Sermon: Of the Decrees of God by Thomas Boston

“According to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph. i. 11).

[NOTE.—The celebrated Thomas Boston was one of the greatest theologians our favoured country ever saw. His “Four Fold State” is one of the finest works ever issued from the pen of a mere mortal in this land or as far as can be known in any other land since. Boston was an eminent scholar and theologian, whose balanced position kept the speculative tendency of the mind under constant restraint and control. The following sermon will convince any unprejudiced person how he kept so near the Word of God, and in dealing with one of the most difficult subjects of the divine Revelation to lost men, that the saintly Boston discharged that duty with the utmost gravity and humility. It is to be expected that the young of our Church who make a public profession of their personal interest in Christ shall endeavour as God may guide and direct them, to be well acquainted with writings like Boston, Edwards, Bunyan, Owen, and the writings of the Scottish Reformers, the Confession of Faith. It is of great importance for the young that they should be well versed in the glorious doctrines of the Word of God as expounded and practised by men like those mentioned above. They are great “helps” to the truly godly. We pray that the readers of the Magazine will obtain help and comfort from the following sermon of our beloved Thomas Boston, of Ettrick.—J. McL.]

THE apostle here gives an instance of the sovereign freedom of divine grace through Jesus Christ in the believing Jews.

1. There is here the high privilege they were advanced to, a right to the heavenly inheritance, which had been forfeited by the sin of man. 2. Through whom they had attained it, in Him; by virtue of the merits, the obedience and satisfaction of Christ. 3. Why they obtained it, while others had not. Not that they were more worthy than others, but because they were predestinated, elected, or fore-ordained to salvation, and all the means of it. 4. There is the certainty of the efficacy of predestination. It is according to His purpose; that is, His firm and peremptory decree to bring such things to pass. And this certainty, in particular, is evinced by a general truth, “who worketh all things according to the counsel of His own will.” Wherein me may notice. (1) God’s effectual operation, “He worketh.” The word signifies to work powerfully and efficaciously, so as to overcome all contrary resistance, and all difficulties in the way; which is exactly God’s way of working. And this working takes place in the works of creation and providence. (2) The manner how God works. The plan and scheme according to which His works are framed, is the counsel of His will. His will is His decree and intention; and it is called the counsel of His will, to denote the wisdom of His decrees, His most wise and free determination therein. As God’s decree is an act of His will, and so most free, considered in relation to the creatures; so His decree and will are without counsel; He willeth or decreeth things to be done with the greatest reason and judgment, most wisely as well as freely. (3) The object of His working after this manner, all things. This cannot be restricted to the blessings which the apostle had been speaking of immediately before, but must be understood of all things whatsoever, and of all their motions and actions as such; which therefore are the object of God’s decrees. The text plainly affords this doctrine, viz., Doct.: “God hath fore-ordained, according to the counsel of His own will, whatsoever comes to pass.” Here I shall,

2. Explain the nature of a decree.

3. Consider the object of God’s decrees.
4. Speak of the end of His decrees.
5. Touch at their properties.
6. Make improvement.

I. I am to explain the nature of a decree.

The text calls it a purpose, a will. For God to decree is to purpose and fore-ordain, to will and appoint that a thing shall be or not be. And such decrees must needs be granted, seeing God is absolutely perfect, and therefore nothing can come to pass without His will, seeing there is an absolute and necessary dependence of all things and persons on God as the first cause. But there is a vast difference betwixt the decrees of God and men; whereof this is the principal: man’s purposes or decrees are distinct from themselves, but the decrees of God are not distinct from Himself. God’s decrees are nothing else but God Himself, who is one simple act; and they are only in respect of their objects, not as they are in God; even as the one heat of the sun melts wax and hardens clay. To say otherwise is to derogate from the absolute simplicity of God, and to make Him a compound being. It is also to derogate from His infinite perfection; for whatsoever is added to anything argues a want, which is made up by the accession of that thing, and so introduces a change; but God is absolutely unchangeable. Neither could God’s decrees be eternal, if it were not so; for there is nothing eternal but God.

