I believe there are two main reasons why believers in general find it difficult to understand, and consequently are so backward in accepting, the doctrine of election. These are :(i) The entire ruin, enmity, and contrariety of fallen man to God. The other is :(2) The sovereignty of God's grace.

As to the first, not bowing to the solemn truth that man is utterly ruined before God, it is imagined that man now can choose the good and reject the evil, as he pleases; or what is called free will. Thus, if God in His grace, and through the gospel, proclaims salvation, they claim, man in his unconverted condition has the spiritual power, or will, to accept. This supposition changes the whole idea of Christianity, and perverts it. For the question is really this :Is the natural man merely changed, instructed, and sanctified, or do we receive a new nature in order to be saved (John 3:1-8; Gal. 6:15) ?

Now Scripture plainly teaches that man is ruined (Rom. 3:10-19; Eph. 2:1-5). It also teaches that the crucifixion of Christ is the end of all the means God had employed to gain the heart of man; it therefore proved that it was impossible. To enter at length into the proofs of this from Scripture, by following God's gracious ways with fallen man, from Adam to the cross of Christ, would require too much space. We shall therefore give but a brief outline.

God created man innocent. He had neither malice, corruption, nor lust; he had only to enjoy with gratitude the good with which he was surrounded ; but he was bound to obey, for he was a creature, and he had the sense of responsibility to God-a debt of obedience therefore to his Benefactor. But Adam sinned, and separated himself from God in making himself, as far as his will was concerned, independent of God. Morally, it was all up with man when Adam sinned, for his innocence was lost, and he had gotten a sinful nature. It was while in this sinful condition and position that Adam became head of the human race (Rom. 5 :12; Luke 6 :43). God in His grace, however, immediately proclaimed a Deliverer (Gen. 3 :15). Man was banished from paradise, and the world began. God then let man have his own will; there was no repression of it until the flood. What was the consequence ? The earth was filled with violence and corruption (Gen. 6 :5-13).

Still, during this terrible state of the world, God in His grace had His witnesses, showing He acted in love in spite of the fearfully depraved condition of man. There were the Abels, Enochs and Noahs, who were nourished and sustained by faith while walking with God, though evil went on, ever increasing.

After the flood God set up government in the hands of Noah (Gen. 9 :5, 6), in order to keep man in check. Yet, after the flood, not only corruption and violence reappeared-though the latter was kept in check more or less through government, but idolatry arose and reigned-demons taking the place of God in the eyes and imagination of men. (See Josh. 24 :2 ; i Cor. 10:19, 20.)

Again God acts in grace in calling out Abraham from amongst these idolaters, in order to keep His name from being utterly lost to mankind. Abraham is chosen by sovereign grace. Being called, he walks by faith-always the gift of God (Eph. 2:8) _ and the unconditional promise is given him that through his Seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. (Compare Gen. 22 :18 with Gal. 3 :16.) Abraham then becomes the father of a nation, and in course of time God takes this nation and separates it from all the others, and gives it the law, a perfect rule for the natural man. Israel was designed to be a standing testimony against idolatry (Ex. 20 :2, 3; Isa. 43 :12). Notice that God takes one nation as a sample; He places it in the most favorable circumstances, and works with it in the most patient way, in order, if it is possible, to get fruit for Himself from man (Luke 20:9-16)-just as a farmer, to test a boasted seed, takes an acre of the best land, fences it to keep out all harmful things, cultivates it, waters it, does everything possible to get the much desired fruit.

But this highly-favored nation proves to be no better than the rest; in spite of all that God has done, they fall into idolatry. Thus] Satan himself, under disguise, became their object of worship. Israel, who was to be God's witness that He alone is God, completely failed.

But behold the long-suffering patience of God, the Father of mercies; He sends prophet after prophet to recall them back to Himself; and at last He sent "His beloved Son!" God would not judge them without using every means to gain their hearts. "God was manifest in flesh," and "God is love!" His love was displayed in relation with the wants, the weakness, the misery of man. Now certainly, if there is any latent good in man, it will manifest itself in the presence of such grace. Oh, reader, what think you was the final choice of man, when it was left to his free will to choose ? "Away with Him; crucify Him," was the wild outcry (Luke 23:21) with which they answered all the tender tones of love of the Man of Sorrows – the lowly, gracious Jesus, who was cradled in a manger, who went about doing good, and ended His life on the cross!

"Now is the judgment of this world," said the Lord Himself just before going to the cross (Jno. 12:31). The natural man was proved to be under the dominion of Satan, the god (2 Cor. 4:4) and prince (Jno. 14:30; Eph. 2:2) of this world, a slave to sin, under the power of death and judgment (Rom. 3:19). This is the condition and position man has brought himself into by his boasted free will. Man was free in paradise. He used his free choice there, and became a sinner. While in that state, God offered him His Son, but man wanted neither good nor God, but his own sinful will !

