THE

ORIGINAL SECESSION MAGAZINE.

MAY 1848.

MAN'S INABILITY, AND THE GRACIOUS POWER OF GOD.

In addition to what was said in a former paper, we may now remark that the outward revelation and offer of salvation are of grace. It was entirely owing to the free and sovereign grace of God, that any knowledge of the way of salvation ever descended to our earth. It was wholly of grace that the gospel of salvation was committed to writing in a human language; it was wholly of grace that a class of men were set apart for the express purpose of teaching sinners the way of salvation; it is wholly of grace that the gospel has come to one country and not to another. No reason, except the sovereign pleasure of God, can be assigned for the fact, that in former times the revelation of his will was confined to a single nation, or for the fact that this nation was the Jews. No person can assign any reason for the fact that he has been born in a land where the gospel is, and not in a land where it is not that he has been born in Britain, and not in Central Africa; no one can assign any other reason for this than the arrangements of an unfathomable providence.

And how full of grace is the offer of the gospel? It is an offer made without solicitation-an offer to the most guilty, and depraved, and abandoned-an offer of a free, full, and everlasting salvation-an offer not only made, but pressed on our acceptance, by all that can endear or awe, by "all the kindness and severity of God"-an offer which is often continued, twenty, thirty, forty years, to those by whom it is rejected and despised. The patience, the grace, the tenderness, the longanimity of God in dealing with sinners, looking out for them, yearning over them, lamenting their obstinacy, coming out to meet them when they are yet afar off the riches of the grace of God in dealing with sinners are unspeakable, and ought to encourage all hearts to come to him, as they will augment the guilt and embitter the doom of all by whom they are despised.

The application of salvation is also of grace. It is grace that effectually inclines and determines the sinner to embrace this salvation on God's terms. That the grace of God, alone, can apply redemption, is evident from the state of mankind by nature, as that is revealed in Scripture. Men are not capable of forming correct ideas respecting the present state of human nature. This incapacity arises from the fact that they are sinners, and, being so, they can only contemNo. IX. VOL. I.

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plate sin through an impure and unholy medium, which must greatly deminish its inherent vileness. A rude and uncivilised person cannot form a proper estimate of his own deficiences, or of those of another individual similarly circumstanced: this can only be done.by one who has a refined sense of propriety. A person unacquainted with music is not pained by inharmonious and discordant notes, as one would be who is a proficient in that melodious art. In like manner a sinner, by the very fact of being a sinner, is disqualified for judging of the depraved and abominable nature of sin he does not see and feel the evil of it, because that inward light, if I may so speak, by which alone sin can be inspected, is mingled with the smoke of that very corruption on which it is to sit in judgment. Deficiency in music can only be adequately judged of by one who possesses the taste and the skill of a master, in appreciating and producing the most exquisite delights of harmony; and the more refined and exalted his taste becomes, the discord will appear the greater, and if we may conceive him arriving at absolute perfection, the discord would then appear greatest of all. Thus also the evil of sin can only be rightly estimated by one who is himself free from sin, by one who is himself perfectly holy; he alone can see it in its proper nature, and paint it in its just proportions and with suitable colouring.

Now we have in the Bible an account given of human nature in its fallen state, as it appears to the Holy One of Israel, and, in his eyes, it is originally, radically, universally corrupted. "Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." "That which is born

of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." The most interior departments of our spiritual being are depraved. As poison, even when applied locally to parts of the body which lie at the greatest distance from the heart, passes inwardly to that fountain of life, and therefrom circulates through every member of the corporeal frame; so the one outward act of Adam communicated a deadly virus, which penetrated to the inmost recesses of his moral and immortal being, and therefrom, circulated in baneful adulteration, through all the faculties of the soul, through all the affections of the heart, and even through all the members of the body. "The understanding is darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts." "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." "The carnal mind is enmity against God, and is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." “Even the mind and conscience are defiled." To do evil is natural, easy, agreeable to man. To do good is always, in its higher departments, at least, a matter of difficulty and self-denial. The soil of the depraved heart can nourish weeds of the most noxious qualities, in the greatest abundance and to a gigantic stature. "Man is wise to do evil, but to do good he has no knowledge." Such is the view of human nature given by him "who searcheth the hearts and who trieth the reins." And if it seem a dark view to us, darker than we ourselves would take, let us remember that our view is more favourable, only because our organs of spiritual vision are dimmed and distorted by the very evil of whose turpitude we presume to be better judges than him who is "of purer eyes than to behold iniquity."

