Section 10.
SECTION 10.
The doctrine of free grace is farther maintained against Honestus; and that of free will and just wrath against Zelotes.
The scale of FREE GRACE and JUST wrath in God.
Resistible FREE GRACE is the spring of all our graces and mercies.
The Father, as Creator, gives to the Son, as Redeemer, the souls that yield to his paternal drawings; and they who resist those drawings, cannot come to the Son for rest and liberty.
IT is GOD, who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. [That is, God, as Creator, has wrought in you the power to will and to do what is right: God, as Redeemer, has restored you that noble power which was lost by the fall: and God, as Sanctifier, excites and helps you to make a proper use of it. Therefore “grieve him not:”
for, as it is his good pleasure to help you now, so, if you “do despite to the Spirit of his grace,” it may be his good pleasure “to give you up to a reprobate mind,” and to “swear in his anger that his Spirit shall strive with you” no more. That this is the apostle’s meaning, appears from his own words to those very Philippians, in the opposite scale.]
Thy people [shall, or will be] willing in the day of thy power:
or, as we have it in the reading Psalms, In the day of thy power The scale of FREE WILL in man, without FREE wrath in God.
Perverse FREE WILL is the spring of all our sins and curses.
The Son, as Redeemer, brings to the Father, for the promise of the Holy Ghost, the souls that yield to his filial drawings; and they who resist those drawings, cannot come to the Father for the Spirit of adoption.
WHEREFORE work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Arise and be doing, and the Lord be with you, 1 Chronicles 22:16. Do all things without disputing, &c, that I may rejoice, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ. This one thing I do, &c, I press toward the mark, &c. Be followers of me, for many walk — enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction.
Those things, which ye have seen in me, do:
and the God of peace shall be with you, Philippians 2:12, &c; 3:12, &c; 4:9, &c. I am not [personally] sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But my people, &c, would none of me, Matthew 15:24; Psalm 81:11. He came to his own, and his own received him not, John 1:11.
The power of the Lord was present to heal them, but the Pharisees murmured. They rejected the counsel of God against themselves, Luke 5:17, 30; 7:30. If I by the finger [i.e. the power] of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God [the day of God’s power] is come upon you, Luke 11:15, &c. He did not many mighty works [i.e. he did not mightily exert his power] shall the people offer free will offerings, Psalm 110:3.
God hath exalted him [Christ] to give repentance, Acts 5:31.
God peradventure [i.e. if they are not judicially given up to a reprobate mind, and they do not obstinately harden themselves] will give them [that oppose themselves] repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, 2 Timothy 2:25.
Every good gift, &c, is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, James 1:17.
Faith is the gift of God, Ephesians 2:8. They rehearsed how God had opened the door of faith [in Christ] to the Gentiles, Acts 14:27. To you it is given, on the behalf of Christ, to believe in him, Philippians 1:29.
When the Gentiles heard this they were glad, and as many as were [tetagmenoi] disposed f13 for, [our translators say ordained to] eternal life believed, Acts 13:48.
He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith.
Can the Ethiopian change his skin, and the leopard his spots?
then may ye also do good [without my gracious help] that are accustomed to do evil, Jeremiah 13:23.
Neither knoweth any man the Father, save, &c, he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him; [and he will reveal him unto there, because of their unbelief. He could do there no mighty work, [consistently with his wise plan,] and he marvelled because of their unbelief, [which was the source of their unwillingness,] Matthew 13:58; Mark 6:5, 6. Now the things which belong unto thy peace, &c, are hid from thine eyes, because thou knewest not the day of [my power, and of] thy visitation, Luke 19:42, &c. How often would I have gathered thy children, as a hen does gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not, Luke 13:34. [Any one of those scriptures shows, that free grace does not necessitate free will; and all of them together make a good measure, running over into Zelotes’ bosom.]
God is willing that all should come to repentance, 2 Peter 3:9. God’s goodness leadeth thee to repentance, Romans 2:4.
And the rest of men, which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not, Revelation 9:20. Then began he to upbraid the cities, &c, because they repented not, Matthew 9:20. I gave her space to repent, and she repented not, Revelation 2:21.
