HE dispute about regeneration has been constantly incumbered with ambiguities. Some times the power by which it is effected, is termed physical. Sometimes it is represented as moral; while, occasionally, the epithet spiritual is regarded as more appropriate. Again, this power itself, however designated, is conceived at one time as absolute and independent, and, at another, as relative or conditional. At one moment, "Truth" is represented to be indispensable, and to be as admirably fitted to act upon the human heart as light upon the optic nerve; at another, this truth can do nothing "of itself," but must receive special power from an extrinsic source. The mere mechanical relation of instrument and agent, is adopted as a complete representation of the connection which exists between the gospel and its Author; and the limited applicability of figures drawn from material things, is allowed to [299] narrow and to falsify the interpretation of spiritual truths.

      Even learned and eloquent dissertations upon the power of truth but serve to create or sustain error, when they contemplate the gospel as merely truth, or as truth in the abstract. The gospel is not only truth, but it is "the truth." It is not this, however, in any abstract or philosophical sense; nor can philosophical reasonings about the power of truth, have any thing but a limited application here; for the "word of truth," that which is termed "the word of the truth of the gospel" (Col. i. 5.), and which is "the power of God to salvation," is not thus characterized as to its quality, but as to its substance. Its power resides not in any supposed influence which "truth" may have upon the mind, but in the fact that it is itself an authoritative proclamation, a special overture, a Divine message to men. It presents no symbol of doctrinal "truth" to the intellect; but reveals facts which address themselves to the heart. It sets forth no system of theology for the mental delectation of the theorist; but exhibits to view a Divine person, upon whom may rest the trust and the affections of the soul. In a word, it is God's power, not because it possesses, in common with every thing that is, the quality of truth, but because it reveals HIM who is "the way, the truth, and the life." Hence the philosophy which would resolve it into an abstraction, or install mere verity in the place of a living, loving Saviour; or substitute any intellectual contemplation for a direct, personal, and [300] practical faith in Jesus of Nazareth, clearly fails to reach any adequate conception of the subject.

      The gospel, then, is the power of God for salvation, but it is such to him only who believes it; and the question before us now, relates to the production of this belief. Few who admit the truth of Christianity at all, have the hardihood to assert, that the evidences to the truth of the gospel are insufficient, or that a sincere belief of its facts and declarations may not spring from its evidences, just as belief in other cases arises from adequate testimony. Theology, however, attempts to depreciate the quality of this belief; to decry it as merely "historical," and to claim, for a true and saving faith, that it can be produced only by a special act of Divine power. All the fine things said of the tendency of truth to convert the soul, and of the tendencies in the soul to yield to truth, amount to nothing. All these tendencies are supposed to be overborne, and it is affirmed, to use the language of Prof. Phelps, that "the suasive working of truth when not energized by the grace of God, is a failure." It is this supposed "energizing of truth;" this efficient superaddition of Divine power to the gospel, which forms the very marrow of modern popular divinity. It does not, indeed, pretend to explain the nature of this added power, or to determine whether it is added to the truth itself or to the evidences of the truth. It merely excludes from the "operation" all human instrumentalities and expedients, and affirms it to be wholly Divine. But 'what this Divine act is, what this power is, the Scriptures,' [301] they say, 'do not teach,' and men are therefore left to gather their notions of it from observation or experience. The Scriptures, however, are as silent in respect to the existence of such superadded power as they are in regard to its nature; and the entire theory is hence a mere assumption, devoid of any Scripture proof. Even regarded in its true light, as a human philosophy of conversion, it fails to afford any rational explanation of the admitted fact, that a part only of those who hear the gospel are saved by it; since it attempts to resolve one difficulty by supposing a greater one--a special and immediate act of Divine power which "energizes" an ineffective gospel. A correct view of the subject, on the other hand, does not need to invoke the aid of miracles as a means of escape from difficulty, while it will be found to leave abundant room for influences both Divine and human, and to be entirely consistent both with Scripture and experience.