II. I proceed to consider the object of God’s decrees.

This is whatsoever comes to pass. He worketh all things, says the text. God has decreed whatsoever comes to pass; and nothing comes to pass but what He has decreed to come to pass. We may consider the extent of the divine under the three following heads.

1. God has decreed the creation of all things that have a being.

2. He has decreed to rule and govern the creatures which He has made.

3. He has decreed the eternal state of all His rational creatures.

First. God decreed to rear up His stately fabric of the world, the heavens, and the earth, the sea and the land, and all the great variety of creatures which inhabit them. There are myriads of holy angels in heaven, cherubim and seraphim, thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, angels and archangels. There are many shining luminaries in the firmament, the sun, and the moon, and innumerable stars. There are a great variety of creatures on the earth, animals, plants, trees and minerals, with various forms, shapes, colours, smells, virtues, and qualities. The sea is inhabited by many creatures (Ps. civ. 25). Now, God decreed to make all these things. Rev. iv. 11: “Thou hast created all things.” Secondly. God has decreed the government of all His creatures. He preserves and upholds them in their beings, and He guides and governs them in all their motions and actions. He is not only the general spring and origin of all the motions and actions of the creatures, but He appoints and orders them all immediately.

1. He has decreed all their motions and actions:

“For (says the apostle) of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things” (Rom. xi. ult.). This is clear from God’s knowing all things before they come to pass; which knowledge of them needs to be in the decree, upon which the coming to pass of all things depend. Not only good things, but evil things fall within the compass of His holy decree. Evils of punishment are truly good, being the execution of justice, as it is good in a magistrate to punish evildoers. God owns Himself to be the Author of these evils (Amos iii. 6): “Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord has not done it?” And yet He has decreed the effecting of these. As for the evils of sin, these also fall within the compass of the decrees of God, as is clear in the case of crucifying of Christ (Acts ii. 23): “Him (saith the apostles to the Jews) being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” And, says the apostle (Acts iv. 27, 28): “For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” This appears also in the case of Pharaoh refusing to let Israel go, and pursuing them when they had gone, whose heart God hardened (Exod. xiv. 4); and in the sin of Joseph’s brethren in selling him into Egypt, of which Joseph says (Gen. xlv. 8): “So now it was not you that sent me hither but God.” It is true, God decreed not the effecting of sin, for then He should have been the author of it, but He decreed the permission of sin. And though sin in itself is evil, yet God’s permitting it is good, seeing He can bring good out of it; and it is just in Him to permit it, where He is not bound to hinder it. Yet this is not a naked permission, whereby the thing may either come to pass or not, but such as infers a certainty of the event so that in respect of the event the sin cannot but come to pass. Hence our Lord says (Matt. xviii. 7): “Woe unto the world because of offences; for it must needs be that offence comes.” And says the apostles (I. Cor. xi. 19): “There must be heresies among you.” See also Acts iv. 27, 28, forecited.

2. And not only necessary things, as the burning of the fire, but the most free acts of the creature, and the most casual things, fall under the divine decree.

Free acts as Prov. xx. 1: “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will.” To this purpose are the foresaid instances of the Jews, Pharaoh, and Joseph’s brethren. The most casual, as in the case of the casual slaughter mentioned in Exod. xxi. 12, 13, and Deut. xix. 3, where mention is made of the Lord’s delivering the person slain into the hands of the slayer, though he had no intention to slay him. Such also in the case of lots (Prov. xvi. 33): “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.” This holds also in the case of sparrows, and the hairs of the head falling, which cannot be done without God (Matt. x. 29, 30). And thus not only great things, but small things fall within the compass of the divine decree. But more especially let us consider God’s decree with respect to the government of rational creatures. This we may take up in the following particulars.

