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That awful doctrine?
From Spurgeon's, "A View of God's Glory"
Here is divine sovereignty--
"I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious."
God is a sovereign.
He was a sovereign before he made this world.
He lived alone, and this was in his mind-- Shall I make any
thing or shall I not? I have a right to make creatures or not
to make any. He resolved that he would fashion a world. When
he made it, he had a right to form the world in whatever
shape and size he pleased; and he had a right, if he chose,
to leave the globe un-tenanted by a single creature.
When he had resolved to make man, he had a right to make him
whatever kind of creature he liked. If he wished to make him
a worm or a serpent, he had a right to do it. When he made
him, he had a right to put any command on him that he
pleased; and God had a right to say to Adam, 'you shall not
touch that forbidden tree.' And when Adam offended, God
had a right to punish him and all the race forever in the
bottomless pit.
God is so far sovereign, that he has a right, if he likes,
to save any one in this chapel, or to crush all who are here.
He has a right to take us all to heaven if he pleases, or to
destroy us. He has a right to do just as he pleases with us.
We are as much in his hands as much as clay in the hands
of the potter. This is what he asserted, when he said,
"I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious,
and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy."
This stirs up your carnal pride, does it not?
Men want to be somebody.
They do not like to lie down before God, and have it preached
to them that God can do just as he wills with them.
Ah! you may hate it, but it is what the Scripture tells us.
Surely it is self-evident that God may do as he will with his own.
God has a right to do just as he pleases.
That is the high and awful doctrine of
DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY.
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