THE SYSTEM OF DOCTRINE FORMULATED 
 BY THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY 
 
 B. T. McClelland 
 

)wanieia L-iora 
 
 The Systeiu of IDoctrine 
 Formulated by the 
 Westminster Assembly. 
 
 A]j ADDRESS 
 
 DELlVEREr,f BEFORE THE SYNOD 
 OF TEXAS, DECEMBER, 1897. 
 
 Rev. B. T. McCLELLAND, D. D. 
 
 RICHMOND, VA.: 
 The Presbyterian Committee of Publication. 
 
Copyright, iSgg, 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES K. HAZEN, Secreta7'y of Publicatwn. 
 
 Printed by 
 
 Whittet & Shepperson, 
 
 Richmond, Va. 
 
THE SYSTEM OF DOCTRINE 
 FORMULATED BY THE WEST- 
 MINSTER ASSEMBLY. 
 
 Fathers axd Bkethrex : 
 
 TO give our thoughts form^ we will state 
 two propositions : First, The Calvinistic 
 system is a necessary logical sequence from 
 premises held hy Calvinist and Arminian alike. 
 Secondly, The hard places in the Calvinistic 
 system are due to narrow and unscriptural 
 ^iews^ while broad and comprehensive views 
 remove those difficulties altogether. 
 
 To get a point of view uninfluenced by cir- 
 cumstances, we must go backward in the order 
 of events to where God was the only existence. 
 Xow, the things on which all agree are that 
 (1) God, thus away in eternity, was a being 
 of infinite, effulgent glory, which if made 
 known to intelligent, sentient beings, would 
 confer abundant bk^ssing,and (2) that he was a 
 being of infinite goodness, wisdom and power. 
 
4 The Doctrines ForniuJated 
 
 Now the fact that he has al)ility tn bless, and 
 goodness (a desire for n /ppiness) will neces- 
 sitate the creation of a sentient and intelli- 
 gent universe, in order that they may be made 
 blesssecl by a knowledge of his glorious attri- 
 butes; and having created them, infinite good- 
 ness necessitates that there be a revelation of 
 his glory, in order to that happiness, and that 
 that revelation be the brightest in order that 
 the happiness may be the greatest. Then, as 
 to method, infinite wisdom sees at once the best 
 plan for securing these ends, and infinite good- 
 ness necessitates that this plan be taken, for 
 it will not permit the adoption of a plan secur- 
 ing less good when a more effective is prac- 
 ticable. This plan, to be most effective, must 
 refer not simply to a general outline, but must 
 include the minutest details; and the execu- 
 tion of this plan must imply not simply a gen- 
 eral providence, but a particular as well. This 
 plan, therefore, is God's eternal counsel, the 
 adoption of it is his eternal decree, and the 
 execution of it is the universal providence by 
 which he works all things after the counsel of 
 his own will. 
 
 Since the motive that lies l)ack of all exist- 
 
By the Westminster Assemhhj. 5 
 
 enee is the revelation of God's glory and the 
 production of happiness, whatever exists is 
 created or permitted because it is necessary 
 to the highest glory of God or the greatest 
 happiness of his universe. If sin exists, it is 
 for this reason, and if redemption is provided 
 or punishment inflicted, it will be for the 
 same reason. If redemptive influences are 
 applied so that any are saved, this is the ex- 
 planation, and if any are passed by, no other 
 reason can be given. Thus the two ends of 
 existence are to glorify God and enjoy him. 
 
 If any are saved, it will be through God's 
 sovereign mercy and their unconditional elec- 
 tion. Sovereign mercy, because having sinned, 
 tlie law demands their punishment, and if 
 they receive mercy instead, it will be because 
 the King, by an act of sovereignty, sets aside 
 the law and lifts the penalty. Unconditional 
 election, because having sinned, none can do 
 anything to atone for the past or bring God 
 under obligation to save. In this all are alike, 
 so that if any are saved, it must be in spite of 
 demerit and without condition. 
 
 Then, while those elected are chosen while 
 in tbeir sins, and since holv inclinations and 
 
6 The Doctrines Formulated 
 
 choices must be developed in them through 
 redemptive influences brought to bear, it i& 
 evident they must be brought up to the point 
 of being willing unwillingly. This is implied 
 in God's statement : "They shall be willing in 
 the day of my power." Cooperation of the 
 sinner in his own regeneration is therefore art 
 impossibility, and the doctrine of effectual 
 calling is made a necessity. 
 
 Then, since election was (1) to salvation„ 
 and since effectual calling only inducted into 
 a. saved condition, it follows logically that re- 
 demptive influences once begun will be con- 
 tinuously applied until the person finally per- 
 severes in holiness. It was the logic of the case 
 which led Paul to be "confident of this very 
 thing, that he that hath begun a good work in 
 you will perform it until the day of Jesus 
 Christ.*' And since election was (2) to holi- 
 ness, it follows that those influences tlius ap- 
 plied will result at the end of life in entire 
 sanctification. 
 
