FOREWORD

 

 

THE DEFINITION of Arminianism given by the emi­rent religious figure of the eighteenth century, Mr. Augustus Toplady, on the opposite page, is quite unique in its compactness and clarity. I suggest that you care­fully peruse it, so that an outline of the Arminian scheme may be grasped.

If Arminianism is a new term to you, let me say that, though the term may be new to you, Ar­minianism itself is very much in fashion today among all religious people. If Arminianism be new to you, let me give you this thought in order to help you understand it: Arminianism bases salvation upon the will and acts of man, not upon the divine will and power of God. Salvation is presented as being dependent upon the will of man, whereas John 1 :13 says, "Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." The Arminian hinges the will of God upon the will of man. As one Arminian puts it, "You will deter­mine Christ's success or failure in your decision."

This is Arminianism, the blasphemous teachings that would dethrone God to enthrone man. It denies the sovereignty of the will of God, and teaches the sov­ereignty of the will of man.

 

 

MAN'S FREE WILL

 

WHAT IS THE WILL? It is simply a man's desire, longing, determination, purpose, and pleasure. The will is the expression of the man. Man's nature moti­vates, directs, and controls, his will. The will is not sep­arate from man's being. It is rooted in his being. It is like the hand-it does what the man dlcta`os. M'^n's will is nothing more than man's desire.

How free is man's will? In or.e sense, the will is per­fectly free. But in another sense, it is in bondage. The wall is free in that it is not forced by outward power to act as it does; it is motivated from within. It is in bondage in that it is the servant of the depraved nature of man. This is not an unwilling servitude, however, for as has just been said, the will is not forced. "Will, whether divine or human, does what it does, be it good or evil, not by any compulsion, but by mere willingness or desire, as it were totally free" (Martin Luther) .

Man's desire (will) is to have his own way (Isa. 53: 6) . His nature is to love and practice sin (Job 15:16, Rom. 1:28-32, Ephes. 2:1-3). His will is thus motivated in these directions. TO DO THESE THINGS IS MAN'S WILL, HIS DESIRE, THE LUST OF HIS NATURE. This is how free man's will is. Man is in bondage to the de­praved, sinful nature. No one forces or coerces man to remain in bondage; he willingly and affect onately fol­lows the course of his nature. Free-will? Yes. But oh, how great the bondage of man!

In this respect, man's will is similar to the will of God. It is not beyond the power of God to commit sin; but God's holy and righteous nature will not land can­not) motivate a desire or will to sin. God's nature being holy and righteous, wills only those things which are holy and righteous. This is why it is imposs'ble for God to do wrong: there is no wrong in Him. Certainly, God's will is free; but it is only free to will things holy and righteous. His will is in bondage, if we may call it such, to an absolutely holy nature. Likewise, the sinner's will is free; but it is only free to will things sinful, for it is moved by a corrupt, sinful nature. To teach that God could possibly will to sin, is to teach that His nature is not immutably and absolutely pure, holy, and righteous. And to teach that the sinner can will to do spiritual acts (such as repentance and faith) is to teach that the sinner is not spiritually depraved and dead, but very much spiritually alive.

Now a question: What part (supposing there is a part) can man's will have in salvation? Answer: Only so much as his nature will motivate him to have. How much is that? What good thing will the depraved nature mo­tivate a man to do. To repent? Of course not, for the nature of man is to follow his own way only. To believe? Why no, for man's nature is a nature of self-righteous­ness, and faith would imply that man needed the right­eousness of Christ (Romans 10:4). To come to Christ? No, for man loves darkness rather than Christ the Light (John 3:19).

How profitable, then, is man's fleshly nature? Jesus answers: "The flesh profiteth nothing" (John 6:63). Paul echoes: "In my flesh dwelleth no good thing" (Ro­mans 7:18). And to these testimonies could be added scores of others from the Word of God.

How, then, does a sinner ever have a will to come to Christ? Simple enough (that is, simple to God). God's Spirit quickens (regenerates) the sinner, impart­ing a new, divine, spiritual nature (John 3:6, 6:63, Ephesians 2:1) . This new nature, naturally, has a holy desire (will). Its initial desire is to turn from sin to righteousness (repentance and faith). This is the will to come to Christ. The sinner comes, though fought against by the old nature's will of rebellion to God. That holy desire (will) of the new nature continues to express itself. Thus, the regenerated sinner now lives a life of righteousness, though fought continually by the will of the old man (Galatians 5:17, Romans 7:14-25).

