Chapter III (continued, part 4)
already, before the end of the day of his probation, so confirmed in obedience that it is impossible for him to fall away.
§ 26. One danger of these Arminian notions is that they strongly tend to prevent conviction of sin.
§ 27. The vast differences of Arminians to an accurate and clear view of the scope and design of the sacred penmen, and a critical knowledge of the original, will prove forever vain and insufficient to help them against such clear evidence as the Scripture exhibits concerning efficacious grace. I desire it may be shown, if it can be that ever any terms that are fuller and stronger are used more frequently, or in greater variety, to signify God's being the author, efficient, and bestower of any kind of benefit, than as to the bestowment of true virtue or goodness of heart: whether concerning the deliverance out of Egypt, or the manna that was rained down from heaven, or the bestowment of the blessings of Canaan, or saving Noah and his family in the ark, or the raising any from the dead, or Christ's giving health to the sick, or sight to the blind, or bread to the hungry in the wilderness, or anything else whatsoever. There also is: the giving being to mankind in their creation; the giving reason to them with their other natural faculties; the giving them life and breath; the giving them the beautiful form of their bodies; the giving them life at the general resurrection; the giving them their glory and happiness in heaven; the prophets and the Word of God by the prophets and others; the giving the means of grace and salvation; and the giving Christ and providing means of salvation in him. Yea, I know of no one thing in Scripture wherein such significant, strong expressions are used, in so great variety, or one half so often, as the bestowment of this benefit of true goodness and piety of heart. But after all, we must be faced down in it with vast confidence, that the Scriptures do not imply any more than only exhibiting means of
instruction, leaving the determining and proper causing of the effect wholly with man, as the only proper, efficient, and determining cause: — and that the current of Scripture is all against us, and that it is because we do not understand language, and are bigots and fools for imagining any such thing as that the Scriptures say anything of that nature, and because the divines on our side do not understand Greek, and do not lay the Scripture before them, nor mind the scope of Scripture, nor consider the connection, etc. etc. Perhaps it will be said that every one of those Scriptures, which are brought to prove efficacious grace, may have another interpretation, found out by careful and critical examination. But, alas! Is that the way of the Most High's instructing mankind: to use such a multitude of expressions, in different languages, and various different ages, all which in their natural and most common acceptation, in all languages, nations, and ages, must undoubtedly be understood in a particular sense? Yea, the whole thread and current of all that God says, according to the use of speech among mankind, tends to lead to such an understanding, and so unavoidably leads his people in all ages into such thing; intending only that the true meaning should not be found out, but by the means of acute criticism, which might possibly hit upon the strange, unusual, and surprising meaning?
§ 28. Instead of persons being the determining and efficient causes of their own virtue and piety, after all the moral means God uses with man, let us suppose some third person between God and the subject of this gift of virtue, to be in the very same manner the sovereignly determining cause and efficient of virtue; that he had power to bestow it in us, or cause us to be the subjects of it, just in the same manner as the Arminians suppose we ourselves have power to be the causes of our being the subjects of virtue; and that it depended on this third person's free will, just in the same manner as now they suppose our having virtue depends on our own free will; and that
God used moral means with that third person to bestow virtue on us, just in the same manner that he used moral means to persuade us to cause virtue in ourselves, and the moral means had the like tendency to operate on his will as on ours. But finally, it was left entirely to his free will to be the sole determining cause whether we should have virtue, without any such influence on his will as in the least to insure his sovereignty, arbitrary disposal, and perfectly free selfdetermination, and it should be left contingent, whether he would bestow it or not. And in these circumstances, this third person should happen to determine in our favor, and bestow virtue: — Now I ask, would it be proper to ascribe the matter so wholly to God, in such strong terms and in such a great variety; to ascribe it so entirely to him as his gift; to pray to him beforehand for it; to give him thanks; to give him all the glory, etc.? On the contrary, would not this determining cause (whose arbitrary, self-determined, self-possessed, sovereign will, decides the matter), be properly looked upon as the main cause, vastly the most proper cause, the truest author and bestower of the benefit? Would not he be, as it were, all in the cause? Would not the glory properly belong to him, on whose pleasure the determination of the matter properly depended?
§ 29. By regeneration, being new creatures, raised from death in sin, in the New Testament, is not meant merely persons' being brought into the state and privileges of professing Christians, according to Dr. Taylor. When Christ says unto Nicodemus, John 3:3, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God;" he does not mean merely, that unless a man be brought to a participation of the new state and privileges of the Christian church, he cannot enter on the possession and privileges of the Christian church. For that would be nonsense, and only to say, unless a man be born again, he cannot be born again, or unless a man enter into the new state of things, as erected by the Messiah, he cannot enter on the
new state of things as erected by the Messiah. Nor can he mean that unless a man be a professing, Christian, he cannot see the future and eternal privileges of the kingdom of heaven, for he supposes many heathens will see the kingdom of God in that sense.
And how unreasonable would it be to suppose that Christ would teach this doctrine of the necessity of being instated in his newmodeled church, as such a great, important, and main doctrine of his!
Taylor, to make out his scheme, is forced to suppose that by being born of God is meant two things in the New Testament (see p. 127 of his Key, and on Original Sin, p. 144, etc.). So he is forced to suppose that by the kingdom of God is meant two things (p. 125 marginal note, and other places), and so he supposes two senses of our being of the truth, our being of or in God, and knowing God (see p.127 marginal note). He is forced to suppose that many of the expressions, signifying antecedent blessings, are to be taken in a double sense (see p. 138. No. 243, etc.). See how evidently being born of God signifies something else than a being brought into the state of professing Christians, 1 John 2:29, "If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doth righteousness is born of him." Chap. 3, "Whatsoever is born of God, doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." Chap. 4:8, "Every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." 1 John 5:4, "Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world." Verse 18, "We know that whosoever is born of God, sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God, keepeth himself; and that wicked one toucheth him not."
