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Confession of Faith.* But, be that as itmay, we are not responsible for theopinions of either of them, and are therefore not bound to defend them. But, asit respects the Confession of Faith, thecase is different. For all its doctrines weare responsible.

Con. 1would be glad

i f

my mindcould be relieved of the difficulty underwhich it labours, respecting some ofthose doctrines. I am at a loss to reconcile the expressions that God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass,and yet so that he is not the author ofsin," &c.

Min. 1 think them perfectly reconcilable on the plain principles of common sense. But we had perhaps betterdefer this subject until to-morrow evening.

Con. 1 will be glad to embrace theopportunity, at any time you may haveleisure.

(To be continued.)~ a t I have said of the Doctrinal

Tracts, has occasioned some S ,gprise. Somehave even doubted its truth. THey think ithardly possible, that the Methodist Churchwould be guiltY. of publishing such misrepresentations. f the reader will take thetrouble to examine the Doctrinal Tracts,(the edition published in New York in 1850,)lie will find the quotations true to the letter.And he will fincf, also, that the one half oftheir enormities has not been eXPQSed.Witness the following, on page 169: ''Thisdoctrine (Predestination) represents ourBlessed Lord Jesus Christ, the only begottenSon of God the Father, full of grace and

truth, as a hypocrite, a deceiver of fiep l e

a man void- of sincerity. And page 170 : Itrepresents the most ho1y God as worse thanthe devil, as both mo re false, more cruel 1 andmore unjust. And again, page 172: ' Onemight say to our adversary, ffie devil, 'thoufool, why dost thou roar about any longer?Thy lying in wait for souls, is as needlessand useless as our preaching. Hearest thounot that God hath taken thy work out of thyhands? And that he doeth it WCh moreeffectually?** 1bou temptest; He forceth us

to be damned.*** Hearest thou not that Godis the devouring lion the destroyer of soulsthemurdererormen?

1 &c . AndP.age 173: 0

how would the enemy of oo and manrejoice to hear that these things are s o * * ~How would he lift up his voice and say,***'Flee from the face of this GocL or ye shallutterly perish.*** Ye cannot nee from ano m n ~ r s n t

Almighty tyrant .*** Sing, 0hell. Let all the sons of hell shou1 forjoy, ' &c . Perqaps I owe an apology to thereader for quoting such language.

-

The Biblical octrine of Reprobationby Joseph C. Morecraft, i l l

On more than one occasion Jesus distinguished his disciples, whom hechose to be his own, from the rest ofthe unbelieving world, which he did notchoose. If you know these things, youare blessed if you do them . I do notspeak of all of you. I know the ones Ihave chosen .... " John 13:17f . I manifested Thy name to the men whom thougavest me out of the world .... I ask ontheir behalf; I do not ask on behalf ofthe world, but of those whom thou hastgiven me, for they are thine;....... "John 17:6f.

Jesus even went so far as to say thatGod has deliberately hidden the truthfrom some people, so that they cannotbe saved from sin. And he was sayingto them. 'To you has been given themystery of the kingdom of God; butthose who are outside get everything inparables; in order that while seeing,they may see and not perceive; andwhile hearing, they may hear and notunderstand; lest they return again and beforgiven,' Mark 4: llf. John commentson the reason many do not believe

Jesus' clear preaching: For this causethey could not believe, for Isaiah saidagain, 'He has blinded their eyes, and hehardened their heart; lest they see withtheir eyes, and perceive with their heart,and be converted, and I heal them,"'John 12:39f .

This is in no way to imply that thereare some who want salvation from sin,but whom God will refuse . Arthur Pinkhas pointed out that the fact is that thereprobate have no longing for theSavior: they see in him no beauty that

they should desire him. They will notcome to Christ - why then should Godforce them to? He turns away none whodo come - where then is the injustice ofGod fore-determining their just doom?None will be punished but for theiriniquities; where then, is the supposedtyrannical cruelty of the Divine procedure?"

With these words of Jesus we re pre-sented with a biblical truth that is repugnant to the mind not held captive by theword of God. It is that according to hissovereign power, and the unsearchablecounsel of his will (whereby he extendsor withholds favor as he pleases), (God)has passed by and foreordained the rest(of mankind) to dishonor and wrath, tobe for their sin inflicted, to the praise ofhis justice, Larger CatechismQ. 13.