Such being the state of human nature since the fall, Divine power is necessary to renew, and restore, and fit it for spiritual action. Let us attend to a few of the manifold statements in Scripture respecting man's inability. "And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." This language is evidently figurative: but since the Bible says plainly, and without hesitation, that men are "dead in trespasses," there must be an analogy between the natural state of the soul and the state of a body under death, and every system is unscriptural which cannot freely use such language, and which does not present an analogy between the present state of the soul and the principal idea suggested by death. We must, however, observe what it is that is here affirmed: it is not said simply that men are dead, this assertion is coupled with an explanation to which we must attend, the affirmation is, that they are "dead in trespasses and sins." This, therefore, is not to be understood of a death of the capacities of the soul, but it must be understood, according to every law of interpretation, as affirming that the soul is so completely under the dominion of sin, that it is destitute of all spiritual life and ability until God quicken it by his almighty grace. This death, therefore, consists in sin, which is the opposite of the soul's highest life, and the man who is under the dominion of sin may be truly said "to be dead in trespasses and sins;" he is as completely without inclination, and, consequently, without ability to come to God, as if he were dead, and from this state he can be delivered only when "the spirit of life from God enters into his soul."

True, man could quicken himself if he was willing; he could come to God if he was willing; he could believe if he was willing. To will to be, and do, these things, is actually to be and do them. The meaning of the affirmation that he could come to God if he was willing, that he could believe if he was willing, that he could quicken himself if he was willing, these assertions mean really nothing more than that he could do these things if he did them. There is no dispute whether men could do all these things if they were willing, the only question is, whether, if left unto themselves, any one would ever be willing? In point of fact, did any soul ever come to Christ without the special drawing of divine grace? Does Scripure teach that men can make themselves willing, or does it teach that in every instance they must be made willing by the power of God?

Scripture unquestionably teaches, what common sense also teaches, that there is nothing to prevent men from turning to God and embracing the Saviour but want of will; but from the beginning of Scripture to the end of it no passage can be found which teaches, or has the appearance of teaching, that men can of themselves so incline their wills as to persuade and enable them to embrace the Saviour, to repent of sin, and return to God. In all cases, the will of man chooses, prefers, embraces, what seems most agreeable to the mind upon the whole, and Scripture every where teaches, that the state of our fallen nature, taken as a whole, is such, that the mind ever will prefer other things to God, to Christ, and to salvation, unless the nature is changed by the regenerating grace of God. The unrenewed mind may have some desire, some inclination, some wish to embrace Christ, to return to God, and to enjoy heaven,

just as the drunken man may have some desire after the health of his body, and the comfort of his family, and yet may sacrifice himself and his family to his stronger desire after the delirious draught, just so the unrenewed mind, while it may have some desire after salvation, will always have a stronger desire after what is incompatible with salvation.

Want of will to embrace Christ and return to God, while it continues, constitutes a real and effective inability. A man cannot himself do, nor can he be forced by others to do what is contrary to his will. Accordingly, in Scripture, want of will is spoken of as want of ability. As in the parable of the supper, the guests which were bidden, " all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee to have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and I cannot come." This example illustrates strikingly the true nature of man's inability. There was nothing to prevent these persons from accepting the invitation but want of will arising from a preference of something else, above the entertainer and his feast. The first might have delayed seeing the land which he had bought, and the second might have delayed proving his oxen, and the third might have brought his wife along with him. But, no; these things had such a hold on their minds, that they would rather enjoy them and want the feast, than go to the feast at the expense of sacrificing present enjoyment. So strong was the influence of these things upon their minds that it amounted to a moral necessity. "I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it." So strong was the influence of these things upon their minds that it constituted a moral inability, as real and effective, while it lasted, as any physical inability: it kept these men away from the feast just as effectually as if they had been bound with ropes or smitten with palsy. And in all cases, want of will, while it lasts, constitutes a real and effectual inability.