      It may be observed, here, in regard to converting power, that it is not, any more than gospel truth, to be resolved into an abstraction and contemplated apart from all that is distinctive, as if all power were one. Such conceptions can exist in the mind alone, and have no place among realities, or in the word of God. It is owing largely to such vain generalizations, and the false reasonings based upon them in theology, that so much confusion of thought prevails in religious society. Nothing can be more evident than that power is various. It may be mechanical, chemical, logical, vital, etc., and each species of power acts [302] within its own appropriate sphere, and according to its own nature. Mechanical power may prepare the soil for the reception of the seed, but it is vital power alone which can enable that seed to germinate. No one could stay the rising tide by the power of logic or of rhetoric, nor could any one erect a palace by the force of chemical affinity. Christianity is essentially a life. Its processes are vital processes, and are hence most appropriately compared with similar ones in those kinds of life familiar to men. An induction into it is thus a regeneration; or it is an engrafting into the good olive, in order to participation in its "fatness." Again, the gospel, presented to the human heart, is compared to seed, scattered upon the ground from the hand of the sower, and, in considering its fortunes, it is not the reveries of speculative theology, but the analogies of nature that must be our guide.

      Again, it is to be considered that power,of every kind is, relative, and is to be estimated according to the circumstances and conditions under which it acts. It may be inefficient, merely because it is insufficient; or because it is not suited to the end, or properly applied; or because its action is hindered by obstacles, which require some other species of power for their removal. Thus, in the parable of the sower, four different classes of cases are distinguished, in each of which the result varies. Yet in all, the sower was the same; and the power of germination and development on the part of the seed was the same. The seed which fell by the wayside, had just the same [303] ability to germinate and grow, as that which fell into the good ground. The difference in result, was simply owing to the difference of the conditions in each case, and is not to be explained upon the absurd hypothesis that, in the one, the seed was specially "energized," and, in the other, left entirely to itself. Now the gospel is just as perfect as the seed to which it is here compared; and, like the latter, neither requires nor can receive any positive augmentation of the particular kind of power which naturally resides in it. The difference in the results which follow its presentation, are due then, not to any deficiency in itself, but to the different states of the hearts in which it is "sown." The hearts of men are not here represented, by the Great Teacher, as all in one condition of "total depravity," as many now teach; but as in different conditions; some utterly unreceptive like the hard and beaten pathway; others shallow and unretentive like the stony ground, while yet others are surcharged with worldly cares which choke the word and render it unproductive. On the other hand, some are found who receive the word "in an honest and good heart," and bring forth abundant fruit. Neither is there the slightest intimation here, of any superaddition of power to the seed or word, with a view of enabling it to overcome the hindrances in its way. Were the removal of these hindrances in question, it is evident that not the same, but a different "operation" would be needed in each case, adapted to the nature of the obstacle to be encountered. Such are the simple dictates of reason, [304] no less than the simple teachings of the word of God. It is, not any absolute increase of the power of the gospel that is needed, but the removal of the impediments which prevent its action. And it is impossible to conceive that any "energizing,"--any added power infused into the gospel itself--could remove these impediments, since, for these, power of a nature totally different is demanded. What power, for instance, in the analogous case of the seed sown, infused into that seed, could enable it to bury itself in the soil on the beaten pathway, or deepen the stony ground, or eradicate the overmastering thorns? The power that prepares the soil for the seed must come from a different source, and be of a different nature, from that vegetative power which alone is appropriate to the seed itself, and all these notions of direct power added to the gospel, are as absurd analogically, as they are false in fact, and utterly devoid of scriptural authority.

      As we have said, however, power is relative, and is to be estimated according to the conditions under which it acts. In the case of the seed sown, no increase in it of vegetative power could be of any avail; but the removal of the hindrances to the action of the vegetative power which it already possessed, would give to this power freedom and effectiveness. The mechanical power, which would break up the beaten pathway, remove the stones, and eradicate the thorns, would give to the living germ, contained in the seed, the opportunity to exert successfully its own peculiar power of growth and [305] development; and, so far as the result was concerned, would be perfectly equivalent to an increase of power in the seed itself, (if such a thing could be conceived possible,) sufficient to overcome all obstacles.

