BAPTIST MAGAZINE. MAY, 1830. AN ESSAY ON THE WRITINGS OF DR. the other, to derive from it several practical DWIGHT. (Continued from p. 138.) The Sovereignty of God.* IN maintaining the doctrine of divine sovereignty, a doctrine which lies at the foundation of the Calvinistic system, our author prefers an appeal to facts, as affording the most satisfactory evidence, rather than submitting the question to a course of abstract reasoning, which is more difficult to be followed, and more dubious in its results. He observes "The mode which I shall pursue, to ilJustrate the truth of this doctrine, will probably be thought singular: I hope it will be useful. Metaphysical arguments, which are customarily employed for the purpose of establishing this and several other doctrines of theology, are, if I mistake not, less satisfactory to the minds of men at large, than the authors of them appear to believe. Facts, whenever they can be adduced for this end, are attended with a superior power of conviction, and commonly leave little doubt behind them." And he subsequently remarks "I have not called up this doctrine at the present time, for the purpose of entering into any of those metaphysical disquisitions which restless curiosity, rather than sound wisdom, have commonly founded upon it; but on the one hand, to give it its proper place in this system of discourses; and on observations, which there is reason to hope may, by the blessing of God, be useful to those who hear me, especially to those who are students in this seminary."* The facts to which the worthy professor refers in evidence of this doctrine, are the following: I. The birth and education of all men depend not upon themselves. II. The course of life which men usually pursue, is very different from that which they have intended; and III. The continuance of life does not depend upon man. Each of these fucts Dr. D. illustrates with his usual force and felicity of style. The following brief extracts, selected from the first of these illustrations, will afford a specimen of the course and character of his argument. "The succeeding events of life are derived, in a great measure at least, from our birth. By this event, it is in a prime degree determined whether men shall be princes or peasants, opulent or poor, learned or ignorant, honorable or despised; whether they shall be civilized or savage, free men or slaves, Christians or heathens, Mohammedans or Jews. "One individual receives his birth in the palace of a British nobleman, and is welcomed to the world as the heir apparent of an ancient, honourable, and splendid family.While a child, he is served by a host of * As the writer wishes to embody in this menials, and flattered by successive trains of Essay his general views on the Sovereignty visitors. When a youth, he is regarded by of God, he has not scrupled to avail him- a band of tenants with reverence and awe. self of a passage or two on that subject, His equals in age bow to his rank, and mulfrom a Review which appeared in a former titudes of superior years acknowledge his volume of this periodical. To those, how-distinction, by continual testimonies of ever, who may happen to notice this identity, it may not be improper to state, that as the passages proceeded from the same pen, it was not necessary to call in the aid of inverted commas to protect the writer from the charge of plagiarism. VOL. V. 3d Series. marked respect. When a man, he engages the regard of his sovereign; commands * Dr. D. was President and Theological Tutor of Yale College, Newhaven, United States. S the esteem of the senate; and earns the the courts of the Lord;' and green, beautilove and applause of his country. Ano-ful, and flourishing, he blossoms, bears fruit, ther child, in the same kingdom, is be- and is prepared to be transplanted by the gotten by a beggar, and born under a Divine hand to a kinder soil in the regions hedge. From his birth he is trained to above." suffering and hardihood; is originally taught to beg and to steal; is driven from the doors of men by the porter or the housedog, and is regarded as an alien from the family of Adam. Like his kindred worms, he creeps through life in the dust; dies under the hedge where he was born; and is then perhaps cast into a ditch, and covered with earth by some stranger, who remembers, that although a beggar, he still was a man, "A child enters the world in China, and unites, as a thing of course, with his sottish countrymen in the stupid worship of the idol Fo. Another prostrates himself before the Lama, in consequence of having received his being in Thibet, and of seeing the Lama worshipped by all around him. A third, who begins his existence in Turkey, is carried early to the mosque; taught to lisp with profound reverence the name of Mohammed; habituated to repeat the prayers and sentences of the Koran, as the means of eternal life; and induced, in a manner irresistibly, to complete his title to paradise by a pilgrimage to Mecca. The Hindoo infant grows into a religious veneration for the cow; and perhaps never doubts, that, if he adds to this a solemn devotion to Juggernaut, the Gooroos, and the Dewtahs, and performs carefully bis ablutions in the Ganges, he shall wash away all his sins, and obtain, by the favour of Brahma, a seat among the blessed. In our own favoured country, one child is born of parents devoted solely to this world. Of Jehovah he thinks as little, and for the same reasou, as a Chinese or a Hindoo. Theg pay their devotions to Fo and to Juggernant; he, his to money and pleasure. Thus he lives and dies a mere animal; a stranger to intelligence and morality, to his duty and his God. Another child comes into existence in the mansion of knowledge and virtue. From his infancy, his mind is fashioned to wisdom and piety. In his infancy he is taught and allured to remember his Creator; and to unite, first in form, and then in affection, in the household devotions of the morning and evening. God he knows almost as soon as he cau know any thing. The way of life through the Redeemer is early and regularly explained to him by the voice of parental love, and enforced, and endeared, in the house of God. As soon as