This definitely is contrary to the false notions of the Arminions. The Arminians teach that man can either will (desire) spiritual things, or evil things. If this be true, then man's nature, which moves the will, is both spiritually good and evil. Then, it is not totally depraved and unprofitable, as the Scriptures teach. How could the flesh be totally depraved, yet desire (will) to do that which is spiritual and good?

One can easily see that there is no such "free-will" as Arminians advocate. No Arminian can harmonize his theory of the will with the truth as to depravity, brought out in this article.

 

"Can the Eth;opian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accus­tomed to do evil."-Jeremiah 13:3.

"Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."-John 1 :13.

 

Free-will somebody believes in. Free­will many dream of. Free-will! Wherever is that to be found? Once there was Free­will in Paradise, and a terrible mess Free­will made of there; for it spoiled all Para­dise and turned Adam out of the garden. Free-will was once in Heaven; but it turn­ed the glorious archangel out, and a third part of the stars of Heaven fell into the abyss. I want nothing to do with Free­will, but I will try to see whether I have got a Free-will within. And I find I have. Very free to that which is evil but very poor to that which is good.

-C. H. Spurgeon

 

AUGUSTUS TOPLADY DEFINES ARMINIANISM

 

IN AN INTRODUCTORY account of the life of Jerome Zanchius, Augustus Toplady, the translator of Zan­chius' Absolute Predestination, adds this footnote to pages 21 and 22: "As every reader may not have a clear, determinate idea of what Arminianism precisely is, it may, to such, be satisfactory to know that it consists chiefly of five particulars:

" (1) The Arminians will not allow Election to be an eternal, peculiar, unconditional and irreversible act of God.

"(2) They assert that Christ died equally and indiscriminately for every individual of mankind, for them that perish no less than for them that are saved.

"(3) That saving grace is tendered to the acceptance of every man, which he may or may not receive, just as he pleases.

"(4) That the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit is not invincible, but is suspended for its efficacy on the will of man.

"(5) That saving grace is not an abiding principle, but that those who are loved of God, ransomed by Christ, and born again of the Spirit, may (let God wish and strive ever so much to the contrary) throw all away and perish eternally at last.

"To these many Arminions tack a variety of errors beside. But the above may be considered as a general skeleton of the leading mistakes which characterize the sect."

It should be added that though many Baptists and others do not believe the fifth proposition of Ar­minianism, they nevertheless are Arminian on the first four. The reason they do not accept number 5 is simply due to a failure on their part to reason and think logic­ally and consistently upon their idea of free-will. And the only reason why all Arminions are not pure ra­tionalists and atheists is that they fail to follow their theological ideas to a logical conclusion.

 

 

 

"WHOSOEVER Will

With General Comments On Arminianism

 

"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely."-Rev. 22:17.

THERE IS NOTHING that should irk a child of our soverei:n God any greater than the heresies of Ar­m nianism. Frankly, it is difficult to see how one could hove any more respect for an Arminian than for an out-and-out atheist. If either is to be respected, it would appear that the out-and-out atheist should at least be no lower than the Arminian, for he doesn't propagate his infidelity and atheism under the guise of its being Christian doctrine. On the other hand, the Arminian does. However, there is very little difference between Armin­ianism and downright othe sm. Jonathan Edwards, the famous American theologian and evangelist, said, "It is the doctrine of Arminians, and not of the Calvinists, that is justly charged with a tendency to atheism; it being built on a foundation that is the utter subversion of every demonstrative argument for the proof of a D:ety." (On the Will, page 357).

Augustus Toplady, famous preacher and hymn writer of the early eighteenth century said, "This said scheme ascends, on the ladder of blasphemy, to the mountain top of othe sm." (Works, page 352, 353).