So it is exceeding apparent that knowing God, and being of God, and in God, having this hope in him, etc. mean something beside our
Christian profession, and principles, and privileges. 1 John 2:3, etc. "Hereby do we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him." Chap. 3, "Every one that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure." Chap. 3:14, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." Chap. 4:12, "If we love one another, God dwelleth in us." Taylor supposes that this same apostle, by being born of God, means being received to the privileges of professing Christians. John 1:12 (p. 49); 1 John 5:1 and verse 18 (p. 48); 1 John 3:1 (p. 49).
§ 30. Why does the apostle say, concerning apostates, "they were not of us: if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not at all of us:" — if it be, as Dr. Taylor supposes, that professing Christians are indeed of the society of Christians to all intents and purposes, have all their privileges, are truly the children of God, members of Christ, of the household of God, saints, believers that have obtained like precious faith, are all one body, have one spirit, one faith, one inheritance, have their hearts purified and sanctified, are all the children of light, are all of the household of God, fellow-citizens with the saints, have all fellowship with Christ, etc.?
§ 31. It is true, the nation of the Jews are in the Old Testament said to be elected, called, created, made, formed, redeemed, delivered, saved, bought, purchased, begotten. But particular Jews are no where so spoken of, at least with reference to the same thing, viz. their national redemption, when they were brought out of Egypt, etc.
David, in the book of Psalms, though he is so abundant there in giving thanks to God for his mercies, and is also so frequent in praising God for God's redeeming his people out of Egypt, and the salvation God wrought for the nation and church of Israel at that time, yet he never once blesses God (having respect to that salvation) that God had chosen him and redeemed him, bought him, regenerated him. He never (having reference to that affair) speaks in the language of the apostle, "He loved me, and gave himself for me:" though he often speaks of the blessedness of those men God had chose, and caused to come nigh unto him, agreeably to the language of the New Testament, and often blesses God for redeeming and saving him in particular. But never, in any of these things, has he respect to those national privileges, nor indeed any other of the penmen of the Psalms, which is very strange, if the privilege of being bought, made, created, etc. as applied in the New Testament applies to himself in particular, and which this and the other apostles applied to many other particular persons.
§ 32. That professing Christians are said to be sanctified, washed, etc. does not argue, that all professing Christians are so in fact. For Taylor himself says, "it should be carefully observed, that it is very common in the sacred writings to express not only our Christian privileges, but also the duty to which they oblige, in the present or preterperfect tense; or to speak of that as done, which only ought to be done, and which, in fact, may possibly never be done: as in Mat. 5:13, "Ye are the salt of the earth," that is, ye ought to be. Rom. 2:4, "The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance;" that is, ought to lead thee: Rom. 6:2; chap. 8:9; Col. 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:6, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice;" i.e. ought to rejoice. 2 Cor. 3:18, "We all with open face (enjoying the means of) beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are (ought to be, enjoy the means of being) changed into the same image from glory to glory." 1 Cor. 5:7, "Ye are unleavened," i.e.
obligated by the Christian profession to be. Heb. 13:14, "We seek (i.e. we ought to seek, or according to our profession, we seek) a city to come." 1 John 2:12-15; 3:9; 5:4-18, and in other places. (See Taylor's Key, p. 139. No. 244 and p. 144. No.246.) This overthrows all his supposed proofs, that those which he calls antecedent blessings do really belong to all professing Christians.
§ 33. The case was quite otherwise in the Christian church with regard to election, redemption, creation, etc. from what it was with the Jews. With the Jews, election, their redemption out of Egypt, their creation, was a national thing. It began with them as a nation, and descended, as it were, from the nation to particular persons. Particular persons were first of the nation and church of the Jews, so, by that means, had an interest in their election, redemption, etc. that God wrought of old. The being of the nation and church of Israel, was the ground of a participation in these privileges. *31* But it is evident it is contrariwise in Christians. With regard to them, the election, redemption, creation, regeneration, etc. are personal things. They begin with particular persons, and ascend to public societies. Men are first redeemed, bought, created, regenerated, and by that means become members of the Christian church, and this is the ground of their membership. Paul's regeneration, and Christ's loving him and giving himself for him, was the foundation of his being of the Christian church, that holy nation, peculiar people, etc. — whereas, David's being one of the nation of Israel, is the proper ground of his participation in Israel's redemption out of Egypt, and of that birth and formation of the people that were at that time. It is apparent the case was thus. It cannot be otherwise. It is evident that the new creation, regeneration, calling, and justification, are personal things, because they are be personal influences; influences of God's Spirit on particular persons, and personal qualifications.
Their regeneration was a personal thing, and therefore, it is not called simply an entering into the creation, or obtaining a part in the new world or new Jerusalem, etc. but a putting off the old man, and putting on the new man. They are first raised from the dead, and by that means come to belong to the church of Christ. They are first lively or living stones, and by that means come to belong to the spiritual house, and the holy temple. By being lively stones, they come to be parts of the living temple, and capable of it. So that their being alive is prior to their belonging to the Christian church. The Christian calling is represented as being the ground of their belonging to the church. They are called into the church, called into the fellowship of Jesus Christ. Their spiritual baptism or washing, is prior to their being in the church. They are by one spirit baptized into one body. They put on Christ, and so become interested in Christ, and sharers with those that had a part in him. By such a personal work of the Spirit of God, they were first made meet to be partakers with the saints in light, before they were partakers.
