In 1857, page 555, W. K. Pendleton wrote:

      It is a little remarkable that much of the controversy that now agitates the Christian world, is about God's part of the work in human redemption, and especially as to the mode by which he does it. Some persons, it is true, do not admit of any co-operation in this matter. They can not consent that man and God are, in any sense, co-workers together, though there is express Scriptural authority for the fact.¹ Of this class there are two parties--the one ascribing everything to God; the other devolving everything upon man. The one makes man a simple machine, moving only under the divine influence, without freedom of self-determining energy of any kind, and yet responsible for his actions. The absolute sovereignty of God is regarded as a satisfactory [491] justification against every knotty and restless question of the reason, and, in worse than idiot impotency, we are asked to sit down and wait till our time shall come, if, perchance, we may be found among the elect at all! In perfect harmony with this mechanical theory, the Spirit of God is introduced as a sort of mechanical force, an etherealized steam power to overcome the moral inertness of our souls, and by impulse of impact set them a whirling in the predestinal and changeless orbits of a sovereign grace. Man has no part to perform in this wonderful transformation, but sits as the passive clay in the hands of the potter. The work is all of God, unconditional and without justification, save upon the ground of the absolute and sovereign power of the worker. This is not the philosophic Calvinism of Geneva, but the stupid dogmatism of modern fatalists. It nullifies the law of God, it stultifies the wisdom of God:--It mocks the reason of man and paralyzes the springs of human hope. It lays its icy finger upon the aspiring powers of the soul, and chills the glowing warmth with which it burns under the hopeful words of Christ. It presses back with a heavy hand the anxious heart, who, when listening to the call to come, rises to go, and binds as with a new chain the convicted sinner struggling to be free. O, we thank thee, blessed Saviour, that it is not thus thou hast declared liberty to the captive! In breaking the fetters in which sin had bound us, and calling upon us to come forth from our slavery, thou didst not paralyze our powers to obey the glad summons, nor mock us with a promised joy beyond our reach. The fruit of the tree of life is not handed down to tantalize us, but that we may stretch forth our hands, pluck, eat and live forever.

      An equally impious extreme denies all divine agency in man's salvation, save what is chronologically past. God is not now--at the time and during the process of the work, in any sense of the present agency, at all concerned or operative in the new birth. Man is both the subject and the cause of the new creation. He quickens his own heart, and nurses and develops it through the whole process of regeneration, with no concurring agency from God. He is, at once, his own spiritual father, mother, and child--and thus self-originated, he goes forth the sole and unaided architect of his own fortune, and climbs onward and upward to the rest of the perfect. True, he is furnished with a verbal directory, telling him the way, but with this no aid is given strengthening him to follow it. He must walk alone and in his own strength, amid its perils and over its wearisome heights, and experiencing nothing but the triumphs of his own power, and enjoying nothing but the self-gratulation of his self-saving victories, and hoping for nothing save the ultimate attainment of the promised reward, as meet achievement of his own meritorious struggles, he must [492] work out as a glorious and mighty hero, unaided and alone, his own salvation!

      We trust there are but few who hold, even spiritually, this impious and godless theory of human deliverance. Sure we are, that no one can practically walk by it, and be a Christian at all. His heart is not, can not be in any vital union with Christ. As well might we expect a branch to furnish the juices of its own growth, or a stream to feed its own fountains, as that a Christian can live and grow in all spiritual graces, without constant and perpetual union with Christ, the everflowing fountain opened in the house of David for sin and uncleanness, in whom dwelleth all the goodness of the Godhead bodily, and in whom alone, as the head of all principality and power, we are complete. Of such it must be truly said, that being puffed up by their fleshly mind they do not hold the Head, from whom the whole body, by the joints which bind it, draws full supplies for all its needs, and is knit together, and increases in godly growth.

      We know of no one thought more prominent and vital in the Christian scheme than this of actual, real, abiding, living union with Christ and his people. The writings of the Apostles abound with the overflowings of their faith in and experience of this ever-present and sustaining power. They describe it as Christ being in us, and as our being in Christ; John, the beloved Apostle, speaks of it as a matter of knowledge; "Hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us;" and again, "Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit."² Our Saviour himself says, "At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you."³

      It is illustrated by a vine and its branches; by a foundation and the building resting upon it; by a body and its members; and with great force and beauty by the mysterious union and oneness of husband and wife.

