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THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE.

SERMONS

PREACHED NOVEMBER 18, 1860,

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SEVENTH AND SPRING GARDEN STS.

J. F. BERG, D.D.

PUBLISHED BY KEQUEST OS IHE CONSISTORY OF THE FIKST KEF. DUTCH CHURCH

PHILADELPHIA;
WM. S. YOUNG, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER, 52 NORTH SIXTH ST.
1860.

THE

DOCTRINES OF GRACE.

"What shall we then say to these things?" — Rom. viii. 31.
The eighth chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans
is a summary of Christian doctrine, whilst at the same
time it is eminently practical, because it is a living por
traiture of Christian experience.
The apostle begins by proclaiming the complete sal
vation of the believer. He is in Christ. Therefore
there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ
Jesus. This is not their natural estate. Originally
they are under the law of sin and death; but this has
been superseded by a higher law — the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus.
The term law in this passage is used, not in its
ordinary acceptation; it denotes not the moral law, but
simply a principle in the divine government. The
law of sin and death is the principle by which death
is the effect of sin. It is called a law, to denote
the certainty of its results. Sin must produce death.
The sinner, under the operation of the reigning princi
ple of sin, cannot escape perdition. From first to last,
God's government is an administration of law, inflexi
ble and undeviating. Creation in all its boundless di
versity is an illustration of this truth. All the glory
of the firmament proves it. Sun, moon, planets, stars,
systems, all are controlled by law. And such is the

accuracy of the administration of physical laws, that
from the first hour of creation, when the morning stars
sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy,
not one of them has diverged a single digit from its ap
pointed orbit. And yet these physical laws are only
temporary — for "heaven and earth shall pass away."
Moral laws, — moral principles are eternal; "not one
jot or tittle of the law shall fail." This principle, there
fore, shall never be abrogated. So long as the cause
exists, the effect must follow. But there is a higher
law, that of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. This
makes us free from the law of sin and death. It plants
the believer in Christ. Faith makes him a partaker of
the life of Christ. Christ is the believer's life. He
says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." "I am
the resurrection and the life." "When soul and body
are brought under the dominion of " the law of the Spi
rit of life in Christ Jesus," by parity of reasoning,, the
salvation of the believer is secured. The salvation of
the believer is no longer a question. He is saved with
a present and an everlasting salvation. He is in Christ.
Then, he can no more be condemned than Christ can
be. Therefore, Paul says, " there is now no condemna
tion to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit." "We are asked,
how is this? Are we to understand, that if a man is
in Christ, he may live the life of a sinner, plunge into
all manner of profligacy, and in his defilement be saved?
By no means ! The man is under the power of the law
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and how can such
a man love sin? He is in Christ; but if any man be
in Christ, he is a "new creature! " He hates sin; how
then shall he choose a life of sin? Under the operation
of this law, he is kept from sin ; kept by the power of
God, through faith unto salvation. Therefore Christ

says, " He that believeth hath everlasting life, and shall
not come into condemnation, but is passed from death
unto life." Therefore, again, the Good Shepherd de
clares, " I know my sheep, I give unto them eternal life ;
and they shall never perish. My Father which gave
them me is greater than all, and none is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand." Now the apostle am
plifies these two points. He shows that, in both cases,
the result is equally certain. To be in the flesh is the
phrase which he uses to denote a carnal and unrenewed
state. This stands in opposition to being in the spirit.
" To be carnally minded is death ; but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is
enmity against God : for it is not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in
the flesh cannot please God." And now he meets the
most important question that can occupy the attention
or fill the heart of a being that has a soul to save, — a
question, compared with which all other inquiries are
shrivelled and dwarfed into the merest trifles: "how
may I know that I am in the Spirit and not in the
flesh?" "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit,
if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if
any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of
his." But, then, how may I know that the Spirit of
God dwells in me? Because wherever he dwells, he
abides as the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father! "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirits, that we are the children of God." That filial
confidence which enables you to approach God as your
Father, is itself the Spirit's testimony to your adoption.
You know, therefore, that you are a child of God, by
this, that in every time of sorrow, apprehension and
perplexity, you cast your burden on the Lord, and com
mit in humble faith all your interests to his sovereign

guardianship and control. That peace which flows
from faith in him, as your covenant God, is the still
small voice of the Comforter, assuring you of your hea
venly Father's love, and bidding you abide under the
shadow of the Almighty.
Adoption into the family of God is therefore the first
gracious privilege which pertains to them who are in
the Spirit. They have the seal of this privilege in the
witness of the Holy Ghost. " Beloved, now are we the
sons of God." This adoption secures a cluster of bless
ings. Our Father in heaven is a great King. " In my
Father's house are many mansions." He is the sove
reign of heaven and earth; and as the reward of Christ's
mediatorial work, the Father has committed all power
into his hands; so that Christ Jesus reigns as Medi
ator. As God manifest in the flesh, in his glorified in
carnation, Jesus Christ is King. In heaven he is King!
All the angels of God worship him. All the saints of
the Most High in glory praise him. On earth, Christ
is King. By him kings reign and princes decree jus
tice. By him the Church of God is governed and de
fended. Christ Jesus is King in Zion. By faith we
are in Christ. Therefore, we share in all the fruit of
his triumph. We are the sons of God, his children by
adoption. Christ is God's own Son, he is Heir of all
things; but our elder brother shares the inheritance
with us. " If children, then heirs, heirs of God, joint
heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with him,
that we may be also glorified together." Children of
God, never shun the cross ! Shrink not from pain or
reproach for Christ's sake. Oh ! it is an honor to suf
fer for the Saviour. The scorn of the world poured
upon you for his sake, will bring great reward in hea
ven. The apostle shows that these trials of faith are
overruled to this end. "In the world ye shall have tri-

