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God's Sovereignty in the Salvation of Men
by Jonathan Edwards
Romans 9:18, "Therefore
hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth."
THE apostle, in the beginning of this chapter, expresses his great
concern and sorrow of heart for the nation of the Jews, who were
rejected of God. This leads him to observe the difference which God made
by election between some of the Jews and others, and between the bulk of
that people and the Christian Gentiles. In speaking of this he enters
into a more minute discussion of the sovereignty of God in electing some
to eternal life, and rejecting others, than is found in any other part
of the Bible; in the course of which he quotes several passages from the
Old Testament, confirming and illustrating this doctrine. In the ninth
verse he refers us to what God said to Abraham, showing his election of
Isaac before Ishmael - "For this is the word of promise; At this time
will I come, and Sarah shall have a son:" then to what God had said to
Rebecca, showing his election of Jacob before Esau; "The elder shall
serve the younger:" in the thirteenth verse, to a passage from Malachi,
"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated:" in the fifteenth verse, to
what God said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy;
and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion:" and the
verse preceding the text, to what God says to Pharaoh, "For the
scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised
thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be
declared throughout all the earth." In what the apostle says in the
text, he seems to have respect especially to the two last-cited
passages: to what God said to Moses in the fifteenth verse, and to what
he said to Pharaoh in the verse immediately preceding. God said to
Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy." To this the
apostle refers in the former part of the text. And we know how often it
is said of Pharaoh, that God hardened his heart. And to this the apostle
seems to have respect in the latter part of the text; "and whom he will
he hardeneth." We may observe in the text,
1. God's different dealing with men. He hath mercy on some, and
hardeneth others. When God is here spoken of as hardening some of the
children of men, it is not to be understood that God by any positive
efficiency hardens any man's heart. There is no positive act in God, as
though he put forth any power to harden the heart. To suppose any such
thing would be to make God the immediate author of sin. God is said to
harden men in two ways: by withholding the powerful influences of his
Spirit, without which their hearts will remain hardened, and grow harder
and harder; in this sense he hardens them, as he leaves them to
hardness. And again, by ordering those things in his providence which,
through the abuse of their corruption, become the occasion of their
hardening. Thus God sends his word and ordinances to men which, by their
abuse, prove an occasion of their hardening. So the apostle said, that
he was unto some "a savour of death unto death." So God is represented
as sending Isaiah on this errand, to make the hearts of the people fat,
and to make their ears heavy, and to shut their eyes; lest they should
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their
heart, and convert, and be healed. Isa. 6:10. Isaiah's preaching was, in
itself, of a contrary tendency, to make them better. But their abuse of
it rendered it an occasion of their hardening. As God is here said to
harden men, so he is said to put a lying spirit in the mouth of the
false prophets. 2 Chron. 18:22. That is, he suffered a lying spirit to
enter into them. And thus he is said to have bid Shimei curse David. 2
Sam. 16:10. Not that he properly commanded him; for it is contrary to
God's commands. God expressly forbids cursing the ruler of the people.
Exod. 22:28. But he suffered corruption at that time so to work in
Shimei, and ordered that occasion of stirring it up, as a manifestation
of his displeasure against David.
2. The foundation of his different dealing with mankind; viz. his
sovereign will and pleasure. "He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy,
and whom he will he hardeneth." This does not imply, merely, that God
never shows mercy or denies it against his will, or that he is always
willing to do it when he does it. A willing subject or servant, when he
obeys his lord's commands, may never do any thing against his will,
nothing but what he can do cheerfully and with delight; and yet he
cannot be said to do what he wills in the sense of the text. But the
expression implies that it is God's mere will and sovereign pleasure,
which supremely orders this affair. It is the divine will without
restraint, or constraint, or obligation.
Doctrine. God exercises his sovereignty in the eternal salvation of men.
He not only is sovereign, and has a sovereign right to dispose and order
in that affair; and he not only might proceed in a sovereign way, if he
would, and nobody could charge him with exceeding his right; but he
actually does so; he exercises the right which he has. In the following
discourse, I propose to show,
I. What is God's sovereignty.
II. What God's sovereignty in the salvation of men implies.
III. That God actually doth exercise his sovereignty in this matter.
IV. The reasons for this exercise.
I. I would show what is God's sovereignty.
The sovereignty of God is his absolute, independent right of disposing
of all creatures according to his own pleasure. I will consider this
definition by the parts of it.
The will of God is called his mere pleasure,
1. In opposition to any constraint. Men may do things voluntarily, and
yet there may be a degree of constraint. A man may be said to do a thing
voluntarily, that is, he himself does it; and, all things considered, he
may choose to do it; yet he may do it out of fear, and the thing in
itself considered be irksome to him, and sorely against his inclination.
