Calvinistic Controversy

It is certainly no objection to our doctrine, that the Scriptures, dealing with man as he is, require him to use his natural powers to serve God. With what other powers should he serve him? I again repeat that the question is not, whether we have mental faculties, nor whether man may or can serve God with these faculties, but simply whether the command to obey is given independently of the considerations of grace. We say it is not; and in proof refer to the Scriptures, which give a promise corresponding with every command, and assurances of gracious aid suited to every duty – all of which most explicitly imply, not only man’s need, but also the ground on which the command is predicated. And with this idea agrees the alleged condemnation, so often presented in the Scriptures: “This is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men have loved darkness.” “He that believeth not is condemned already.” “But they grieved his Holy Spirit, therefore he is turned to be their enemy.” “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation.” These, and many other passages, show that the turning point of guilt and condemnation is not so much the abuse of natural powers, as the neglect and abuse of grace bestowed.

This point may be illustrated by Christ’s healing the withered hand. He commanded the man to stretch it forth. What was the ground of that command, and what was implied in it? The ground of it was, that aid would be given him to do it; otherwise the command to stretch forth a palsied limb would have been unreasonable. And yet it was understood that the man was to have no new muscles, or nerves, or bones, to accomplish this with; but he was to use those he had, assisted, as they would be, by the gracious power of God. So man, it is true, is commanded to use his natural powers in obeying God; but not without Divine aid, the promise of which is always either expressed or implied in the command.

4. “The Scriptures ascribe no other inability to man to obey God, but that which consists in or results from the perversion of those faculties which constitute him a moral agent.”

It is true, the Scriptures blame man for his inability – for inability they certainly ascribe to him, and why? Because where sin abounded grace has much more abounded. That sinners are perverse and unprepared for holy obedience up to this hour is undoubtedly their own fault, for grace has been beforehand with them. It met them at the very threshold of their moral agency, with every thing necessary to meet their case. It has dug about the fruitless fig tree. It has laid the foundation to say justly, “What more could I have done for my vineyard?” If the sinner has rejected all this, and has increased his depravity by actual transgression, then indeed is he justly chargeable for all his embarrassments and moral weakness, for he has voluntarily assumed to himself the responsibility of his native depravity, and he has added to this the accumulated guilt of his repeated sins.

5. It is farther objected, with a good deal of confidence, that Arminians, after all, make man’s natural power the ground and measure of his guilt, since “no part of his free agency arises from furnished grace, but it consists simply inability to use or abuse that grace, and of course in an ability distinct from, and not produced by the grace.”

Let us see, however, if there is not some sophistry covered up here. Arminians do not mean that man’s ability to use grace is independent of, and separate from the grace itself. They say that man’s powers are directly assisted by grace, so that through this assistance they have ability or strength in those powers which before they had not, to make a right choice. To talk of ability to use gracious ability, in any other sense, would be absurd. It would be like talking of strength to use strength – of being able to be able. This absurdity, however, appears to me justly chargeable upon the natural ability theory, taken in connection with the Scripture account of this matter. The Scriptures instruct us to look to God for strength; that he gives us “power to become the children of God;” that he “strengthens with might in the inner man, that we may be able,” &c. This theory, however, tells us that we have an ability back of this; an ability on which our responsibility turns, and by means of which we can become partakers of the grace of the Gospel. This is certainly to represent the Divine Being as taking measures to make ability able, and adding power to make adequate strength sufficiently strong. – Such is the work of supererogation which this theory charges upon the Gospel, for which its advocates alone are answerable; but let them not, without better ground, attempt to involve us in such an absurdity. But the strongest objections, in the opinion of those who differ from us, are yet to come. They are of a doctrinal, rather than of a philosophical character, and are therefore more tangible, and will, for this reason, perhaps, be more interesting to the generality of readers. Let us have patience, then, to follow them out.

6. Doctrinal Objections. – On the ground of gracious ability it is objected that, 1. “As the consequence of Adam’s fall, Adam himself and all his posterity became incapable of committing another sin.” 2. “Every sinful action performed in this world, since the fall of Adam, has been the effect of supernatural grace.” 3. “Man needed the grace of God, not because he was wicked, but because he was weak.” 4. “The moral difference between one man and another is not to be ascribed to God.” 5. “The posterity of Adam needed no Saviour to atone for actual sin.” 6. “This opinion is inconsistent with the doctrine of grace.” 7. “There can be no guilt in the present rebellion of the infernal regions.” 8. “Is not this grace a greater calamity to our race than the fall of Adam?”

I have thrown these objections together, and presented them in connection to the reader, for the reason that they all rest mainly on one or two erroneous assumptions, to correct which will be substantially to answer them all.