      We have, again, in 2 Cor. iv: 3, 4, another illustration of the same truths, where Paul explains the reason why the gospel does not, in certain cases, effect the salvation of those to whom it is addressed. He says: "If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."¹ Here the light of the gospel is said to be prevented from shining into the heart, by certain obstacles, placed in the way to intercept it, or "blind the minds of those who believe not." It is not at all intimated that the gospel is deficient in power, or that any increase of its light is needed. Its absolute or actual power was entirely adequate to the purpose for which it was designed; and insufficient only in relation to the obstacles placed in the way. These obstacles it could neither surmount nor remove; but this inability would be unjustly considered as a defect in the gospel. A person, in a darkened room, would wrongfully complain that the sun was deficient in power, or [306] not fully adapted to enlighten the world, because his rays were unable to penetrate the closed shutters. The light of the sun is perfectly adapted to the eye, if it be allowed to reach it, and the eye itself be sound. In the case supposed, the remedy is not to be found in any increase of the sun's light, but simply in the opening of the shutters, in order that the light may enter. Paul was sent to "open the blind eyes; to turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God;" and the reason he gives for any failure is, that Satan prevented the light of the gospel from shining into the heart by the obstructions he interposed. Satan blinds the minds of some by riches. In other cases, his purpose is accomplished by false philosophy, or false religion, or by pride and ambition, or fleshly lusts, or some one or more of the vain and perishing things of the present world. These things he erects into hindrances or obstacles, which prevent the light of the gospel from shining into the heart. Where these do not exist, no difficulty is experienced. The word is heard, believed, and obeyed, as by the Corinthians. Acts xviii: 8. The seed which fell into "the good ground, brought forth fruit, some an hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold."

      Such is the picture, every-where presented in the New Testament, of the conditions under which the gospel is preached, and such are the practical illustrations constantly furnished in the "Acts of Apostles," as well as in common experience. At Antioch, the Gentiles received the gospel, but the Jews, [307] blinded by prejudice, rejected it. At Iconium, the apostles "so spake that a great multitude of the Jews, and also of the Greeks believed." Acts xiv: 1. The Jews of Berea were found "more noble than those of Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind." At Corinth, "they opposed themselves and blasphemed." But it is unnecessary to multiply proofs to show that, where the gospel fails to produce its proper effect, it is due to some specific obstacle which Satan in each case interposes, either to prevent the reception of the truth altogether, as in the case illustrated in "the seed by the wayside;" or to render its reception ineffectual, as in the case of the stony ground or that of the thorns, representing "the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches," which "choke the word" and render it "unfruitful."

      As sin has brought upon our race a vast number of distinct bodily diseases, each demanding different treatment, so, undoubtedly, has it entailed innumerable morbid mental conditions, requiring different remedies. It argues but little for the diagnostic skill of Doctors of Divinity, that they have been able to detect only a single universal malady; and as little for their spiritual therapeutics, that they are able to prescribe but one remedy. We know that many do not obey the gospel simply because they are ignorant of it. Such is the case with many of the heathen, and the proper remedy here is instruction. Such was the case with the Ethiopian eunuch; all that he desired and needed was information; and although [308] there was a "Spiritual operation" in the case, it was, unfortunately for the modern theory, not upon the eunuch, but upon Philip, who was thereby sent to meet him in the desert, and was afterward "caught away" to Azotus. As for the eunuch, all that seemed necessary was that Jesus should be preached to him, and, in this preaching of Jesus, baptism was manifestly included, since it was the eunuch himself who asked for baptism upon arriving at a "certain water." In other cases, it is riches which constitute the obstacle, as in the case of the ruler, Luke xviii: 23, who inquired what he should do to inherit eternal life, and to whom Christ revealed the one thing needed, viz: the relinquishment of his possessions. Again, the particular hindrance may be pride, ambition, worldly honor, earthly pleasure, etc., etc. In each case, the means will wisely be adapted to the nature of the hindrance which is interposed. Adversity may abase the haughty, and prepare the heart for the truth. Riches may be made, in the Divine providence, to take to themselves wings; or, upon a bed of suffering, the millionaire may learn the vanity of earthly things, be led to set his affections on things above, and to make to himself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness. If merely a thoughtless want of attention or youthful gayety prevent the reception of the gospel, a warning word, a kind admonition, spoken in season, may give a proper direction to the thoughts. In a thousand different ways, indeed, may the thousand, obstacles which the God of this world interposes, be removed, so that the light of the [309] gospel will be enabled to shine into the heart and accomplish its beneficent purposes.