When men do things thus, they cannot be said to do them according to
their mere pleasure.
2. In opposition to its being under the will of another. A servant may
fulfil his master's commands, and may do it willingly, and cheerfully,
and may delight to do his master's will; yet when he does so, he does
not do it of his own mere pleasure. The saints do the will of God
freely. They choose to do it; it is their meat and drink. Yet they do
not do it of their mere pleasure and arbitrary will; because their will
is under the direction of a superior will.
3. In opposition to any proper obligation. A man may do a thing which he
is obliged to do, very freely; but he cannot be said to act from his own
mere will and pleasure. He who acts from his own mere pleasure, is at
full liberty; but he who is under any proper obligation, is not at
liberty, but is bound. Now the sovereignty of God supposes, that he has
a right to dispose of all his creatures according to his mere pleasure
in the sense explained. And his right is absolute and independent. Men
may have a right to dispose of some things according to their pleasure.
But their right is not absolute and unlimited. Men may be said to have a
right to dispose of their own goods as they please. But their right is
not absolute; is has limits and bounds. They have a right to dispose of
their own goods as they please, provided they do not do it contrary to
the law of the state to which they are subject, or contrary to the law
of God. Men's right to dispose of their things as they will, is not
absolute, because it is not independent. They have not an independent
right to what they have, but in some things depend on the community to
which they belong, for the right they have; and in every thing depend on
God. They receive all the right they have to any thing from God. But the
sovereignty of God imports that he has an absolute, and unlimited, and
independent right of disposing of his creatures as he will. I proposed
to inquire,
II. What God's sovereignty in the salvation of men implies. In answer to
this inquiry, I observe, it implies that God can either bestow salvation
on any of the children of men, or refuse it, without any prejudice to
the glory of any of his attributes, except where he has been pleased to
declare, that he will or will not bestow it. It cannot be said
absolutely, as the case now stands, that God can, without any prejudice
to the honour of any of his attributes, bestow salvation on any of the
children of men, or refuse it; because, concerning some, God has been
pleased to declare either that he will or that he will not bestow
salvation on them; and thus to bind himself by his own promise. And
concerning some he has been pleased to declare, that he never will
bestow salvation upon them; viz. those who have committed the sin
against the Holy Ghost. Hence, as the case now stands, he is obliged; he
cannot bestow salvation in one case, or refuse it in the other, without
prejudice to the honour of his truth. But God exercised his sovereignty
in making these declarations. God was not obliged to promise that he
would save all who believe in Christ; nor was he obliged to declare,
that he who committed the sin against the Holy Ghost should never be
forgiven. But it pleased him so to declare. And had it not been so that
God had been pleased to oblige himself in these cases, he might still
have either bestowed salvation, or refused it, without prejudice to any
of his attributes. If it would in itself be prejudicial to any of his
attributes to bestow or refuse salvation, then God would not in that
matter act as absolutely sovereign. Because it then ceases to be a
merely arbitrary thing. It ceases to be a matter of absolute liberty,
and is become a matter of necessity or obligation. For God cannot do any
thing to the prejudice of any of his attributes, or contrary to what is
in itself excellent and glorious. Therefore,
1. God can, without prejudice to the glory of any of his attributes,
bestow salvation on any of the children of men, except on those who have
committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. The case was thus when man
fell, and before God revealed his eternal purpose and plan for redeeming
men by Jesus Christ. It was probably looked upon by the angels as a
thing utterly inconsistent with God's attributes to save any of the
children of men. It was utterly inconsistent with the honour of the
divine attributes to save any one of the fallen children of men, as they
were in themselves. It could not have been done had not God contrived a
way consistent with the honour of his holiness, majesty, justice, and
truth. But since God in the gospel has revealed that nothing is too hard
for him to do, nothing beyond the reach of his power, and wisdom, and
sufficiency; and since Christ has wrought out the work of redemption,
and fulfilled the law by obeying, there is none of mankind whom he may
not save without any prejudice to any of his attributes, excepting those
who have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. And those he might
have saved without going contrary to any of his attributes, had he not
been pleased to declare that he would not. It was not because he could
not have saved them consistently with his justice, and consistently with
his law, or because his attribute of mercy was not great enough, or the
blood of Christ not sufficient to cleanse from that sin. But it has
pleased him for wise reasons to declare that that sin shall never be
forgiven in this world, or in the world to come. And so now it is
contrary to God's truth to save such. But otherwise there is no sinner,
let him be ever so great, but God can save him without prejudice to any
attribute; if he has been a murderer, adulterer, or perjurer, or
idolater, or blasphemer, God may save him if he pleases, and in no
respect injure his glory. Though persons have sinned long, have been
obstinate, have committed heinous sins a thousand times, even till they
have grown old in sin, and have sinned under great aggravations: let the
aggravations be what they may; if they have sinned under ever so great
light; if they have been backsliders, and have sinned against ever so
numerous and solemn warnings and strivings of the Spirit, and mercies of
his common providence: though the danger of such is much greater than of
other sinners, yet God can save them if he pleases, for the sake of
Christ, without any prejudice to any of his attributes. He may have
mercy on whom he will have mercy. He may have mercy on the greatest of
sinners, if he pleases, and the glory of none of his attributes will be
in the least sullied. Such is the sufficiency of the satisfaction and
righteousness of Christ, that none of the divine attributes stand in the
way of the salvation of any of them. Thus the glory of any attribute did
not at all suffer by Christ's saving some of his crucifiers.
