word, it must be by the word believed: I answer, First, That may be questioned. The word, it is true, must be understood, in a measure, in order to have any effect; but it is a question with me, whether a person must believe the gospel, before it can have any effect upon him. We know that truth frequently maintains a long struggle with darkness and errour, before they are overcome; during which time, it may be said that God has been at work upon the mind by means of his word: and yet that word cannot be said to be believed, till the opposition drops, and the soul becomes a captive; in other words, till the heart is brought to set seal that God is true. If it is insisted, that that degree of conviction which exists in the mind, while the heart remains unsubdued, is properly called believing the word, so far as it goes; I shall not dispute about terms, but shall, at the same time, insist, that it is not such believing as to denominate any person a believer, But, Secondly, P. insists, that true faith in Christ is something more than believing the divine testimony; that it is the soul's actual coming to Christ: now, if so, though the word should be allowed to be instrumental in the renewal of the mind, yet that renewal must precede believing, or the soul's application to the Saviour. So that, granting him all he can desire, it will not prove that regeneration follows upon believing, in his sense of the word.

The great question between us is this, WHETHER THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD IS THE PROPER AND EFFICIENT CAuse of a SINNER'S BELIEVING IN JESUS CHRIST; Or, Whether it be OWING TO HIS HOLY INFLUENCE, AND THAT ALONE, THAT ONE SINNER BELIEVES IN CHRIST, RATHER THAN ANOTHER? If this were but allowed, we should be contented. If the first beginning of God's work upon the mind is by the word, let it but be granted that it is by the agency of the Holy Spirit causing that word to be embraced by one person, so as it is not by another, and so to become effectual; and we are satis fied. If this is but granted, it will amount to the same thing as that which we mean by regeneration preceding our coming to Christ; since the cause always precedes the effect.

But if I rightly understand P. he leaves out the agency of the Holy Spirit in the act itself of believing; maintaining that the Spirit is not given till after we have believed. (p. 22.)

If there is any divine agency in the matter, it can be only a sort of grace which is given to men in common; and this can be no reason why any man believes, rather than another: it is the man himself, after all, who is the proper cause of his own believing. It is owing to himself, it seems, that the good work is begun; and then God promises to carry it on to the day of Jesus Christ.

I cannot but think this sentiment highly derogatory to the honour of the Holy Spirit, and contrary to the tenour of the sacred scriptures. In proof of this, let the following observations be duly considered :

I. The scriptures not only represent salvation as being through faith, but they ascribe faith itself to the operation of the Spirit of God. Those who come to Christ are described as having first heard and learned of the Father, and as being drawn by him; nor can any man come to him, except it be given him of the Father. Nor can this learning be applied to the mere outward ministry of the word; for all who are thus taught of God, do not come to Christ. Faith, as well as love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, and goodness, is a fruit of the Spirit. We believe, according to the working of his mighty power; a power equal to that which raised our Lord from the dead. Faith is expressly said to be of the op eration of God. We are not only saved by grace through faith; but even THAT is not of ourselves: IT IS THE GIFT of GOD. If regeneration be brought about by any exertion of ours, it is not only contrary to all ideas of generation, (to which, undoubtedly, it alludes,) but also to the express testimony of scripture, which declares that we are born not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.*

Those parts of scripture which speak of the instrumentality of the word in our sanctification, take care to ascribe all to the agency of the Holy Spirit. They who understand the gospel, and who are changed into the same image, are represented as so doing by the Spirit of God. Christ did not pray that the truth might sanctify men; but that God would sanctify them by his truth. If the word become effectual, it

* John vi. 44, 45. 65. Gal. v. 22. Eph. i. 19. Col. ii. 12. Eph. ii. & John i. 13.

is when it comes not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much` assurance. If it bring about the salvation of those who believe, it is because it is the power of God to that end.*

II. The scriptures represent all the great instances of conversion as effects of some peculiar out-pourings of the Spirit of God. We may instance two periods; the time of the great conversions in the apostles' days, and the time of latterday glory, yet to come. Of the former of these periods it was promised, The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion; rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing IN THE DAY OF THY POWER. And again,

In that day will I pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn.—In that day there shall be a fountain opened, &c.† These promises were gloriously accomplished soon after Christ's ascension, when thousands of those who had voted for the crucifixion of the Messiah, became captives to all-conquering grace!