One erroneous assumption of this writer is, that “there is no free agency to do wrong, which is not adequate to do right.” This writer seems to think this a self-evident proposition, which needs no proof; for although he has used it in argument a number of times, he has left it unsustained by any thing but his naked assertion. This proposition has already been denied, and an unqualified denial is all that in fairness can be claimed by an antagonist to meet an unqualified assertion. Our object, however, is truth, and not victory. Let me request you then, reader, to look at this proposition. Can you see any self-evident proof of this assertion? If the Creator should give existence to an intelligent being, and infuse into his created nature the elements of unrighteousness, and give to his faculties an irresistible bias to sin, and all this without providing a remedy, or a way for escape, then indeed all our notions of justice would decide that such a being ought not to be held responsible. But this is not the case with any of the sinful beings of God’s moral government. – Not of the fallen angels, for they had original power to stand, but abused it and fell – not of fallen man, for in the first place his is not a created depravity; but, in the case of Adam, it was contracted by voluntary transgression when he had power to stand; and in the case of his posterity, it is derived and propagated in the ordinary course of generation: and in the second place, a remedy is provided which meets the exigencies of man’s moral condition, at the very commencement of his being. This it does by graciously preventing the imputation of guilt until man is capable of an intelligent survey of his moral condition; for “as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men unto condemnation: even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” And when man becomes capable of moral action, this same gracious remedy is suited to remove his native depravity, and to justify him from the guilt of actual transgression; for “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” It does not appear, then, either from the obvious character of the proposition itself; or from the condition of sinful beings, that “the same free agency which enables a man to do wrong, will enable him also to do right.” Hence it is not true that Adam, by the fall, lost his power to sin, or that there is now no sin in the infernal regions. It is true, the writer tries to sustain this idea farther, by asserting that “that ceases to be a moral wrong which is unavoidable; for no being can be held responsible for doing what is unavoidable.” This is little better, however, than a reiteration of the former assumption. If the character and conduct of a being are not now, and never have been avoidable, then indeed he ought not to have guilt imputed to him. But to say that there is “no moral wrong” in the case, is to say that characters and actions are not wrong in themselves, even where it would not be just to impute guilt. And this is an idea which is implied also in another part of this writer’s reasoning; for he tells us that, according to the doctrine of gracious ability “every sinful action performed in this world, since the fall of Adam, has been the effect of supernatural grace;” and that “man needed the grace of God, not because he was wicked, but because he was weak,” &c. This reasoning, or rather these propositions, are predicated on the assumption, that there is no moral wrong where there is no existing ability to do right: in other words, that dispositions and acts of intelligent beings are not in themselves holy or unholy, but are so only in reference to the existing power of the being who is the subject of these dispositions and acts.

But is this correct? Sin may certainly exist where it would not be just to impute it to the sinner. For the apostle tells us that “until the law sin was in the world;” and yet he adds, “Sin is not imputed (he does not say sin does not exist,) where there is no law.” The fact there are certain dispositions and acts that are in their nature opposite to holiness, whatever may be the power of the subject at the time he possesses this character or performs these acts. Sin is sin, and holiness is holiness, under all circumstances. They have a positive, and not merely a relative existence. And although they have not existence abstract from an agent possessing understanding, conscience, and will, still they may have an existence abstractly from the power of being or doing otherwise at the time. If not, then the new-born infant has no moral character, or he has power to become holy with his first breath. Whether the subject of this unavoidable sin shall be responsible for it, is a question to be decided by circumstances. If a being has had power, and lost it by his own avoidable act, then indeed he is responsible for his impotency – his very weakness becomes his crime, and every act of omission or commission resulting from his moral impotency, is justly imputed to him, the assertion of our objector to the contrary notwithstanding. Hence it is incorrect to say there is now “no guilt in the rebellion of the infernal regions.” It is of little consequence whether, in this case, you assume that all the guilt is in the first act, by which the ability to do good was lost, or in each successive act of sin, which was the unavoidable consequence of the first. In either case, the acts that follow are the measure of the guilt; and hence, according to the nature of the mind, the consciousness of guilt will be constantly felt, as the acts occur. For all practical purposes, therefore, the sense of guilt, and the Divine administration of justice will be the same in either view of the subject. The writer supposes the case of “a servant’s cutting off his hands to avoid his daily task,” and says, “this he is to blame, and ought to be punished;” but thinks he ought not to be punished for his subsequent deficiencies. But I ask, How much is he to blame, and to what extent should he be punished? His guilt and punishment are to be measured, certainly, by the amount of wrong he has done his master – that is, by every act of omission consequent upon this act, which rendered these omissions unavoidable. Therefore he is justly punishable for every act of omission; and you may refer this whole punishment to the first act exclusively, or to all the acts separately: it amounts to the same thing in the practical administration of government and of justice. Indeed, to say that each succeeding act is to be brought up and taken into the estimate, in order to fix the quantum of punishment, is to acknowledge that these succeeding acts are sins; else why should they be brought into the account at all, in estimating guilt and punishment? Take another case. The drunkard destroys or suspends the right use of his reason, and then murders. Is he to be held innocent of the murder because he was drunk? or was the whole guilt of the murder to be referred to the act of getting intoxicated? If you say the former, then no man is to be punished for any crime committed in a fit of intoxication; and one has only to get intoxicated in order to be innocent. If you say the latter, then, as getting drunk is the same in one case as another, every inebriate is guilty of murder, and whatever other crimes drunkeness may occasion, or has occasioned. Is either of these suppositions correct? Shall we not rather say that the inebriate’s guilt is to be measured by the aggregate of crimes flowing from the voluntary act of drowning his reason? And so in the case before us. Instead then of saying, that on our principles “there is no guilt in the present rebellion of the infernal regions,” I would say that their present rebellion is the fruits and measure of their guilt. Thus we see, that a being who has had power and lost it, is guilty of his present acts.

