which conftitutes the believer's walk after this calling, to be the work of God in him, who gives him a new heart, and a new mind. Phil. ii. 13. To enter into the proof of this inability of man, would be departing too far from what we are concerned with; fuffice it to fay, that, as it is a point fully declared throughout the whole of the fcriptures, and particularly examined into, and established by the Apostle, we can in no other fenfe understand the words under confideration, than, as abfolutely excluding the will and actions of man from all participation in the cause of his calling. This then is the conclufion which he draws from the example of Jacob and Efau, the words of the Lord as delivered by Mofes, and from the whole of his precedent reasonings; to wit, that our calling is not (either in whole, or in part) of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that fheweth mercy.

One might imagine that a declaration fuch as this; conceived in terms fo explicit and precife, would be fufficient, coming from an infpired penman, to put to filence the ignorance of foolish men, even had it been advanced in the manner of a dogma, and not as the conclufion of a regular and correct chain of argument; yet will the difputer of this world raife objections to this interpretation of the paffage before us, the only one which it will bear if taken in agreement with the rest of holy writ. The errors here run into by those who seek to be wife beyond what is written, seem reducible to two.

First then it is faid by fome, that if we fuppofe God, in calling those whom he hath chofen, to have no regard to any thing in them which may be called willing or running, we may fuppofe that there may be perfons who not only will, but run C

alfo.

alfo, to whom yet the Lord denies his grace. This objection we deny as having any force whatever against our interpretation of the paffage: it arifes from a partial view of it, and derives all its ftrength from the affumption of a principle which directly contradicts that truth of God fo fully declared in his word, and on which the Apostle rests this conclufion; for they who make this objection fuppofe in the natural man an ability to will and to do that which is good: and if we will confider how they fupport it we fhall fee that it makes completely against their self-devised fyftems, leaving the truth of God unfhaken. Chrift, fay they, declares that had those mighty works been done in Tyre and Sidon, which were done in Chorazin and Bethfaida, they would have repented; here furely were people that had fome fecret difpofitions to piety, fome defires, fome willings. Grant this to be the meaning of Chrift's words-Where then is that justice, where that mercy of God, of which thefe men would ftand forth as the defenders? For here, on their plan, God, whilft he displayed his mighty. works in profufion to the hardened, yet denied them to those whom they would have perfuaded, and withheld his grace from perfons prepared for its reception by their holy defires and inclinations. Thus does their objection recoil on themfelves. But how then, they will afk, do you account for Chrift's words? Eafily-they fignify merely that the Jews of Chorazin and Bethfaida in confequence of their self-righteoufnefs were more funk in fin, and hardened in iniquity, than the people of Tyre and Sidon, the moft remarkable for idolatry in Syria. This ftrong mode of speaking, fo prevalent in Eastern countries, we are ourselves frequently accustomed to use. Thus, an inftructor will fay

of

of a stupid fcholar, that, a horse would underftand what he in vain endeavours to make him comprehend; fo we fay of a very wicked perfon, that, the devil, were he on earth, could not lead a more abandoned life: and furely they will not be for interpreting literally the words of Christ, when he fays, I tell you, if thefe fhould hold their peace, the ftones would immediately cry out. Nor can we conclude from the Apostle's faying, that the call is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, that those who are called have previously willed or run. Should we fay that a man had risen in life, not of his own merit, but by favor, what kind of logic is it that would hence conclude that he had merit, though not indebted to it for his rife? The fact is, that nothing is here pofitively declared as to his having it or not; for that, we must feek elsewhere, though people in general would be apt from fuch a propofition to conclude that he had none. And, fuch a propofition is this of the Apostle's, He declares nothing here pofitively, as to those who are called having willed or run previous to their call; he merely afferts that neither of thefe have any share in the cause of it, having already fufficiently proved that neither could be found in any previous to it.

The next objection is of those who readily allow that God is very merciful indeed in regarding the imperfect willing and running of frail creatures, but affert that fuch there is, and to fuch the Lord pays regard, and that all the Apostle means is, that they are not the fole causes of our calling, but that it is owing to these in part, and in part to the mercy of God. If fo, our calling depends on two caufes, and as our willing and running without the mercy of God is C 2

not

not fufficient, so neither is the mercy of God without fome precedent willing and running on our part, and the Apoftle might with equal correctness have faid, So then our calling is not of God that fheweth mercy, but of him that willeth, and him that runneth, meaning hereby that neither was the fole caufe. Truly, this is a strange mode of exalting the mercy of the moft High, and fufficiently evinces the weakness of an objection, the whole strength of which refts on the affumption of the fame falfe principle on which the firft ftated objection is founded; fo that we must understand the words of Paul (not in any partial or comparative mode, but) as abfolutely and fimply excluding from the cause of our calling every thing but the mercy of God. And indeed unless we do this, we fhall leave man somewhat, whereof to boaft, whilft the Apoftle deprives him of all ground for fo doing; we must allow fomething to have made him to differ, befide grace; we must allow him to have somewhat, which he has not received; we must allow, that though Chrift hath chosen him, yet that he also hath chofen Chrift; in fhort, we must run counter to the whole tenor of holy writ-Rom. iii. 26. iv. 2. 1 Cor. iv. 7. John xv. 16. Eph. ii. 5—19. 1 Cor. ii. 14. Rom. viii. 7. But this willing and running which is in no wife the cause of our calling, is yet a neceffary effect of it, for, to thofe whom he calls, the Lord gives a new heart, and a new mind, working in them to will and to do of his own good pleasure.

To conclude, we may in a few words fum up the doctrine of St. Paul in this place, thus; all men are by nature completely alienated from the life of God, and of themfelves, can do nothing to help themselves, fo that, if any, awakened

from

from this fleep of death, embrace the gospel of Christ, they owe this escape from death into life, neither to their own willing or running, fince, before it they can do neither, but to the mercy of God, who, according to the good pleasure of his will and not through confideration of any thing in them, touches them fo powerfully by the calling of his word, and his Spirit, that, whereas before they neither willed nor ran, fo now according to the new mind of the Spirit, which he gives to whomfoever he calls, they both will and do, and laying afide every weight, and the fin that doth fo eafily befet them they run with patience the race that is fet before them, preffing forward toward the mark for the prize of their high calling of God in Chrift Jefus, and being here directed by his counfel, are afterward received of him into glory.

O.

CRITICAL REMARKS

ON

ACTS, chap. xix. ver. 2.

And they faid unto him, We have not fo much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

THESE

HESE words conftitute the answer given by certain difciples at Ephefus to the apostle Paul, when he faid unto them, Have received the Holy Ghoft fince ye believed? and by fome, they have been fuppofed to exprefs ignorance with respect

ye

to