1. God may save any of them without prejudice to the honour of his
holiness. God is an infinitely holy being. The heavens are not pure in
his sight. He is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on
iniquity. And if God should in any way countenance sin, and should not
give proper testimonies of his hatred of it, and displeasure at it, it
would be a prejudice to the honour of his holiness. But God can save the
greatest sinner without giving the least countenance to sin. If he saves
one, who for a long time has stood out under the calls of the gospel,
and has sinned under dreadful aggravations; if he saves one who, against
light, has been a pirate or blasphemer, he may do it without giving any
countenance to their wickedness; because his abhorrence of it and
displeasure against it have been already sufficiently manifested in the
sufferings of Christ. It was a sufficient testimony of God's abhorrence
against even the greatest wickedness, that Christ, the eternal Son of
God, died for it. Nothing can show God's infinite abhorrence of any
wickedness more than this. If the wicked man himself should be thrust
into hell, and should endure the most extreme torments which are ever
suffered there, it would not be a greater manifestation of God's
abhorrence of it, than the sufferings of the Son of God for it.
2. God may save any of the children of men without prejudice to the
honour of his majesty. If men have affronted God, and that ever so much,
if they have cast ever so much contempt on his authority; yet God can
save them, if he pleases, and the honour of his majesty not suffer in
the least. If God should save those who have affronted him, without
satisfaction, the honour of his majesty would suffer. For when contempt
is cast upon infinite majesty, its honour suffers, and the contempt
leaves an obscurity upon the honour of the divine majesty, if the injury
is not repaired. But the sufferings of Christ do fully repair the
injury. Let the contempt be ever so great, yet if so honourable a person
as Christ undertakes to be a Mediator for the offender, and in the
mediation suffer in his stead, it fully repairs the injury done to the
majesty of heaven by the greatest sinner.
3. God may save any sinner whatsoever consistently with his justice. The
justice of God requires the punishment of sin. God is the Supreme Judge
of the world, and he is to judge the world according to the rules of
justice. It is not the part of a judge to show favour to the person
judged; but he is to determine according to a rule of justice without
departing to the right hand or left. God does not show mercy as a judge,
but as a sovereign. And therefore when mercy sought the salvation of
sinners, the inquiry was how to make the exercise of the mercy of God as
a sovereign, and of his strict justice as a judge, agree together. And
this is done by the sufferings of Christ, in which sin is punished
fully, and justice answered. Christ suffered enough for the punishment
of the sins of the greatest sinner that ever lived. So that God, when he
judges, may act according to a rule of strict justice, and yet acquit
the sinner, if he be in Christ. Justice cannot require any more for any
man's sins, than those sufferings of one of the persons in the Trinity,
which Christ suffered. Rom. 3:25,26. "Whom God hath set forth to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood; to declare his righteousness,
that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in
Christ."
4. God can save any sinner whatsoever, without any prejudice to the
honour of his truth. God passed his word, that sin should be punished
with death, which is to be understood not only of the first, but of the
second death. God can save the greatest sinner consistently with his
truth in this threatening. For sin is punished in the sufferings of
Christ, inasmuch as he is our surety, and so is legally the same person,
and sustained our guilt, and in his sufferings bore our punishment. It
may be objected, that God said, If thou eatest, thou shalt die; as
though the same person that sinned must suffer; and therefore why does
not God's truth oblige him to that? I answer, that the word then was not
intended to be restrained to him, that in his own person sinned. Adam
probably understood that his posterity were included, whether they
sinned in their own person or not. If they sinned in Adam, their surety,
those words, "if thou eatest," meant, if thou eatest in thyself, or in
thy surety. And therefore, the latter words, "thou shalt die," do also
fairly allow of such a construction as, thou shalt die in thyself, or in
thy surety. Isa. 42:21. "The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness'
sake, he will magnify the law and make it honourable." But,
II. God may refuse salvation to any sinner whatsoever, without prejudice
to the honour of any of his attributes.