bulation!" Christ says so: "It must needs be that
offences come !" Let these sorrows be what they may,
"All things shall work together for good to them who
love God; who are the called according to his purpose."
With these words, the apostle passes to the discussion
of another of the subjects, to which the inquiry per
tains, " What shall we then say to these things?" He
speaks of the purpose of God in relation to the calling
of his people, or of those who love God, for they are
his people, the world over. God's purpose! Need we
wonder that in all things relating to the salvation of
those who are in Christ Jesus, God has carried out his
own counsel ? In this mighty work of redemption, in
volving the sacrifice of his only begotten Son, think
you, that he has left anything to chance ? When in the
yearning of divine compassion over the perishing, he
sent his own Son, and gave him to be a propitiation for
our sins, can it be supposed, that he left the details of
his plan out of view? This would not comport with
the ordinary foresight of finite wisdom in any enterprise
involving toil and expense, and surely it is not to be
imagined that infinite wisdom, omniscience and al
mighty power would be less provident, when such a
sacrifice as the giving of Jesus Christ to be the Lamb
of God, was contemplated in the divine counsel. The
mere idea of such improvidence is derogatory to the di
vine character. It is not to be tolerated for a moment.
Therefore, the Scripture is in harmony with the first
dictates of sound reason in representing this work as
fulfilled in all things according to the divine counsel.
So St. Paul declares in terms so clear and strong that
they cannot be misinterpreted : " In whom, also," i. e.,
in Christ, " we have obtained an inheritance, being pre
destinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will." (Eph. i.

8
Now, it is a noteworthy fact, that all so-called evan
gelical Christians agree that salvation is due solely to
the grace of God. What is grace ? It is undeserved
favor. The word is used in the Seriptures in opposi
tion to all idea of merit, based on work or worthiness
of any kind or degree. We are saved by grace. We
have no claim on divine justice ; we cannot demand
eternal life as the reward of our own work or faith
fulness. "By grace are ye saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." All ad
mit that by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be jus
tified. These are plain truths, conceded without argu
ment, as axioms of divine revelation. None but infidels
demand proof for them. It is admitted, then, by all
Christians, that all men, in their natural estate, are
under condemnation, and that if God were to deal with
our race solely on the principles of strict justice, we
must live and die without hope. If God then has de
termined to deliver a portion of this fallen race from the
ruin entailed by sin, wherein is he unjust? "Will you
admit that all are under condemnation, and that justly,
and will you yet complain that God is unjust, because
he chooses to save those whom the Holy Spirit regene
rates, and who, by faith, are made new creatures in
Christ Jesus?
Now, this is the Father's purpose. In the covenant
of redemption, the Father gave to Jesus Christ a peo
ple — gave them to Christ from the foundation of the
world, gave them before they had done either good or
evil, according to the good pleasure of his own sovereign
choice; and gave them thus, expressly, that this choice
might rest upon the grace of God, and not on the fore
seen good works of the chosen. So St. Paul says : " Not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but ac
cording to his mercy he saved us., by the washing

9
of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Tit.
iii. 5. So Christ Jesus says: "No man can come unto
me, except the Father draw him. All that the Father
hath given me, shall come unto me, and him that
cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." In that
prayer, recorded in the 17th chapter of John, which no
Christian can read without a feeling of awe, our Saviour
repeats this truth with an emphasis which may well
make them pause who reject it. " These words spake
Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Fa
ther, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son
also may glorify thee : as thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him." "I have manifested thy name
unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world :
thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they
have kept thy word." "I pray for them: I pray not
for the world, but for them which thou hast given me ;
for they are thine." "And now I am no more in the
world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee.
Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom
thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are."
"Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given
me, be with me where I am ; that they may behold my
glory, which thou hast given me : for thou lovedst me
before the foundation of the world." Here, in most
emphatic iteration, we have this great truth repeated.
Who will reject it? Who will venture to go to that
Saviour in his agony, and deny the truth of those words
which declare the Father's choice of a people, given to
the Redeemer as the purchase of his work, and the
fruits of his soul's travail? But some will say, We ad
mit this truth. Far be it from us to deny that the Fa
ther has given a people to Christ, and given them to
Him from the foundation of the world; but this choice

10
is based upon the foreseen good works, or the foreseen
acceptance, on the part of his people, of the offers of
divine mercy in the gospel ! No, sirs ; never ! To as
sert this, is to contradict the plainest testimony of the
word of God ; for what saith the Scripture ? " It is not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of
God that showeth mercy." You must blot that Scrip
ture out, before you can make God's choice depend upon
your choice ! You must first contradict the Saviour's
words, and prove your contradiction to be just; for he
says : " Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,
and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth
fruit, and that your fruit should remain." The ques
tion is simply, Who shall be sovereign — the sinner or
the Lord Jehovah ? — the rebel man, or the glorious Re
deemer ? Has God, in his eternal counsel, bowed to the
so-called free will of condemned transgressors, and made
all his plans and purposes subservient to their sovereign
choice? Oh! the madness of human pride has never,
in its folly, imagined a more horrible blasphemy than to
make the sinner the sovereign, and the eternal God the
subject. I say it boldly, Tom Paine never uttered a
fouler blasphemy ! It is blasphemy, wilfully and scorn
fully to reject the sovereignty of the eternal Father,
and the sovereignty of the eternal Son, and the sove
reignty of the eternal Spirit, in the planning, the per
forming, and the sealing of the work of redemption !
Let men cavil as they will, God is sovereign. Christ is
sovereign. The Holy Ghost is sovereign. If the en
mity of the carnal mind is subdued, it must be by the
power of the Holy Ghost, and not by the sinner's own
almighty free will. " Thy people shall be willing in
the day oitny power!" is God's own testimony.
The power of the Holy Spirit is manifest in making
those willing, who before were unwilling; in thus sub-