§ 34. It will follow from Taylor's scheme, that Simon the sorcerer had an interest in all the antecedent blessings. Yet the apostle tells him he was at that time in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. If he was really justified, washed, cleansed, sanctified, then how was he at that time in the bond of iniquity? Justification, forgiveness, etc. is a release from the bond of iniquity. If the heart be purified by faith, it does not remain in the gall of bitterness.
§ 35. Saving grace differs from common grace, in nature and kind. To suppose only a gradual difference, would not only be to suppose that some in a state of damnation are, within an infinitely little, as good as some in a state of salvation (which greatly disagrees with the Arminian notion of men's being saved by their own virtue and goodness), but this, taken with the Arminian notion of men's falling
from grace, will naturally lead us to determine that many that are once in a state of salvation, may be in such a state, and out of it, scores of time in a very short space. For though a person is in a state of salvation, he may be but just in it, and may be infinitely near the limits between a state of salvation and damnation. And as the habits of grace are, according to that scheme, only contracted and raised by consideration and exercise and the exertion of the strength of the mind, and are lost when a man falls from grace by the intermission or cessation of these and by contrary acts and exercises, and as the habits and principles of virtue are raised and sunk, brought into being and abolished by those things, and both the degree of them and the being of them wholly depend on them: — the consequence will naturally be that when a man is first raised to that degree of a virtuous disposition, as to be in a state of salvation, and the degree of virtue is almost infinitely near the dividing line, it will naturally be liable to be a little raised or sunk every hour, according as the thoughts and exercises of the mind are: as the mercury in the thermometer or barometer is never perfectly at rest, but is always rising or subsiding, according to the weight of the atmosphere, or the degree of heat.
§ 36. First. The main thing meant by the word efficacious is this: it being decisive. This seems to be the main question. Second. Its being immediate and arbitrary in that sense, as not to be limited to the laws of nature. Third. That the principles of grace are supernatural in that sense, that they are entirely different from all that is in the heart before conversion. Fourth. That they are infused, and not contracted by custom and exercise. Fifth. That the change is instantaneous and not gradual. These four last heads may be subdivisions of a second general head, so that the divisions may be thus: I. The main thing meant is that it is decisive: II. That it is immediate and supernatural.
The four last of the heads mentioned above, may be subdivisions if this last.
So that there are two things relating to the doctrine of efficacious grace, wherein lies the main difference between the Calvinists and Arminians as to this doctrine. I. That the grace of God is determining and decisive as to the conversion of a sinner, or a man's becoming a good man, and having those virtuous qualifications that entitle to an interest in Christ and his salvation. II. That the power, and grace, and operation of the Holy Spirit in or towards the conversion of a sinner is immediate: that the habit of true virtue or holiness is immediately implanted or infused, that the operation goes so far, that a man has habitual holiness given him instantly wholly by the operation of the Spirit of God and not gradually by assistance concurring with our endeavors, so as gradually to advance virtue into a prevailing habit. And besides these, III. It is held by many of late, that there is no immediate interposition of God, but that all is done by general laws.
The former is that which is of greatest importance or consequence in the controversy with Arminians (though the others are also very important), and this only is what I shall consider in this place, perhaps the others may be considered, God willing, in some other discourse.
§ 37. Concerning what the Arminians say, that these are speculative points: all devotion greatly depends on a sense and acknowledgment of our dependence on God. But this is one of the very chief things belonging to our dependence on God: how much stress do the Scriptures lay on our dependence on God! All assistance of the Spirit of God whatsoever, that is by any present influence or effect of the Spirit, anything at all that a person that is converted from sin to God
is the subject of, through any immediate influence of the Spirit of God upon him, or anything done by the Spirit since the completing and confirming the canon of the Scriptures, must be done by a physical operation, either on the soul or body.
The Holy Spirit of God does something to promote virtue in men's hearts, and to make them good beyond what the angels can do. But the angels can present motives, can excite ideas of the words of promises and threatenings, etc. and can persuade in this way by moral means: as is evident, because the devils in this way promote vice.
§ 38. There is no objection made to God's producing any effects, or causing any events, by any immediate interposition, producing effects arbitrarily, or by the immediate efforts of his will, but what lies equally against his ordering it so, that any effects should be produced by the immediate interposition of men's will, to produce effects otherwise than the established laws of nature would have produced without men's arbitrary interposition.
I beg the reader's attention to the following quotations — "That otherwise, the world cannot be the object of inquiry and science, and far less of imitation by arts: since imitation necessarily presupposes a certain, determinate object, or fixed ascertainable relations and connections of things; and that, upon the contrary supposition, the world must be absolutely unintelligible. Nature, in order to be understood by us, must always speak the same language to us. It must therefore steadfastly observe the same general laws in its operations, or work uniformly, and according to stated, invariable methods and rules. Those terms, order, beauty, general good, etc. plainly include, in their meaning, analogy; and constancy, uniformity amidst variety; or in other words, the regular observance of general
settled laws, in the make and economy, production, and operations or effects, of any object to which they are ascribed. Wherever order, fixed connections, or general laws and unity of design take place, there is certainty in the nature of such objects, and so knowledge may be acquired. But where these do not obtain, there can be nothing but unconnected independent parts. All must be disorder and confusion, and consequently such a loose disjointed heap of things must be an inexplicable chaos. In one word, science, prudence, government, imitation, and art, necessarily suppose the prevalence of general laws throughout all the objects in nature to which they reach. No being can know itself, project or pursue any scheme, or lay down any maxims for its conduct, but so far as its own constitution is certain, and the connection of things relative to it are fixed and constant. For so far only are things ascertainable, and therefore, so far only can rules be drawn from them." Turnbull's Mor. Phil. Part. I. Introd.
