646 PART I. — THEOLOGY. [Ch. IX. — The Decrees
minian writers, who admit that God's knowledge is not limited by anything out of Himself, but hold that it may be limited by his own will. In creating free agents, He willed not to foreknow how they would act, in oi'der to leave their freedom unimpaired. But this is to suppose that God wills not to be God ; that the Infinite wills to be finite. Knowledge with God is not founded on his will, except so far as the knowledge of vision is concerned, i. e., his knowledge of his own pui'poses, or of what He has decreed shall come to pass. If not founded on his will, it cannot be limited by it. Infinite knowledge must know all things, actual or possible. Jt Jnay, however, be said that there is a diiference between fox'eknowledge and foreordination, in so far that the former merely assumes tHe certainty of future eventSj whereas the latter causes their futuri- tion. But as the certainty of occurrence is the same in both cases, it makes no difference as to the matter in hand. The decree only irenders the event certain ; and therefore if certainty be not^jncon- Isistent with liberty, then foreordination is not. That an event may be free and yet certain, may be easily proved. (1.) It is a mat- ter of consciousness. We are often absolutely certain how we shall act, so far as we are free to act at all, and conscious that we act freely. A parent may be certain that he will succor a child in distress, and be conscious that his free agency is not thereby im- paired. The more certain, in many cases, the more perfectly are we self- con trolled. (2.) Free acts have been predicted, and therefore their occurrence was certain. (3.) Nothing was more certain than that our Lord would continue holy, harmless, and un- defiled, yet his acts were all free. (4.) It is certain that the peo- ple of God will repent, believe, and persevere in holiness forever in heaven, yet they do not cease to be free agents. The decrees of God, therefore, which only secure the certainty of events, are not inconsistent with liberty as to the mode ^f their occurrence. Although his purpose comprehends all things, and is immutable, yet thereby " no violence is offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established."
B. Foreordination of Sin inconsistent with Soliness. It is further objected that it is inconsistent with the holiness of God that He should foreordain sin. There are two methods of dealing with this and all similar objections. The one may be called the Scriptural method, as it is the one often adopted by the sacred writei-s. It consists in showing that the objection bears