      He, without whom not a sparrow falleth to the earth, and who has all the resources of heaven and earth at his command, can and will, if consistent with his purposes, in answer to the prayer of his people, throw around the objects of prayer such circumstances and influences as will accomplish the end in due time. Ministering angelic beings, spirits "sent forth," we are expressly told, "to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation," familiar with the laws of the spiritual nature, may doubtless guide the human mind in almost any direction, simply through its own laws of association, suggestion, or reasoning; just as the skilled pilot may guide a vessel in a particular direction, while another one, with the very same wind, is sailing in one directly opposite. In this, there is no violation, but, on the contrary, an employment of the laws and forces of nature; nor have we any right to suppose that God may not cause the hearts of men to be opened to the gospel by such a simple guiding of the trains of thought, in perfect harmony with the laws of the mind itself. Take, for instance, the conversion of Augustine. While meditating in his garden near Milan, upon the sensuality and impiety of his past life, he was filled with remorse, and the tears and prayers of his pious mother Monica, heretofore apparently unavailing, came into remembrance. In this state of feeling, he heard from a neighboring house, a young voice saying and repeating, "Tolle lege, Tolle lege," take [310] and read, take and read. Receiving this as a Divine admonition, he returned to the place where he had left his friend Alypius to procure the roll of St. Paul's epistles, which he had a short time before left with him. "I seized the roll," says he; "I opened it and read in silence that passage on which my eyes first alighted." It was the thirteenth of Romans: "Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness; not in chambering and wantonness; not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof." "No further would I read," adds he, "nor needed I; for instantly, at the end of this sentence, by a light, as it were, of serenity, infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away."--Confessions, p. 204. Need we wonder at the effect of the word of God here, falling into a heart prepared for its reception through the lifelong instruction of a pious mother; the recent earnest discourse of Pontitianus to which he had listened, and the late removal of the obstacle of Manicheeism through the teachings of Ambrose? The ardent nature, and proud and subtle intellect of Augustine needed just such preparation; and no sooner were the hindrances of false religion and philosophy taken out of the way, than the truth and beauty of the gospel shone into his heart. Let it be here observed that all the influences here mentioned as acting on Augustine were from without, and through words presented to his mind; and, furthermore, that the final happy change was effected by the word of God [311] itself. Again, if worldly hopes and ambitions occupy the thoughts, and prove an obstacle to the entire surrender of the heart to God, we may take the case of a Luther, moved to deep reflection by the fate of his friend Alexis, and filled with the terrors of death by the flashing lightnings of a furious storm. He is thus led to renounce all worldly prospects and seek for peace in the cell of a cloister. But he finds it there, after many struggles, only in the simple assurance which the Bible affords of justification through faith in Christ. It is the prospect of death indeed, which, perhaps more than any other single cause, leads men to become religious. So Peter Waldo, a rich merchant of Lyons, startled by the sudden death of a friend at his table, resolves to abandon all other concerns and devote himself to religion. He distributes his wealth to the poor, circulates the Scriptures, and becomes the founder of the Society of the Waldenses. Again, it may be simply a want of careful and continued attention to the claims of the gospel, as in the case of the gay and witty Wilberforce, who, while on his way to Nice, happened to observe to his friend Milner that he thought a certain religious clergyman carried things too far. Milner said that he thought he would form a different estimate of him, were he to carefully peruse the New Testament. Wilberforce replied that he would take him at his word, and read it through with pleasure. Thus perusing the New Testament together on their journey, the mind of Mr. Wilberforce became impressed with its truths. He was revolutionized, became a [312] new man, and thenceforth devoted himself to the cause of religion and philanthropy.

      No one, indeed, can read intelligently the accounts we have of the conversions and religious strugglings of those distinguished for piety, without perceiving that, however various attending circumstances, and however protracted the struggle, assurance and peace were at last found only from the study of the Divine Oracles, or in some Divine Scripture truth impressed at a favorable moment on the heart. It is easy to perceive how various the obstacles as well as the means to be employed for their removal, and how truly the Gospel is the power of God to salvation, when the particular hindrance to its reception is taken away. The history of these experiences forms one of the most interesting portions of the memoirs of the great and good; and their mental trials and struggles to reach the light of truth, will be regarded with earnest sympathy and affectionate interest by every Christian. These experiences are true psychological phenomena. They are doubtless often special answers to prayer. They are Divine guidings; particular interpositions, opening the eyes to see wondrous things in the law of God--things which were there before, but unseen in consequence of obstructed vision. But the prevailing error of religious society in regard to them is this: to regard them as direct operations of the Holy Spirit upon the heart of the unbeliever, "energizing" the gospel and imparting faith by "an instantaneous work;" and to attribute to these influences a saving or converting [313] efficacy, independent of the word of God, and the institutions of the Gospel.