"The exercise of all moral powers, dispositions, and affections of mind, as necessarily presuppose an established order of nature or general laws settled by the author of nature with respect to them, as the exercise of our bodily senses about qualities and effects of corporeal beings do with regard to them. We could neither acquire knowledge of any kind, contract habits, or attain to any moral perfection whatsoever, unless the author of our nature had appointed and fixed certain laws relating to our moral powers, and their exercises and acquisitions." Ibid. p. 13, 14. Yet this Turnbull strenuously holds a self-determining power in the will of man. Such like arguments, if they are valid against any interposition at all, will prevail against all interposition of God or man, against the interposition of God ever to bring the world to an end, or amend it; and prove that all shall be according to general laws. And they might as well argue that the making of the world too was by general laws. If
it be said that it is of great importance and absolute necessity that God should at last interpose and rectify the course of nature — I answer, this is yielding the point, that in cases of great importance, it is reasonable to suppose there may be an interposition that may be arbitrary, and not by general laws.
§ 39. It is not necessary that men should be able, by the connections of things, to know all future events, nor was this ever in the Creator's designs. If it had been so, he could have enabled them to know the future volitions of men, and those events that depend upon them, which are be far the most important.
§ 40. The nature of virtue being a positive thing, can proceed from nothing but God's immediate influence, and must take its rise from creation or infusion by God. For it must be either from that, or from our own choice and production, either at once or gradually, by diligent culture. But it cannot begin or take its rise from the latter, viz. our choice or voluntary diligence. For if there exist nothing at all of the nature of virtue before, it cannot come from cultivation. For by the supposition there is nothing of the nature of virtue to cultivate, it cannot be by repeated and multiplied acts of virtuous choice, till it becomes a habit. For there can be no one virtuous choice unless God immediately gives it. The first virtuous choice, or a disposition to it, must be immediately given, or it must proceed from a preceding choice. If the first virtuous act of will or choice be from a preceding act of will or choice, that preceding act of choice must be a virtuous act of choice, which is contrary to the supposition. For then there would be a preceding act of choice before the first virtuous act of choice. And if it be said the first virtuous act of choice is from a preceding act of will which is not virtuous, this is absurd. For an act of will not virtuous, cannot produce another act of will of a nature entirely above itself, having something positive in it which the cause
has nothing of, and more excellent than it is, — any more than motion can produce thought or understanding, or the collision of two bodies can produce thought, or stones and lead can produce a spirit, or nothing can produce something.
§ 41. As to man's inability to convert himself — In them that are totally corrupt there can be no tendency towards their making their hearts better, till they begin to repent they still approve of it, and that tends to maintain their badness and confirm it. But they cannot begin sincerely to repent of the badness of their hearts till their hearts begin to be better, for repentance consists in a change of the mind and heart. So that it is not men's repentance that first gives rise to their having a better heart, and therefore it cannot be any tendency in them to make their hearts better, that gives rise to it. The heart can have no tendency to make itself better, till it begins to have a better tendency, for therein consists its badness, viz. its having no good tendency or inclination. And to begin to have a good tendency, or, which is the same thing, a tendency and inclination to be better, is the same thing as to begin already to be better. And therefore the heart's inclination to be good, cannot be the thing that first gives rise to its being made good. For its inclination to be better is the same thing with its becoming better.
§ 42. It there be any immediate influence or action of the Spirit of God at all on any created beings, in any part of the universe since the days of the apostles, it is physical. If it be in exciting ideas of motives, or in any respect assisting or promoting any effect, still it is physical, and every whit as much so, as if we suppose the temper and nature of the heart is immediately changed. And it is as near akin to a miracle. If the latter be miraculous, so is the former.
§ 43. Who ever supposed that the term irresistible was properly used with respect to that power by which an infant is brought into being; meaning, irresistible by the infant? Or who ever speaks of a man's walking out of a sound sleep irresistibly, meaning that he cannot resist awaking? Or who says that Adam was formed out of the dust of the earth irresistibly? See what I have said of the use of such terms as irresistible, unfrustrable, etc. in my Inquiry about Liberty.
§ 44. The opponents of efficacious grace and physical operation, may be challenged to show that it is possible that any creature should become righteous without a physical operation, either a being created with the habit of righteousness, or its being immediately infused. See what I have written in my book of Original Sin, in those sections wherein I vindicate the doctrine of original righteousness, and argue, that if Adam was not created righteous, no way can be invented how he could ever become righteous.
§ 45. As to that, Mat. 7:7, "Seek and ye shall find;" it is explained by such places as that, Deu. 4:29, "But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul." And by Deu. 30:2-6, "If thou shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice with all thy heart and with all thy soul; the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul;" which is very parallel with that, "to him that hath shall be given."
§ 46. The Scripture teaches that holiness, both in principle and fruit, is from God. "It is God who worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure." And Pro. 16:1, "The preparation of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord." Comparing this with other parts of the book of Proverbs, evinces that it is a
moral preparation, and the answer of the tongue in moral regards, that is meant.
§ 47. Reason shows that the first existence of a principle of virtue cannot be from man himself, nor in any created being whatsoever, but must be immediately given from God, or that otherwise it never can be obtained, whatever this principle be: whether love to God, or be a habit contracted be repeated acts. But it is most absurd to suppose that the first existence of the principle of holy action, should be preceded by a course of holy actions. Because there can be no holy action without a principle of holy inclination. There can be no act done from love that shall be the cause of first introducing the very existence of love.
