The Scripture Doctrine of Divine Sovereignty: Viewed in Connection with Man's Responsibility (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Scripture Doctrine of Divine Sovereignty: Viewed in Connection With Man's Responsibility

Mark xii. 30. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and With all thy soul, and will) all thy minul, and mill: all My slrcnglhof these duties they of course resolve into physi. Cal inability; thus annihilating all human guilt, or maintaining that guilt consists in not doing what We are, physically, unable to perform! Many have no definite views at all as to the amount of responsibility which rests upon the sin ner; and they would be greatly puzzled to an. Swer the question How far is he to be urged to perform the duties whichthe Bible enjoins They appear to have a vague conception of some kind of, obligation resting upon the sinner; but they are very'much afraid'of urging it too far, lest they should get upon Arminian ground, and say something derogatory to the doctrines ofgrace. And it must be confessed that some appear to be too much afraid of disturbing the consciences of sinners, and of making them unhappy by press ing them with duties to which they have so strong in aversion They are equally cautious of press ing the obligations, of Christians. All must be done by the power of sovereign grace for which both saints and sinners must patiently wait' until the Lord's good time shall come Saints must submissively wait for sovereign grace to make them more holy and sinners must, with the same regard to Divine Sovereignty, wait f or Converting grace i. 6. They must submissively go on in re bellion, until sovereign grace shall enable them to submit!

Who can wonder if thinking men turn skepti cal when they hear such things, and hear them identified With the Gospel of Christ! The ab. Surdities of the Roman Catholic system turned France into a nation of infidels; and a similar cause will produce a similar effect Wherever itmay exist. Protestant absurdities so far as they go, are as revolting to the understanding, as if they were associated with papal infallibility, transubstantiation, and other such like things. We should think our time poorly employed in writing upon this subject, if the discussion were to be submitted only to those, who, without invesa tigating the Bible for themselves, have adopted a. System, chiefly because it is supported by certain authors whom they have been accustomed to re gard as the standards of orthodoxy. Such pera sons do not love the truth for its own sake, nor for its Author's sake. They will not submit to the labour of thinking for themselves. The la bour they have hitherto employed in religious ih vestigations, has been chiefly to ascertain what their favourite authors believed, and by what ar guments they supported their particular views. Having thus studied theology, as by a gross per. Version of language it is called, they are unwil ling to give a candid attention to any writer or Speaker who proposes to unsettle their belief in the system they haveladopted. What would be the consequence of thus disturbing their intel lectual repose? To indolent minds, it would be frightful. A great part bf their theological as quisitions would become useless, or worse than useless. They must unlearn much that they had learned and they must now begin to think, and V study the Bible for themselves! It is pleasing, however, and encouraging, to reflect that but comparatively few are of this character. We rejoice to believe that there is an increasing num ber of ministers in all the evangelical denomina tions, who love the truth, and who love it so in.

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