Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

holiness." And therefore all these things are commanded.*

In some of these instances men seem commanded to do what God does for them,-to be renewed in the spirit of their mind, to be strengthened by his power, to be filled with the Spirit. But upon every plan the action of God and the action of believers are distinct. Except that both actions, as coincident, are sometimes called by the same name, the whole meaning is, that they must avail themselves of the offered aids of the Spirit, and go forward in the line to which he excites them. That is all: and in this there is nothing opposed to the common Calvinistic theory.

I have now gone over all the texts that I could find which speak of the instrumentality of the word in regeneration and sanctification. And allowing for figures of speech, (for the most part slight and natural,) they cast no decisive light on the mode of divine operation, and in their most obvious meaning are easily reconcilable with divine efficiency. Thus far then there is nothing discovered in opposition to this doctrine. We are next to inquire what there is in the Bible which positively supports it.

* Deut. 10. 16. Jer. 4.4. 4. 23, 24. and 5. 18. and 6. 1 Tim. 4. 14. 2 Tim. 1. 6, 8.

Ezek. 18. 31, 32. Rom. 12. 2. Eph. 10, 18. Col. 3. 9, 10. 1 Thes. 5. 19.

CHAPTER VII.

Scripture Testimony to Divine Efficiency.

AFTER all our reasonings on the subject of divine efficiency, our chief dependence must be on the plain testimony of the Bible. We can argue conclusively against the assumption that divine efficiency is inconsistent with freedom; but for positive proof of the doctrine we dare not rely on our own independent reasonings. We cannot look so deep into the secrets of nature. We must "hear what God the Lord will speak:" and if he, in language the most plain and positive, declares the fact, we must cast no doubts upon it from any confidence we may have in our own powers of discernment, or from any apprehension of its inconsistency with moral agency. Now then for the divine testimony.

I. The general language of Scripture represents God to be the Author of holiness, without limiting or qualifying the declaration by a reference to any instrument. The general current of Scripture therefore gives the same evidence of efficiency in the second creation, that the first chapter of Genesis does of efficiency in the first. "God said, Let there be light, and there was light." We ask

no questions about the mode, but simply believe that he willed the existence of light and light was. Exactly the same evidence we have, not from a single chapter, but from the general tenour of Scripture, that God efficiently wills the existence of holiness in the hearts of his people. And the few texts which speak of truth as the object towards which the mind acts, or as the consideration by which it is consciously influenced, do not touch the question, Who causes the mind to fall in with truth? This question, which is settled by the general voice of Scripture, receives no opposing answer from a single text.

(1.) I shall begin with a class of texts which, in the simplest form, speak of God as the Author of holiness. "I am the Lord which sanctify you." "God is my strength and power, and he maketh my way perfect." "The Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us nor forsake us; that he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, as he commanded our fathers." "Thou hast heard the desire of the humble; thou wilt prepare their heart." "The Lord will give grace and glory." "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me." "Thou wilt ordain peace for us, for thou also hast wrought all our works in us." "I hid me and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways and will heal him. I will lead him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips peace, peace to him that is far off and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him." "That

they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." "The heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel." "He is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. 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." "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." "Without me ye can do nothing." "A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven." "Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins." "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name." "A certain woman named Lydia,-whose heart the Lord opened." "Who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?" 66 'By the grace of God I am what I am." that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God." "Thanks be to God which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you." "When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb,-to reveal his Son in me." Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ,-make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight." "Every good gift and every per

66

"Not

fect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." "Who was manifest in these last times for you who by him do believe in God."*

(2.) The great account made of the Spirit in the Gospel dispensation, and the work every where ascribed to him.

The office work of the third Person in the Trinity is to sanctify. Take from the Spirit that work, and you wrest from him all employment, and cover him from creatures with an eternal cloud. From the more abundant influences of the Spirit which attend the Gospel, compared with the law of Moses, that is called "the ministration of the Spirit," and even "the spirit." This was a chief good promised to Christ in the covenant of redemption, and through him to the Church in the covenant of grace. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us;-that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.-Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many, but as of One, And to thy Seed, which is Christ." "The Redeemer shall come to Zion.-This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord: My Spirit that is upon thee and my words which I Lev. 20. 8. 2 Sam. 22. 33. 1 Kin. 8. 57, 58. Ps. 10. 17. and 84.11. and 138. 8. Isai. 26. 12. and 57. 17-19. Ezek. 20. 12. and 37. 28. Mal. 3. 2, 3. Mat. 16. 17. John 3. 27 and 15. 5. Acts 5. 31. and 15. 14. and 16. 14. 1 Cor. 4. 7. and 15. 10. 2 Cor. 3. Gal. 1. 15, 16.

5. and 8. 16.

1 Pet. 1. 20, 21.

Heb. 13. 20, 21. James 1. 17.

« AnteriorContinuar »