-
Precious Faith
This we have not by nature. So far are we from being capable of faith in Christ, in a state of unregeneracy, that it is altogether contrary to our nature. God created Adam holy, and placed him in the garden of Eden in a state of sinless perfection; but he by disobedience merited the displeasure of Heaven, and being the head of the covenant of works, plunged not only himself, but the whole human race into a state of sin, degradation, misery, and death; and the word of God declares us all to be sinners of the deepest dye—dead in trespasses and sins, and blinded by the god of this world. We are all like sheep gone astray; and so fallen are we, that by…
-
The Nature And Increase Of Faith
Faith is the gift and the operation of God. It comes by the Holy Spirit’s power rising and strengthening the sublimest faculties of the soul, and is really a regeneration—a rebegetting—a revival of life from the dead. Thus the believer is said to be “born of the Spirit,” because it is the Spirit’s office in the covenant of grace to regenerate, and because it is the promise concerning the Spirit to all, “even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” And thus also the Christian is said to be “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” When the principle of divine life and light is given to the soul, it…
-
On Faith
As faith is no way to be understood so well as by its effect, we cannot do better than trace it in its operations, for as it is a divine principle, emanating from God and taking possession of his beloved family, disposing them to love and serve God with all their hearts and souls, working in them both to will and to do of His own good pleasure; so it is a grace that human reason can never comprehend, nor fallen nature submit to, nor the will of man embrace, as this faith is the gift of God, Eph. 2:6, and without it it is impossible to please God, for what is not of faith is sin. Thus it appears that without this divine principle…
Further Study
“God Is For Me”
-
Thoughts On Responsibility
It appears to me that on no subject are the religious professors of the present day more confused, yea, in the dark, than that of man’s responsibility, and often have I wished that some gifted servant of the Lord would take pen in hand and give a few thought on this important subject. The attempt made by the Rev letter-learned moderate Calvinists of the day, to reconcile God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility, viz, in the matter of salvation, is like searching for the philosophers stone, although a fruitless attempt to discover what, according to their view of the subject, has no existence; or to make two directly opposites meet together. In this, as in all other parts of the jumbled creed, the grand error evidently…
-
A Blow At Fullerism
Does the moral law require faith in the Mediator? Or, does the moral law require the faith of God’s elect? That the above law requires faith, I will not deny. I well know that there is a faith, which is one of the great and weighty matters of the law; but what faith is it? Is it that which stands inseparably connected with eternal life and salvation? If it is, then we are saved through the Law: but the Apostle says we are saved through faith; now if the faith through which we are saved is a duty of the Law (as it must be if the law requires it) we must be saved through the law, and a work of it. But the truth…
-
Notional Calvinism Versus Experimental Calvinism
Notional Calvinism is a plant of common growth in this our day of widely extended profession, whereas experimental Calvinism is just as scarce as ever it was. The former, like our present popular mode of travelling may be very perfect in machinery, but if the fire be wanting it is worse than useless. A bright morning ushered in the Sabbath of—. It was the anniversary of a place of worship, where the truth of God was sown in sorrow and watered with tears. The few who frequented it assembled at the usual hour, and the gathering was small. Numbers, however, have nothing to do with the operations of God’s Spirit, any more than instruments. It is nothing with Him to help, whether with many, or…
Further Study
The Two Preachers
