66 a reasonable man no more than in a dead "poft; and marketh not the words that "follow, Every man, that heareth and learn"eth of my Father, cometh to me. God "draweth with his word and the Holy Ghoft;

but man's duty is to hear and learn, that is "to fay, receive the grace offered, confent to the promife, and not repugn the God that "calleth. God doth promise the Holy Ghoft

unto them that afk him, and not to them "that contemn him." And fuch was the interpretation of the wife Melanchon, whom his lefs gentle brother in the reformation accufed of "prevaricating with Chryfoftom"," because he afferted the neceffity of a willing mind. "It is objected" (faid that pious and learned Reformer)" by the timid foul, I can"not believe, unless God kindle my faith. I "anfwer, it is true that men are drawn by "God; but they are drawn by the word of "the Gospel, to which God wills thee to af"fent, and at the fame time to ask affiftance,

as it is written, How much more fhall he give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him. "Do not then refift the Gofpel; do not en

* Bp. Hooper. Preface to Declaration of the Ten Commandments.

Multoque fatius eft quam tergiverfari cum Chryf oftomo. Cale. Inft. lib. iii. cap. xxiv. fect. 13.

86 courage miftruft; do not think, as Enthu"fiafts dream, that thou must wait for a vio"lent motion, whereby God may drag thee

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on, although thou refift, and rufh backward "into wickedness: but affent to the divine "voice, and at the fame time pray for affift"ance, as the fuppliant in Mark, Lord, I be"lieve, help thou my unbelief. When thou "doeft this, it is certain, that thou art drawn "and affifted by God; according to his oath, "As I live, faith the Lord, I will not the "death of a finner, but that he be converted "and live. To this effect are those sayings, "God draws, but he draws the willing mind; "and again, Only be thou willing, and God "haftens to meet thee, as Bafil fays in his dif"course on the prodigal fon, to whom, as he

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returns, his Father goes forth to meet him, "and flies into his embrace. These things we "fay," he adds, "to comfort those who are in "the Church, and understand that they are "called by the voice of the Gospel, and are willing to be converted. But if any without repentance agitate curious queftions, with "fuch it were vain to dispute "."

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Sed objicit trepida mens, Non poffum credere, nifi Deo fidem accendente. Refpondeo, Verum eft homines a Deo trahi; fed trahuntur per vocem Evangelii, cui vult te Deus affentiri, et fimul petere auxilium, ficut fcriptum eft, Quanto magis dabit Spiritum fanctum petentibus.

Have we the power then to refift the Spirit, when he would lead and draw us unto God? And is that true, which our Reformers have affirmed, that "although the goodness of God "offereth his fpecial grace to all men, yet "they only enjoy it, which by their free-will "do accept and embrace the fame, and that "others by free-will abuse the grace and benefits of God?" The Scriptures teach us that we may. We may "hate" and "rebel against the light ":" we may “do defpite unto the Spirit of grace:" we may

"neglect

Non igitur repugnes Evangelio; non indulgeas diffi dentiæ; non cogites, ut fomniant Enthufiaftae, expectandum effe violentum motum, quo te rapiat Deus etiam repugnantem, et iterum ruentem in fcelera: fed affentiaris voci divinæ, et fimul petito auxilium, ficut ille apud Marcum, Credo, Domine, fed opem fer imbecillitati meæ. Hoc cum fit certum eft te a Deo trahi et adjuvari, ficut jurat, Vivo ego, dicit Dominus, nolo mortem peccatoris, fed ut convertatur et vivat. In hanc fententiam et hæc dicta funt, Deus trahit, fed volentem trahit. Item, Tantum velis, et Dents præoccurrit, ut Bafilius dicit in concione de filio prodigo, cui redeunti Pater obviam procedit, et involat in amplexum. Hæc dicimus ad confolandos eos, qui funt in Ecclefia, et fe intelligunt vocari voce Evangelii, et volunt converti. Si qui autem fiue pænitentia movent curiofas quæftiones, cum talibus fruftra disputatur. Epift. ad Rom. cap. ix. Op. vol. iv. p. 160.

m

Neceffary Doctrine and Erudition, &c. Article of Free-will.

"John iii. 20. Jøb. xxiv. 14.

Heb. x. 29...

"to flir up the gift of God that is in us," and fo "quench" his gracious influence in our hearts: we may "refift him," till he will no

longer "ftrive with us:" we may "rebel

against him," and "grieve" him, and "vex” him, "rejecting" the proffered means of falvation, and “thrufting from us the word of life,” till he will be turned" from us: we may provoke him by obftinate impenitence and difobedience, until he will remove his light from before us: we may "refufe to turn at his "counfel, and may defpife his reproof," until he will close his ear to our entreaties, and will refufe to be found of us if we forfake him, he will forfake us":" and "if we do not like "to retain him in our knowledge, he will give

us over to a reprobate mind, to do thofe things which are not convenient*:"« God "doth by his goodness approach to all," faith St. Bafil, "but we fet ourfelves at distance by "fin" and, as another Father of the Church remarks, "they who are actuated by the Holy

1 Tim. iv. 14. 2 Tim. i. 6. 1 Theff. v. 19.

Acts vii. 51. Gen. vi. 3.

* If. lxiii. 10. Eph. iv. 30. Matt. xxi. 42, 43. Acts xiñ. 46. • Rev. ii. 5.

* 2 Chron. xv. 2.

't Prov. i. 23—30. '

* Rom. i. 28.

* Τη ἑαυτου αγαθότητι πασιν ὁ Κύριος εγγίζει, μακρυνομέν δε ἑαυτους ήμεις δια της ἁμαρτίας. Βaf. in Pf. xxxiii. Op. tom. i. p. 155. ed. Paris. 1721.

"Spirit, are not held under any neceffity, but "have a liberty to turn themselves, and do " what they will in this life "."

With refpect indeed to those gifts, which were miraculously conferred by the Holy Spirit on fome of the primitive converts for "the "work of the miniftry, and the edifying of "the Church," they seem to have been the effect of an irresistible and overruling power, and to have required no cooperation in the will of the recipient. And with a view to fuch gifts as these St. Paul appears to demand, "Who maketh thee to differ from another?"

But with refpect to his ordinary grace, though that grace and ability is from Chrift, it is our indifpenfable office to actuate that ability, and to cooperate with that grace, which is fent to "ftrengthen "," but not to force us, in the dif charge of our duty.

"It is an error," fays Calvin, "to make "man cooperate with God, fo that he may

2. Ουτε γαρ ὁ τελειος εις το άγαθον, η βαθυς εις την ἁμαρτίαν, και ποιων ἑαυτον σκεύος του διαβόλου, ὑφ ̓ οὗ το όλον κατεκρίθη εις το κακον, αναγκη τινι δεδεται αλλ' εχει την ελευθεριαν του γενεσθαι σκεύος εκλογης και ζωης· ὁμοιως παλιν οἱ μεμυθεσμένοι εις την θεότητα, καιτοι πεπληρωμένοι και δεδεμένοι πνευματι ἁγίῳ, ουκ αναγκη τινι κεκράτηνται, αλλ' εχουσι το αυτεξούσιον του τρα πηναι αυτούς, και ποιειν ὁ θέλουσιν εις τον αιώνα τουτον. Macarii Hom. xv. p. 96. ed. Paris. 1621.

2 1 Cor. iv. 7.

8

Phil. iv. 19.