There is no person whatever in a natural condition, upon whom God may
not refuse to bestow salvation without prejudice to any part of his
glory. Let a natural person be wise or unwise, of a good or ill natural
temper, of mean or honourable parentage, whether born of wicked or godly
parents; let him be a moral or immoral person, whatever good he may have
done, however religious he has been, how many prayers soever he has
made, and whatever pains he has taken that he may be saved; whatever
concern and distress he may have for fear he shall be damned; or
whatever circumstances he may be in; God can deny him salvation without
the least disparagement to any of his perfections. His glory will not in
any instance be the least obscured by it.
1. God may deny salvation to any natural person without any injury to
the honour of his righteousness. If he does so, there is no injustice
nor unfairness in it. There is no natural man living, let his case be
what it will, but God may deny him salvation, and cast him down to hell,
and yet not be chargeable with the least unrighteous or unfair dealing
in any respect whatsoever. This is evident, because they all have
deserved hell: and it is no injustice for a proper judge to inflict on
any man what he deserves. And as he has deserved condemnation, so he has
never done any thing to remove the liability, or to atone for the sin.
He never has done any thing whereby he has laid any obligations on God
not to punish him as he deserved.
2. God may deny salvation to any unconverted person whatever without any
prejudice to the honour of his goodness. Sinners are sometimes ready to
flatter themselves, that though it may not be contrary to the justice of
God to condemn them, yet it will not consist with the glory of his
mercy. They think it will be dishonourable to God's mercy to cast them
into hell, and have no pity or compassion upon them. They think it will
be very hard and severe, and not becoming a God of infinite grace and
tender compassion. But God can deny salvation to any natural person
without any disparagement to his mercy and goodness. That, which is not
contrary to God's justice, is not contrary to his mercy. If damnation be
justice, then mercy may choose its own object. They mistake the nature
of the mercy of God, who think that it is an attribute, which, in some
cases, is contrary to justice. Nay, God's mercy is illustrated by it, as
in the twenty-third verse of the context. "That he might make known the
riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared
unto glory."
3. It is in no way prejudicial to the honour of God's faithfulness. For
God has in no way obliged himself to any natural man by his word to
bestow salvation upon him. Men in a natural condition are not the
children of promise; but lie open to the curse of the law, which would
not be the case if they had any promise to lay hold of.
III. God does actually exercise his sovereignty in men's salvation.
We shall show how he exercises this right in several particulars.
1. In calling one people or nation, and giving them the means of grace,
and leaving others without them. According to the divine appointment,
salvation is bestowed in connexion with the means of grace. God may
sometimes make use of very unlikely means, and bestow salvation on men
who are under very great disadvantages; but he does not bestow grace
wholly without any means. But God exercises his sovereignty in bestowing
those means. All mankind are by nature in like circumstances towards
God. Yet God greatly distinguishes some from others by the means and
advantages which he bestows upon them. The savages, who live in the
remote parts of this continent, and are under the grossest heathenish
darkness, as well as the inhabitants of Africa, are naturally in exactly
similar circumstances towards God with us in this land. They are no more
alienated or estranged from God in their natures than we; and God has no
more to charge them with. And yet what a vast difference has God made
between us and them! In this he has exercised his sovereignty. He did
this of old, when he chose but one people, to make them his covenant
people, and to give them the means of grace, and left all others, and
gave them over to heathenish darkness and the tyranny of the devil, to
perish from generation to generation for many hundreds of years. The
earth in that time was peopled with many great and mighty nations. There
were the Egyptians, a people famed for their wisdom. There were also the
Assyrians and Chaldeans, who were great, and wise, and powerful nations.
There were the Persians, who by their strength and policy subdued a
great part of the world. There were the renowned nations of the Greeks
and Romans, who were famed over the whole world for their excellent
civil governments, for their wisdom and skill in the arts of peace and
war, and who by their military prowess in their turns subdued and
reigned over the world. Those were rejected. God did not choose them for
his people, but left them for many ages under gross heathenish darkness,
to perish for lack of vision; and chose one only people, the posterity
of Jacob, to be his own people, and to give them the means of grace.
