PREDESTINATION

(In Gr. jrj««?;o-Atfl?, Rom. viii. 29.; Eph. 1. 5. 11.) The belief that God has from all eternity decreed whatever comes to pa . In a theological sense, it is thus defined in the 17th Article of our church: — " Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations of the world were laid, he hath constantly decreed by his counsel, secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation." The Lambeth Articles, agreed to in 1595 lijr a portion of the clergy, a ert that " God from eternity hath predestinated certain men unto life, certain he hath reprobated." Theological writers have generally forborne to use the word predestination with respect to the rejected: " Nefas est dicere Deum a liquid nisi bonum praedestinare." (August., De Bono Perseverant ice.) See Election, Calvin ism. [s. 983]