§ 48. God is said to give true virtue and piety of heart to man: to work it in him, to create it, to form it, and with regard to it we are said to be his workmanship. Yea, that there may be no room to understand it in some improper sense, it is often declared as the peculiar character of God, that he assumes it as his character to be the author and giver of true virtue, in his being called the Sanctifier, he that sanctifies us: "I am he that sanctifieth you." This is spoken of as the great prerogative of God, Lev. 20:8 and other parallel places. He declares expressly that this effect shall be connected with his act, or with what he shall do in order to it. "I will sprinkle clean water, and you shall be clean." What God does is often spoken of as thoroughly effectual; the effect is infallibly consequent. "Turn us, and we shall be turned." Jesus Christ has the great character of a Savior on this account, that "he saves his people from their sins." See Rom. 11:26-27, "And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, there shall come out of Zion a deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." God says, "I will put my law into their heart; I will write
my law in their inward parts, and they shall not depart from me; I will take away the heart of stone, and give them a heart of flesh; I will give them a heart to know me; I will circumcise their hearts to love me; oh, that there were such a heart in them!" And it is spoken of as his work: to give, to cause, to create such a heart, to put it in them. God is said to incline their hearts, not only to give statutes, but to incline their hearts to his statutes.
Moses speaks of the great moral means that God had used with the children of Israel to enlighten them and convince and persuade them, but of their being yet unpersuaded and unconverted, and gives this as a reason: that God had not given them a heart to perceive, as Deu. 29:4, "Yet the Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day." The Scripture plainly makes a distinction between exhibiting light, or means of instruction and persuasion, and giving eyes to see, circumcising the heart, etc.
§ 49. Why should Christ teach us to pray in the Lord's prayer, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," if it is not God's work to bring that effect to pass, and it is left to man's free will and cannot be otherwise, because otherwise it is no virtue, and none of their obedience, or doing of God's will, and God does what he can oftentimes consistently with man's liberty, and those that enjoy the means he uses, do generally neglect and refuse to do his will? He does so much that he can well say, what could I have done more? And yet almost all are at the greatest distance from doing his will. See Col. 1:9-10.
§ 50. If it be as the Arminians suppose, that all men's virtue is of the determination of their own free will, independent on any prior determining, deciding, and disposing of the event; that it is no part of the ordering of God, whether there be many virtuous or few in the
world, whether there shall be much virtue or little, or where it shall be, in what nation, country, or when, or in what generation or age, or whether there shall be any at all: — Then none of these things belong to God's disposal, and therefore, surely it does not belong to him to promise them. For it does not belong to him to promise in an affair, concerning which he has not the disposal.
And how can God promise, as he oftentimes does in his Word, glorious times, when righteousness shall generally prevail, and his will shall generally be done; and yet that it is not an effect which belongs to him to determine; it is not left to his determination, but to the sovereign, arbitrary determination of others, independently on any determination of him; and therefore surely they ought to be the promisers? For him to promise, who has it not in his hand to dispose and determine, is a great absurdity, and yet God oftentimes in promising, speaks of himself as the sovereign disposer of the matter, using such expressions as abundantly imply it. Isa. 60:22, "I the Lord do hasten it in its time." Surely this is the language of a promiser, and not merely a predictor. God promises Abraham that "all the families of the earth shall be blessed in him." God swears "every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess." And it is said to be given to Christ, that every nation, etc. should serve and obey him, Dan. 7. After what manner they shall serve and obey him is abundantly declared in other prophecies, as in Isa. 11, and innumerable others. These are spoken of in the next chapter, as excellent things that God does.
§ 51. If God is not the disposing author of virtue, then he is not the giver of it. The very notion of a giver implied a disposing cause of the possession of the benefit. 1 John 4:4, "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them (i.e. have overcome your spiritual enemies), because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the
world;" that is, plainly, he is stronger, and his strength overcomes. But how can this be a reason, if God does not put forth an overcoming, effectual strength in the case, but leaves it to free will to get the victory, to determine the point in the conflict? § 52. There are no sort of benefits that are so much the subject of the promises of Scripture, as this sort: the bestowment of virtue, or benefits which imply it. How often is the faith of the Gentiles, or their coming into the Christian church, promised to Christ in the Old Testament, Isa. 49:6 and many other places, and he has promised it to his church, chap. 49:18-21 and innumerable other places. See Rom. 15:12-13. What a promise have we, Isa. 60:21, "Thy people also shall be all righteous, they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hand, that I may be glorified" — compared with the next chapter, 3rd verse, "That they may be called the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." See also verse 8th of the same chapter. Likewise Isa. 60:17-18, "I will make thy officers peace, and thy exactors righteousness; violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy border, but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates praise." Here it is promised that the rulers shall be righteous, and then in the 21st verse following, it is promised that the people shall be so. The change of men to be of a peaceable disposition is promised, as in places innumerable, so in Isa. 11:6-11, "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid," etc. Isa. 55:5, "Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not of thee shall run unto thee, because if the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee." Jer. 3:15, "And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding." This implies a promise that there should be such pastors in being, and that they should be faithful to feed the people with knowledge and understanding. Jer. 10:23, "The way of man is
