Los Angeles herald., 1892-03-21

! and immutable purpose, and the secret
counsel and good pleasure of His will,
| hath predestinated an innumerable
multitude of mankind unto life, and
hath particularly and unchangeably
chosen them in Christ unto everlasting
glory, out of His mere free grace and
! love, not on account of any foresight OF
faith, or good works, or perseverance in
either of them, or any other thing in the
creature, as conditions CIR causes NOV
ing Him thereunto; and ALT the praise
of His glorious grace.
This substitute strikes out the words
''some men and angels" and inserts IAN
innumerable multitude" and eliminates
entirely all that part OF the old section
men thus predestinated and foreordained
are particularly and unchangeably de-
signed, and their number is so certain
that it cannot either be increased or
diminished" AS the doctrine contained
in these words thus eliminated is log
ical and necessary corollary of the prem
ises assumed, their elimination does not
in the least change or modify the mean
ing of the old section.
We now submit for comparison sec.
tion of our present confession and Sec
ton offered as q substitute:
PRESENT CONFESSION.
Sec. 5.-"The rest of mankind God
was pleased, according to the inscrutable
counsel of His own will. whereby He ex-
| tendeth or withholdeth mercy as He
pleaseth, for the glory of His sovereign
power over His creatures, to pass by and
| to ordain them to dishonor and wrath
for their sin, to the praise of His
glorious Justice"
COMMITTEES sU BsTITUTE.
Sec. 5.-"The rest of mankind God
saw fit, according to the unsearchable
counsel of His will, whereby He extend
eth or withholdeth mercy as He pleas
eth, not to elect unto everlasting life;
and them hath he ordained to dis
honor and wrath for their elm, to the
praise of His glorious justice; yet hath
| He no pleasure in the death of the
wicked, nor is it His decree, but the
wickedness OF their own hearts, which
restraineth and hindereth them from ac-
cepting the free offer of His grace made
in the gospel"
1t will be seen that in our present
confession that God ''for the glory Of
! his sovereign power oven his creatures"
simply chose ITO pass by" the non-elect
while in the substitute he was pleased
mot to elect unto eternal life." This
/ is distinction without difference.
"To pass by is virtually mot to elect"
and it is question of verbal hair-split
ting to divorce these expressions from
their perfect unity OF meaning. Be-
sides, both of these expressions are fol-
lowed Immediately, in the present sec
tion and in the substitute, with the
words, land hath ordained to dishonor
and wrath for their sin. to the praise of
his glorious Justice"
1t will be noticed that the following
words in our present confession have
been stricken out, viz: "Neither are
any other redeemed by Christ, effect
ually called, justified, adopted, sancti-
fed and saved, but the elect alone"
Was this meant to be concession, or
was it left out because of its Angle
Saxon terseness and it's sententious lu-
cidity?
1t ia certainly the luminous climax of
the theory OF reprobation or preterition.
But has this spirit of evil been so
thoroughly incinerated that it will not
again spring from it's urn and assume
its robe OF flesh under the spell OF some
enchanter's wand?
Do we not feel already the pulse beat
and hear the heart-throb of this princi-
pie in section 3, chapter 4, on Good g
covenant with man," of the committee Is
report, when God promises ito give
unto all those who are ordained unto
life His Holy Spirit to make them will
ing and able to believe"
Now as Gods Holy Spirit is alone
able to make US ''willing and able to be-
lieve" and as His Spirit, by this section
is only promised to those who are or.
dained unto life," then those whom
God chose mot to elect" never have the
warnings and con ISOLATION of the Holy
Spirit, and hence they are ''ordained to
dishonor and wrath for their Elm" with
out an opportunity to repent. Let us
be candid in the discussion of this ques.
tion. All men cannot see alike. Let us
not make an insincere compromise be-
cause we fear that further discussion
will shake the foundations of our be.
loved church. The church is reaching
and she is willing to camp in the wilder.
ness many years, if 1t only bring her ia
the Canaan OF perfect truth as it is in
Gods word.
Vital principles in church or state are
never permanently settled by compro-
mise. History is full of such failures.
The gulf between the opposing parties
is too deep to be bridged by verbal
sophietries, and truce made on the
basis of the committees report would
simply hand the question down to our
children for permanent adjudication.
We may modify the apparent harshness
OF these sections with language of Tus-
can softness, yet the germ of reproba-
tion still remains. Many serpent has
done its deadliest work after the loss OF
its tail. Let us strike for the head and
heart, if we are to do effective work.
There grows in many places in Cali
fornia grass which the Spanish call
''sacarte diablo," which in our language
is called devil grass. 1t produces but
little pasturage and no hay. 1t is near
ly all root and is the terror of the
farmer. Cutting off the top even with
the ground only seems to give it renewed
vitality. The inexperienced farmer
shaves it off level with the ground in
| the aftprnOon and 6raomu of piobt of