11
duing the rebellious will, and bringing every imagina
tion into captivity to the obedience of the gospel of
Christ. Therefore, from the beginning to the end, sal
vation is due to the grace of God. Christ is the author
of faith, and its finisher. In every step of that work,
grace is triumphant, and all the glory is due to the so
vereign mercy of God in Christ. The believer takes
none of it to himself; neither on earth, nor in heaven,
do the children of God claim that they are saved through
any meritorious or self-originated act of their own.
"Not unto us, 0 Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name
give glory, for thy mercy and thy truth's sake." This
is the apostle's scope in the chapter before us. It is in
view of these truths, that he asks, What, then, shall
we say to these things ? "And we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. For whom
he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be con
formed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he
did predestinate, them he also called : and whom he
called, them he also justified: and whom he justified,
them he also glorified." " What shall we then say to
these things?"
With humble gratitude to God, every Christian will
unite in the apostle's answer: "If God be for us, who
can be against us ?" Oh! that all men would thus take
the salvation offered in the gospel to every believer, and
see that salvation already perfected in the Redeemer.
They would then triumph in the holy joy, the glorious
confidence, and the precious peace which flows from
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Would to God that all
men would be obedient to the faith ! But they are not.
What do they say to these things? They blaspheme
the doctrine of the grace of God. They call this very

12
truth a doctrine of devils ; they denounce it as horrible.
They execrate it with words of bitter loathing and con
tempt. Ay, so they have ever done. When the Sa
viour preached it, the Pharisees said : " Thou art a Sa
maritan, and hast a devil." They rail against it as a
doctrine of licentiousness. They say, we who preach
it, teach, that if men are only of the elect, they may live
in all manner of sin, and yet be certain of salvation.
Oh! most absurd and preposterous slander! "What
shall we then say to these things ?" With St. Paul, we
answer : " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he
hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holt and without blame before
him in love : having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children, by Jesus Christ, to himself, according to
the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory
of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the Be
loved." And again : " Elect according to the foreknow
ledge of God, through sanctification of the Spirit, and be
lief of the truth." And again : "Ye are a chosen gene
ration, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar
people, that ye should show forth the praises of Him that
hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light."
None are God's elect, therefore, but those who are holy.
. So we believe, and so we preach, and they who charge
upon this doctrine, licentiousness, are verily guilty of
blasphemy against God and his truth.
"What shall we then say to these things?" God
forbid, that we should say, as some have said in former
days, and as some say now, that this doctrine implies,
that if those who are not chosen to salvation in Jesus
Christ, should seek salvation, and with strong crying
and tears, should even beseech the Lord to have mercy

13
upon them, they could not gain a hearing. This ob
jection is of all cavils the most absurd, because it stul
tifies itself; for those who are not chosen in Christ, have
no such experience, and it is impossible that they should
have it. Christ Jesus says : " No man can come unto me,
except the Father draw him." "All that the Father hath
given me, shall come unto me, and him that cometh
unto me, I will in no wise cast out." How does the
Father draw sinners to Christ? By convincing men of
sin, through the power of the Holy Ghost — by making
them desire deliverance from this misery; by leading
them, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to trust in
Jesus. This is God's appointed way, and in this way
only, souls are brought to Jesus. "Whosoever will, let
him come;" but "it is God that worketh in us both to
will and to do of his good pleasure." The fact, there
fore, that a man is sincerely willing to accept of Christ,
is proof of that man's election to eternal life; and how
say some, then, that if a man is not of the number of
the elect, he cannot be saved, let him strive and plead
as he will? Surely, men of sound mind cannot ad
vance this objection in serious earnestness.
But then another will say, This limits the grace and
promises of the gospel. Very well, I admit it; but then
the dispute is no longer with us, but with the gospel
itself. Can you find a single promise or invitation of
the gospel that is not limited? There are those who
say they can. Then let us hear one ! " Ho ! every one
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters!" What! is no
limitation there? Is it written, "Ho! every one, come
ye to the waters?" I read, "Ho! every one that
thirsteth !" If you are thirsty, come and welcome to
this free salvation. Christ Jesus tells you : "I am come
to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Is no limitation there? Does he call all men? He