not in himself." Stebbing owns that on Arminian principles, conversion depending on the determination of free will, it is possible, in its own nature, that none should ever be converted (p. 235). Then all the promises of virtue, of the revival of religion, etc. are nothing. Jer. 31:18, "Turn thou me, and I shall be turned," — compared with Jer. 17:14, "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for thou art my praise." Which shows the force and meaning of such a phraseology to be, that God alone can be the doer of it, and that if he undertakes it, it will be effectually done. Jer. 31:32-35, "Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to being them out of the land of Egypt (which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord); but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saving, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." The prophet elsewhere tells what is connected with knowing God, viz. doing judgment and justice, and showing mercy, etc. Jer. 22:16; Jer. 32:39, 40, "And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them and their children after them; and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good. But I will put my fear in their hearts, and they shall not depart from me." Jer. 33:2, "Thus saith the Lord, the maker thereof, the Lord that formed it." Verse 8, "And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me." Eze. 11:18-20, "And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof, and all the abomination thereof from thence. And I will give them one heart,
and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and I will give them a heart of flesh; that they may walk in my statues, and keep mine ordinances, and do them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God."…. Zec. 12:10 to the end, "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grave and of supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced," etc. So in the next chapter at the beginning, "I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall be no more remembered;" and also, "I will cause the prophets, and also the unclean spirits, to pass out of the land." Mal. 3:3, 4, "And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in the former years."…. § 53. We are told, Job 28:28. That "the fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding." The same is also abundantly declared in other places. But it is equally declared that God is the author wholly and only, which is denied of other things. It is also abundantly declared in this 28th chapter of Job, that it cannot be obtained of any creature by any means, and it is implied in the end of the chapter that it is God that gives wisdom, is asserted Pro. 2:6: "out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." ….It is the promise of God the Father, Psa. 110:2-3, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." Psa. 119:35, "Make me to go in the way of thy commandments." Verse 36, "Incline my heart unto thy testimonies."…. § 54. We are directed earnestly to pray and cry unto God for wisdom, and the fear of the Lord for this reason: that it is he that giveth wisdom, Pro. 2 at the beginning. Compare Job 28 with Pro. 21:1, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water; he turneth it whithersoever he will." Here it is represented that the will of God determines the wills of men, and that when God
pleases to interpose, he even directs them according to his pleasure, without failure in any instance. This shows that God has not left men's hearts so in their own hands, as to be determined by themselves alone, independently on any antecedent determination. Pro. 28:26, "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool." A man's to be commended for making a wise improvement of his outward possessions, for his own comfort, yet this is the gift of God. Ecc. 2:24-26, "There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw that it was from the hand of God."…. John 1:12-13, "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God; which were born, not of the will of man, but of God." Thus also we read, Luke 3:8, "God is able of these stones to raise up children of Abraham." John 3:3, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Verse 5, "Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Verse 8, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Jam. 1:18, "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures." What Christ meant by being born again, we may learn by the abundant use of the like phrase by the same disciple that wrote this gospel, in his first epistle. He doubtless learned his language from his Master and particularly from those sayings of his concerning the new birth, which he took more special notice of, and which left the deepest impressions on his mind, which we may suppose are those he records, when he writes the history of his life. Mat. 4:19, "I will make you fishers of men." So Mark 1:16, 20, together with Luke 5, "From henceforth thou shalt catch men." Compared with the foregoing story of Christ's giving them so great a draught of fishers, which was wholly his doing, and
ascribed to him. Mark 6:10, "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done." Mat. 11:25-27, "At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father; and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." So Luke 10:21, 22; John 6:37, "All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me." Verse 44, "No man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him."…. John 10:16, "Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." Verse 26-29, "But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you; my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hands. My Father which gave them me," etc…. Acts 15:3, 4, "Declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: — and they declared all things that God had done with them." Verse 9, "And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." Therefore it is not probable that the heart is first purified, to fit it for faith. John 14:12, "Greater works than these shall he do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." The meaning of it is confirmed from John 12:23, 24, 28-32, and John 17:1-3; Isa. 49:3-5, and 26:15, and Isa. 16:14; Isa. 17:3-5 (especially Isa. 55:4-5), Jer. 30:19; Rom. 9:16, "It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." By such an expression in the apostle's phraseology, from time to time, is meant the use of endeavors, whereby they seek the benefit they would obtain. So what he here says, is agreeable to what he says in Rom. 11:4-7, where he particularly shows that it is God that preserves the remnant, and that it is of the election of his grace and free kindness, and not of their works, but in such a way of freedom, as is utterly
inconsistent with its being of their works. And in verse 7, that it is not determined by their seeking, but by God's election. The apostle here, as Dr. Taylor says, has respect to bodies of men, to the posterity of Esau and Jacob, etc. Yet this he applies to a distinction made in those days of the gospel, and that distinction made between those that were in the Christian church, and those that were not, and particularly some of the Jews that were in the Christian church, and others of the same nation that were not: which is made by some believing and accepting Christ, and others rejecting him; by that faith which they professed to exercise with all their hearts; that faith which was a mercy and virtue, and the want of which was a fault; as appears by the objection the apostle supposes, Rom. 9:19, "Why doth he yet find fault?" The want of which faith argued hardness of heart, verse 18 exposed them to wrath and destruction, as a punishment of sin, Rom. 9:22, and exposes persons to be like the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, verse 29. Rom. 11:4-7, "But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace; otherwise work is no more work." 2 Tim. 2:9; Eph. 2:9; Tit. 3:5, "What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded." Rom. 11:1718, "If some of the branches are broken off, and thou, being a wild olive-tree, wert grafted in amongst them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree; boast not against the branches." Rom. 11:25-27, "Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." Together with verses
