees.
God exalteth by his power : who teacheth like Him ? Who hath enjoined Him his way?" (Job xxxvi. 22, 23.) "Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord ? or being his counsellor hath taught Him ? With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of judgment? " (Is. xl. 13, 14.) " Who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him ? " (1 Cor. ii. 16.) God adopted the plan of the universe on the ground of his own good pleasure, for his own glory, and every subordinate part of it in reference to the whole. His de- crees are free, therefore, in a far higher sense than that in which the ordinary purposes of men are fx'ee. They were formed purely on the- counsel of his own will. He purposes and does what seemeth good in his sight.
3. The decrees of God are free in the sense of bein^^absolute or sovereign. The meaning of this proposition is expressed nega- tively by saying that the decrees of God are in no case conditional. The event decreed is suspended on a condition, but the purpose of God is not. It is inconsistent with the nature of God to assume sus- pense or indecision on his part. If He has not absolutely determined on what is to occur, but waits until an undetermined condition is or is not fulfilled, then his decrees can neither be eternal nor immuta- ble. He purposes one thing if the condition be fulfilled, and another if it be not fulfilled, and thus everything must be uncertain not only in the divine mind, but also in the event. The Scriptures, therefore, teach that He doeth whatsoever He pleaseth. (Ps. cxv. 3.) He doeth his pleasure in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. (Dan. iv. 35 ; Ps. cxxxv. 6.) Of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. (Rom. xi. 36.) It is expressly taught that the purposes of God, even as to the future destiny of men, are founded on his own good pleasure. As all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, He has mercy upon whom He will have mercy. It is not according to our works, but of his grace that He saves us. It is of Him that we are in Christ Jesus, that those who glory should glory in the Lord. (Matt. xi. 26 ; Rom. viii. 29, 30 ; ix. 15-18 ; Eph. i. 5, etc., etc.)
F. The Decrees of God are certainly Efficacious. The decrees of God are certainly efficacious, that is, they ren- der certain the occurrence of what He decrees. Whatever God foreordains, must certainly come to pass. The distinction between the efficient (or efficacious) and the permissive decrees of God, although important, has no relation to the certainty of events. All