And by examination we shall find that by how much we enhance the estimated guilt of the first act, it is by borrowing so much from the acts of iniquity which follow. And will you then turn round and say, the acts which follow have no guilt? Why have they no guilt? Evidently because you have taken the amount of that guilt and attached it to the first act. And does this make these acts in themselves innocent? The idea is preposterous. As well may you say that the filthy streams of a polluted fountain are not impure in themselves, because but for the fountain they would not be impure; as to say that the current of unholy volitions which unavoidably flows from a perverted heart is not unholy and criminal.

Another clearly erroneous assumption of this writer is, that if it would be unjust for the Divine Being to leave his plan unfinished, after it is begun, the whole plan must be predicated on justice, and not on grace. It is true, he has not said this, in so many words, but his reasoning implies it. For he says this scheme of gracious ability “annihilates the whole doctrine of grace.” Because God, if he held man accountable, was bound to give him this ability, as a matter of justice; hence it is not an ability by grace, but an ability by justice. The whole of this reasoning, and much more, goes upon the principle, that the completion of a plan of grace, after it is begun, cannot be claimed on the scale of justice, without making the whole a plan of justice. But is this true? Is not a father, after he has been instrumental of bringing a son into the world, bound in justice to provide for and educate him? And yet does not the son owe a debt of gratitude to that father, when he has done all this? If a physician should cut off the limb of a poor man, to save his life, is he not bound in justice, after he has commenced the operation, to take up the arteries and save the man from dying, by the operation. And if he should not do it, would he not be called a wanton and cruel wretch? And yet in both these cases the persons may be unworthy. The son may show much obliquity of moral principle, and yet the father should bear with him, and discipline him. The man on whom the physician operated may be poor and perverse. Here then are cases in which justice demands that un merited favour begun should be continued, or else what was favour in the commencement, and what would be favour in the whole, would nevertheless by its incompleteness, be most manifest injustice. Such is the state of the question in respect to the Divine administration. The whole race of man had become obnoxious to the Divine displeasure, in their representative and federal head, by reason of his sin. This is expressly stated: “By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation.” “In Adam all die.” In this situation we may suppose that the strict justice of the law required punishment in the very character in which the offence was committed. Adam personally and consciously sinned; and so, according to justice, he must suffer. The prospective generations of men, existing seminally in him, as they had not consciously and personally sinned, could, in justice, only experience the effects of the curse in the same character in which they sinned, viz. passively and seminally, unless provision could be made, by which, in their personal existence, they might free themselves from the effects of sin. Now God, in the plenitude of his wisdom and grace, saw fit to make provision for a new probation for man, on the basis of a covenant of grace, the different parts of which are all to be viewed together, in order to judge of their character. In this covenant Adam had a new trial; and when the promise was made to him he stood in the same relation to his posterity as he did when he sinned, and the curse was out against him. If, by the latter, the prospective generations of men were justly cut off from possible existence; by the former this existence was mercifully secured to them. If by the corruption of the race, through sin, the possibility of salvation was cut off, on all known principles of administrative justice; by the provisions of grace the possibility of salvation was secured to the whole race; and this possibility implies every necessary provision to render grace available and efficient, in accordance with moral responsibility. If “God, who spared not his own Son, but freely gave him up for us all,” had not “with him also freely given us all things” necessary for our salvation, would not the Divine procedure have been characterized both by folly and injustice? If his plan of grace had only gone so far as to have given us a conscious being, without giving us the means of making that existence happy, would it not have been wanton cruelty? And yet, taking the whole together, who does not see that it is a most stupendous system of grace, from the foundation to the top-stone? Let us not then be guilty of such manifest folly, as to take a part of the Divine administration, and make up a judgment upon that, as viewed independently of the rest, and then transfer this abstract character to the whole. As in chemical combinations, though one of the ingredients taken alone might be deleterious, yet the compound may be nutritious or salutary, so in the new covenant, if we separate legal exactions and penalties from gracious provisions, the operations of the former may be unjust and cruel, yet the whole, united as God hath combined them, may be an administration of unparalleled grace. It is in this heavenly combination that “mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Now, therefore, “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,” for on this ground he can be “just and the justifier of them that believe.” Although justice is thus involved in the system, and to leave out part of the system would be manifest injustice, yet the whole is the “blessed Gospel;” “the Gospel of the grace of God.” It is objected, I know, that the idea that, but for the provisions of the Gospel, man would not have propagated his species, is fanciful and unauthorized by Scripture. The Scriptures, I grant, do not strike off into speculations about what God might have done, or would have done, if he had not done as he has. This is foreign from their design; and I am perfectly willing to let the whole stand as the Scriptures present it. But when our opponents set the example of raising an objection to what we think the true system, by passing judgment on a part, viewed abstractly, we must meet them. On their own ground, then, I would say, the idea that man would have been allowed to propagate his species, without any provisions of grace, is altogether fanciful and unauthorized by Scripture. Will it be said, that it seems more reasonable, and in accordance with the course of nature, to suppose that he would? I answer, It seems to me more reasonable, and in accordance with the course of justice, to suppose that he would not. Whoever maintains that the personal existence of Adam’s posterity was not implied and included in the provisions of grace, in the new covenant, must take into his theory one of the following appendages; – he must either believe that the whole race could justly be consigned to personal and unavoidable wo, for the sin of Adam, or that all could be justly condemned for the sin of their own nature, entailed upon them without their agency, and therefore equally unavoidable; or he must believe that each would have a personal trial on the ground of the covenant of works, as Adam had. If there is another alternative, it must be some system of probation which God has never intimated, and man, in all his inventions has never devised. Whoever is prepared to adopt either of the two former propositions is prepared to go all lengths in the doctrine of predestination and reprobation charged upon Calvinism in the sermon that gave rise to this controversy, and, of course, will find his system subject to all the objections there urged against it. If any one chooses to adopt the third alternative, and consider all the posterity of Adam as standing or falling solely on the ground of the covenant of works, such a one need not be answered in a discussion purporting to be a “Calvinistic controversy.” He is a Socinian, and must be answered in another place. All that need be done here, is to show the embarrassments of Calvinism proper, the utter futility of all its changes to relieve itself from these embarrassments, unless it plunge into Pelagianism and Socinianism, or rest itself upon the Arminian foundation of gracious ability. It is on this latter ground we choose to rest, because here, and here alone, we find the doctrines of natural depravity, human ability and responsibility, and salvation by grace, blending in beautiful harmony.