35, 36, "Who hath first given unto him, and it shall be recompensed to him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory for ever and ever." § 55. That expression, Rom. 1:7 and 1 Cor. 1:2 and elsewhere, called to be saints, implies that God makes the distinction. Compare this with what Christ says, John 10:27, "My sheep hear my voice." Verse 16, "Other sheep have I, which are not of this fold; them also must I bring; and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." 1 Cor. 1:2628, to the end: "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of, etc. That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus," etc. Rom. 11 latter end. Heb. 13:20-21; 1 Cor. 3:5-9, "Who then is Paul, or who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, and Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. — We are labourers together with God, ye are God's husbandry; ye are God's building." According to the Arminian scheme, it ought to have been: I have planted and watered more especially. For we have done it only as his servants. But you yourselves have given the increase: the fruit has been left to your free will. This is agreeable to what the Arminians from time to time insist on, in what they say upon the parable of the vineyard which God planted in a fruitful hill, etc. and looked that it should bring forth grapes, and says, "What could I have done more unto my vineyard?" 2 Cor. 3:3, "Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tables of stone, but on the fleshy tables of the heart." They were the epistle of Christ, as the effect of the Spirit of God in their hearts held forth the light of truth, of gospel truth with its evidence to the world, as the church is compared to a candlestick and called the pillar and ground of the truth. This is
agreeable to those scriptures in the Old Testament, that speak of writing God's law in their hearts, etc. Add to this, 2 Cor. 4:6, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. 5:14-18, "If one died for all, then were all dead; that they which live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new; and all things are of God." 2 Cor. 8:16-17, "Thanks be to God who put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. For indeed he accepted the exhortation. But being more forward, of his own accord he went unto you." So the next chapter speaks of the Corinthians' forwardness and readiness in their bounty to the poor saints, not as of necessity, but with freedom and cheerfulness, according to the purpose of their own hearts or wills. But it yet speaks of their charity as just cause of much thanksgiving to God, and speaks expressly of thanksgiving to him for such a subjection of them to the gospel, and liberal distribution to them. Gal. 1:15-16, "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles," compared with 2 Cor. 4:6-7 and the account which he gives himself of his conversion, Acts 26:16-18. Gal. 2:19-20, "I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Gal. 5:22-23, etc. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." § 56. The apostle, in Eph. 1:18-20 speaks of some exceeding great work of power, by which they that believe are distinguished. But a bodily resurrection is no such distinguishing work of power. See the words: "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory
of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ Jesus, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his right hand in heavenly places." The apostle repeats the same thing in substance again in Eph. 3:14 and following verses, and tells us what sort of knowledge he desired, and so earnestly prayed that they might receive, and what is the power that he speaks of: "That they may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth and length, and depth and height; and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." And tells us by what means God would dwell in their hearts by faith, etc. Eph. 3:16-17. And he tells us in verse 20 what is the power of God he speaks of. See Rom. 15:13; 1 Pet. 1:3-5, and 2 Thes. 1:11-12. See also what the apostle speaks of as an effect of God's glorious power, Col. 1:11. Eph. 1:18-20 is to be taken in connection with the words which follow in the beginning of the next chapter, which is a continuation of the same discourse, where the apostle abundantly explains himself. In those words, there is an explanation of what had before been more figuratively represented. He here observes that those that believe are the subjects of a like exceeding greatness of power that Christ was, when he was raised from the dead, and set at God's own right hand in heavenly places. And then in the prosecution of this discourse he shows how, viz. in our being raised from the dead, being dead ourselves in trespasses and sins, and raised as Christ was, and made to sit together with him in heavenly places (and this he speaks of, not only as the fruit of the exceeding greatness of his power, but of the riches of his mercy, and exceeding riches of his grace: by grace in opposition to works), that it is by faith, which is the gift of God. The apostle repeats it over and over, that it is by grace, and then explains how: not of works; and that our faith itself, by which it is, is not of ourselves, but is God's gift; and that we are wholly God's
workmanship; and that all is owing to God's foreordaining that we should walk in good works. I know not what the apostle could have said more. See Eph. 2:1-10. § 57. In Eph. 3 it is spoken of as a glorious mystery of God's will, contrived of old, and determined from the foundation of the world, and his eternal purpose, etc. that God would bring in the Gentiles as fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. Which confirms the promises of the Old Testament; shows that they were not foretold only as foreseen, but foredetermined, as what God would bring to pass. This is also spoken of elsewhere, as the fruit of God's eternal purpose, his election, etc. as our adversaries acknowledge. § 58. Sincerity itself is spoken of as coming from God. Phil. 1:10, "That ye may approve the things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence in the day of Christ." And elsewhere God is represented as "creating a clean heart, renewing a right spirit, giving a heart of flesh," etc. The apostle "gives thanks for the faith and love of the Colossians, their being delivered from the power of darkness, etc. and prays that they may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and might, agreeable to their knowledge, being fruitful in every good work; and for their perseverance, and that they might be made meet for the reward of the saints." Col. 1:3, 4, 9-13. This argues all to flow from God as the giver. Their first faith and their love that their faith was attended with, and their knowledge and spiritual wisdom and prudence, and walking worthy of the Lord, and universal obedience, and doing every good work, and increasing in grace and being strengthened in it, and their perseverance and cheerfulness in their obedience, and being made meet for their reward, all are from God. They are from God as the determining cause; else, why does the apostle pray that God would bestow or effect these things, it they be not at his determination whether they shall have them or not? He speaks of God's glorious power as manifested in the bestowment of these things. Col. 2:13, "And you