Psal. 147:19,20. "He showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his
judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation; and as for
his judgments, they have not known them." This nation were a small,
inconsiderable people in comparison with many other people. Deut. 7:7.
"The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were
more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people."
So neither was it for their righteousness; for they had no more of that
than other people. Deut. 9:6. "Understand therefore, that the Lord thy
God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness;
for thou art a stiff-necked people." God gives them to understand, that
it was from no other cause but his free electing love, that he chose
them to be his people. That reason is given why God loved them; it was
because he loved them. Deut. 7:8. Which is as much as to say, it was
agreeable to his sovereign pleasure, to set his love upon you.
God also showed his sovereignty in choosing that people, when other
nations were rejected, who came of the same progenitors. Thus the
children of Isaac were chosen, when the posterity of Ishmael and other
sons of Abraham were rejected. So the children of Jacob were chosen,
when the posterity of Esau were rejected: as the apostle observes in the
seventh verse, "Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they
all children; but in Isaac shall thy seed be called:" and again in
verses 10, 11, 12, 13. "And not only this; but when Rebekah also had
conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; the children moreover being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the promise of
God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that
calleth; it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it
is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." The apostle has
not respect merely to the election of the persons of Isaac and Jacob
before Ishmael and Esau; but of their posterity. In the passage, already
quoted from Malachi, God has respect to the nations, which were the
posterity of Esau and Jacob; Mal. 1:2,3. "I have loved you, saith the
Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's
brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob; and I hated Esau, and laid
his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness."
God showed his sovereignty, when Christ came, in rejecting the Jews, and
calling the Gentiles. God rejected that nation who were the children of
Abraham according to the flesh, and had been his peculiar people for so
many ages, and who alone possessed the one true God, and chose
idolatrous heathen before them, and called them to be his people. When
the Messiah came, who was born of their nation, and whom they so much
expected, he rejected them. He came to his own, and his own received him
not. John 1:11. When the glorious dispensation of the gospel came, God
passed by the Jews, and called those who had been heathens, to enjoy the
privileges of it. They were broken off, that the Gentiles might be
graffed on. Rom. 11:17. She is now called beloved, that was not beloved.
And more are the children of the desolate, than the children of the
married wife. Isa. 54:1. The natural children of Abraham are rejected,
and God raises up children to Abraham of stones. That nation, which was
so honoured of God, have now been for many ages rejected, and remain
dispersed all over the world, a remarkable monument of divine vengeance.
And now God greatly distinguishes some Gentile nations from others, and
all according to his sovereign pleasure.
2. God exercises his sovereignty in the advantages he bestows upon
particular persons. All need salvation alike, and all are, naturally,
alike undeserving of it; but he gives some vastly greater advantages for
salvation than others. To some he assigns their place in pious and
religious families, where they may be well instructed and educated, and
have religious parents to dedicate them to God, and put up many prayers
for them. God places some under a more powerful ministry than others,
and in places where there are more of the outpourings of the Spirit of
God. To some he gives much more of the strivings and the awakening
influences of the Spirit, than to others. It is according to his mere
sovereign pleasure.
3. God exercises his sovereignty in sometimes bestowing salvation upon
the low and mean, and denying it to the wise and great. Christ in his
sovereignty passes by the gates of princes and nobles, and enters some
cottage and dwells there, and has communion with its obscure
inhabitants. God in his sovereignty withheld salvation from the rich
man, who fared sumptuously every day, and bestowed it on poor Lazarus,
who sat begging at his gate. God in this way pours contempt on princes,
and on all their glittering splendour. So God sometimes passes by wise
men, men of great understanding, learned and great scholars, and bestows
salvation on others of weak understanding, who only comprehend some of
the plainer parts of Scripture, and the fundamental principles of the
christian religion. Yea, there seem to be fewer great men called, than
others. And God in ordering it thus manifests his sovereignty. 1 Cor.
1:26,27,28. "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise
men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But
God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise;
and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are
despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to
nought things that are."
4. In bestowing salvation on some who have had few advantages. God
sometimes will bless weak means for producing astonishing effects, when
more excellent means are not succeeded. God sometimes will withhold
salvation from those who are the children of very pious parents, and
bestow it on others, who have been brought up in wicked families. Thus
we read of a good Abijah in the family of Jeroboam, and of a godly
Hezekiah, the son of wicked Ahaz, and of a godly Josiah, the son of a
wicked Amon. But on the contrary, of a wicked Amnon and Absalom, the
sons of holy David, and that vile Manasseh, the son a good Hezekiah.