Having noticed some of the erroneous assumptions on which the doctrinal objections to our theory are based, the objections themselves, I think, may all be disposed of in a summary way. We see, on our plan, that, 1. Adam did not render himself incapable of sinning, by the fall, but rather rendered himself and his posterity incapable of any other moral exercise but what was sinful; and it was on this account that a gracious ability is necessary, in order to a second probation. 2. Sin, since the fall, has not been the result of supernatural grace, but the natural fruit of the fall; and supernatural grace is all that has counteracted sin. 3. “Man needed the grace of God,” both “because he was wicked,” and “because he was weak.” – 4. “The moral difference between one man and another is – to be ascribed to God.” How any one could think a contrary opinion chargeable upon us, is to me surprising. It is more properly Calvinism that is chargeable with this sentiment. Calvinism says, Regeneration is a right choice. It says, also, that power to sin implies power to be holy; and of course we become holy by the same power as that by which we sin. And it farther says, that the power is of nature and not of grace. Now let the reader put all these together, and see if it does not follow most conclusively, that “the moral difference between one man and another is not to be ascribed to God.” But, on the contrary, we say the sinful nature of man is changed in regeneration by the power of the Holy Ghost. 5. “The posterity of Adam” did “need a Saviour to atone for actual sin.” For actual sin is the result, not of gracious power, as this author supposes, but of a sinful nature voluntarily retained and indulged. If our opponents charge us with the sentiment, that grace is the cause of the actual sin of Adam’s posterity, because we hold that grace was the cause of their personal existence, we grant that, in that sense, grace was a cause without which the posterity of Adam would not have sinned. But if this makes God the author of sin, by the same rule we could prove that God is the author of sin, because he created moral agents – and if there is any difficulty here, it presses on them as heavily as on us. But in any other sense, grace is not the cause of sin. 6. “This opinion is,” as we have seen, perfectly “with the doctrine of grace.” 7. “There is” constant “guilt in the present rebellion of the infernal regions.” 8. “This grace is a greater” blessing “to our race than the fall of Adam” was a “calamity;” for “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”