1. God has decreed what kingdoms and monarchies should be on the earth, what princes and potentiates should rule and govern them, and whether their government should be mild or tyrannical; how long each kingdom should continue, when they should have peace and when war, when prosperity and adversity. We find wonderful discoveries made to Daniel with respect to these things.

2. God has decreed every thing relating to the lot and condition of each particular.

(1) He has decreed the time and place of their birth, whether it should be under the law or gospel, in a land of light or darkness; whether among the savage Indians of America, or among the more polite and civilised people of Europe; whether among Mahomedans, Papists, or Protestants. All this was decreed by the Lord, “who has made of one blood all the nations of men, to dwell on the face of the earth, and has determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation” (Acts xii. 26).

(2) He has decreed every man’s lot and condition, whether it be high or low, rich or poor, noble or ignoble, learned or unlearned. He has determined the trade or employment they should follow, the particulars they should betake themselves to. Many times God’s providence over-rules men’s purposes and designs for fulfilling His own counsels. Matters are sometimes strangely wheeled about, so that not what we or our parents designed, but what God has purposed shall take place. Amos was meanly employed at first, but God designed him for a more honourable calling: he was taken from the office of a herdsman and gatherer of sycamore fruit, and invested with a commission to prophesy to the people of Israel (Amos vii. 14, 15). David followed the ewes and, it is said, never raised his thoughts to higher things in the days of his youth; but God made him the royal shepherd of a better flock (Ps. lxxviii. 70, 71). The most of the apostles were fishermen; but Christ called them to a more high and eminent station, even to be extraordinary officers in His Church, and fishers of men.

(3) God has decreed what relations men shall have in the world. Their wives and children are appointed for them. Hence said Abraham’s servant (Gen. xxiv.): “Let the same be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.” That such a woman rather than any other, should be the wife to such a man, is by the appointment of heaven. Men’s children are also decreed by God. Hence said Eve (Gen. iv. 24): “God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.” And, says the Psalmist (Ps. cxxvii. 3): “Lo, children are the heritage of the Lord.” God determines the number and names of every man’s children. (4) All the comforts of men’s lives are under the divine appointment, both those temporal and spiritual. Hence says the prophet (Isa. xxvi. 1): “We have a strong city: salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.” (5) All men’s afflictions are determined by the decrees of heaven (Mic. vi. 9): “Hear ye the rod and who has appointed it.” Such are public calamities and distresses, as war, famine and pestilence, all bodily pains and sickness, poverty and pinching straits, and whatever is grievous and afflictive to men. None of these spring out of the dust, or come by chance. The kind and nature of people’s troubles, their measure and degree, time and season, continuance and duration, and all the circumstances of them, are determined and weighed in the scales of His eternal counsel. Hence says the apostle (I. Thes. iii. 3): “No man should be moved by these afflictions: for you yourselves know that we are appointed thereto.” (6) The time of every man’s life in the world is appointed. Hence says Job vii. 1: “Is there not an appointed time for man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?” And, says the same great man (xiv. 5): “His days are determined, and the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass.” The term of our life is fixed and limited, our days are determined and our months numbered. Hence David prays (Ps. xxxix.): “Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.” “Our days are measured; they are as appointed” (I. Pet. ii. 8). “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His. And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold, and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour” (II. Tim. ii. 19, 20). In Jude, verse 4, we read of “ungodly men, who were of old ordained to condemnation.” And in Rom. ix. we read of “vessels of mercy, which God has afore prepared unto glory: and of vessels fitted for destruction.”