being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him." Col. 3:10, "Have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." See how many things the apostle gives thanks to God for in the Thessalonians, and prays for them. 2 Thes. 1:3, 4, 11, 12; 1 Thes. 1:2 to the end, and chap. 2:13, 14, and chap. 3:9-13; chap. 5:23, 24; 1 Thes. 3:12, "The Lord make you to increase and abound in love," etc. 1 Thes. 4:9-10, "But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I should write unto you; for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. And indeed ye do it towards all brethren." 1 Thes. 5:23-24, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, by preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that hath called you, who also will do it." 2 Thes. 1:3-4, "We are bound to thank God always for you, because your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; so that we glory in you, for your faith and patience in all your persecutions and tribulations."…. The apostle thanks God for his own prayers, and for others, 2 Tim. 1:3. If they are from God, then doubtless our prayers for ourselves, our very prayers for the Spirit, are from him. The prophet ascribes persons' prayers to their having the spirit of grace and supplication. True acceptable prayer is spoken of, Rom. 8, as being the language of the Spirit: not that I suppose that the very words are indited, but the disposition is given. 2 Tim. 1:7, "God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Tim. 1:9, "Who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."…. Heb. 13:20-21, "Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work, and to do his will, working in you that
which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen." See Eph. 1:19, 20, and 1 Cor. 1, latter end. Heb. 12:2, "Jesus the author and finisher of our faith," compared with Phil. 1:5. Jam. 1:5-8, "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask it of God, that giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering; for he that wavereth, is like a wave of the sea, driven of the wind and tossed. For let not that man think he shall obtain anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." So that in order to a man's having any reason to expect to be heard, he must first have faith, and a sincere heart. And what that is which the apostle calls wisdom, may be learnt from Jam. 3:17, 18, "The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace to them that make peace." In Jam. 1:5, etc. above cited, God is spoken of as the giver of this wisdom, and in the following part of the chapter, he is spoken of as the giver of this and every benefit of that kind, everything that contains anything of the nature of light or wisdom, or moral good, and this is represented as the fruit of his mere will and pleasure. Jam. 1:16-18, "Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures." See John 1:13, and 3:8. The scope of the apostle, and connection of his discourse, plainly show that the apostle means to assert that all moral good is from God. In the preceding verses, he was warning those he wrote to, not to lay their sins, or pride, or lusts, to the charge of God. And on that occasion he would have them be sensible that every good gift is from God, and no evil, and that God is the Father of light and only of light and that no darkness is from him,
because there is no darkness in him; no change from light to darkness; no, not the least shadow. What he says is plainly parallel to what the apostle John says, when he would signify God's perfect holiness without any sin; 1 John 1:5, 6, "This, then, is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." But if all moral good is from God, cometh down from him, and is his gift; then the very first good determination of the will, and every good improvement of assistance, is so. 1 Pet. 1:2-5, "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope," (or a living hope, i.e. from the dead; to be begotten from the dead, in the phrase of the New Testament, is the same as to be raised from the dead. See Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5) "by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation." See Eph. 1:18-20 and Eph. 2 at the beginning. Phil. 2:13, "It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." The plain meaning of this text is that it is God by his operation and efficiency who gives the will, and also enables us to put that will in execution, or that he by his efficiency gives both the will and the deed. And this will remain the plain meaning of this text, after this sort of gentlemen have worked upon it a thousand years longer, if any of them shall remain on earth so long. It will be the indisputable meaning of it, notwithstanding their criticisms on the word ενεργων, etc. I question whether any word can be found, in all the Greek language, more expressive and significant of an effectual operation. Wherever the words effectual and effectually are used in our translation of the Bible, this is the word used in the original. See the English Concordance. § 59. By the
disposing or determining cause or a benefit, I mean a cause that disposes, orders, or determines, whether we shall be actually possessed of the benefit or not: and the same cause may be said to be an efficacious or effectual cause. That cause only can be said to be an efficacious cause, whose efficiency determines, reaches, and produces the effect. A being may be the determiner and disposer of an event, and not properly an efficient or efficacious cause. Because, though he determines the futurity of the event, yet there is no positive efficiency or power of the cause that reaches and produces the effect, but merely a withholding or withdrawing of efficiency or power. Concerning the giver's being a disposer or determiner, let us consider that objection, that when a man gives to a beggar, he does but offer, and leaves it with the determination of the beggar's will, whether he will be possessed of the thing offered. In answer to this I observe that in the instance before us, the very thing given is the fruit of the bounty of the giver. The thing given is virtue, and this consists in the determination of the will is the gift of God. Otherwise virtue is not his gift, and it is an inconsistency to pray to God to give it to us. Why should we pray to God to give us such a determination of will, when that proceeds not from him but ourselves? § 60. Everything in the Christian scheme argues that man's title to, and fitness for, heaven, depends on some great divine influence, at once causing a vast change, and not any such gradual change as is supposed to be brought to pass by men themselves in the exercise of their own power. The exceeding diversity of the states of men in another world argues it. § 61. Arminians make a great ado about the phrase irresistible grace. But the grand point of controversy really is: what is it that determines, disposes, and decides the matter, whether there shall be saving virtue in the heart or not, and much more properly, whether the grace of God in the affair be determining grace, than whether it be irresistible.
Our case is indeed extremely unhappy, if we have such a book to be our grand and only rule, our light and directory, that is so exceeding perplexed, dark, paradoxical, and hidden everywhere in the manner of expression, as the Scriptures must be to make them consistent with Arminian opinions, by whatever means this has come to pass, whether through the distance of ages, diversity of customs, or by any other cause. It is to be considered that this is given for the rule of all ages, and not only of the most learned, and accurate, and penetrating critics, and men of vast inquiry and skill in antiquity, but for all sorts of persons, of every age and nation, learned and unlearned. If this be true then how unequal and unfit is the provision that is made! How improper to answer the end designed! If men will take subterfuge in pretenses of a vast alteration of phrase, through diversity of ages and nations, what may not men hide themselves from under such a pretense! No words will hold and secure them. It is not in the nature of words to do it. At this rate, language in its nature has no sufficiency to communicate ideas.