Before the beginning of time, whenGod elected many people to salvationfor the manifestation of the glory of his

grace, he sovereignly, deliberately, andrighteously determined to leave out theones he did not choose for salvationfrom that salvation with the intent ofcondemning them for their sin in orderto manifest the glory of his justice.Louis Berkhof defines it this way:Reprobation is that eternal decree of

God whereby he has determined to passsome men by with the operation of hisspecial grace, and to punish them fortheir sins, to the manifestation of hisjustice.

There are some people, known onlyto God, whom God has chosen to exclude from his saving mercy and salvation, and to condemn them to hell fortheir sins. 11lroughout their lives, hedoes them many kindnesses, but he hasno intention to make them willing (tocome to him) in the day of his power.This is not to say that God createdsome people in innocence and madethem wicked in order to damn them.The Bible is clear: God has made manupright, but they have sought out many

inventions," Ecc. 7:29.This solemn truth is clearly taught inmany places in the Bible. It is not em-phasized as much as is God's graciouselection, but it is set forth as an eternaldecree of God which is worked out inthe history of the world. For example,God rejects Cain, Gen. 4:5; cursesCanaan, Gen. 9:25; sends away I s h

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over Christ, are those who are disobedi- .ent to him. Those who are disobedient,and are therefore judged by God, aredivinely appointed thereunto. Those disbelievers, who are disobedient, were destined to stumble at the Word of God,and thereby deStined to fall and to be

broken .Bishop Robert Leighton has writtenabout the phrase "whereunto also theywere appointed:" "This the Apostleadds; for the further satisfaction of believers in this point, how it is that somany reject Christ, and stumble at him ;telling them plainly, that the secretpurpose of God is accomplished in this.God having detennined to glorify hisjustice on impenitent sinners, as heshows his rich mercy in them that believe. Here it were easier to lead you

into a deep, than to lead you forthagain. will rather stand on the shore,and silently admire it, than enter into it.

bis is certain , that the thoughts ofGod are all not less just in themselves,than deep and unsoundable by us. Hisjustice appears clear , in that. man'sdestruction is always the fruit of hisown sin . But to give causes of God'sdecrees outside himself, is neither agreeable with the being of God, nor withthe doctrine of the Scriptures. This issure, that God is not bound to give usfurther account of these things, and weare bound not to ask for i t Let thesetwo words, as St . Augustine says,answer all, 'What art thou, 0 man?,Rom. 9:20' and 0 the depth Rom.11:33.'

This doctrine has been objected to bymany people on many points. RobertL. Dabney eloquently answers: " Thisis a part of God's word which has everbeen assailed with the fiercest cavils. Ithas been represented as picturing a God,who created a number of unfortunate iJn .mortals, and endued them with capacities for sinning and suffering, only inorder that he might damn them forever ;and to this wretched fate they are inexorably shut up, by the iron decree, nomatter wbat penitent efforts or whatcries for mercy and escape they may putforth; while the equally or more guiltyobjects of the divine caprice and favoritism are admitted to a heaven which they

cannot forfeit, no matter how vilelythey behave. There is no wonder that aWesley should denounce the doctrinethus misrepresented, as worthy only ofSatan . There is, indeed, enough in thetruth of this subject, tO fill everythoughtful mind with solemn awe and

holy fear of that God, who holds theissues of our redemption in his sovereign hand. But how differently does hisdealing appear, when we remember thathe created all his creatures as flrst inholiness and happiness; that he gavethem an adequate opportunity tO stand;that he has done nothing to make thecase of the non-elect worse than theirown choice makes it, but on the contrary, sincerely and mercifully warnsthem by conscience and his wordagainst that wicked choice; that it is all

a monstrous dream to fancy oneof

these non -elect seeking heaven by truepenitence, and excluded by the enexorable decree , because they all surely yetvoluntarily prefer their impenitence, sothat God is but leaving tJtem to theirpreferred ways; and that the only way heensures the elect from the destructiondue their sins, is by ensuring theirrepentance, faith, and diligent strivingsto the end in a holy life ."

The question still remains: Why didnot God elect everybody to salvation?The answer is: It pleased him tO displaythe glory of his grace in the salvationof many elect sinners and to display theglory of his justice in the damnation ofnon-elect sinners. By doing so, hedraws this word of praise from thehearts of his people - " Behold thegoodness and severity of God, Rom.11:22. He wants us to stand in awe andpraise before such a great God as he is;who knows how to save the undeserving and how to punish sin.