      Its beneficial results include all the peculiar privileges and blessings of the Christian--for without Christ we are nothing. It is because we are in him that his righteousness is imparted to us (Phil. iii. 9) that we are made free from condemnation (Rom. viii. 1); that we are delivered from the dominion of sin (John iii. 6); that we are created anew (II. Cor. v. 17); that the Holy Spirit dwelleth in us (Rom. viii. 10); that our prayers are answered (John xv, 7); and that we shall have confidence at his coming (I. John it. 28); and surely the man who lacketh all these things, not being in Christ, not holding the Head, is no Christian. False teachers are all such, who would beguile us of our reward and keep us still subject to ordinances. Well might [493] the Apostle, filled with the sublime contemplation of this glorious union, exclaim, "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and heighth; and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.⁴

      But whilst this is so manifestly a doctrine, we might almost say the sum total of practical Christianity, we are not content to receive it as such. We must push our speculations beyond the declared fact, and the experienced blessing, into the inquiry as to the possible manner in which the union is effected and enjoyed. We must have a philosophic answer to the how of this revealed doctrine, and if in these inquiries we can not agree, the next step is to erect our speculative defenses into grounds of fellowship, and tests of orthodoxy. So far as this inquiry relates to our part in entering into and enjoying this union, the inquiry is not only legitimate, but necessary. What he must do--his faith and his works are, indeed, man's great and appropriate concern. About these he must diligently search the Scriptures, and examine his own heart. Every means placed within his power must be known and employed; every instrumentality appointed to help him must be called into requisition, and diligently and faithfully used; no precept, and no example should be ignored or neglected. His faith must be commensurate with the truth as it is revealed, and his practice, the living exponent, and legitimate fruit of his faith. On these points he may, and it is his imperious duty, constantly and prayerfully to search the Scriptures.

      But suppose that in this search he finds some promise, the performance of which rests with God. Suppose he meets with declarations respecting spiritual aids and influences, which, upon the condition of his faith and obedience, the heavenly Father, in the simplest, most literal and positive language, assures us he will render to his frail and erring children to help them in their endeavor to work out in fear and trembling their everlasting salvation;--shall he falter to receive such because he can not penetrate into the mystery of the manner in which it may be done? Because his speculative talent is weak, too weak to untangle the mystic maze of spiritual intercommunication, shall his faith be staggered and his prayers hindered? Or, if by long and vexing thinking and reflection, he has at length constructed a [494] cunningly devised theory by which, to his own satisfaction at least, he can solve the mystery, shall he next propound this as God's revelation and set it up as a standard of other men's thinking and believing? Should he not rather humbly and meekly say, God's ways are not as our ways. These are the deep things of God. Let us receive them in faith and practice, work and pray for the blessing, rather than dispute and divide about the philosophy. The promise is of God; the gift to be conferred is of his grace; the means, instrumentalities and conditions of its reception, so far as our action is involved, are clearly and positively revealed, and now, what have we to do to reply against God! Let us believe and obey--and the truth of the doctrine shall be demonstrated by the trial, in the sweet and blissful experience of every true and loyal-hearted disciple who sits as a child at the feet of Jesus and his inspired teachers--"If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God."⁵

      Brethren, let us take care that we be not beguiled of our reward by these vain, and, in some instances, impious attempts to prescribe laws to the divine agency, and to set limits to the working of his wondrous will. It is enough for us to attend to our own part in the working out of our salvation, and to leave the part of God to himself. Our speculations can not make or unmake one principle or law, nor add to nor subtract from one element of agency or power that our Creator has reserved in his own hands, and we but waste our time and injure the peace of Zion when we presume to intrude into things which we have not seen; which are revealed to us as facts, the philosophy of which is not given, and which it may be is too high for our present power ever to reach.

W. K. P.      

Source:

W. K. Pendleton. "God's Part of the Work." The Millennial Harbinger 28 (October 1857): 555-559.

[MHA1 491-495]