 Thus we have a complete system of logical 
 necessities. To a God of infinite glory and 
 goodness, creation and revelation are neither 
 uncertain nor optional, but are a necessity as 
 
By the Westminster Assembly. 7 
 
 istroiig as his own nature. By a necessity of 
 that same nature the glory revealed will be 
 the highest, and the happiness produced the 
 greatest. The ]^hin formed will be the best, 
 mid in its execution it wdll not be varied from 
 by a hairs breadth. All that is caused or per- 
 mitted under that plan will be for the highest 
 glory of God and the greatest good of his 
 €]eatures. Any who are saved, having sinned, 
 must be saved through sovereign and uncondi- 
 tional election. Any having been elected are 
 regenerated, kept and sanctified by divine sav- 
 ing power. 
 
 We will now consider the hard places in the 
 Oalvinistic system. We will notice four. 
 
 First, Since sin exists, it is for the glory of 
 God. God was no doubt infinitely glorious, 
 alone, away in eternity; but that would be a 
 grim kind of glory, with no evidence of his 
 wisdom and power; no sentient life to enjoy 
 his bounty, no intelligent existences to bask 
 in the sunshine of his love. That, I say, would 
 be a grim kind of glory; but now suppose he 
 created a material universe as we see it circling 
 in space. Tlien tlie heavens declare the glory 
 
8 Tlie Doctrines Formulated 
 
 of God because they reveal his wisdom and 
 power. Suppose he peoples that universe with 
 life, so that to its farthest verge it is instinct 
 with happiness, this will glorify him because 
 it reveals his goodness ; that is, it shows him 
 to be one who desires happiness. Xow, sup- 
 I'jose he creates intelligent existences, able to 
 comprehend his divine perfection, and doing 
 so are filled with wonder, love ajid praise. 
 God is thus glorified, because it is alone to 
 such that a revelation is possible, and when 
 contemplating him they are filled with praise^ 
 it is the tribute which intelligence pays to 
 worth, and l)y it he is glorified. ''He that 
 offers praise glorifies his Maker.'' 
 
 Xow, it is evident that this appreciation 
 will be increased and this glory heightened 
 Just in the degree that he reveals his glorious 
 attributes. Does sin furnish the condition of 
 this revelation? It most certainly does. Sup- 
 pose one of those lofty inteUigences, able to 
 look up and understand God, able to distin- 
 guish and free to choose between right and 
 wrong, actually sins; and suppose God visits 
 a penalty swift and dire, just equal to the sin. 
 That is justice, and justice is a glorious attri- 
 
Bif the ]Vcst minster Assembly. 9 
 
 l)iite of God's character; but without sin it 
 could not have been manifested, because justice 
 is the infliction of penalty in case of wrong- 
 doing. Again, suppose instead of visiting the 
 penalty at once, God postpones its infliction, 
 and bears with the sinner for his good. That 
 is forbearance, and forbearance is a glorious 
 attribute of God's character; but forbearance 
 is forbearance with sin, and without sin it 
 never could have been manifested. Again, 
 suppose that while he bears ^ith the sinner he 
 receives at his hand taunt and reproach and 
 abuse, and still bears with him. This is long- 
 sutfering ; but without sin we never could have 
 known that God had longsuffering as an ele- 
 ment in his character. Again, suppose instead 
 of inflicting the penalty at all, he were to lift 
 it altogether. That is forgiveness; but for- 
 giveness is forgiveness of sin, and therefore 
 without sin it never could have been known 
 that God is a forgiving God. Just once more, 
 suppose, in order to make it possible to forgive, 
 he was willing to endure the penalty himself, 
 to suffer and bleed and die. In this is revealed 
 the infinite depths of redeeming love, and in 
 this consists his o^reatest orjorv. The hi<rhest 
 
10 The Doctrines Fcnnulaied 
 
 note of praise tonched by angel ami redeemed 
 saint around the throne is when they cry, 
 "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive 
 power and riches and wisdom and strength 
 and honor and glory and blessing.'^ There is 
 no theme so glorious as that of redeeming love. 
 But redemption is redemption from sin, and 
 without sin there could have been no redemp- 
 tion and no revelation of God's redeeming 
 love. Did God, in devising to manifest his 
 greatest glory, plan to permit sin, then he took 
 the very course which made its revelation pos- 
 sible, and through redemption he actually se- 
 cured it. 
 
