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though the ability of coming to Christ in a spiritual manner is owing to the powerful grace of God in drawing; yet the disability of coming to Christ does not arise from a defect, or want of that powerful attraction, but from the corruption and vitiosity of nature, which being blame-worthy, what springs from it must be so likewise. Moreover, we readily allow, that it is not praise-worthy in men to come to Christ, and believe in him, but that all the praise is due to God, and to his efficacious grace, by which they are what they are in conversion; since faith is the gift of God, and of his sole operation: nor could any come to Christ, unless it were given unto him of the Father; and therefore he ought to have all the praise and glory.

3. Whereas it is affirmed, that "to be drawn of God can only signify,

(1.) "To be persuaded and prevailed upon to come to Christ, by the consideration of the mighty works which God had done to justify that he was the true Messiah; to which Christ appeals as divine testimonies of him, and by which the unbelieving Jews became inexcusable." I answer, it is true, that miracles were proofs of his Messiahship, and which left the Jews, who rejected him, without excuse; but then these works, properly speaking, were done by Christ himself, and the conviction of his being the Messiah from them, and the persuasion to come to him, and believe on him, on the account of them, were from the Spirit; and neither of them the acts of the Father, and so not intended by this act of drawing. Besides, multitudes of souls, both under the Old and New Testament, before, and since the coming of Christ, have been enabled to come to him for life and salvation, who never were persuaded and prevailed upon so to do, by the consideration of miracles. And many who did see the miracles of Christ, did not, in a spiritual manner, come to him, and believe in him. Wherefore, our Lord ascribes faith in him to a superior power, to the unfrustrable influences of divine grace, which are here signified by the Father's drawing. Or,

(2.) It is saidt, to be drawn by the Father signifies "to be moved by the great promise of eternal life confirmed by these miracles to do it; for where there is a firm belief, and lively sense of that inestimable blessing, it must strongly engage to come to Christ, from whom it is only to be expected." To which I answer, eternal life is, indeed, only to be expected from Christ; and when there is a firm belief and lively sense of it, as in him, and to be had from him, persons will be strongly engaged to go to him for it: but then, what is it that gives that firm belief, and fixes that lively sense of this blessing, so as strongly to engage to come to Christ for it, but the powerful and efficacious grace of God? The bare external revelation of the promise, though confirmed by miracles, will not do it. Instructions by the ministry of the word are not sufficient, unless accompanied with the demonstration of the Spirit, and of power. The following words are not a proof of it, It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God; every man therefore that hath heard, and hath * Whitby, p. 280; ed. 2. 273.

+ Ibid.; ed. 2. 274.

learned of the Father, cometh unto me*: which do not intend mere external instructions, or objective teachings, for multitudes are in that way instructed who never come to Christ; but special teachings, such as are attended with the energy of divine grace, with the laws and doctrines of Christ put into the inward part, and written on the heart. Add to all this, our Lord himself explains what he means by the Father's drawing, ver. 65, where he says, No man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father; which is more than affording means and motives, it is giving faith itself. What is said to answer to the argument from Matt. vii. 18, and Rom. viii. 7, will be considered hereafter in the next chapter.

SECTION IX.

Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.—ACTS xi. 18; with Ephes. ii. 8.

THESE Scriptures prove that faith and repentance are the gifts of God, and owing to the powerful operation of his grace. Now,