Now nothing is more distinctly taught than this, that the influence of sin and of the world is so strong upon the carnal mind, as to constitute an inability of so inveterate and permanent a character, that it can be removed by God alone. "No man," said the Saviour, "can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." Here it is asserted in the plainest terms, that men cannot come to Christ unless they are drawn of God, and this affirmation is made in such a way as to include all men without exception. "No man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." Therefore, every system is unscriptural which scruples to say that man cannot come, and doubly unscriptural if it asserts that all men can come without any other assistance than all hearers of the gospel possess. This may be pleasing doctrine, but it is a pleasing error: it may gratify the pride of man, but it contradicts the Son of God: it may be Arminianism, or Pelagianism, or Socinianism, or any other ism, but it is not Christianity, as that was taught by "the author and the finisher of our faith," for he distinctly declared, to the offence of many "who went back, and walked no more with him," that unless he was drawn by the Father no man could come.

But Scripture goes a step farther than this, and affirms that human na

ture is in such a state that its renovation is impossible without divine assistance. "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, verily, I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And, again, I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, with man, indeed, this is impossible; but with God all things are possible." Here, in the plainest and broadest manner, it is declared, that with man it is impossible, a thing above man's power, a thing which no one can do for another or for himself; it is impossible for a man to change his mind, so that he can of his own accord, and by his own unaided ability, become willing to enter into the kingdom of heaven on God's terms. And this impossibility is not limited to persons who are the slaves of covetousness, or of any other vicious and inveterate habit. The question asked by the disciples was, Who then can be saved? A question equivalent to the assertion, if this be the case, then none can be saved. Our Lord assented to this and said, "with man, indeed, it is impossible;" it is impossible, in so far as the unaided powers of human nature are concerned, for any to be saved. "With man it is impossible"-it is something above man's power; something which man cannot do; something which never would be done: there would be no salvation if the application of that work was left entirely in man's hands: a single son of Adam would never enter heaven if his hope of this depended on his own inherent energies.

To teach and insist on the moral and spiritual inability of man to embrace the Saviour and return to God would be cheerless doctrine, would be a message of despair, if we could point to no sufficient remedy for this deadly prostration of the soul; just as the total inability of man to keep the law, and his exposure to condemnation for not keeping it, would be heartless, would be cruel doctrines, if we could not point the soul to the justice-satisfying, law-magnifying, God-glorifying righteousness of Immanuel. We preach the law in its extent and spirituality, though the sinner cannot keep it, in order to shut him up to the faith of the gospel, and the total inability of man to keep the law becomes a merciful doctrine, becomes a part of the doctrine of salvation, when it is used as a means of leading the sinner to the living redeemer. Thus, also, man's total inability, to repent, to believe, to regenerate himself, which, standing alone, would be the most benumbing doctrine, a doctrine of apathy and despair, when coupled with the provision made for the removal of man's inability by the agency of God the Holy Ghost, and when used as a means of shutting up the helpless sinner to seek the Almighty Spirit to do for him what he cannot do for himself, the doctrine of man's inability, when viewed in this connexion, becomes merciful doctrine, and the preaching of it has just the same relation to the work of the Spirit, as the preaching of the insufficiency of man's own righteousness has to the work of the Saviour. To teach that man is able to keep the law perfectly, would be soul-deluding and soul-ruining doctrine, because it would keep souls from trusting in the merits of the Redeemer. In like manner, to teach that man is able, of himself, to regenerate his soul, and to believe on the Saviour, is not