Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-12-11

CONDUCTED By
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
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THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD.

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istence of Supreme Being. 1t is barely pos
sible that such human being lives. No
doubt there are some persons who are ready
to say that they do not believe in the exist
ence of God; but the acts of such persons
most positively contradict their words. But,
Notwithstanding the fact that the mass of
men believe in the existence of Supreme
Being, still, there are vast multitude of the
human family who do not ascribe to that
Supreme Being, the attributes which are
ascribed to the Most High God in the Bible.
In other words, there are multitudes who, in
some sort of way, worship and adore god !;
but their god is not the God Of the Bible.
The God of the Bible is, by them, stripped of
some of his attributes, and in some sense made
to resemble themselves. One Of the attri.
butes of the God Of the Bible is sovereignty.
There are two kinds of sovereignty. A par
tial sovereignty, such as is exercised by the
rulers in human governments or the COM
manders of armies, and an absolute sover-
eighty which is exercised by God only.
The error with most of us is, that we make
Gods sovereignty only partial. 1t is man.
ifest that the sovereignty of every crea.
ture must be partial. The mightiest earthly
potentate's power can extend over only his
own subjects, and only partially over them.
There are some things that no man can con-
troll. They are beyond his reach. The SOW
ereignty of God extends over all things, and
is absolute in every particular. 1t is briefly
but powerfully expressed by the Psalmist,
when he says: "The Lord reigneth." He
does not mean that he reigns as the governor
of State or as the king of vast country;
but he reigns absolute king over all things.
He controls every thing in the universe.
This is not palatable doctrine but it is
the doctrine of the Bible, and it is in strict &C.
cordance with both reason and observation.
Reason declares, if there be single thing over
which God does not exercise absolute control,
then he is not supreme. Consequently, we
may safely conclude that if the God we wor-
ship is not an absolute sovereign, he is not the
true God.
From observation, we may easily learn that
God is supreme sovereign. His attribute of
sovereignty is exercised constantly, without
moments intermission, over things animate
and things inanimate. The sun and moon,
and stars are all under his control. 1t is true
they move in accordance withS a fixed law;
but this only proves that they are the subjects
of an absolute Sovereign. If they moved in
accordance with no law, then there would be
some room to conjecture, an only to conjec-
'ture, that they were controlled by no power.
Since the heavenly bodies are all obedient
to law, we may safely conclude that that law
is the command of Supreme Being.
The same may be said of the winds, of the
clouds, and of the thunder and lightning.
These are but partially understood, even by
the wisest of men, and wholly beyond the
control of every created being. We hear the
sound Of the wind, but are wholly unable to
tell whence it cometh or whittier it goeth.
The clouds float above our heads, freighted
with rain and charged with thunder and
lightning. Who, of created beings, in the
midst of tornado, ever claimed the power to
govern the clouds. In the midst of storm,
the heart of the bravest becomes faint. After
it is over, we may speak of its grandeur; but
when its fury was breaking in upon us, the
sovereignty of God awed us into silence.
One difficulty with most of us. in connec-
tion with this subject, is how to reconcile the
absolute sovereignty of God and the free
agency of man. This we cannot do. 1t is
impossible; yet both are true. We know
that God is an absolute sovereign, and we are
conscious that we are free agents, accountable
to God for all our thoughts, words and acts.
Both these truths are taught in the Bible.
Another difficulty is to reconcile the absolute
sovereignty of God and the fact that sin is
in the world. In other words, our heterodox
minds reason thus: eff God is an absolute
sovereign, he must be the author of sim" We
know that God is not the author of sin; but
it does not follow that because some of his
creatures are sinners, that he is not an abso-
lutte sovereign. There is no denying the fact
that sin is in the world, and it is certain that
it is in the world by the permission of God.
This, however, does not remove the difficulty;
but it puts new phase on the subject. God,
in the exercise of his sovereignty, suffered
man, in the exercise of his free will, to sin,
that he might have greater opportunity of
displaying his sovereignty in saving sinners.
In point of fact, the greatest display of SOW
eighty the most absolute, is seen in the plan
of redemption. It will be admitted that
God, in the creation of man, acted in the ca
pacity of an absolute sovereign. He was
made according to the fashion devised by the
divine mind. No one controlled God in the
construction of man. His body was formed
out of the dust of the ground, and his Spirit
was breathed into him by his maker. The
same is true with regard to the redemption
of sinners God alone devised the plan, and
he alone executed it.
Both the difficulties mentioned have their
origin, not in the things themselves but in
our ignorance. We are unable to reconcile
two facts-the sovereignty of God and the free
agency of man--because of our ignorance. We
attempt to reconcile two things, ,eneither of
which'we fully understand.
We must be careful when we speak of the
absolute sovereignty of God, not to confound
it with arbitrary tyranny. God is not ty-
rant. He never displays his power but for his