1. To confront this, it is said f, "What God commands we must do; and therefore must be active in it: but God commands all men every where to repent, Acts xvii. 30, and to believe in the name of Christ, 1 John iii. 23, therefore we must be active in the works of faith and repentance." To which I reply, that though what God commands is the rule of man's duty, yet not the measure of his strength. It is no good arguing from God's commands, to man's power in his present state. God requires men to keep the whole law; it does not follow from thence, that they are able to do it. So, though it is his commandment, that we should believe in his Son Jesus Christ, and repent; yet it is certain, that faith is not of ourselves, it is a gift of grace, and of the operation of God; and the same may be said of repentance. Moreover, though believers are active in the exercise of the graces of faith and repentance; for it is the convinced sinner, and not God or Christ, or the Spirit, who repents and believes; yet in both men are purely passive in the first production and implantation of them in their hearts. But we are told, that by this way of arguing, the Jews must have been purely passive in all their hardness of heart, Ahab's false prophets in lying, the enemies of God's church in all the evils they do to her, and in the blasphemies they utter against him; because God is said §, to give a spirit of slumbering, a lying spirit, power to take peace from the earth, and a mouth speaking blasphemies. To which I answer, that these judicial acts of God, and as such the persons to whom they relate, were indeed passive in them, these being purely God's acts, and not man's; and yet the Jews were active in hardening their own hearts, Ahab's prophets in following the suggestions of the lying spirit, and the enemies of Whitby, p. 283; ed. 2. 276.

* Ver. 45.
§ Rom. xi. 8; 1 Kings xxii. 23; Rev. vi, 4, 8, and xiii. 5, 7.

Ibid.

God's church in using their power to make war with the saints, and in opening their mouths in blasphemy against him.

2. This is laid down* "as a general and certain rule, that where God is said to give any thing, the exercise of that faculty is still supposed which he hath given us already; and God is only said to give it by giving those faculties by which we are enabled to obtain it, and the means and motives which are sufficient to excite those faculties to the performance of their proper actions. Thus it is always with respect to natural and spiritual gifts; for thus God giveth riches and wisdom. Thus the Jews say, that God hath given repentance to the Gentiles, when, by Peter's preaching to them peace through Jesus Christ, and promising remission of sins upon their repentance, they repented, and believed in Christ. So faith is said to be the gift of God; because the objects of it are only by divine revelation made known, and are only confirmed, and made credible by the testimony God hath given to them." But though the Gentiles repented, and believed in Christ, upon Peter's preaching peace and pardon to them through him; yet it was not through the strength of their natural faculties, or barely through means and motives, exciting their faculties to the performance of these actions, but through the power of the Holy Ghost; for while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the word; who produced in them these graces of faith and repentance, and assisted them in the exercise of them on their proper objects. Besides, if God may be said to give faith and repentance to men, when he only gives the means of them, and motives to them, he may be said equally to give faith and repentance to men, who do not believe and repent; which is a contradiction in terms, provided they have the same means and motives as those who do. And so Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, may be said to have faith and repentance given them; because they had the means of them, and motives to them; the doctrines of Christ were preached unto them, and his mighty works done among them; though our Lord upbraids them with their impenitence and unbelief. So, when faith is said to be the gift of God, if no more is meant by it, than that the objects of it are made known, confirmed, and rendered credible by a divine revelation; then all those may be said to have it given to them, to whom the objects of it are so made known and confirmed. Whereas there are multitudes, who through the external revelation of the word, know that Christ is the object of faith, and yet have no true faith in him. Therefore more is meant than this, even the donation of the grace itself; for it is given to men to believe, even actually to exercise faith. To which is required, besides the confirming evidence of revelation, the power and grace of God; for no man can come to Christ, that is, believe on him, except the Father draw him. Nor is it always true, with respect to natural gifts, that God gives riches and wisdom to men, when he gives them faculties, means, and motives of getting wealth and wisdom, see Eccles. ix. 11. When he * Whitby, p. 283-285; ed. 2. 276-278.

P

† Acts x. 44.

does give riches and wisdom, he gives more than barely faculties, means, and motives to get them; he gives riches and wisdom themselves so when he gives faith and repentance, it is not merely natural faculties capable of them, or the bare means of them, or motives inducing to them, but the things themselves.

SECTION X.

Whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things that were spoken of Paul.-ACTS xvi. 14.