14
says he does not. "Not the righteous; sinners, Jesus
came to call !" But if Christ came to call sinners, all
men are sinners, and so Christ came to call all men !
Yes ; only Some men deem themselves righteous, and
Christ says he is come to call not them. " The whole
need not a physician, but they that are sick." See,
now, if all the invitations of the Saviour are not thus
limited. " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Does he invite
all men, or those only who are weary? Does he pro
mise rest to all, or to those only who come to him ? In
the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
said : " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and
drink. The Spirit and the Bride say, Come ; and let
him that heareth (obeyeth,) say, Come ! and let him
that is athirst, come! and whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely." There is a limitation in all
these promises of grace to them that are athirst, and to
them that are willing. Depend upon it, Christ Jesus does
not cast his pearls before swine, that they may trample
them under their feet ! He does not offer pardon to
impenitent men. He does not bid the unbeliever
welcome to heaven ; but he sends his gospel abroad in
all the world, and bids all who thirst, welcome to the
river of the water of life. He sends his word to all men
to show them all their need of this salvation ; but its
promises are made only to them who, by his grace, are
made sensible of their need, and who thus are made obe
dient to the faith.
The perdition of them who perish under the gospel,
is due to their voluntary rejection of that salvation,
which, in the exercise of their own choice, they -have
refused. They who make their boast of "free will,"
are of all men the last, who have any right to complain
of this. Christ Jesus declares that the ruin of the sin-

15
ner is entailed by his own rejection of divine mercy.
"Ye will not come unto me, that ye may have eternal
life." The sinner has said: "Depart from us, depart
from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways;"
and if God takes the transgressor at his word, and leaves
him to walk in his own counsels — if He withdraws the
mercy which the sinner has despised, and so hardens
that sinner's heart, even as he hardened Pharaoh's, the
transgressor has destroyed himself. The carnal mind
is indeed free to reject Christ, because all its faculties
are by nature opposed to Him; but it is not thus free
to accept Him, because in order to obedience, it must
be renewed by the Holy Ghost. Then, is it not pass
ing strange, that the sinner who glories in his free will,
and in the faculty of choice, should wish to deny free
will to his Maker ?
Surely, my brethren, we may build our faith upon
the word of God, and be content that our gospel shall
stand not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of
God. The system of divine truth which we hold is,
indeed, an old one. Any man who objects to it on this
ground, is welcome to all the force which he can
thus add to his argument. Only, let it be understood,
that it is not simply two hundred years old. We must
go farther back than the Synod of Dordrecht. We trace
it down through the long vista of the past, to the day
of Paul and the apostles, yea, to the day of Christ him
self — and many thousands of years before that ; for
even to Moses the Lord said: "I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy." We may not reject it, be
cause ungodly men revile it. It is nothing new that the
world hates Christ and his truth; nothing new that it
slanders the truths of the gospel. It need not surprise
us that the very inferences which are expressly repudi
ated in our book, are charged upon us, by those whose

16
prejudices are so inflamed that they cannot think so
berly, or understand, or believe us, when we declare
that, in our very soul, we detest the teachings which
they would put into our mouths. So it has always
been. Let them tell the enemies of our Saviour's crown
and covenant, that we believe that infants are torn from
their mother's breasts by a ruthless decree of damna
tion; let them inflame the passions of men by charging
us with these monstrous inventions of the devil, " what
shall we then say to these things?" Only this, The
Lord judge between them and us; and, "If God be for
us, who can be against us?"
One thought more, and I close. We have seen that
God's government is an administration of law. Every
organization is thus controlled; the principle obtains
in the physical world, and in the things of the Spirit
also. Every one of these laws has its penalty, which
falls upon the transgressor. Let your finger be crushed,
and a thrill of torture darts through every nerve, and
fills the whole body with painful sympathy. Violence
offered to any living thing, entails suffering, more or
less acute, precisely in proportion to the delicacy and
the value of the life which it involves. Now, the
church of God is an organism. It is called the body of
Christ; and it is the most glorious organization, regard
ed in its collective capacity, in all the universe of God.
When God raised Jesus from the dead, He "gave him
to be the Head over all things to the church, which is
his body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all."
What an expression — "the fulness of Him that filleth
all in all!" If the church of the living God, be thus
designated, surely the laws by which it is governed,
are not to be lightly set aside, and if transgressed, or
wantonly violated, the penalty must be in proportion
to the magnitude of the offence. It is no small matter

17
to have entered into covenant with the church of God.
Such responsibilities are not to be discarded as easily
as a man may change his coat. They have all the so
lemn sanction of vows which are made to Jesus Christ.
Men who deem it a small matter to rend the church of
God, will find, to their sorrow, that this sin is one which
is followed by speedy judgment. In these things, we
may not take the law into our own hands, and be guilt
less. If they, who exercise authority in our branch of
the house of God, fail in their administration, the laws
of the church present the remedy : it lies in the right
of appeal through four distinct gradations; but God has
given to no men the right to trample upon their pro
mises of obedience to the rules of the church, solemnly
ratified in the public assembly when they professed
Christ, and repeated at every communion season.
Christ Jesus recognises no such right; these covenant
vows stand on his record. Brethren, by the mercies of
God, I beseech you, maintain them. "It must needs
be that offences come, but wo to that man by whom the
offence cometh!"