III. I come to consider the end of God’s decrees.

And this is no other than His own glory, every rational agent acts for an end: and God being the most perfect agent, and His glory the highest end, there can be no doubt but all His decrees are directed to that end. “For to Him are all things” (Rom. xi. 36). “That we should be to the praise of His glory” (Eph. i. 12). In all He aims at His own glory: and seeing He aims at it, He gets it even from the most sinful actions He has decreed to permit. Either from the glory of His mercy or of His justice He draws therefrom. Infinite wisdom directs all to the end intended. More particularly: (1) This was God’s end in the creation of the world. The divine perfections are admirably glorified here, not only in regard to the greatness of the effect, which comprehends the heavens and the earth, and all things therein; but in regard of the marvellous way of its production. For He made the vast universe without the concurrence of any material cause; He brought it forth from the womb of nothing by an act of His efficacious will. And as He began the creation by proceeding from nothing to real existence, so in forming the other parts He drew them from infirm and indisposed matter, as from a second nothing, that all His creatures might bear the signature of infinite power. Thus He commanded light to arise out of darkness, and sensible creatures from an insensible element. The lustre of the divine glory appears eminently here. Hence says David (Ps. xix. 1): “The heavens declare the glory of God.” They declare and manifest to the world the attributes and perfections of their great Creator, even in His infinite wisdom, goodness and power. All the creatures have some prints of God stamped upon them, whereby they loudly proclaim and shew to the world His wisdom and goodness in framing them. Hence says Paul (Rom. i. 20): “The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead.” (2) The glory of God was His chief end and design in making men and angels. The rest of the creatures glorified God in an objective way, as they are evidences and manifestations of His infinite wisdom, goodness, and power. But this higher rank of beings are imbued with rational faculties, and so are capable to glory God actively. Hence it is said (Prov. xvi. 4): “The Lord has made all things for Himself.” If all things were made for Him, then men and angels especially, who are the masterpieces of the whole creation. We have our rise and being from the pure fountain of God’s infinite power, and goodness; and, therefore, we ought to run towards that again, till we empty all our faculties and excellencies into that same ocean of the divine goodness.

(3) This is likewise the end of election and predestination. “For He has predestinated us unto the adoption of children to the praise of the glory of His grace.” That some are ordained to eternal life, and others passed by, and suffered to perish eternally in their sins, is for the manifestation of the infinite perfections and excellencies of God. The glory and beauty of the divine attributes is displayed here with a shining lustre; as His sovereign authority and dominion over all His creatures to dispose of them to what end and purpose He pleases; His knowledge and omniscience, in beholding all things, past, present, and to come; His vindictive justice, in ordaining punishment to men, as a just retribution for sin; and His omnipotence, in making good His Word, and putting all His threatening into execution. The glory of His goodness shines likewise here, in making choice of any, when all most justly deserved to be rejected. And His mercy shines here with an amiable lustre, in receiving and admitting all who believe in Jesus into His favour. (4) This was the end that God proposed in that great and astonishing work of redemption. In our redemption by Christ was the fullest, clearest, and most delightful manifestation of the glory of God that ever was or that shall be in this life. All the declarations and manifestations that we have of His glory in the work of creation and common providence are but dim and obscure in comparison to what is here. Indeed the glory of His wisdom, power, and goodness, is clearly manifested in the work of creation. But the glory of His mercy and love had lain under an eternal eclipse without a Redeemer. God had in several ages of the world pitched upon particular seasons to manifest and to discover one or particular property of His nature. Thus His justice was declared in His drowning the old world with a deluge of water, and burning Sodom with a fire from heaven. His truth and power was clearly manifested in freeing the Israelites from the Egyptian chains, and bringing them out from that miserable bondage. His truth was there illustriously displayed in performing a promise which had lain dormant for the space of 430 years, and His power in quelling His implacable enemies by the meanest of His creatures. Again, the glory of one attribute is more seen in one work than in another: in some things there is more of His goodness, in other things more of His wisdom is seen, and in others more of His power. But in the work of redemption all His perfections and excellencies shine forth in their greatest glory. And this is the end that God proposed in their conversion and regeneration. Hence it is said (Isa. xliii. 21): “This people have I formed for myself, they shall shew forth my praise.” Sinners are adopted into God family, and made a royal priesthood on this very design (I. Pet. ii. 9).

(To be continued.)