The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-10-28
r. w. CANNON.

CANNON
|, Observation-Disclosures.
7 The following question by an In
quirer and the answer thereto by the
! Nashville Advocate appears in that
paper of recent date.
Question:
If God foreknows the destiny of 8
creature. must he or must he not have
fore-ordained 1t to be what 1t is?
The Answer: ~
; OF course not. I know many
things that will happen tomorrow,
+ my knowledge of them has no in
fiuece in bringing them to pass. God
: foreknows all those that of their own
, free-will will accept Of the salvation
J provided for them in the stopensents s0f
Jesus 4t Christ. ard III Tue ccndifitA ri Al Of.
this foreknowledge he: ore-ordat3S
them to eternal lifes In the ordsFs6E
thought, their faith in Christ easdse
first, the foreknowledge Of this fafth.
next, and the fore-ordination last.
OF course the knowledge of things:
that will happen tomorrow [assum-
ing that knoa0ledge can 60 before the
things come to passl has no influence
in bringing them to pass. But how
certain foreknowledge Of things that
may "happen" in the future is too
hard to be understood. If 1t is GER
tainly known to-day what will take
place tomorrow there Is no "happenn
about it, for the things foreknown
must certainly be unalterably fixed,
even as straight upright post Is ne
cessary to make q straight shadow on
the ground. :.
There can be no contingency Of an
event which Is certainly foreknown :.
such event must be fixed -ordaned.
If an event be contingent the fore
knowledge of that event must of me-
cessity te correspondingly contingent.
A crooked post cannot make astraight
shadow.
If God foreknew or foreknows all
that will be saved he foreknows all
that will be lost, and if, as the Nash
vile editor has it, he fore-ordained the
former ito eternal life" he must fore
know and fore. .ordain the latter to eter
nal death. If this rs not fere-Ofdfna
ton or "predestinatien" what isit? :.
But the Nashville editor holds that
foreknowledge has nothing to do-ssno
influence''-in bringing to. pass the
things or "the destiny ofa creature''
thus foreknown. AS already stated
this is true, but it remains also true
that certainty of foreknowledge can
consist only with certainty of event.
That event-''the destiny of crea-
ture'-must be fred, ordained Or pre-
destined By some competent power /
said event be certainly foreknown.
Whence that power? There was a
time in the eternity past when there
was no creature. God in aud of him.
self was alone. Hence the knowl-
edge and the power by which "the
destiny of q creature" is or was or
dained must have come from God
The intervening of the creatures
moral agency and the contingency
events in no wise affect the fore-ordi-
nation or predestination of ''crea-
lures" destiny, if such destiny is fore
known.
What Is it 10 know? 10 know Is a
mental cognition of a person, place or
thing. In this sense with the prefix
fore-foreknow-we understand the
editor of the Nashville Advocate to-
Use the term, that is to say, God, at
the beginning, had q mental cogni-
tion of the destiny of his human crea-
lures.
There is another meaning which the
term Anow bears in many places of the
Scriptures-to favor or approve. "God
knoweth (approveth) the way of the
"It never knew (ap-
proved) YOU" In this sense we un-
derstaud the foreknowledge of God,
that is, he fore-approved, fore-or-
dained, "that whosoever believeth in
him (the SOM should not perish, bu
have everlasting life." Or, "Whoso-
ever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved" 1t Is thus that
we understand the foreknowledge of
God. And thus God is not made the
author of sin, To say that he ''fore-
knows" las the Nashville editor uses
;he term) who and how many will be
saved and who and how many will be
os t is 10 affilm what we believe the
Scriptures do not teach.
Mr.. Henry r. Oliver, Columbia, died Oct. 10,