92SermonsofJonathanEdwards
3. That effectual calling, or that saving conversion in which grace is commenced in the soul, is to the same end. — God, by his Spirit, and through his truth, calls, awakens, convicts, converts, and leads to the exercise of grace, all those who are made willing in the day of his power, to the end that they might exercise themselves in holy practice. "We are his workmanship," says the apostle, "created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10). And the apostle tells the Christian Thessalonians, that God had not called them unto uncleanness, but unto holiness (1 Thes. 4:7). And again it is written, "As he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation" (1 Pet. 1:15). It is also true,
4. That spiritual knowledge and understanding which are the inward attendants of all true grace in the heart, tend to holy practice. — A true knowledge of God and divine things is a practical knowledge. As to a mere speculative knowledge of the things of religion, many wicked men have attained to great measures of it. Men may possess vast learning, and their learning may consist very much of their knowledge in divinity, and of the Bible, and of the things pertaining to religion, and they may be able to reason very strongly about the attributes of God and the doctrines of Christianity, and yet herein their knowledge fails of being a saving knowledge, that it is only speculative and not practical. He that has a right and saving acquaintance with divine things, sees the excellency of holiness, and of all the ways of holiness, for he sees the beauty and excellency of God, which consist in his holiness; and, for the same reason, he sees the hatefulness of sin, and of all the ways of sin. And if a man knows the hatefulness of the ways of sin, certainly this tends to his avoiding these ways; and if he sees the loveliness of the ways of holiness, this tends to incline him to walk in them.
He that knows God, sees that he is worthy to be obeyed. Pharaoh did not see why he should obey God, because he did not know who he was, and therefore he says — "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go" (Exo. 5:2).