Faith cometh by hearing [the work of man,] Romans 10:17. Lord, I believe, [not thou believest for me,] help thou my unbelief, Mark 9:24. He upbraided them with their unbelief, Mark 14:14. How is it ye have no faith? Mark 4:40. How can you believe, who receive honour one of another?
John 5:44. The publicans believed, &c. And ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe, Matthew 21:30. Thomas said, I will not believe, John 20:25. Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith, 1 Timothy 5:12.
These (the Jews of Berea) were more noble [or candid] than those of Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so: therefore many babes, as appears from the context,] Matthew 11:25, 27.
Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, [that Jesus is the Christ, &c,] but my Father, Matthew 16:17.
of them believed, Acts 17:11, 12.
They have ears to hear, and hear not; for they are a rebellious house, Ezekiel 12:2.
[It is very remarkable that the Lord, to show his readiness to help those obstinate offenders, says, just after] O Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it once be?
God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble; [i.e. to babes,] &c. Submit therefore yourselves to God, &c, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up, James 4:6, &c. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, John 7:17. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, Psalm 25:14.
To understand aright some passages in St. John’s Gospel, we must remember that, wherever the Gospel of Christ is preached, the Father particularly draws to the Son as Redeemer, those that believe in him as Creator. And this he does, sometimes by cords of love, sometimes by cords of fear, and always by cords of conviction and humiliation. They that yield to these drawings become “babes, poor in spirit,” and members of “the little flock” of humble souls, “to whom it is the Father’s good pleasure to give the kingdom. For he giveth grace to the HUMBLE; — yea “he giveth grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that” follow his drawings, and “lead a godly life.”
Those convinced, humbled souls, conscious of their lost estate, and inquiring the way to heaven, as honest Cornelius, and the trembling jailer — those souls, I say, the Father in a particular manner gives to the Son, as being prepared for him, and just ready to enter into his dispensation. “They believe in God, they must also believe in Christ;” and the part of the Gospel that eminently suits them, is that which Paul preached to the penitent jailer; and Peter to the devout centurion.
The Jews about Capernaum showed great readiness to follow Jesus: but it was out of curiosity, and not out of hunger after righteousness. Their hearts went more after loaves and fishes, than after grace and glory. In a word, they continued to be grossly unfaithful to their light, under the dispensation of the Father, or of God as Creator. Hence it is, that our Lord said to them, “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth to everlasting life.” Mind your souls as well as your bodies: be no more practical Atheists. To vindicate themselves they pretended to have a great desire to serve God. “What shall we do,” said they, “that we may work the works of God?” “This is the work of God,” replied our Lord:
“this is the thing which God” peculiarly requires of those who are under His dispensation, — “ that ye believe on him whom he hath sent,” — i.e. that ye submit to MY dispensation. Here the Jews began to cavil and say, “What sign showest thou, that we may believe thee?” Our Lord, to give them to understand that they were not so ready to believe upon proper evidence as they professed to be, said to them, “Ye have seen me” and my miracles, “and yet ye believe not.” Then comes the verse, on which Zelotes founds his doctrine of absolute grace to the elect, and of absolute wrath to all the rest of mankind: “All that the Father [particularly] giveth me,” because they are particularly convinced that they want a mediator between God and them; and because they are obedient to his drawings, and to the light of their dispensation; — all these, says our Lord, “shall or will come unto me,” and I will be as ready to receive them, as the Father is to draw them to me, for “him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out:” I will admit him to the privileges of my dispensation; and, if he be faithful, I will even introduce him into the dispensation of the Holy Ghost, — into the kingdom, that does not consist in meat and drink, nor yet in bare penitential righteousness, but also in “peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
“And this is the Father’s will, that, of all whom he has given me,” that I may bless them with the blessings of my dispensation, “I should lose nothing” by my negligence as a Saviour, or as a Shepherd: although some will lose themselves by their own perverseness and wilful apostasy. That this is our Lord’s meaning, is evident from his own doctrine about his disciples being “the salt of the earth,” and about some “losing their savour,” and “losing their own soul.” But above all, this appears from his express declaration concerning one of his apostles. This being premised, I balance the favourite text of Zelotes thus: — I.
All that the Father giveth me [by the decree of faith, according to the II.