THE heart of man is naturally shut up against God and Christ, and every thing that is spiritually good; and nothing less than divine power can open it, nor any other but he that has the key of the house of David, that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth*; which proves, that conversion is God's work, and wrought by the power of his grace. In answer to which,

1. It is owned†, that "God inclined Lydia to do this; but the only question is said to be, whether he did it by an extraordinary and irresistible influence? This it seems reasonable to deny." But, why should it seem reasonable to deny it? Surely, that action which overcomes resistance, and takes out of the way every thing that obstructs, must needs have an irresistible influence. Now, such is this action of opening a sinner's heart; it overcomes the opposition within, and removes that which shut, and kept the heart shut to every thing that is spiritually good, and, therefore, must be done by an irresistible influence. Our author proceeds, and reasons thus: "Either she alone was afía, prepared, disposed, and fitted to receive this influence, and then she had done something already towards her conversion; or if it were absolutely necessary that she might believe, and yet she alone, though no more fitted or prepared for it than the rest, received it; the other auditors for want of this extraordinary influence, must lie under a necessity of not believing; and so it could not be blame-worthy in them, that they did not believe." I reply, whether Lydia was the only person or no converted, at this time, is not certain, no mention is made of any other; and that she was fitted and disposed to receive this influence does not appear, no not from her being σeßouém tòv Oeov, one that worshipped God; for in Antioch there were many of these σeßoμévwv yvvaîkov, devout and honourable women, who were so far from being fitted and disposed to believe, that they raised a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. And had she been fitted, prepared, and disposed to receive this influence, it does not follow that she had done something towards her conversion, since this might be, and yet no conversion; and, besides, this disposition might be of God, and not of herself. On the other hand it is urged, if she was no more fitted for it than others, and yet received it, Whitby, p. 285; ed. 2. 278.

* Rev. iii. 7.

Acts xiii. 50.

the rest, for want of it, must lie under a necessity of not believing, and so could not be blamed for their unbelief. But it should be observed, that though such is the condition of man by the fall, that he cannot believe in Christ, without the powerful influence of divine grace, which God is not obliged to communicate; yet, it is not the withholding of that influence, or denying that grace, which lays him under a necessity of not believing, but it is the corruption of his nature that lays and holds him in the chains of unbelief; and, therefore, his unbelief is not to be imputed to the want of this powerful influence, which God is not obliged to give, but to the vitiosity and wickedness of his heart, on which account he is justly blame-worthy.

2. It is alleged*, that "to open the heart, and to open the ear, are Scripture phrases of like import; for the effect of both is the same, namely, the rendering the person willing and inclined to do the thing. Now this God sometimes does by his afflicting hand, and sometimes by the preaching of the word; so that they, who have their hearts affected with, and inclined by it to what is good, may be said properly enough to have their hearts opened by it." To which I reply, that both the opening of the ear and of the heart are God's acts, and not man's: and, though God sometimes does these things by afflictions, and by the preaching of the word, as moral instruments, yet neither the one nor the other will ever produce them, without the mighty power of his Spirit and grace accompanying them: and, whereas it is said, that such who have their hearts affected with the word, and inclined by it to that which is good, may be said to have their hearts opened by it. But who, or what is it that gives and produces this affection and inclination? All that hear it are not affected with it, and inclined by it: to what else can this be ascribed, but to the powerful and efficacious grace of God?

3. It is observed t, that "God is here said to open the heart of Lydia, not to believe, but only рoσéxew, to attend to the things spoken of Paul: that is, to weigh and seriously consider of the greatness of the blessings promised to believers, namely, remission of sins and eternal life; and that attention produced faith in her." I reply, that it is true, that faith comes by hearing, and attending to what is heard; but it is neither hearing nor attention that produces faith, but the grace and power of God: hence it is said to be the work of God, and of the operation of God. And, if such an act of God's grace and power, as the opening of the heart, is necessary to a proper, profitable, and useful attention to the word, and to a serious consideration of the blessings of it; how much more necessary must it be to the work of conversion, to true saving faith in Christ?

*Whitby, p. 285, 286; ed. 2. 279.

+ Ibid.

John vi. 29; Coloss. ii. 12.

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