 Secondly^ Since sin exists, it is necessary to 
 the highest happiness of the universe. The 
 happiness of an intelligent creature is secured 
 in the contemplation of the beautiful, and the 
 amount of happiness depends on the degree of 
 beauty. Man sees in the landscape the sunset 
 and the starry heavens, in flowers, and poetry, 
 and music, and painting, and sculpture, beau- 
 ties to which his mind responds pleasurably; 
 but now let him rise to contemplate God as 
 seen in creation, and his happiness will be as 
 much increased as the glorv of the Creator 
 
Bii the Wcstfninster Assenibli/. 11 
 
 excels the beauty of tlie things made. But 
 we have seen that the glory of God revealed 
 in redemption immeasurably exceeds that of 
 the natural attributes seen in creation. So 
 that the happiness of a redeemed saint is 
 immeasurably greater than that of one who 
 knows nothing of God as seen in connection 
 with sin and redemption. Plainly, then, if 
 the entire human race were redeemed, the ag- 
 gregate happiness of the race would be in- 
 creased ; but the same will be true if there is 
 practically universal salvation; and this we 
 understand the Bible to teach. One-half of 
 the human race die in infancy; and to these 
 Christ becomes the second Adam, undoing the 
 work of the first. So that, while through its 
 connection with the first Adam the child in- 
 herits guilt and a sinful nature without any 
 action of its own, through its connection with 
 the second Adam it is regenerated, and its 
 guilt atoned for without the exercise of per- 
 sonal faith. So that the child, dying in in- 
 fancy, is saved to a certainty. One-half of the 
 human race, therefore, are saved as infants ; so 
 that if any adults at all are saved, there will be 
 a majority; but, as we look ])ackward, from 
 
12 The Doctrines Formulated 
 
 righteous Abel on, "\ve see already an innumer- 
 able company have been saved ; and the human 
 race has only begun, and the millennium hur- 
 ries on apace, when all men will know the 
 Lord, when the curse of unproductiveness will 
 be lifted from the earth, and it will teem with 
 redeemed billions; and this will last so long 
 as to l)ecome the normal condition of the 
 world. Scientists tell us that the supply of the 
 vital forces of light, heat, air and moisture is 
 sufficient to sustain human life on the earth for 
 ten million years longer. This supply is pre- 
 sumptively to be used ; so that when the grand 
 sum total is made, the number of the saved as 
 compared with the lost will be as everything 
 to nothing; so that practically there will be 
 universal salvation. 
 
 To illustrate what I mean by practically 
 uniATrsal salvation ; suppose a farmer has a 
 thousand acres in cotton. He has made a 
 splendid crop. He has saved a thousand bales ; 
 but as he looks at it with satisfaction, a renter 
 comes and says, "At the back side of your field 
 a part of a row was missed, and if you'll send 
 and gather it, you'll have twenty-five pounds 
 more." AVhat does the farmer do? Does he 
 
By the Westminster Assembly. 13 
 
 rush off liis hands, and say, ''I must have the 
 hist lock y" He does no such thing. He looks 
 at his thousand l)ales piled up, and says, "What 
 is twenty-five pounds? Let it go. I'm satis- 
 fied."' Exactly so salvation is to he, so a suc- 
 cess numerically that Christ is to see of the 
 travail of his soul and he satisfied. The farmer 
 saved his crop, practically all of it ; so the sal- 
 vation of the race is to be practically universal. 
 Another illustration. Suppose we have here 
 a great l^lackhoard, and we write on it a num- 
 ber composed of twelve periods of three figures 
 each. The last period will be decillions, the 
 highest number used in ordinary computa- 
 tions. Xow suppose we fill each of those places 
 with a nine (9) ; you will then have the larg- 
 est number that can be expressed in ordinary 
 figures. Let this number represent the entire 
 population of the earth for all time. The 
 present population of the earth is counted at 
 one billion four hundred million. The total 
 population of the earth up to the close of the 
 incoming century, when many think the mil- 
 lennium will be ushered in, will somewhat ex- 
 ceed one hundred billion. Suppose of this 
 number the great majority are lost; suppose 
 
14 The Doctrines Formulated 
 
 that number actually will amount to one hun- 
 dred billion, so that this must be deducted 
 from the great number of thirty-six places. 
 In doing so, have you disturbed the great num- 
 ber ? Only in one figure, and that by one unit. 
 It remains practically just as it was before; 
 I)ut will this great number represent the saved ? 
 We answer, Xo, because that is a multitude 
 that no man can number. That multitude is 
 so great that in your attempt to express it 
 YOU must extend your line of figures until the 
 mind becomes bewildered. It is beyond hu- 
 man computation. Xow, as to the amount of 
 happiness that these enjoy, each of these has 
 redeemed existence. He looks directly into 
 God's face and beholds his ineffable glory, and 
 knows that the electing Ioyc of God was fixed 
 on him personally, and this is the highest hap- 
 piness of which a creature is capable. It is 
 incomparably greater than was possible to one 
 who knew nothing of God as seen in connec- 
 tion with sin and' redemption ; and when the 
 number of the saved is practically universal, 
 the aggregate happiness of the universe is im- 
 measurably increased; so that, again, when 
 arranging to produce the greatest happiness 
 
Hij the Westniinster Assanbly. 15 
 
 in his universe, God planned the existence of 
 sin, he did so wisely, because the existence of 
 sin is a sine qua noii to the attainment of it. 
 