I have manifested thy name [O Father] to the men whom thou order of the dispensations] shall [or will] come to me; and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. [If he be lost it will not be by my losing him, but by his losing his own soul. It will not be by my casting him out, but by his casting himself out. Witness the young man, who thought our Lord’s terms too hard; and “went away sorrowful:”
witness again Judas, who “went out,” and of his own accord “drew back unto perdition.”] John 6:37.
hast given me out of the world.
Thine they were [they belonged to thy dispensation, they believed in thee] and thou gavest them me, [they entered my dispensation, and believed in me.] Those that thou gavest me, I have kept [according to the rules of my dispensation] and none of them is lost BUT [he that has destroyed himself, Judas,] the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, John 17:6, 12.
Inquire we now what scriptures were fulfilled by the perdition of Judas.
They are either general or particular:
(1.) The general are such as these: “The turning away of the simple shall slay them,” Proverbs 1:32. “When the righteous man turneth from his righteousness, [and who can be a ‘righteous man’ without true faith?] he shall die in his sin.” Again: “When I say to the righteous,” that “he shall surely live, if he trust to his righteousness, and commit iniquity, he shall die for it,” Ezekiel 3:20; 33:13.
(2.) The particular scriptures fulfilled by the destruction of Judas are these:
Psalm 41:9, “Mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.” These words are expressly applied to Judas by our Lord himself, John 12:18, and they demonstrate that Judas was not always a cursed hypocrite, unless Zelotes can make appear that our Lord reposed his trust in a hypocrite; whom he had chosen for his “own familiar friend.” Again: “Let his days be few, and let another take his office, or his bishopric.” These words are quoted from Psalm 109, and particularly applied to Judas by St. Peter, Acts 1:20. Now, to know whether Judas’ perdition was absolute, flowing from the unconditional reprobation of God, and not from Judas’ foreseen backsliding, we need only compare the two Psalms where his sin and perdition are described.
The one informs us, that before he lifted up his heel against Christ, he was Christ’s own familiar friend, and so sincere that the Searcher of hearts trusted in him: and the other Psalm describes the cause of Judas’ personal reprobation thus: “Let his days be few, and let another take his office,” &c, “because that [though he once knew how to tread in the steps of the merciful Lord, who honoured him with a share in his familiar friendship, yet] he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor, that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him: as he clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment, so let it come into his bowels like water,” Psalm 109:8, 16, &c. Hence it is evident, that if Judas was lost agreeably to the Scriptural prediction of his perdition; and if that very prophecy informs us that “his days were few, because he remembered not to show mercy, &c,” we horribly wrong God when we suppose that this means, because God never remembered to show any mercy to Judas, because God was a graceless God to Iscariot thousands of years before the infant culprit drew his first breath. Brethren and fathers, as many as are yet concerned for our Creator’s honour, and our Saviour’s reputation, resolutely bear your testimony with David and the Holy Ghost, against this doctrine; so shall Zelotes blush to charge still the Father of mercies with the absolute reprobation of Judas, not only in opposition to all good nature, truth, and equity; but against as plain a declaration of God, as any that can be found in all the Scriptures. “Let his days be few, and let another take his office, &c, because he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor, that he might [betray innocent blood, and] even slay the broken in heart.” f14 To conclude: if God has taken such particular care to clear himself from the charge of absolutely appointing Judas to be a “son of perdition!” Nay, if CHRIST himself asserts that the FATHER gave him Judas, as well as the other apostles: — and if the HOLY GHOST declares, by the, mouth of David, that Judas was once Christ’s familiar friend, and as such honoured with his trust and confidence; is it not evident, that the doctrine of free wrath, and of any man’s (even Judas’) absolute, unconditional reprobation is as gross an imposition upon Bible Christians, as it is a foul blot upon all the Divine perfections?
I.
Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you, [John 8:37. He that is of God, II.
He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed, &c. And this is the [ground of unbelief and] condemnation, heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because you are not of God — i.e. because ye are not godly, whatever ye pretend.] My sheep [those that really belong to my dispensation, and compose my little flock] my sheep, I say, hear my voice, [they mind, understand, approve, embrace my doctrine,] and they follow me [in the narrow way of faith and obedience:] and [in that way] I give unto them eternal life, and [in that way] they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.
[For who shall harm them if they be followers of that which is good?