18

NO. II.
"What shall we then say to these things?" — Bom. yiii. 31.
Some of the objections to the doctrines of divine grace
which St. Paul enumerates in this chapter, we have
noticed in addressing you, this morning; and before we
proceed, let us, in a few words, give the substance of
the train of thought presented by the apostle in this
connexion. He first presents the believer as already
saved. He shows us why. He is in Christ. To be
in Christ — is to be renewed by the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus. In them who are renewed, Christ
dwells by his Spirit. His indwelling is the seal of
adoption. This adoption secures an inheritance. Be
lievers are rich always — they are never poor. "All
things are yours," &c. Christians may be poor as to this
world, but still they are always rich. They may suffer,
but "I reckon the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be re
vealed in us." And their sorrows work together for good.
They are ordered by the purpose and counsel of God.
These things are not accidents; they make us long to be
at home. "Ourselves also, which have the first fruit of
the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the
body," Then he passes to the deep things of the di
vine counsel, and shows that the salvation of believers
has been definitely determined by God's own decree.
" For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might
be the first-born among many brethren." " Moreover,

19
whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and
whom he called, them he also justified : and whom he
justified, them he also glorified."
Now, I admit frankly, that this doctrine is one which
belongs to the more advanced stages of Christian expe
rience. Babes in Christ cannot receive it, and while
they are in the nurse's arms, they need milk rather than
this strong meat; but Christians must not be babes for
ever. As they grow, they need stronger food. When
wearied in the toil of Christian duty, or in the struggles
of the Christian conflict, or dejected by the sorrows and
afflictions of their lot, these doctrines of the sovereign
grace of God, are the wine that makes glad the Chris
tian's heart — they are the oil that makes his face to
shine. They are part of the counsel of God. At our
peril do we shun to declare them on all fitting occasions.
When they are assailed and cast out as abominable,
we sin neither against charity nor prudence, when we
defend them. But we do not design to discourage the
weak, or to disconcert those who are trembling with
doubts and fears touching their acceptance. On the
contrary, the use of this doctrine is for the comfort of
them that trust in Christ. But you say, I fear I am
not one of the elect. I ask, Do you feel that you are
a sinner? Do you "groan, being burdened," heavy
"laden with a sense of your guilt ? Christ calls you.
"Come unto me;" Christ says to you, "I will give you
best !" Trust in Christ, and you are one of the elect.
You cannot look into the book of God's decrees, and
see your name written there before the foundation of
the world; but you can be sure of your calling and elec
tion by those fruits of your own experience, which are
the effects of God's predestinating love. You see a ship
fastened by a strong chain to the shore. Though the
links of that iron band are hidden in the deep waters,

20
you are satisfied, when you see one end of the chain
firmly set in the solid rock, and the other depending
from the prow, that there is a connexion between the
links, though they lie many fathoms down in the deep
sea — far beyond your reach — and though you cannot
count the links, one by one, you know, notwithstand
ing, that they are riveted together ; and let the waves
be stirred by the tempest, you have the demonstration
of their union before you, in the firmness with which
the vessel is held to its moorings. So we cannot lift
up the links in the chain of God's decrees, and answer
every question concerning them ; but the strong hold
which the Saviour's love has upon your soul, is the best
of all demonstrations, that it is linked to the Rock of
Ages. Only, I beseech you, banish forever from your
mind all anxiety, created by those perversions, which
the enemies of the gospel put upon God's truth. They,
who tell you of our teaching as an article of faith, or as
a legitimate inference from our creed, the doctrine of
infant damnation, must answer to the Master for the in
justice. On the contrary, no system of doctrine is more
effectually guarded against such a view, than our own.
Maintaining the two parallel doctrines, that Adam was
the Federal Head of our Race, and that Christ, the se
cond Adam, is the Covenant Head and Representative
of his people, we teach that as infants are, without their
knowledge, partakers of the condemnation that is in
Adam, so they may also be partakers of the justification
that is wrought by Christ, and through the renewing of
the Holy Ghost, they may thus be saved. Two texts of
Scripture settle this point. They are these: "Suffer
the little children to come unto me, and forbid them
not/for of such is the kingdom of heaven ;" and " Even
so, it is not my Father's good pleasure that one of these
little ones should perish." But enough, St. Paul was

21
not ashamed of the doctrine which we maintain. Read
Romans ix., and you have there the apostle's answer
to the objections of unbelief. We may answer them
all in the words of Paul : " Nay, but, 0 man, who art
thou that repliest against God?" In view of all this,
the apostle passes to the consideration of the grounds
of the Christian's assurance of salvation. Standing upon
this Rock, he defies the world to harm him. He sees,
in the gift of God's own Son, the sure pledge that every
blessing of divine grace is secured to them that trust in
Jesus. " He that spared not his own Son, but delivered
him up for us all, how shall he not with Him also freely
give us all things?" For us all. For whom did God
deliver Jesus?, For us all. Then, you say, that does
not confirm the doctrine of definite atonement. For us
all! Of whom is Paul speaking? Evidently of be
lievers — of God's elect ; because immediately he asks :
" Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect V
And he bases this question upon the fact that for us all
God has delivered Jesus to the death of the cross. Let
us look at this doctrine a little more closely. Before
we denounce it as horrible, let us be quite sure that we
understand it.
In advance, I avow this doctrine. It is a doctrine
of the Church of which it is my privilege to be a mi
nister. I am not ashamed of it; for it is a doctrine of
the Bible. There are those who deny it. They affirm
that Christ Jesus atoned for the sins of all mankind.
What do they mean by this ? Sometimes people differ
because they attach different meanings to the same
word. Hence, the importance of correct definitions.
What is the atonement ? In my mind, the atonement
is the satisfaction made to the justice of God by the
obedience and sufferings of Jesus Christ; a satisfaction
full and complete, by virtue of which all the sins of

