ELECTION

(See Predestination , Calvin ism , Arm in inn ism .) There are three views taken of election, all parties agreeing that some doctrine of election is taught in Holy Scripture,—the Calvin is tic, the Arm in i an, and the Catholic. By the Calvinists, (see Calvin ism ,) election is judged to be the election of certain individuals out of the great ma of mankind, directly and immediately, to eternal life, while all other individuals are either pa ively left, or actively doomed, to a certainty of eternal death; and the moving cause of that election is defined to be God’s unconditional and irrespective will and pleasure, inherent in, and exercised in consequence of, his absolute and uncontrollable sovereignty. By the Arminians, or Remonstrants, (see Arm in i an ism ,) Scriptural election is pronounced to be the election of certain individuals, out of the great ma of mankind, directly and immediately to eternal life; and the moving cause of that election is a erted to be God’s eternal prevision of the future persevering holine and consequent moral fitne of the individuals themselves, who thence have been thus elected. Election under the gospel or Catholic view denotes, the election of various individuals into the pale of the visible Church, with God’s merciful purpose, that through faith and holine they should attain everlasting glory, but with a po ibility (since God governs his intelligent creatures on moral principles only) that through their own perversene they may fail of attaining it. Stanley Faber, from whose learned and most satisfactory work these definitions are taken, very clearly proves this to be the doctrine of the reformed Church of England; where, in the seventeenth Article, the Church of England, speaking of predestination to life, teaches not an election of certain individuals, either absolute or previsional, directly and immediately, to eternal happine . But she teaches an election of certain individuals into the Church catholic, in order that there, according to the everlasting purpose and morally operating intention of God , they may be delivered from curse and damnation, and thus, indirectly and mediately, may be brought, through Christ , to everlasting glory; agreeably to God’s promises, as they are generically, not specifically, set forth to us in Holy Scripture. That such is the real doctrine of the Church of England—in other words, that she teaches a predestination to life, not direct and immediate, but indirect and mediate—inevitably follows from the circumstance that, while in her sixteenth Article she hints at the po ibility of the elect individually departing from grace given, in her Homilies and in her Burial Service, she distinctly states, that the elect, in her sense of the word, may, in their individual capacity, fall away utterly, and thus perish finally. Now, this statement is palpably incompatible with the tenet of a direct and immediate predestination of individuals to eternal life; for individuals, so predestinated, could not, by the very terms of their predestination, fall away utterly and irrecoverably. Therefore, the predestination to life, mentioned in the seventeenth Article, can only mean an indirect and mediate predestination of individuals; or, in other words, it can only mean a predestination of individuals to eternal life, through the medium of election into the Catholic Church; in God’s everlasting purpose and intention indeed; but still, (since God , in executing his purpose and intention, operates upon the minds of his intelligent creatures not physically, but morally,) with a po ibility of their defeating that merciful purpose and intention, and thence of their finally falling away to everlasting destruction. As the article, in connexion with the other documents of the Anglican Church, must, unle we place them in irreconcilable collision with each other, be understood to propound the doctrine of predestination after the manner and in the sense which has been specified; so it distinctly enjoins us to receive God’s promises, as they are generally set forth to us in Holy Scripture. The word generally in this place is not opposed to unusually , but to particularly , and signifies generically. And the other documents of the Church of England agree with this interpretation of the seventeenth Article. We may refer, in the first instance, to the peculiar phraseology introduced into the office of Infant Baptism. “Regard, we beseech thee, the supplications of thy congregation: sanctify this water to the mystical washing away of sin: and grant that this child, now to be baptized therein, may receive the fulne of thy grace, and ever remain in the number of thy faithful and elect children, through Jesus Christ our Lord .” Thus, in systematically generalizing phraseology, runs the prayer. Now the same prayer is recited over every child. Consequently, by the inevitable force of the word “remain” as here used, every child, baptismally brought into the pale of the Church, is declared to be, at that time, one of the number of God’s elect. But the largest charity cannot believe that every child, baptismally brought into the pale of the Church, is elect in the sense of election as jointly maintained by Calvin and Arm in i us. Therefore, agreeably to the tenor of her own explicit phraseology, the idea which the English Church annexes to the term election, can only be that of ecclesiastical individual election. The matter is yet additionally established by the parallel phraseology, which occurs in the somewhat more modern office of Adult Baptism. With the sole requisite alteration of “this person” for “this child,” the prayer is copied verbatim from the older office. Every adult, therefore, who is baptismally introduced into the pale of the Church, is, as such, declared to be one of the number of God’s elect people. The same matter is still further established by the strictly homogeneous language of the Catechism. Each questioned catechumen, who, as an admitted member of the Church, has already, in the baptismal office, been declared to be one of the elect, is directed to reply: that, as a chief article of the faith propounded in the Creed, he has learned “to believe in God the Holy Ghost , who sanctifieth” him “and all the elect people of God .” Now, such an answer plainly makes every catechumen declare himself to be one of the elect. But, in no conceivable sense which will harmonize with the general phraseology of the Anglican Church, save in that of ecclesiastical individual election only, can every catechumen be deemed one of God’s elect people. Therefore the idea which to the Scriptural term election, is annexed by the Church of England, is that of ecclesiastical individual election. The matter is also established by the parallel phraseology introduced into the Burial Service. “We beseech thee, that it may please thee, of thy gracious goodne , shortly to accomplish the number of thine elect, and to hasten thy kingdom; that we, with all those that are departed in the true faith of thy holy name, may have our perfect consummation and bli , both in body and soul, in thy eternal and everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord .” In this prayer, the generic term “we” occurs in immediate connexion with “the number of thine elect .” Therefore the evidently studied arrangement of the words, enforces the conclusion that every member of the Church, as designated by the term “we,” must be deemed one of God’s elect people. Finally, the same matter is established, even in the familiar course of daily recitation, by the language of the very liturgy itself. “Endue thy ministers with righteousne : and make thy chosen people joyful. “O Lord , save thy people: and ble thine inheritance.” Now, who are the “chosen people,” whom the Lord is here supplicated to “make joyful?” Can we reasonably pronounce them, in the judgment of the Anglican Church, to be certain individuals of each actually praying congregation, who, in contradistinction to other individuals of the same congregation, are predestinated, either absolutely or pre visionally, to eternal life? A uredly, the whole context forbids so incongruous a supposition; for, a uredly, the whole context requires us to pronounce, that “thy chosen people” are identical with “thine inheritance.” But the entire tenor of the liturgy identifies “thine inheritance” with the Catholic Church. Therefore, “thy chosen people” and the Catholic Church are terms, in point of import, identical. (See Perseverance .)