God foreknew, he also FOREORDAINED to be
conformed to the image of his Son, ... and whom he foreordained, them
he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom
he justified, them he also glorified." Rom. 8:29, 30. Likewise the
text before us: "ELECT ... according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, through sanctification of the Spirit." 1 Peter 1:2.

These passages, with others of a somewhat similar import, do _not_
teach the foreordination and election of individuals independent of
character and fitness. A lack of perception of this comprehensive
truth accounts for the general misunderstanding of these and like
passages in the apostolic writings. The doctrine of _election_, as it
is called, opens out into a very large field for thought and
investigation. It takes in the whole way of salvation from beginning
to end.

"God is love," and the universe, with all its display of wonders and
apparent opposition of forces and their ends, was created and is
upheld by the eternal hand, for no other purpose than to make his love
be seen and felt by his intelligent creation. Any other view
challenges the divine love and reflects discredit upon the divine
wisdom. All that we know of God is revealed in the truth he has given
to save man from sin and its consequences. His love, wisdom and power
are all revealed in his great scheme to build up a heaven of eternal
glory and bliss for all who desire or are willing to share in its
blessedness. But God does not work out of order. He works in accord
with the love and wisdom which are his essence, and both infinite and
eternal with him. Before the heavens were made, or ever the
foundations of the earth were laid, it was the divine purpose to
create intelligent beings to be eternally happy. When God created the
heavens and the earth he made man in his own image and likeness. Man
was happy. But he fell. And God foresaw that man would fall; and to
remedy the loss and restore man to the divine image again, Christ was,
as a Lamb, slain before the foundation of the world. In the Divine
estimation Christ was slain before the foundation of the world; but to
us, visibly, not until four thousand years afterward. In the divine
foreknowledge the church was established before the world was made,
and God _foreordained_ who should compose it, basing this
foreordination, not on one in preference to another on any personal
ground, but on the ground of fitness as to quality. Foreord