It may be claimed that all were not so bad, as there was a remnant who did receive Him who had been promised-the Christ, the Son of the living God. True, some did receive Him, but they were born of God. They were no better in themselves than the rest, for the Scripture emphatically tells us that those who did receive Him were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (Jno. i:10-13). It was "a remnant according to the election of grace " (Rom. it :5, 6). All clearly proving that it is not merely the natural man improved, instructed and sanctified,
but a wholly new nature is needed by man before he can love and obey God (i Pet. i :2).

Reader, the trial of man is ended. If what I have adduced from Scripture is accepted, you will admit that man is both guilty, lost, utterly ruined; yea, more, " dead in trespasses and sins " (Eph. 2:i). Think what this last quotation really means from God's standpoint; this world is a moral graveyard in God's estimation.

Is there no hope then? Yes, God be praised! Not in man, however, but in God-in God's sovereign, electing grace. Why then object to such a glorious doctrine ? If it was not for God's electing grace, where would you and I be for eternity ? In the lake of fire, prepared not for man, but for the "devil and his angels" (Matt. 25 :41)-a terrible thought, nevertheless a true one; for if God had left us to ourselves, we would simply have acted according to our own heart, which "is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked " (Jer. 17:9), and according to our own mind, which "is enmity against God " (Rom. 8 :7). Let us thank and praise God then that, acting in His sovereign grace, He has chosen us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world-this wicked world-made so, because man willed it so, not God; for it was "very good" when He created it (Gen. i:31).

But, someone says, I do not object to the thought that we, believers, are chosen in Christ, but to the statement that it was so ordained before time began. Think a moment; should you speak of time in connection with the omnipresent and omniscient One ? Time is for finite man; with God one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (2 Pet. 3:8). The real difficulty lies, not in the statements of Scripture, but in the will and pride of man, who will not admit that "there is no difference; " that all are alike sinners before God, lying under His just condemnation. Once admit that, and you will also admit that there is nothing in the exercise of God's sovereignty inconsistent with either justice or goodness when God punishes-the wicked for their sins, while He extends undeserved mercy to the objects of His grace. There is no injustice done to one wicked man in the pardon of another. Would you deny to God that which you would allow in a mere man, as the President's or the Governor's right to dispense pardon at his pleasure ?

Now let us endeavor to clear this doctrine from certain charges, claimed to have been taken out of God's Word, but which place God in a light contrary to the glorious revelation He has been pleased to give us of Himself. We can challenge man, and the devil himself, to prove from Scripture that God ever ordained any being, be it man or fallen angel, to be damned. Read the champion defenders of this false doctrine, be it Calvin or any other, and you will see that, from beginning to end, they give mere arguments based on inference, but not one direct text from Scripture.

In Romans, chap. 9, this question is taken up by the apostle. We only take the difficult points in it, as these are the very ones that are brought up to throw disrespect on the doctrine of election. To Abraham and his seed the promises were made. Isaac was born in the direct line of the promise; but with Isaac's offspring, in the natural order, Esau should have been the heir, being the firstborn. ' But Jacob is chosen. Why? "That the purpose of God according to election, might stand," says Scripture; "not of works (for they were not yet born), but of Him that calleth " (ver. 11).

In verse 13 we get our first difficulty, in the expression, "As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Where is this "written?" It is quoted from the last prophet sent to Israel, in Malachi i :1-5, and written a thousand years after the death of Jacob and Esau.* *Please note also that Esau and Edom are the same. This way of using the father's name for his posterity is very common in Scripture ; for example, " Israel" designates God's earthly people, yet it was Jacob's own name, given after his remarkable conflict at Peniel (Gen. 32:24-28).* It was written to show, not only that Israel was absolutely indebted to God's sovereign grace (which is the subject of Rom. chaps. 9-11) for the difference that God had put between Esau and themselves-though both alike offspring of Isaac-but that God's ways with the two branches of Israel's descendants had been in accordance with His purpose. This quotation from Malachi is used by the apostle, not applying it to Esau himself (though we should remember he despised his birthright, selling it for a mess of pottage), but to show God's judgments upon his posterity (Edom), because of their deep hatred of and cruelty to Israel in the day of their calamity. So what is meant in verse 13 is not that Gcd hated Esau before he was born, but hated Edom, who had shown such hatred to God's beloved people Israel.
In further proof of this, let the reader carefully compare the following Scriptures:Gen. 25 :23-34 (note vers. 23 and 30 compared with Rom. 9 :12); Obadiah; Isa. 34:5-8. Thus the issue of God's dealings with Israel and Edom respectively would prove His sovereign, unmerited love for His chosen people. H. P. S.

(Concluded in next number.)