The Lord Jesus himself preached to these very people; yet, though he was the greatest of all preachers, he laboured in vain. They believed not his report. He was a root out of a dry ground in their eyes. How came they to believe the apostles, rather than him? To what cause can it be imputed, but to the arm of the Lord being revealed? To what cause can we ascribe their superior success, not only in Judea, but throughout the gentile world, except to the Spirit being poured down from on high, in consequence of Christ's ascension? Christ told his disciples that they should do the works that he did, and greater works than those," because," says he, "I go unto my Father." Yes: hence it was that the Spirit of truth was sent, not only to comfort believers, but to cons vince the world of sin.‡

The prayers of the apostles and primitive ministers show, that their hope of success did not arise from the pliableness of men's tempers, or the suitableness of the gospel to their dis,

2 Cor. iii. 18. John xvii. 17. 1 Thess. i. 5. Rom. i. 16.

Psa. cx. 2, 3. Zech. xii. 10. xiii, 1,

VOL. I.

Isa. liii. 1. xxxii. 15. John xiv. 12. xvi. §.

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positions; but from the power of Almighty God attending their ministrations. The weapons of their warfare, however fitted for the purpose, were mighty THROUGH GOD to the pulling down of strong holds. To GoD they sent up their earnest and united petitions, before they opened their commission. Meeting in an upper room, they continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. And, afterwards, we find the apostle Paul requesting his Thessalonian brethren to pray for him and his associates in the work of the ministry, that the word of the Lord might have free course, and be glorified.*

The great accessions to the church of God in the latter In the 60th chapdays, are ascribed to the same cause. ter of Isaiah, after abundance of rich promises of a large and glorious increase, after the multitudes of conversions to Christ had been rapturously resembled to a cloud, and the flockings of doves to their windows, the whole is thus concluded; Thy people shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch OF MY PLANTING, THE WORK OF MY HANDS, THAT I MAY BE GLORIFIED. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I THE LORD WILL HASWhen the seventh angel sounded, and voices were heard, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, the fourand-twenty elders immediately fell upon their faces, and blessed him who was, who is, and is to come, because he had TaKEN TO HIM HIS GREAT POWER, AND REIGNED.*

TEN IT IN HIS TIME.

But, if the Spirit of God is not the cause why one sinner believes in Christ, rather than another, then he is not the cause why there are more believers at one period of time than at another. And, if so, to what purpose are the before-cited prayers or promises? As to the former, however strongly they speak of latter-day glory, and of God's taking to him his great power, and reigning, they are, after all, mere predictions of what will be, rather than promises of what shall be. The same may be said of the promises concerning the success of the gospel after Christ's ascension. As to the latter, to what purpose was it to pray for what they already had ?

* 2 Cor. x. 4. Acts i. 14. 2 Thess. iii. 1. † Rev. xi. 15-17.

They had a gospel adapted to the condition of lost sinners; and as to divine grace, if any thing of that be necessary to a reception of it, their hearers are supposed to have had à sufficiency of that already bestowed upon them, otherwise it would have been a mockery to address them. Now, if things are so, might not the apostles have expected some such an answer to their prayers as was given to Dives? They have Moses and the prophets, yea, Christ and the apostles, let them hear them; I have given them grace sufficient already; I shall do nothing more in order to their conversion, nothing at all, until they have believed.'

III. The scriptures represent God as having a determinate design in his goings forth in a way of grace, a design which shall never be frustrated. My counsel, saith the Lord, shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.—I will work, and who shall let it? In the sending forth of his gospel, particularly, he speaks on this wise: For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.* But the scheme of P. if I understand it, supposes no such design. On the contrary, it supposes that God, in sending his Son into the world, and the gospel of salvation by him, never absolutely determined the salvation of one soul; that, notwithstanding any provision which he had made to the contrary, the whole world, after all, might have eternally perished; the Son of God might never have seen of the travail of his soul; the gospel might have been a universal savour of death unto death; and the whole harvest of the divine proceedings an heap in the day of grief, and of desperate sorrow!

To say that God designed to save believers, and therefore his design is not frustrated, is to say true, but not sufficient. For how if there had been no believers to save? And there might have been none at all, according to this scheme; and so, instead of the serpent's head being bruised by the seed of

* Isa. xlvi, 10. xliii. 13. Įv. 10, 11.