Statement of the Doctrine.
The Augustinian scheme includes the following points : (1.) That the glory of God, or the manifestation of his perfections, is the highest and ultimate end of all things. (2.) For that end God purposed the creation of the universe, and the whole plan of providence and redemption. (3.) That He placed man in a state of probation, making Adam, their first parent, their head and rep- resentative. (4.) That the fall of Adam brought all his posterity into a state of condemnation, sin, and misery, from which tliey are utterly unable to deliver themselves. (5.) From the mass of fallen men God elected a number innumerable to eternal life, and left the rest of mankind to the just recompense of tlieir sins. (6.) That the ground of this election is not the foresight of any- thing in the one class to distinguish them favourably from the mem- bers of the other class, but the good pleasure of God. (7.) That for the salvation of those thus chosen to eternal life, God gave his own Son, to become man, and to obey and suffer for his people, thus making a full satisfaction for sin and bringing in everlasting righteousness, rendering the ultimate salvation of the elect abso- lutely certain. (8.) That while the Holy Spirit, in his common operations, is present with every man, so long as he lives, restrain- ing evil and exciting good, his certainly efficacious and saving l)ower is exercised only in behalf of the elect. (9.) That all those whom God has thus chosen to life, and for whom Christ specially gave Himself in the covenant of redemption, shall certainly (un- less they die in infancy), be brought to the knowledge of the truth, to the exercise of faith, and to perseverance in holy living unto the end.
Such is the great scheme of doctrine known in history as the Pauline, Augustinian, or Calvinistic, taught, as we believe, in the Scriptures, developed by Augustine, formally sanctioned by the Latin Church, adhered to by the witnesses of the truth during the Middle Ages, repudiated by the Church of Rome in the Coun- cil of Trent, revived in that Church by the Jansenists, adopted by all the Reformers, incorporated in the creeds of the Protestant Churches of Switzerland, of the Palatinate, of France, Holland, England, and Scotland, and unfolded in the Standards framed by the Westminster Assembly, the common representative of Presby- terians in Europe and America.
It is a historical fact that this scheme of doctrine has been the moving power in the Church ; that largely to it are to be referred
38-1 PART m. Ch. I. — the plan OF SALVATION.
the intellectual vigour and spiritual life of the heroes and confes- sors who have been raised up in the course of ages ; that it has been the fruitful source of good works, of civil and religious lib- erty, and of human progress. Its truth may be evinced from many diflPerent sources.
Proof of the Doctrine.
In the first place, it is a simple, harmonious, self-consistent scheme. It supposes no conflicting purposes in the divine mind ; no willing first one thing, and then another; no purposing ends which are never accomplished ; and no assertion of principles in conflict with others which cannot be denied. All the parts of this vast plan admit of being reduced to one comprehensive purpose as it was hid for ages in the divine mind. The purpose to create, to permit the fall, to elect some to everlasting life, while others are left, to send his Son to redeem his people, and to give the Spirit to apply that redemption, are purposes which harmonize one with all the others, and form one consistent plan. The parts of this scheme are not only harmonious, but they are also connected in such a way that the one involves the others, so that if one be proved it involves the truth of all the rest. If Christ was given for the redemption of his people, then their redemption is rendered certain, and then the operations of the Spirit must, in tlieir case, be certainly efficacious ; and if such be the design of the work of Christ, and the nature of the Spirit's influence, then those who are the objects of the one, and the subjects of the other, must persevere in holiness unto the end. Or if Ave begin with any other of the principles aforesaid, the same result follows. If it be proved or conceded that the fall brought mankind into an estate of helpless sin and misery, tlien it follows that salvation must be of grace ; that it is of God and not of us, that we are in Christ ; that vocation is effectual ; that election is of the good pleasure of God ; that the sacrifice of Christ renders certain the salvation of his people ; and that they cannot fatally fall away from God. So of all the rest. Admit that the death of Cin-ist renders certain the salvation of his people, and all the rest follows. Admit that election is not of works, and the whole plan must be admitted as true. Admit that nothing happens conti-ary to God's purposes, then again the whole Augustinian scheme must be admitted. There can scarcely be a clearer proof that we under- stand a complicated machine than that we can put together its sev- eral parts, so that each exactly fits its place ; no one admitting of