possible he is enabled to read, and persuaded to search the Scriptures. Of the approach, the danger, and the mischiefs of temptations, he is tenderly warned. Under this happy culti vation, he grows up like an olive tree in "How many and how great are the differences in these several children. How plainly do they all, in ordinary circumstances, arise out of their birth. From their birth is derived, of course, the education which I have ascribed to them; and from this education spring, in a great measure, both their character and their destiny. The place, the persons, the circumstances, are here evidently the great things which, in the ordinary course of Providence, appear chiefly to determine what the respective men shall be, and what shall be those allotments which regularly follow their respective characters. As then, they are not at all concerned in contriving or accomplishing either their birth or their education, it is certain that in these most important partioulars, the way of man is not in himself. God only can determine what child shall spring from parents, wise or foolish, virtuous or sinful, rich or poor, honourable or infamous, civilized or savage, Christian or heathen." By adopting this mode of argumentation, the learned President compasses his object by the shortest route, and secures a passage to the plainest understanding, without encountering its prejudices, having no necessity to implicate the question with the peculiarities of any theological system. Here the doctrine of divine sovereignty is fully developed, and incontrovertibly established. It is not rested on abstract terms and subtle distinctions, difficult to be apprehended, but on broad and palpable facts, familiar to every one's observation and experience. And we see at once, not only the operation of this divine right, but the principle out of which it arises. We learn why it is that we are thus subjected, in all the circumstances of our being, to the will and disposal of a preme Intelligence. creator, and it is in this character that his claims to universal soveus are founded.— reignty over "Shall the thing formed say unto su God is our 66 sult of choice absolutely unconstrained. Let me add, that not one of them is placed in a situation in which, if he learns and perform his duty to the utmost of his power, he will fail of being finally accepted.” Between the phenomena of nature, the movements of providence, and the operations of grace, there is an inseparable connection. Under whatever modification we may contemplate the multifarious objects presented to our view, and the events daily occurring around us, divine sovereignty is the golden thread which runs through the entire series and holds them together in mysterious harmony. It has been well remarked by a writer who will not be suspected of any disregard for the free agency of man that- him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour?" Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?" Hence, under this providential aspect, the equity of the divine sovereignty becomes apparent; while it loses much of that awful mysteriousness with which it appears to be invested, when viewed in direct relation to our spiritual concerns, and to the ultimate destinies of man. And yet, if the inequality of the distribution, and not the comparative magnitude of the blessings distributed, constitutes the difficulty, it is just as real in the one case as in the other, though in the former it may appear less visible. If a partial and unequal distribution of benefits were an infringement of the principle of justice, that principle would be alike violated in both cases. For to suppose the infinite Jehovah to deviate from the line of equity in the distribution of the smallest of his favoursthose of a temporary and providential kind-would be as fatal to the rectitude of his moral government, as a similar deviation in the distribution of the largest tokens of his discriminating grace; and on the very principle embodied in our Saviour's declaration, "He destined."* that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much." But the truth is, That the Supreme Being acts inin neither case is equity violated, dependently, and irresistibly in all nor does the exercise of this divine he does, is unquestionably a docright interfere with the liberty of trine of Revelation. "There is a fallacy in the very attempt benefits. To whatever extent such a disto distinguish between temporal and eternal tinction may appear to exist, it is certain that all the ways of God towards men, have relation to a future world. All the circumstances of time transmit influences into eternity; and they are designed to do so. Now as they thus affect our final condition, even temporal benefits partake of an ultimate and eternal character; and it can be which influence what is unchangeable, than no more proper to bestow unequal favours unchangeable favours themselves. So that, if it be indefensible to adopt an unequal distribution of spiritual benefits, it is equally dential good, since neither can be separated from the awful future to which mortality is so to allow inequality in reference to provi "He leadeth his accountable creatures. Refer- counsellors away spoiled. He acring to the facts adduced in illus-cepteth not the person of princes. tration of this doctrine, Dr. Dwight When he giveth quietness, who observes "I wish it to be distinctly understood, and carefully remembered, that in the moral conduct of all these individuals no physical necessity operates: every one of them is absolutely a free agent, as free as any created agent can be: whatever he does is the re then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a natio., or against a man Hinton's Theology, p. 166. our Saviour in his memorable allusion to this sublime doctrine views it in this connection. "I thank thee O father, Lord of heaven and earth, that 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."