The only difference that is manifest between athe­ism and Arminianism is that the atheist doesn't profess to believe in any god, whereas the Arminian professes to do so. But the god that the Arminian worships is a god conceived in man's depraved mind and imagination, the some type mind and imagination that gave birth to othe sm. The Arminian god is nothing more than an idol, having been created and fashioned by man's imagi­nation, which is the seat of oil idolatry (Romans 1:21­23). In fact, the Arminians who worship the little two­by-four, weak-kneed, powerless, imaginary god of Ar­minianism, ore no less guilty of idolatry than those poor Indians of Mexico, whom I saw bowing down to images, pictures, statues, and all manner of objects of supersti­tious worship. Both the god of Arminianism and the idols of the heathen were brought forth from the same womb-man's depraved imagination. If one were to ask which is the more guilty of the sin of idolatry, we would have to answer, the Arminian, for this idolatry is pro­ceeded in despite the light of the Bible. Most heathen do not have an open Bible, but the Arminian does. Thus, his iniquitious idolatry brings upon him a greater dam­nation.

We are living in perilous days, in idolatrous days; days in which the Arminian god is being worshipped from Dan to Beersheba. And this, despite the Bible, despite age-old Baptist statements of faith, despite the writings of our Baptist fathers, despite the numerous printed ser­mons of C. H. Spurgeon, the works of Gill, P nk, and other expositors of God's Word-despite all these things which should cause men to see that God is God, Ar­minianism's weaker-than-a-worm god is the object of the worship of the majority of religious people today.

Arminianism denies the total depravity of man, and fosters on the world the doctrine of free-will. Armin­ianism dethrones the true God, as it were, and en­thrones his lordship, Mr. Free-will. People today are being taught that the purpose of God is this and that, but .. . yes, BUT! . . . unless the will of man "lets" God have His way, then He just can't have it. We are being told, as one of old has so ingeniously expressed it­

 

"That all mankind he fain would save, But longs for what he cannot have. Industrious thus to sound abroad A disappointed changing God."

 

The theme of modern - day preaching is not what God can and does do, but what He wants to do, and what He will do, if man will but let Him. We even hear songs exhorting men to "let Him have His way with you," let Him do this and let Him do that. Actually, what "God's will" boils down to, according to modern-day notions, is what man "lets" Him do, and not what He actually determined and purposed to do and actually does. Free­will has been so exalted, we are led to believe that God has no will and no power whatsoever, except to do what the will of man dictates. This is the god of the Arminian imagination.

We can be sure that the Lord of Heaven and of earth, who doeth according to His will in the army of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, is get­ting a big laugh out of the silly notions of the Arminians. In the book of Proverbs, the Lord says that He will laugh at the calamity of the wicked, and I doubt not that He is already chuckling a bit over the puny conception the Arminians have drawn of Him. It's enough to make any­one laugh. I laughed when I heard J. Harold Smith say over the radio that God had done all He could do to save sinners; I laughed when I read what Noel Smith said about Hell's being a ghastly monument to the failure of God to save those that are there; I laughed when I read a sermon by Dallas Billington, in which he said, "No man can ever make his bed in Hell until God has tried His best to save him." I laugh when I read these little "decision blanks" tagged onto all the Arminian gospel tracts, saying that God wants you to sign on the dotted line; I laugh when I read or hear Arminian preachers tell sinners how badly God wants to save them, but can't do so, unless they permit Him. Why, these Ar­minians are the biggest jokes that could be published in any joke book. All the Abbotts and Costellos, Mutts and Jeffs, and Dogwoods and Blondies that ever lived could hardly compare with such big jokes. These modern TV comedians and entertainers have never cracked a joke that is as "jokified" as what the Arminians say about God. There is nothing so disgustingly amusing as the notions of Arminian free-willers.

Take for example, my text: one is disgusted and at the some time, amused, by the abuse rendered to this passage by the free-willers. Why, there isn't even the smell of free-will in this passage, yet the Arminians think that it definitely establishes the power of the will of man. I want us to notice just a few things about this passage of Scripture, in contradiction to Arminianism.

I

In the first place, this passage says, "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely," and not "who­soever will may come." I call attention to this fact, be­cause Arminians almost always misquote Scriptures to establish their positions. And the Arminians quote this one, "whosoever will may come." Now, there isn't par­ticularly anything wrong with this phraseology, but it just isn't a correct quotation, which is typical of Arminianism.