Although both originate in theabsolute sovereignty of God, electionand reprobation do have some differences. In election, people are chosen byGod and saving faith and holiness oflife result, Acts 13:48 . In reprobation,God does not create the rebellion in theheart of the wicked. Instead that rebellion is the cause of divine condemnation, Rom . 11 :20 . In election, God predestines sinful people to salvation and

The Counsel of Chalcedon, February, 1987 - - - - , . . ~ - -

guarantees the work of saving grace intheir lives. In reprobation God doesabsolutely nothing to save the non-electsinner. God does not owe grace to anybody. He treats the reprobate with perfect justice.

What are the benefits of believing

and teaching this biblical truth? I t wilincrease our admiration and adoration ofGod for his love and his hatred. Hilove guarantees our salvation; and hihatred guarantees our victory over ourenemies. This glorious truth "is calculated to promote reverence for God, profound humility, trust and confidence.What is more humbling to the pride ofman than the knowledge that the onlyreason he is not in the ranks of the nonelect is because God decreed otherwiseActs 13:48. That God could have

chosen otherwise. and dealt with us according to our deserving rather than himercy, is both awe-inspiring and deeplyhumbling . To know that every one ofthe non-elect is abslutely under thcontrol of God should greatly promoteour trust and confidence in God. Toview the world situation and to see thwickedness that abounds on every hand,and yet to know that it is all included ithe decree is a comfort indeed. To knowthat the wrath o f man shall praise Goand the remainder of wrath he wilrestrain , to know that even the wicked,seemingly chance acts of men work together for my good is solid grounds forconfidence indeed" -Andrew Swanson

While we as Christians must constantly recognize our responsibility tbe witnesses of the gospel of JesusChrist to everybody, Acts 1 :8; we musalso resign ourselves to the fact thaGod alone decides the consequences.God will use our witness to hardesome and to soften others . The Christian witness is but God's servant It isGod alone who has the right tO give otO withhold blessings and effectiveness

Happiness in a life without Christ ishort-lived and superficial. Your sinswill always fmd you ouL s long as aperson continues in his unbelief andrebellion against God, there is no escape from the wrath and judgment o

(Continued on page 24)

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The Two Builders (Continued from preVious page)

like 1' a foolish m n who builds hishouse upon the sand." He satisfies himself with listening and approving, buthe goes no u r t h r He flatters himself,perhaps, that all is right with his soul,because he has feelings, and convictions, and desires, of a spiritual kind. Inthese he fellts. He never really breaksoff from sin, and casts aside the spiritof the world; he never really lays holdon Christ ; he never really takes up thecross; he is a hearer of truth, but nothing more.

And what is the end of this man's reli gion? It breaks down entirely under therlist flood of tribulation; it fails himcompletely, like a summer-dried fountain, when his need is the sorest. Itleaves its possessor high and dry, like awreck on a sand -bank, a scandal to theChu:rch, a by-word to the infidel, and amisery to himself . Most rue is it thatwhat costs little is worth little A religion which costS us nothing, and consists in nothing but hearing sermons,wilt always ptove at last to be a uselessthing.

So ends the Sermon on the Mount.

Such a sermon never was preached before: such a serinon perhaps has neverbeen preached since. Let u see that ithas a lasting influence on our ownsouls. It is addressed to us as well as tothose who first heard it: we are theywho shall have to give account of itsheart-searching lessons. I t is no lightmatter what we think of them. The

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word that Jesus has spoken, "the sameshall judge us in the last d y. (John12:48)

From EXPOSITORY . THOUGlliSON THE GOSPELS [

Doctrine of Reprobation(Continued from page 18)

God. "He who believes in the Son haseternal life; . but he who does not obeythe Son shall not see life, but thewrath of God abides on him," John3:36. But for those who repent of theirsin, turn to God and flee from his wraththrough faith in Christ, there is divinemercy and love . For God so loved theworld that he g v ~his only-begottenSon; that whoever believes in him.shall not perish, but have everlastinglife," John 3:16.

Those whom God does not save arethose whom he does not love. Godsaves all whom he loves. What an awesome and humbling privilege to beloved by God ..

To suminarize: liis great truth exaltsthe .majesty and sovereignty of Al-mighty God. It illustrates the riches ofhis sheer grace and the just conse-

quences of his holy wratb.lt impresseson us the cardinal truth that salvation isentirely of grace . It brings the siriner,by the power of the Spirit, to absoluteself-despair and to the reception of thefree offer of Christ in the gospel. In thebeliever, it deepens his humility andelevates his confidence to the full assur-ance of hope. 0