* In accordance with these views, Dr. D. remarks "That God wills nothing without the best reason, whether that reason be disclosed to his creatures or not; that real glory to him-` self, and real good to his creation, not other which his pleasure is directed, whether it respects the existence and motions of an insect, or the salvation of a man,' The Will of God, of which his So only. He openeth, and no man shutteth; he shutteth, and no man openeth. + Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth.‡ Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them that fell, severity; but towards thee goodness. For he giveth not account of any of his matters.|| And he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?¶ But while we are clearly taught by these pas-wise attainable, are universally the object to sages that the Almighty acts independently of all other beings, and uncontrouled by any; we must be careful of the inference, that therefore he acts unwisely, and vereignty is but a manifestation and capriciously also. This doctrine expression, ought not to be repreis not involved in the former; sented as in alliance with one atthough from the injudicious man- tribute and detached from the rest; ner in which the subject has fre- or as in closer alliance with one quently been handled, it appears than with another: rather than to be so. It is by no means safe conceive it placed by the side of to conclude that the Infinite Jeho- any single attribute (if we may vah has no grounds for his conduct, use such accommodating language) because our feeble and contracted it ought to be regarded as occupyminds, cannot perceive them; or ing the centre of all the natural that they are less worthy of him- and moral perfections of the self, with respect to those parts of Deity. Divine Sovereignty is not his procedure where he conceals a mere exercise of prerogative, them from us, than where he has or a vain display of power. condescended to make them known. is the exercise of the will of a It must not be inferred that God perfect Being, whose nature is love acts without counsel because he and who delights in opening chanacts without counsellors. He work-nels for his own beneficence: not eth all things after the counsel of less just, than it is irresistible; not his own will. The Divine So- more absolute than it is holy. vereignty is not more intimately Whether, as some maintain, there connected with the attribute of be no other origin of right but the Power, than with the attribute of divine will, because of its holiness; Wisdom, though its connection or according to others, there be with the latter may not be equally distinct laws of right, founded on apparent. And it is remarkable that the very nature and constitution of things, to which the will of a perfectly holy Being must necessarily " * Job xii. 17; xxxiv. 19, 29. + Rev. iii. 7. $Rom. xi. 22. Dan. iv. 35. Rom. ix. 18. Job. xxxiii. 13. * Luke x. 21. It be conformed; or in other words, would be intrusion in the Deity to whether the divine Being wills penetrate. The respective laws things because they are right, or under which the Almighty placed they are right because he wills the material and the spiritual parts them; are questions of a highly of his creation, were not so inspeculative character, as unprofit- dependent in their operation, as able to the heart, as they are per- to allow the being who instituted plexing to the intellect. But with them to retire from the government out ascending thus high in the re- of either. This holds only in the gion of metaphysics, it may be productions of human skill. The remarked, that if equity and sove- machine once set into motion may reignty are not identical, they are continue to operate independently eternally coincident. If we regard of the hand that formed it. But sovereignty and rectitude as dis- not so of the works of God. All tinct attributes of the divine na- our springs are in him; a sentiture, we must never contemplate ment equally true of the brightest them as opposed, or as having Seraph before his throne, and of even a contrary tendency, in any the meanest reptile which crawls department of the divine operations. beneath our feet. For his pleaLike the light as it emanates from sure they are and were created. the sun; when prismatically in- If these views of divine sovespected, its rays may exhibit dif- reignty be correct, there is then ferent colours, but they are always no necessity for precluding it from pure in their essence and parallel the government of the moral, any in their direction. The power of more than of the natural world: choosing what he will do, free from or for the line of distinction which all physical impulse and restraint is sometimes drawn, between the is necessary to constitute a moral sovereignty and the supremacy of and accountable agent; but it mat- the Deity, for the purpose of giving ters little, whether we view this a less extended dominion to the power, in relation to the broad former attribute. In this distincprinciples of abstract justice; or tion it is contended that sovereignty in reference to the divine will, is solely of a gracious character, where those laws are embodied, and is confined to acts of mercy and whence this blessing emanates. and beneficence. But is the noFree agency is not less a divine tion sustained by scriptural repregift, than the intellectual powers, sentations? Was the overwhelmand moral endowments with which ing of Pharaoh and his host in the it is associated. Assuredly, there- Red Sea, less an act of divine sovefore, we need feel no apprehension reignty, though under another asthat he who conferred this boon pect, than the miraculous deliveron a selected portion of his crea-ance of the children of Israel out tures for a specific purpose, should of their hands? Are we warranted ever defeat that purpose by inter- in drawing a line across the several fering with its exercise. The passages of sacred writ already sovereignty which bestowed it may quoted, and others of similar imbe safely entrusted to preside over, port, and in referring the connected its movements without endanger- members of each passage to differing its existence, and there is no ent attributes of the divine nature. necessity to conceive of the moral What is there to guide our thoughts world as constituting a sacred en-in such a reference? Surelv it is closure whose hallowed line it under the character of a righteous. |