22
believers are expiated ; so that they who are in Christ
are delivered from all the bondage of sin — from all the
condemnation of the law— from all the power of hell,
and are translated into the glorious liberty of the chil
dren of God. I say it is definite; why? Not because
it is not in itself of infinite value. Our third article on
the second head of doctrine in our Canons, states ex
pressly, " The death of the Son of God is the only and
most perfect sacrifice and satisfaction for sin : is of in
finite worth and value, abundantly sufficient to expiate
the sins of the whole world." Therefore, if any perish
under the gospel, they perish not because there is not
virtue sufficient in the sacrifice and merit of Christ to
save them; butthey perish because this atonement avails
only for those that believe. They only are saved from
their sins; they only, who receive Ghrist by living faith,
can say, each man for himself, Christ has paid my debt
— Christ has given himself for me! They only who
believe in Jesus are redeemed. The impenitent man is
not delivered by the death of Jesus from the power, or
pollution, or penalty of sin. The unbeliever abides
under the law of sin and death ; his debt is not can
celled. Christ is not the Redeemer of those who reject
him ; they are yet in their sins. So faith in Jesus as
the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the
world, is essential to all participation in the benefits of
Christ's death. But now I think I can almost hear one
say, "JDo you not see that you have just quoted a passage
that destroys the very doctrine you have been preaching ?
That expression, 'The Lamb of God, who taketh away the
sins of the world,' cuts up your argument by the roots!"
I think not; if it does, we will let it go, because all we
desire is simply to know what our Lord has taught us.
In the third chapter of the gospel according to St. John,
we have the record of our Saviour's interview with Nico-

23
demus. In the course of his address we find the blessed
Master's own definition of the atonement in these words :
" God so loved the world that He gave His only begot
ten Son, that xohosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life." " BehoTa" the Lamb
of God, who taketh away the sins of the world." How
does He atone for the world? So, "that whosoever be
lieveth in Him should not perish," &c; not so, that he
pays the debt of the whole world of men, because if he
has done that, the Universalists are nearer right than
we are generally willing to believe they are. God has
not so loved the world as to save it in sin and unbelief,
but He has so loved it that he has given His Son to be
a propitiation for the sins of all who believe in Him, to
the uttermost ends of the earth, and throughout all the
world, wherever men are found. Now see if this defi
nite idea does not run all through the sayings of our
Saviour. We have seen that his promises are definite ;
they are made to them that are weary and thirsty, and
willing; and his own statements of the object of his
mission are equally consistent. In the tenth chapter of
St. John's gospel he presents the contrast between the
shepherd and the hireling, in these words: "Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door
into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the
same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in
by the door is the shepherd of the sheep." Then he
says, " I am the good shepherd ; the good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep." For whom? For the sheep.
And who are the sheep ? " He calleth his own sheep
by name, and leadeth them out, and the sheep follow
him, for they know his voice." The sheep, therefore,
are those who know Christ and who love him. Of them
he says, " I lay down my life for the sheep." And what
does he say of them that reject him ? " Ye believe not,

24
because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you ; my
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, ancKhey follow
me. I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never
perish. My Father which gave them me is greater than
all, and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's
hands." Christ Jesus, therefore, as the good Shepherd,
gave his life for the sheep, and they, who believe not, are
not his sheep. Now, did he give his life for the goats
and the wolves too ? Surely he did, if the doctrine of
indefinite atonement is true. But when Christ limits
the term, what right has any man to add to his words ?
By what authority do you claim an atonement for the
goats and the wolves, when he says he laid down his
life for the sheep ? And who are the goats ? " When
the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy
angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of
his glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations :
and he shall separate them one from another, as a shep
herd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall
set the sheep on the right hand, but the goats on the
left." But who are the wolves? Jesus tells us that also.
" Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." From
the words of Jesus, therefore, we are justified in de
claring that .he gave his life for the sheep; and, if they
who believe not are not his sheep, then Christ did not
give his life for them that believe not. " What shall
we then say to these things ?" Christ died for them
that believe. They are his people and the sheep of his
pasture. Their debt is paid; for them his atonement
avails; they only can sing "The Lord is my Shepherd."
What then shall shake their confidence ? The death
of Christ is a perfect satisfaction for their sins; they
are reconciled to God by the death of His Son. "If

25
God be for us who can be against us ?" Therefore, the
apostle sends this challenge — "Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect ?" It is God that justifieth.
Who shall accuse when God absolves ? Where is the
room for accusation ? But who is this man who speaks
thus defiantly in the presence of men, and angels, and
devils ? Is not this he who stood by when Stephen
was stoned ? The same. He says of himself all that his
bitterest foes can say, " I was a blasphemer, a persecu
tor, and injurious — the chief of sinners! yet I obtained
mercy !" Oh ! wondrous grace, that can so blot out the
blackest crimes and wash the sinner white in the atoning
blood ! Wondrous power that can make the chief of
sinners the chief of saints !
"Oil! love, thou bottomless abyss,
My sins are swallowed up in thee;
Covered is my unrighteousness.
From condemnation now I'm free."
Then Paul asks, "Who is he that condemneth?"
God against whom all these sins have been committed
justifies and declares us guiltless. If none can accuse,
who shall condemn ? Christ died ! died for me ! I am
in Christ, and there is no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus. Gather into one dark record all
the crimes that you can charge against the believer;
be it so that he has been the vilest of the vile; if that
man, forsaking his sins, has fled to Christ for salvation,
Jesus will in no wise cast him out. Christ died for the
ungodly, for sinners. But how shall I know that his
death has been accepted as a sufficient atonement for
my sin ? By this, that God hath raised him from the
dead ! The resurrection of Jesus is God's act, ratifying
the sufficiency of the atonement, and proclaiming the
divine acceptance of it. Hence, Paul says, " It is Christ
that died, yea, rather that is risen again." By the re-