1 Peter 3:13.] My Father who gave them me, [who agreed, that where my dispensation is opened, those who truly believe on him as Creator, should be peculiarly given me as head of the Christian Church, to make them Christian priests and kings unto him:] my Father, I say, who gave them me, is greater than all, and none shall pluck them [that thus hear my voice and follow me] out of my Father’s hand: for I and my Father are one [in nature, power, and faithfulness, to show that “the way of the Lord is strength to the upright; but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity,” Proverbs 10:29.] John 10:2, 26, &c. No man can come unto me except the Father draw him, [and he be faithful to the Father’s attraction:]
every man, therefore, that hath heard and learned of [that is, submitted to] the Father [and to his drawings] cometh unto me.
There are some of you that believe that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that [buries his talent of light, and] doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doth truth [he that occupies till I come with more light] cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God, John 3:18, &c. [All that our Lord meant, then, when he said to the Pharisees, “Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep,” is explained in such scriptures as these.] He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much, Luke 16:10. How can ye believe, who receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God? [Had you been faithful to the light of conscience, you would have believed Moses; and] had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: but if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? John 5:44, &c. [If ye believe not in God, how shall ye believe in me? If you dishonour my Father, how can you honour me?]
[FIRST PROPOSITION: The Father draws all to himself, and gives to the Son all those who yield to his drawings. Witness the following scriptures.] All the day long I have stretched forth my hand to [draw] a disobedient people, Romans 10:21. Despisest thou the riches of God’s forbearance, not considering that his goodness leadeth [that is, gently draweth] thee to repentance, [and of consequence to faith in a Mediator between God and man?]
Romans 2:4. Of those whom thou hast given me none is lost [hitherto] but [one, Judas, who is already so completely lost, that I may now call him] a son of perdition, John 17:12.
SECOND PROPOSITION. The Son likewise, “who is the light that enlightens every man, draws all to himself,” and then brings to the Father those who yield to his attraction, “that not, &c. Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it be given him of my Father, John 6:44, 45, 64, 65.
The meaning is, that no man can believe in the Son, who has not first a degree of true faith in the Father. “Ye believe in God, believe also in me,” says Christ. “All must honour the Son, as they honour the Father.” All, therefore, that do not “learn of,” that is, submit to, and honour the Father, cannot come to the Son and pay him homage. He that obstinately refuses to take the first step in the faith, cannot take the second. To show, therefore, that Zelotes cannot with propriety ground the doctrine of free wrath upon John 6, any more than upon John 10, I need only prove the three propositions contained in the opposite Scale.
they may receive the adoption of sons.”
Witness the following scriptures: — “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me, John 12:32. Come unto me, all ye that labour [and are restless] and I will give you rest.” If you come to me, I will plainly reveal to you the Father: I will enable you by my peaceful Spirit to call him ABBA, FATHER, with delightful assurance: [for] no man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he, to whomsoever the Son will reveal him [by the Holy Ghost,] Matthew 11:27, 28.
THIRD PROPOSITION. These drawings of the Father, and of the Son, are not irresistible, as appears from the following scriptures: “Because I have stretched out my hands, and no man [comparatively] regarded [my drawings,] I will mock when your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, Proverbs 1:24, 27. These things I say unto you [obstinate Pharisees,] that you might be [drawn unto me, and] saved, &c, and [notwithstanding my drawings] ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life,” John 5:34, 40.
The preceding propositions are founded upon the proportion of faith, upon the relations of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and upon the doctrine of the dispensations explained in the Essay on Truth.
Should Zelotes compare these propositions, he will see that if the Father does not particularly give all men to the Son, that they may receive the peculiar blessings of the Christian dispensation; and if the Son does not explicitly reveal the Father to all men by the Spirit of adoption, or the baptism of the Holy Ghost; it is not out of free, reprobating wrath; but merely for the two following reasons:
(1.) As in the political world all men are not called to be princes and kings; so in the religious world all are not blessed with five talents; all are not called to believe explicitly in the Son and in the Holy Ghost, or to be “made kings and priests to God” in the Christian Church.