Sometimes some, who have had eminent means of grace, are rejected, and
left to perish, and others, under far less advantages, are saved. Thus
the scribes and Pharisees, who had so much light and knowledge of the
Scriptures, were mostly rejected, and the poor ignorant publicans saved.
The greater part of those, among whom Christ was much conversant, and
who heard him preach, and saw him work miracles from day to day, were
left; and the woman of Samaria was taken, and many other Samaritans at
the same time, who only heard Christ preach, as he occasionally passed
through their city. So the woman of Canaan was taken, who was not of the
country of the Jews, and but once saw Jesus Christ. So the Jews, who had
seen and heard Christ, and saw his miracles, and with whom the apostles
laboured so much, were not saved. But the Gentiles, many of them, who,
as it were, but transiently heard the glad tidings of salvation,
embraced them, and were converted.
5. God exercises his sovereignty in calling some to salvation, who have
been very heinously wicked, and leaving others, who have been moral and
religious persons. The Pharisees were a very strict sect among the Jews.
Their religion was extraordinary. Luke 18:11. They were not as other
men, extortioners, unjust, or adulterers. There was their morality. They
fasted twice a week, and gave tithes of all that they possessed. There
was their religion. But yet they were mostly rejected, and the
publicans, and harlots, and openly vicious sort of people, entered into
the kingdom of God before them. Matt. 21:31. The apostle describes his
righteousness while a Pharisee. Philip. 3:6. "Touching the righteousness
which is of the law, blameless." The rich young man, who came kneeling
to Christ, saying, Good Master, what shall I do, that I may have eternal
life, was a moral person. When Christ bade him keep the commandments, he
said, and in his own view with sincerity, "All these have I kept from my
youth up." He had obviously been brought up in a good family, and was a
youth of such amiable manners and correct deportment, that it is said,
"Jesus beholding him, loved him." Still he was left; while the thief,
that was crucified with Christ, was chosen and called, even on the
cross. God sometimes shows his sovereignty by showing mercy to the chief
of sinners, on those who have been murderers, and profaners, and
blasphemers. And even when they are old, some are called at the eleventh
hour. God sometimes shows the sovereignty of his grace by showing mercy
to some, who have spent most of their lives in the service of Satan, and
have little left to spend in the service of God.
6. In saving some of those who seek salvation, and not others. Some who
seek salvation, as we know both from Scripture and observation, are soon
converted; while others seek a long time, and do not obtain at last. God
helps some over the mountains and difficulties which are in the way; he
subdues Satan, and delivers them from his temptations: but others are
ruined by the temptations with which they meet. Some are never
thoroughly awakened; while to others God is pleased to give thorough
convictions. Some are left to backsliding hearts; others God causes to
hold out to the end. Some are brought off from a confidence in their own
righteousness; others never get over that obstruction in their way, as
long as they live. And some are converted and saved, who never had so
great strivings as some who, notwithstanding, perish.
IV. I come now to give the reasons, why God does thus exercise his
sovereignty in the eternal salvation of the children of men.
1. It is agreeable to God's design in the creation of the universe to
exercise every attribute, and thus to manifest the glory of each of
them. God's design in the creation was to glorify himself, or to make a
discovery of the essential glory of his nature. It was fit that infinite
glory should shine forth; and it was God's original design to make a
manifestation of his glory, as it is. Not that it was his design to
manifest all his glory to the apprehension of creatures; for it is
impossible that the minds of creatures should comprehend it. But it was
his design to make a true manifestation of his glory, such as should
represent every attribute. If God glorified one attribute, and not
another, such manifestation of his glory would be defective; and the
representation would not be complete. If all God's attributes are not
manifested, the glory of none of them is manifested as it is: for the
divine attributes reflect glory on one another. Thus if God's wisdom be
manifested, and not his holiness, the glory of his wisdom would not be
manifested as it is; for one part of the glory of the attribute of
divine wisdom is, that it is a holy wisdom. So if his holiness were
manifested, and not his wisdom, the glory of his holiness would not be
manifested as it is; for one thing which belongs to the glory of God's
holiness is, that it is a wise holiness. So it is with respect to the
attributes of mercy and justice. The glory of God's mercy does not
appear as it is, unless it is manifested as a just mercy, or as a mercy
consistent with justice. And so with respect to God's sovereignty, it
reflects glory on all his other attributes. It is part of the glory of
God's mercy, that it is sovereign mercy. So all the attributes of God
reflect glory on one another. The glory of one attribute cannot be
manifested, as it is, without the manifestation of another. One
attribute is defective without another, and therefore the manifestation
will be defective. Hence it was the will of God to manifest all his
attributes. The declarative glory of God in Scripture is often called
God's name, because it declares his nature. But if his name does not
signify his nature as it is, or does not declare any attribute, it is
not a true name. The sovereignty of God is one of his attributes, and a
part of his glory. The glory of God eminently appears in his absolute
sovereignty over all creatures, great and small. If the glory of a
prince be his power and dominion, then the glory of God is his absolute
sovereignty. Herein appear God's infinite greatness and highness above
all creatures. Therefore it is the will of God to manifest his
sovereignty. And his sovereignty, like his other attributes, is
manifested in the exercises of it. He glorifies his power in the
exercise of power. He glorifies his mercy in the exercise of mercy. So
he glorifies his sovereignty in the exercise of sovereignty.