26
surrection of Jesus from the dead, God declared him to
be his own Son; justifying him as the Messiah, vindi
cating his claims as the Saviour, and confirming his pro
mises to his people. Therefore, he was slain for our of
fences, and raised again for our justification. For, how
can we be justified by faith in a Saviour whose own cha
racter and claims have not been vindicated? Christ,
as the surety and representative of his people, was held
in bondage in the grave, and if the surety has not been
set at liberty, his people's faith and hopes are all vain.
But now is Christ risen from the dead : his resurrection
proves his innocence, establishes his righteousness, ra
tifies his atonement, and now justice itself demands the
liberation of those for whom Christ died ! Their debt
is paid. Who shall lay anything to their charge?
Christ Jesus says, "Because I live, ye shall live also."
Christ Jesus says, "Father, I will that they also whom
thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they
may behold my glory." They are in Christ. They
are risen with Christ. Their victory over death and
hell is secured by the triumph of their Redeemer!
Christ is their life. His life sustains them. They are
members of his body. His grace keeps them, and
having loved his own which were in the world, he loves
them to the end. They trust in a living Saviour. " If,
when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by
the death of his Son, much more being reconciled we
shall be saved by his life." But even here the apos
tle does not rest his argument. He has another confir
mation, of the Christian's assurance. It is a glorious
truth, Christ died : a glorious confirmation, that Christ
is risen; but this is not all; for Paul adds, "who is
even at the right hand of God !" Exalted to the throne
of supreme majesty and power, all power in heaven
and on earth is his; what then shall harm his people?

27
Will he who has died for those whom the Father gave
him, and who for them was laid in the grave, and for
them rose from the dead, fail to watch over his re
deemed, when, as the risen \ Mediator, victorious over
sin and death and hell, God has highly exalted him,
and given him a name that is above every name? For
this very purpose, he is exalted a Prince and a Saviour,
that he may give repentance and remission of sins !
And as a Prince he gives, right royally. Ho, all ye
wretched, starving, poor, hungry and thirsty, — with
Christ is bread, living bread. "If any man thirst, let
him come to Christ and drink." And yet, even this
does not exhaust the apostle's view of the assurance of
Christian faith. Christ died; Christ is risen; Christ is
at the right hand of God ! What more do we need ?
This, "who also maketh intercession for us." Does
Christ plead for us ? We are still imperfect; every
day we sin and need a Saviour. Christ, at the right
hand of God, the King of Zion, does he intercede for
us? Before his work was finished, he said, "Father, I
thank thee that thou hast heard me, and I know thou
hearest me always." If, in the days of his humiliation,
the Father heard him, shall he fail to hear now, that
Jesus is exalted as the victorious Mediator ? It is im
possible. Our Surety is already in heaven, the pledge
that they whose Representative he is, shall be with him
where he is, that they may behold his glory. For
whom does he intercede ? For all men ? For the world ?
No, he says : "I pray for them, I pray not for the world,
but for them whom thou hast given me." He intercedes
for his people ; for those, for whose sins he has atoned.
" Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost all who
come to God through him, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them." What then shall we say to these
things ? Can we say anything else, than this, the sal-

28
vation of the people of God, of believers in Jesus, who
are God's elect, is secure ! They are safe ; they are
already saved! Christ, their Head, is in heaven — al
ready in the Holy of Holies. He has gone to prepare a
place ! Think you, that Christ who gave his life for
the sheep, will let those sheep be lost ? He says he
will not. I grant you that if our salvation rested on
our own merit, no Christian could be saved from sink
ing in despair; but it rests upon the faithfulness of
Christ, of him who hath promised; of him who has de
clared, "I give unto them eternal life, and they shall
never perish." Talk of believers becoming the prey of
the devil in the face of such a promise as this. The
life which they have in Christ is eternal life. "He that
believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him
self: he that believeth not God, hath made him a liar,
because he believeth not the record that God gave of
his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given
to us eternal life : and this life is in his Son. He that
hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son
of God, hath not life." Christ gives his people grace
to be faithful; his grace is sufficient for them. His
life sustains theirs. They are kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation, and they shall never fail !
Never ! " What shall we then say to these things ?"
What more than this, in the glowing language of the
holy apostle, can mortal man say, " Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ ? shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword ? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed
all the day long ; we are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors, through him that loved us. For I am per
suaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things

29
to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
My brethren, these are the doctrines of the Reformed
Dutch Church, and however briefly and imperfectly
stated, it is an honor to be allowed to vindicate them.
I avow it ; why should I not ? I believe these great
truths to be the very sheet-anchor of Christian hope.
They have sustained the martyrs of Jesus in the ordeal
of the fire, the stake and the scaffold. Every branch
of the Church of Christ, holding these truths, since the
Reformation has been baptized into this faith by the
blood of its confessors; and in the dark hour of bitter
shame, when they have gone, faltering, with their Sa
viour to Golgotha, they have been cheered with this
doctrine of the grace of God, and have been wafted
home to their Saviour, in the chariot of fire. I avow
it. I am not ashamed of the Reformed Dutch Church,
or of her history, and I say it here in the presence of you
all, that the man who can wag his head and jeer at her
stanch conservatism, knows little of the debt of grati
tude which this country owes to the Ref. Dutch Church.
She may be small and despised; but, brethren, she was
the foster-mother of the men, who built upon that Ply
mouth rock the altar, sacred to civil liberty and the
rights of conscience. That good ship, the Mayflower,
of which your poets have sung and your orators have
so eloquently declaimed, sailed from the port of Delft
in Holland, freighted with the pilgrims and their wives
and little ones, who for years had been cherished in the
homes and hearts of the members of the Dutch Church ;
and when that vessel swung from her moorings, and un
furled her sails, they were filled by the prayers of these
humble Christians, who crowded upon the wharves, to
bid the voyagers God speed and farewell. They were

