DISCOURSE XXIV.

THE SEVERAL ARMINIAN DENOMINATIONS

METHODISTS, ETC.

"Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of hearers.". 2 Tim. ii. 14.

The religious bodies which are to be examined and criticized in this Discourse derive their distinctive theological doctrines, as well as the general name I apply to them, from James Arminius, a native of Holland, born in 1560. He was distinguished even in youth for his learning and high character, being offered the degree of D. D. by the University of Basel when but 23 years of age; which honor he, however, declined, saying that "for so young a face to bear that title would diminish its dignity." He was elected to the office of minister of the church in Amsterdam, where he attained such distinction for his ability that he was urged to undertake the defence of the Calvinistic tenet of predestination, which had been violently attacked by some of the more radical polemic controversialists of that day. He undertook the task, but, in preparing for it, was persuaded that the position he was to maintain, though accordant with his own

previously entertained ideas, was indefensible, either by reason or from the Scriptures. He therefore abandoned it and began the advocacy of opinions adverse thereto, rising in due time to the leadership of the opposition, and, as it proved, becoming the founder of a new school in theology among the reformers of his time. This created a great agitation in ecclesiastical circles and drew down upon himself and his devotees the anathemas of all the Calvinistic Protestants of Europe, who then seemed to be largely in the majority, especially in the Netherlands and France.

It would be amusing if it were not so sadly pitiful and deplorable to review the bitter controversies, not infrequently characterized by gross injustice and cruelty, which sprang up between the Calvinists and Arminians, and were continued with more or less virulence for several generations. These two parties were in singular agreement upon most points of theological speculation; upon the Divine Nature, the Fall of Man, the office of Christ, and the endless sin and misery of the great mass. of mankind who die impenitent. But exactly how and why God was to save the few and damn the many was the great question at issue between. them. 'Predestination" and "Free Grace" were the respective battle-cries of the belligerant forces. Starting from premises mainly common to both, the Calvinists seemed to have the more logic on their side and came more directly to an inevitable conclusion. But their conclusion was "a monster of such frightful mein, that to be hated need but

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be seen." So the Arminians, governed by their human instincts, maintained, and so the common sense of the more thoughtful multitude affirmed; and even the victorious logicians themselves were sometimes so horrified at the goblin that their own speculations had created as to shrink back from it or to try and soften its hideous features into tolerable comeliness. Hence the Moderate Calvinists, of which I spoke before, constituting about the only kind of Calvinists to be found in our day. Hence also the revolt of Arminius, who, of a less arrogant and determined nature than Calvin, was constitutionally disposed to a tolerant theology; but who, like Melancthon and other complaisant spirits, tried to be liberal and yet differ as little as possible from the sterner, more resolute dogmatists enthroned in popular favor. This will be seen in the formulated statement of his Five Points of Arminianism, which he put in contrast with the famous Five Points of Calvinism, and which may be understood as embodying not only his views, but the views of his proper followers - Methodists, Free Will Baptists, Disciples, Friends or Quakers, many Episcopalians, etc., to the present time. That statement I transcribe verbatim from McClintock's and Strong's Cyclopædia, to which reference has already been made, presuming it is authentic and reliable.

I. "God, by an eternal and inscrutable decree, ordained in Jesus Christ, His Son, before the foundation of the world, to save in Christ, because of Christ, and through Christ, from out of the human race, which is fallen and subject to

sin, those who, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, believe in the name of His Son, and who, by the same grace, persevere unto the end in that faith and the obedience of faith; but on the contrary to leave in sin and subject to wrath those who are not converted, and are unbelieving, and to condemn them as aliens from Christ according to the Gospel. John iii. 36.

2. "To which end Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, died for all and each one, so that he has gained for all, through the death of Christ, reconciliation and remission of sins; on this condition, however, that no one in reality enjoys that remission of sins except the faithful man, and this, too, according to the Gospel. John iii. 16, and 1 John ii. 2.

3. "But man has not from himself, or by the power of his free will saving faith, inasmuch as in the state of defection and sin he cannot think or do for himself anything good, which is indeed, really good, such as saving faith is; but it is necessary for him to be born again and renewed by God, in Christ, through His Holy Spirit, in his mind, affections, or will, and all his faculities; so that he may be able to understand, think, wish, and perform something good, according to that saying of Christ in John xv. 5.

4. "It is this grace of God which begins, promotes, and perfects everything good, and this to such a degree that even the regenerate man, without this preceding or adventitious grace, exciting, consequent, and co-operating, can neither think, wish, or do anything good, nor even resist an evil temptation; so that all the good works which we can think of are to be attributed to the grace of God in Christ. But as to the manner of the operation of that grace, it is not irresistible; for it is said of many that they resisted the Holy Spirit in Acts vii. 51 and many other places.

5. "Those who are grafted into Christ by a true faith, and therefore partake of his vivifying Spirit, have abundance of means whereby they may fight against Satan in the world and their own flesh, and obtain the victory; always, however, by the aid of the grace of the Holy Spirit; Jesus Christ assists them

by his Spirit in all temptations, and stretches out his hand; and provided they are ready for the contest, and seek his aid and are not wanting to their duty, he strengthens them to such a degree that they cannot be seduced or snatched from the hands of Christ by any power of Satan or violence, according to that saying, John x. 28, 'No one shall pluck them out of my hand.' But whether these very persons cannot, by their own negligence, desert the commencement of their being in Christ, and embrace again the present world, fall back from the holy doctrine once committed to them, make shipwreck of their conscience, and fall from grace; this must be more fully examined and weighed by the Holy Scriptures, before men can teach it with full tranquility of mind and confidence. The last proposition was modified by the followers of Arminius so as to assert the possibility of falling from grace."-McClintock and Strong.

The same authority says, "The Arminian doctrine on predestination is now widely diffused in the Protestant world. It is, in the main, coincident with that of the Lutherans in Germany; is held by the Wesleyan Methodist Churches throughout the world; by a large part of the Church of England and by many of the clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. It is substantially the doctrine (on the question of predestination) of the Greek and Roman Churches and is also held by several of the minor sects." The same is probably true of the more liberal of the Trinitarian Congregationalists, whose general views are known. by the name of "The New Orthodoxy," although they would doubtless prefer to state their belief in their own language rather than in that of Arminius.