2. The more excellent the creature is over whom God is sovereign, and
the greater the matter in which he so appears, the more glorious is his
sovereignty. The sovereignty of God in his being sovereign over men, is
more glorious than in his being sovereign over the inferior creatures.
And his sovereignty over angels is yet more glorious that his
sovereignty over men. For the nobler the creature is, still the greater
and higher doth God appear in his sovereignty over it. It is a greater
honour to a man to have dominion over men, that over beasts; and a still
greater honour to have dominion over princes, nobles, and kings, than
over ordinary men. So the glory of God's sovereignty appears in that he
is sovereign over the souls of men, who are so noble and excellent
creatures. God therefore will exercise his sovereignty over them. And
the further the dominion of any one extends over another, the greater
will be the honour. If a man has dominion over another only in some
instances, he is not therein so much exalted, as in having absolute
dominion over his life, and fortune, and all he has. So God's
sovereignty over men appears glorious, that it extends to every thing
which concerns them. He may dispose of them with respect to all that
concerns them, according to his own pleasure. His sovereignty appears
glorious, that it reaches their most important affairs, even the eternal
state and condition of the souls of men. Herein it appears that the
sovereignty of God is without bounds or limits, in that it reaches to an
affair of such infinite importance. God, therefore, as it is his design
to manifest his own glory, will and does exercise his sovereignty
towards men, over their souls and bodies, even in this most important
matter of their eternal salvation. He has mercy on whom he will have
mercy, and whom he will he hardens.
APPLICATION.
1. Hence we learn how
absolutely we are dependent on God in this great matter of the eternal
salvation of our souls. We are dependent not only on his wisdom to
contrive a way to accomplish it, and on his power to bring it to pass,
but we are dependent on his mere will and pleasure in the affair. We
depend on the sovereign will of God for every thing belonging to it,
from the foundation to the top-stone. It was of the sovereign pleasure
of God, that he contrived a way to save any of mankind, and gave us
Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son, to be our Redeemer. Why did he look
on us, and send us a Saviour, and not the fallen angels? It was from the
sovereign pleasure of God. It was of his sovereign pleasure what means
to appoint. His giving us the Bible, and the ordinances of religion, is
of his sovereign grace. His giving those means to us rather than to
others, his giving the awakening influences of his Spirit, and his
bestowing saving grace, are all of his sovereign pleasure. When he says,
"Let there be light in the soul of such an one," it is a word of
infinite power and sovereign grace.
2. Let us with the greatest humility adore the awful and absolute
sovereignty of God. As we have just shown, it is an eminent attribute of
the Divine Being, that he is sovereign over such excellent beings as the
souls of men, and that in every respect, even in that of their eternal
salvation. The infinite greatness of God, and his exaltation above us,
appears in nothing more, than in his sovereignty. It is spoken of in
Scripture as a great part of his glory. Deut. 32:39. "See now that I,
even I, am he, and there is no God with me. I kill, and I make alive; I
wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of my
hand." Psal. 115:3. "Our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever
he pleased." Daniel 4:34,35. "Whose dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the
inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he doeth according
to his will in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the
earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?"
Our Lord Jesus Christ praised and glorified the Father for the exercise
of his sovereignty in the salvation of men. Matt. 11:25,26. "I thank
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these
things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." Let us therefore
give God the glory of his sovereignty, as adoring him, whose sovereign
will orders all things, beholding ourselves as nothing in comparison
with him. Dominion and sovereignty require humble reverence and honour
in the subject. The absolute, universal, and unlimited sovereignty of
God requires, that we should adore him with all possible humility and
reverence. It is impossible that we should go to excess in lowliness and
reverence of that Being, who may dispose of us to all eternity, as he
pleases.