30
Independents who came to this country — and as Inde
pendents, our Church cherished them and gave them
a home. Yes ! I love the Dutch Church, for she has
always had a kind heart and a large one. She has it
still. If any of her children prefer another worship,
and another creed, and other government, if they wish
to set out on an untried sea of exploration, she will
stand upon the shore, and bid them farewell; but she
will not sacrifice her laws, she will not discard her doc
trines ; she will maintain the right, and commit her
cause to her covenant God and Saviour. Beloved hear
ers, may God give you grace so to trust in Jesus, that
living and dying, you may triumph in his love ! And
to him be all the glory of our salvation, in all time and
forever. Amen ! 
The following statement of doctrine has been issued
in tract form by a portion of the First Reformed Church
of this city, together with a manifesto of intentions,
which have as yet not been consummated.
We append them for the purpose of making a few
remarks, not in any spirit of unkindness, but in order
to nail upon the counter a spurious and injurious im
pression. We, the congregation of the First Eeformed Dutch Church, in ge
neral meeting assembled, due notice of the same, in the usual way,
having been given, feel it to be our duty, in this plain and public man
ner, to state our views on the doctrine of the Atonement. We be
lieve our views to be founded on the infallible word of God which teach
es in a most plain and explicit manner, the following: —
1. Christ is an able and willing Saviour, who will in no wise cast
out any soul that comes to him.
2. The grace of God, through Christ, is perfectly free; that is, he
requires no qualification or merit in those who come. They are in
vited to apply to him in all their guilt and pollution, that they may
from his gracious hands receive pardon and renovation.

31
3. There is no obstacle in the way of any sinner's coming but what
exists in himself. The door of mercy cannot be set wider open than
it is; the invitations of Christ could not be more kind and full.
4. The whole blame of the sinner's ruin, who refuses to come to
Christ, will lie at his own door. The only obstacle is his own perverse-
ness and unwillingness. Christ was willing to give life to his greatest
enemies, if they could come to him; for he complains, "Ye will not
come to me that ye may have life."
5. The conversion of a single soul is the work of God only. The
same power which caused light to shine out of darkness, must shine
into our hearts. Creation is a work proper to God only, but conver
sion is a " new creation," which requires power as really divine as that
by which the worlds were formed.
6. God has directed the gospel to be preached to every creature,
without discrimination, and every one who hears it has a divine war
rant to receive it; and if he does, he has the faithfulness of God
pledged for his everlasting salvation.
Whereas, this congregation, at a regular meeting called for the pur
pose, did duly elect the Rev. George W. Smiley, of Louisville, Ky.,
as Pastor of this Church; and whereas, the Consistory of this Church
and the Classis of Philadelphia have refused to confirm said election,
for the alleged reason of his not agreeing in doctrine with the stan
dards of the Dutch Eeformed Church on the subject of Atonement,
but he having never expressed his belief in the doctrines we hereby
proclaim; and whereas, this congregation feels deeply aggrieved at the
avowed reasons inducing the action of the said judicatories with which
we are connected, in thus rejecting the man of our choice, whom we
desire to minister to us in spiritual things; and whereas, this congre
gation did, by a vote of the sanfe, at a meeting held on the 14th of
April, 1813, agree to apply to the Reformed Dutch Church to be re
ceived into their connection, and were so afterwards received, and have
ever since enjoyed the ministry of the living teacher, preaching to us
the great doctrine hereinbefore set forth, and which we desire to have
ever proclaimed from this pulpit, but which we have been forbidden
by the action of the said judicatory lately in session, to which we as a
church belong; and whereas, in order to enjoy the full rights of con
science, it becomes necessary for this congregation to dissolve the con
nection into which they voluntarily entered on the said 14th day of
April, 1813: Now, therefore,
Resolved, That by virtue of authority vested in us, and contained
in Section 9 of the charter of this congregation, we hereby do dissolve
all connection with the Reformed Dutch Church, and hold ourselves

32
free and independent of the same, as though the connection had never
been formed.
Resolved, That the Secretary of this meeting is hereby directed to
send a copy of the above resolution to the President and Secretary of
the Classis of Philadelphia.
Now, the design of this tract is to teach all men to
whom the presents aforesaid may come, that the Re
formed Dutch Church holds doctrines inconsistent with
these six points. No minister of the Dutch Church can
hesitate to offer salvation to the greatest sinner, on the
simple condition of his repentance toward God and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The fifth point settles the
whole question ; for if " the conversion of a single soul
is the work of God only," then all our salvation is due
to him, "who works in us both to will and to do of his
good pleasure," and thus that doctrine of election, against
which so many harsh and bitter things have been un
wisely uttered, follows as a logical necessity.
The third point might have been differently word
ed, without detriment to the elegance of the style.
Only, let us not understand the words, which speak
of the fulness of Christ's invitations, and promises, as
though he offers salvation to the impenitent and unbe
lieving. The door is open to those who sincerely seek
Christ by faith, — but. it is a strait gate, notwithstand
ing. There is a limit to Christ's promises, and they
all imply conditions.
We might say more, but for the present, we forbear.