UNSECTARIAN NOTES ON FREE WILL, JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH, GOOD WORKS, AND PREDESTINATION & ELECTION, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SEASONS FROM THE "PILGRIM'S PROGRESS." BY RICHARD HERRING, Author of "Personal Recollections of the Rev. George Croly, LL.D.,” etc. LONDON: LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., 38 TO 41, PATERNOSTER ROw. 1885. 1242. e. 42 Free Will. "No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him."-John vi. 44. If the soul of man had now its original rectitude there needed no more to influence the will than the illumination of the understanding; but in the depraved soul of the fallen man there is a rebellion of the will against the right dictates of the understanding, a carnal mind which is enmity itself to the divine light and law. It is therefore requisite that there be a work of grace wrought upon the will which is here called drawing. "No man can come to me except the Father who hath sent me draw him." And this is the case of all mankind. No man can persuade himself to come up to the terms of the Gospel, except the Father draw him; that is, work a change in the will whereby a new bias is given to the soul by which it inclines to God. This is not to be called a physical impulse, for it lies ut of the road of nature, but He that formed the spirit of man within him by His creating power, and fashions the hearts of men by His providential influence, knows how to new-mould the soul, and to alter its bent and temper, making it conformable Himself and His own will, without doing any wrong to its natural liberty. Thus the roth Article of the English Church concisely observes: "The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good works to faith and calling upon God. Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God, by Christ, preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will." To some it might appear that the condition of trial in which we are accustomed to regard man as being placed in the world is by this Article reduced to a mere absurdity. But such is not the case. Man always retains what we are accustomed to denote the moral choice, and therefore of necessity must be regarded as a responsible being. Indeed, when we look at mankind generally, and see the capabilities each possesses of directing and controlling his thoughts to any particular study or branch of science, independently of such choice of occupation as he is enabled to avail himself of according to peculiar taste and circumstances, it cannot be difficult to understand that man has also the power of choosing—if he feels the insufficiency of all other dependence to uphold and comfort him amidst the various trials and difficulties which beset and perplex his course-the service of his Great Creator and Preserver, the Lord of Heaven and Earth. But this is little more than the work of natural religion. He is not yet removed from the power of Satan unto God; the consolations of the Gospel are not his; he has yet to understand how that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; he is still blinded as it were with the things of the world, like as when the mind being absorbed in the deep study of any object of investigation or reflection, becomes not only unconscious of the course of time but even of things passing immediately before the eyes. Such is the condition of man unchanged by grace. And "can the Ethiopian change his skin" that is by nature black, "or or the leopard his spots" that are even woven into the skin? So is it morally impossible for us to remove the deformity of the soul, Sin, in which we were shapen and which is natural to us, by any power of our own. But the same almighty grace that is able to change the Ethiopian's skin is never wanting to those who in a sense of need seek it earnestly and improve it faithfully. Thus do the Scriptures, in like manner with the Article, declare it to be impossible for us to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us. For as all divine discoveries are made alone through Him, so is it through Christ alone that all divine powers are exerted, giving us the will and working with us when we have that good will. "Ye have not chosen me,” saith our Lord, "but I have chosen you." Again, "Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannnot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me." The text says, "No man cometh unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him," thus implying that God necessarily does draw men. Not by any undue influence driving them into His service |