(2.) Of the many that are called to this honour, few (comparatively) are obedient to the heavenly calling; and, therefore, “few are chosen” to “receive the crown of Christian righteousness:” or, as our Lord expresses it, few “are counted worthy to stand before the Son of man” among them that have been faithful to their five talents. But, as all men have one talent till they have buried it, and God has judicially taken it from them: as all men are at least under the dispensation of the Father, as a gracious and faithful Creator: as Christ, “the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” draws all men implicitly to this merciful Creator; while the Spirit, as “the saving grace which has appeared unto all men, implicitly teaches them to deny ungodliness,” and to live soberly, righteously, and piously in this present world: as this is the case, I say, what can we think of the absolute election or reprobation of individuals, which insures saving grace and heaven to some, while (through the denial of every degree of saving grace) it secures damning sin and everlasting burnings to others?
If it be asked, how it has happened that so many divines have embraced these tenets? I reply, It has been chiefly owing to their inattention to the doctrine of the dispensations. Being altogether taken up with the particular dispensations of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, they overlooked, as Peter once did, the general dispensation of the Father, which is the basis of all the superior economies of Divine grace. They paid no manner of attention to the noble testimony, which that apostle bore when, parting with his last scrap of Jewish bigotry, he said: “Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him.” As if he had said, Though distinguishing grace should never give two talents to a heathen that fears God and works righteousness; though he should never explicitly hear of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; yet shall he enter, as a faithful servant, into the joy of his merciful Lord, when many “children of the kingdom shall be thrust out:”
for it is revealed upon earth, and of consequence it is decreed in heaven, that they who are chosen and called to partake of the Divine peace, which is essential to the peculiar dispensations of the Son, and of the unspeakable joy, which is essential to the peculiar dispensation of the Holy Ghost, shall be reprobated, or “thrust out,” if they do not “make their high calling and election sure:” while they that were only chosen and called to the righteousness essential to the general dispensation of the Father, shall “receive the reward of the inheritance,” if they do but “walk worthy of their inferior election and calling.”
Methinks that Zelotes, instead of producing solid arguments in favour of his doctrines, complains that I bring certain strange things to his ears; and that the distinction between the Christian dispensation, and the other economies of grace, by which I have solved his Calvinistic difficulties, has absolutely no foundation in the Scripture. That I may convince him of his mistake in this respect, to what I have said on this subject in the Essay on Truth, I add the following proof of my dealing in old truths, and not in “novel chimeras.” St. Paul, 1 Corinthians 9:17, declares that “the dispensation of the Gospel of Christ [which in its fulness takes in the ministration of the Spirit] was committed unto him.” Ephesians 1:10, he calls this dispensation “the dispensation of the fulness of times, in which God gathers in one all things in Christ.” Chap. 3:2, &c, after mentioning “the dispensation of the grace of God given him,” as an apostle of Christ, he calls it “preaching among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,” and the “making all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which had been hid in God from the beginning of the world.”
Colossians 1:25, &c, speaking of the Christian Church, in opposition to the Jewish, he says, “Whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you, &c, even the mystery which hath been hid from ages, but now is made manifest to his saints:”
and he informs them that this mystery, now revealed, was “Christ in them, the hope of glory.” Again, what he calls here the mystery hidden before, but now made manifest to Christians, he calls in another place “the new testament, — the ministration of righteousness, — where the Spirit of the Lord is” — and where “there is liberty,” even the glorious liberty of the children of God; observing, that although the Mosaic dispensation or “ministration” was “glorious,” yet that of Christ exceeds in glory,” 2 Corinthians 3:6, &c. To deny the doctrine of the dispensations is to deny that God made various covenants with the children of men since the fall: it is at least to confound all those covenants with which the various Gospel dispensations stand or fall. And to do so is not to divide the word of God aright, but to make a doctrinal farrago, and increase the confusion that reigns in mystical Babel.
From the preceding quotations out of St. Paul’s Epistles, it follows, therefore, either that there was no Gospel in the world, before the Gospel which was “hid from ages,” and “made manifest” in St. Paul’s days “to God’s saints,” when this mystery, “Christ in them the hope of glory,” was revealed to them by the Holy Ghost: or, (which to me appears an indubitable truth,) that the evangelical dispensation of Adam and Noah was bright; that of Abraham and Moses brighter; that of initial Christianity, or of John the Baptist, explicitly setting forth “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world,” brighter still; and that of perfect Christianity, (or of Christ revealed in us by the power of the Holy Ghost,) the brightest of all.