Arminianism is built upon just such loose quotations of Scripture, or twisted fragments of Scripture. The passage says, "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." Let us quote the verse as it is, not as the Arminian quotes it.

II

Secondly, note that the passage does not say, "Who­soever can come," or "Whosoever has the power to come." This would imply that the ability to come re­sided in the sinner. Actually, this is what the Arminians teach: they teach that whosoever-just anyone or every­one-has the power to come. And this is a denial of the fact of total depravity. Jesus taught:

"No man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father."-John 6:65.

This is a verse the Arminians never touch. They are too busy setting forth their contrary notions to pay it any attention. They interpret Revelation 22:17 directly contrary to this verse, teaching that all men have the power within them to come. So naturally, they hove no use for John 6:37, 44, 63-65, nor any other Scripture on man's depravity and inability.

But Revelation 22:17 does not teach the power of the will of man, as we shall see.

III

Thirdly, this verse says, "Whosover will,' etc. It is not simply, "whosoever," but it is "whosoever will." This excludes a great number of people. Arminions teach that this is an unlimited invitation to take of the water of life; but it is not. It is limited to whosoever is willing. The only people bidden to take of the water of life ore the willing ones. It doesn't say, "whosoever won't," but "whosoever will."

Now, who are those that are willing? Is it the whole world, without an individual exception? The Arminians teach that this invitation is that broad. Is it? Notice God's Word:

Jesus said, "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life."-John 5:40.

Scriptures such as this could be multiplied, but this one will suffice for the present point. Let me ask, are those who will not come to Christ included in "whosoever             will"? Why no, you say. Naturally, for they do not hove a will to come; in fact, they have willed not to come. So you see, those who are urged to "take the water of life freely," are only those who are willing.

 

IV

This leads to our fourth notation: who are those that are willing to take of the water of life freely? In Psalm i 1Q:3, we read, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power."

In Isaiah 43:21, we read, "This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise." In Psalm 22:30, "A seed shall serve him."

David said, "Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts."-Psalm 65:4.

In these verses, we have reference made to the chosen of God, His elect seed. He assures us that His people shall be willing. We ore told that it is God who causes a man to approach unto Him. These are the same people of Revelation 22:17; these are those that are willing. They are made willing in the day of God's own power; then it is that they gladly take of the water of life freely. The "whosoever will" of Revelation 22:17 is the "blessed man" of Psalm 65:4, whom God "choosest and cous­est to approach unto Him."

We are to announce, "Whosoever will," because we know not who God's elect are, and we know not whom He will give the will to come. But whoever takes of the water of life, will be a willing person; and whosoever is a willing person, has been "made willing" in the day of God's power. And we ore plainly told that such a person is one of God's elect.

The following poem by John Ryland fitly describes the Arminian in his ignorance of spiritual truths:

 

"Arise ye dead," Arminius cries:

"Arise ye dead in sin!

Unstop your ears, unseal your eyes,

And a new life begin.

Why will ye die, ye wretched souls?

Ye dead, why will ye die?

Quicken and make your spirits whole:

To life eternal fly."

 

As Baal's worshippers of old,

Begg'd, pray'd, and cry'd aloud;

 Cutting their bodies, as we're told,

To move a fancied god;
So on the idol man he'll call,

And pompously declare,

Though slightly damaged by the fall,

How great his powers are.

 

"Rise, noble creature! Man, arise! And make yourself alive!

Prepare yourself to mount the skies; For endless glory strive."

Deluded Seer! But man will lie
Still senseless as a stone;

And you yourself stand fooling by, Till both are quite undone:

Unless Almighty power be mov'd By God's free-will, not thine,

To quicken both, and make His love On both your hearts to shine.

 

What do you think your song will be when you come to Heaven? Blessed be God, that He gave me free-will? And blessed be my own dear self, that I made a good use of it? 0 no, no. Such a song as that was never heard in Heaven yet, nor ever will, while God is God, and Heaven is Heaven. Look into the Book of Revela­tion, and there you will find the employ of the blessed, and the strains which they sing. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation."

-Augustus M. Toplady