 Thirdly, As to election. You state the doc- 
 trine of election to an Arminian ; that God, of 
 his own sovereign mercy, unconditionally 
 elects some to everlasting life; that these he 
 effectually calls, regenerates and saves, while 
 he passes others by and leaves them to go down 
 to death, and he at once pictures to himself 
 an unreason ahle God, picking out one here, 
 one there, and another yonder, while he leaves 
 the great masses of men to go down to eternal 
 death, when he might just as well have saved 
 the rest ; and he says that is a hard doctrine ; 
 and it would be if it were true; but, bless his 
 name, God's electing love took in practically 
 the entire human race, leaving just enough to 
 illustrate his justice; and this was necessary, 
 for if the full-orbed glory of God is to be seen 
 eternally, there must be a manifestation of his 
 justice, for justice is a glorious attribute. 
 Thus, instead of election being a hard doctrine, 
 it is the most glorious one of all. A race is 
 dead in sin, helpless, hating God, unwilling to 
 be saved, resisting saving influences, lost, lost 
 
16 TJic Doctrines FormuJaied 
 
 now, outraged law demanding their punish- 
 ment. For this lost race the sovereign God 
 sets aside the law, quickens to life, creates in 
 them love and faith, makes them willing, saves 
 them from themselves and in spite of them- 
 selves, and lifts them into a condition of re- 
 deemed existence eternally. Hard ! Surely 
 this is the most glorious doctrine of all. 
 
 FouRTJiLY, .48 to eternal punishment. Rea- 
 son cannot demand that a universe controlled 
 by an all-wise, loving and powerful being must 
 contain no evil, for the universe, as it is now, 
 is controlled by such a being, and still it has 
 evil in it. What reason must demand is that 
 e\\\ shall be reduced to a minimum, only so 
 much being permitted as is necessary to secure 
 the maximum of happiness. This our position 
 of practical universalism asserts. 
 
 But would not a greater amount of happi- 
 ness be secured by absolutely universal sal- 
 vation? I answer probably not. (1), God in 
 this life uses the sight of sin to deter from 
 sin. This creates the presumption that possi- 
 bly in the future life a part of the motive by 
 which God will keep free beings in ways of 
 holiness and so happiness, will be the sight of 
 
Bjj the Westminster Assemtjtij. 17 
 
 €vil. (2), The worth, and so the joy, of re- 
 demption will be derived in part from a know- 
 ledge of the awful depths from which one has 
 been lifted. This cannot be known so clearly 
 as to be seen. (3), The supreme happiness of 
 a redeemed saint will consist in viewing the 
 full-orbed glory of God; but without a mani- 
 festation of his justice his full glory will be 
 obscured, and so the happiness of the redeemed 
 limited. 
 
 Three remarks in conclusion — 
 
 First. Calvinism is a system of comfort. 
 The Christian feels within himself holy im- 
 ])ulses and inclinations rising and triumphing 
 which are evidently not natural, but gracious ; 
 and he has a right to infer in all humility, but 
 confidently, "I'm a chosen one, and he that 
 h'ath l)egun a good work in me will perform it 
 until the day of Jesus Christ." Believing this, 
 he thanks God and takes comfort. 
 
 SecoiuJti/. In Eevelation xix. G the re- 
 deemed hosts look Ijackward from the end of 
 time and view God's plan, then wrought out 
 in all its glorious completeness, and seeing the 
 marvellous wisdom of it, break out in the glad 
 acclaim, ^"Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipo- 
 
18 The Westminster Assembly's Doctrines. 
 
 tent reigneth." The Arminian is compelled 
 by his uncertain S3'steni' to so wait in suspense ; 
 but the Calvinist knows with perfect certainty 
 that God's plan is now just as complete and 
 those glorious ends just as certain a.s they will 
 be in the last day; and it is a system of com- 
 fort. 
 
 Thirdly. Let us watch for the providence 
 of God. The two ends for which the plan was 
 formed are God's highest glory and the crea- 
 ture's greatest happiness. To secure these 
 ends the plan was arranged in all its minutest 
 details. In the working out of this plan, there- 
 fore, that which comes to the child of God is 
 brought because it is for his good and for God's 
 glory ; and, though it may not be for the pres- 
 ent joyous, but grievous, yet he rejoices in it 
 because he knows that all things work together 
 for his good. Let us watch for the providence 
 of God, and so we who hold the Calvinistic 
 system get the full comfort of it; for it is a 
 svstem of comfort. 
 
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