3. Those who are in a state of salvation are to attribute it to
sovereign grace alone, and to give all the praise to him, who maketh
them to differ from others. Godliness is no cause for glorying, except
it be in God. 1 Cor. 1:29,30,31. "That no flesh should glory in his
presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. That,
according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the
Lord." Such are not, by any means, in any degree to attribute their
godliness, their safe and happy state and condition, to any natural
difference between them and other men, or to any strength or
righteousness of their own. They have no reason to exalt themselves in
the least degree; but God is the being whom they should exalt. They
should exalt God the Father, who chose them in Christ, who set his love
upon them, and gave them salvation, before they were born, and even
before the world was. If they inquire, why God set his love on them, and
chose them rather than others, if they think they can see any cause out
of God, they are greatly mistaken. They should exalt God the Son, who
bore their names on his heart, when he came into the world, and hung on
the cross, and in whom alone they have righteousness and strength. They
should exalt God the Holy Ghost, who of sovereign grace has called them
out of darkness into marvellous light; who has by his own immediate and
free operation, led them into an understanding of the evil and danger of
sin, and brought them off from their own righteousness, and opened their
eyes to discover the glory of God, and the wonderful riches of God in
Jesus Christ, and has sanctified them, and made them new creatures. When
they hear of the wickedness of others, or look upon vicious persons,
they should think how wicked they once were, and how much they provoked
God, and how they deserved for ever to be left by him to perish in sin,
and that it is only sovereign grace which has made the difference. 1
Cor. 6:10. Many sorts of sinners are there enumerated; fornicators,
idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind.
And then in the eleventh verse, the apostle tells them, "Such were some
of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified,
in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." The people
of God have the greater cause of thankfulness, more reason to love God,
who hath bestowed such great and unspeakable mercy upon them of his mere
sovereign pleasure.
4. Hence we learn what cause we have to admire the grace of God, that he
should condescend to become bound to us by covenant; that he, who is
naturally supreme in his dominion over us, who is our absolute
proprietor, and may do with us as he pleases, and is under no obligation
to us; that he should, as it were, relinquish his absolute freedom, and
should cease to be merely sovereign in his dispensations towards
believers, when once they have believed in Christ, and should, for their
more abundant consolation, become bound. So that they can challenge
salvation of this Sovereign; they can demand it through Christ, as a
debt. And it would be prejudicial to the glory of God's attributes, to
deny it to them; it would be contrary to his justice and faithfulness.
What wonderful condescension is it in such a Being, thus to become bound
to us, worms of the dust, for our consolation! He bound himself by his
word, his promise. But he was not satisfied with that; but that we might
have stronger consolation still, he hath bound himself by his oath. Heb.
6:13, etc. "For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear
by no greater, he sware by himself; saying, Surely blessing I will bless
thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had
patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the
greater; and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise
the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two
immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might
have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the
hope set before us. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both
sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither
the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for
ever after the order of Melchisedec."
Let us, therefore, labour to submit to the sovereignty of God. God
insists, that his sovereignty be acknowledged by us, and that even in
this great matter, a matter which so nearly and infinitely concerns us,
as our own eternal salvation. This is the stumbling-block on which
thousands fall and perish; and if we go on contending with God about his
sovereignty, it will be our eternal ruin. It is absolutely necessary
that we should submit to God, as our absolute sovereign, and the
sovereign over our souls; as one who may have mercy on whom he will have
mercy, and harden whom he will.
5. And lastly. We may make use of this doctrine to guard those who seek
salvation from two opposite extremes - presumption and discouragement.
Do not presume upon the mercy of God, and so encourage yourself in sin.
Many hear that God's mercy is infinite, and therefore think, that if
they delay seeking salvation for the present, and seek it hereafter,
that God will bestow his grace upon them. But consider, that though
God's grace is sufficient, yet he is sovereign, and will use his own
pleasure whether he will save you or not. If you put off salvation till
hereafter, salvation will not be in your power. It will be as a
sovereign God pleases, whether you shall obtain it or not. Seeing,
therefore, that in this affair you are so absolutely dependent on God,
it is best to follow his direction in seeking it, which is to hear his
voice to-day: "To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart."
Beware also of discouragement. Take heed of despairing thoughts, because
you are a great sinner, because you have persevered so long in sin, have
backslidden, and resisted the Holy Ghost. Remember that, let your case
be what it may, and you ever so great a sinner, if you have not
committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, God can bestow mercy upon you
without the least prejudice to the honour of his holiness, which you
have offended, or to the honour of his majesty, which you have insulted,
or of his justice, which you have made your enemy, or of his truth, or
of any of his attributes. Let you be what sinner you may, God can, if he
pleases, greatly glorify himself in your salvation.
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