      For such an extreme view there is not the slightest necessity, since the facts involved admit of explanation upon principles which, while they detract not from the gospel as God's power to salvation, leave to the influences in question all that may be justly claimed for them, as designed, in God's providential and special ministry, to bring men to a knowledge of the truth; and as being a part of that wondrous system of instrumentalities, by which the Supreme Ruler directs and governs the affairs both of individuals and of nations, as strikingly shown in the book of Esther, and constantly exemplified in human history. Nor is there any need of the theory which accounts for conversion by a special "energizing" of truth; since it is apparent that the removal of obstacles to belief is equivalent, practically, to an augmentation of the intrinsic power of the gospel. The opening of the shutters of a darkened room will have precisely the same effect as if the light of the sun was increased sufficiently to penetrate the shutters. The force with which a sword is urged to pierce the heart may be unavailing, if a breastplate be interposed, but altogether adequate if that breastplate be removed. If, in the balance of the judgment, or of the affections, some worldly hope outweighs the promises of the gospel, the preponderance of the latter may be effected, not by adding to it new weight; but, more readily and simply, by the removal of that in the opposite scale. [314]

      There is, however, as formerly said, no occasion for any theories whatever on this subject. The true preacher of the gospel will, like the apostles, give himself to "prayer and to the ministry of the word," and endeavor to combine trust in Divine aid with diligence in human effort. In fulfilling his mission he will find, as in the parable of the Sower, good and honest hearts prepared to receive the truth as did the Bereans of old. If others oppose, God may, peradventure, give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth in due time, through the means fitted to remove the difficulties in their way. From the lost, the gospel will doubtless be forever hidden by the devices of the Prince of Darkness. In all cases, however, results are to be left with God; and men are to perform their prescribed duty independently of theories, being assured that the "kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up he knoweth not how." Mark iv: 26, 27.

      When hindrances to faith are removed, when an individual is enabled to see the glory of Christ as he is revealed in the gospel, and to make an entire surrender of himself to him in loving trust, it is natural that the soul, freed from its burdens and its fears, should find rest and be filled with joy and peace. This was Christ's promise to the weary and heavy-laden, who would come to him and accept his guidance. It is evident that the degree of happiness experienced by the convert, will vary with the degree [315] of confidence he entertains that he has obtained a personal interest in Christ, and has been justified or forgiven. The fact of his justification itself, rests, of course, in the Divine mind alone; but in the gospel, God has furnished such assurances of the fact to the believer as to relieve him of all dubiety. It was not the design that any one should be left in doubt as to his salvation, nor can there be found under apostolic preaching, a single instance of that uncertainty in regard to this, which is now so common under the influence of modern systems of religion, where the hope of acceptance is made to rest upon certain feelings of joy and peace, themselves often due to factitious circumstances, or being constituted, by an absurd inversion, the very ground of the hope from which they spring. The assurance of justification can not properly spring from our own hopes or convictions, but must proceed from a higher source, and rest upon a Divine authority. It is unfortunate, therefore, that modern religious systems, in making the feelings alone the criteria of pardon, have presumed to neglect or reject the means which God himself has appointed in order to give this assurance. An inspired apostle, in the beginning, commanded believing penitents to "be baptized for the remission of sins," with the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit upon their obedience (Acts ii: 38); and it is evident that in this obedience and in the realization of this promise, the believer received those Divine assurances of his acceptance which were alone legitimate. Paul hence indicates the primitive order of [316] things, when he says (Heb. x: 22), "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water;" the application, by faith, of the "blood of sprinkling" to the conscience, being here appropriately connected with the washing of the body in baptism,² which is not a Jewish rite of mere external purification, but the "answer of a good conscience"--an expressive emblem and pledge, on God's part, to the believer, of spiritual cleansing through the atonement of Christ. That the gospel reveals a justification by faith "without deeds of law," is a doctrine most true and worthy of all acceptation. Modern system-makers seek to carry the matter still farther, and to make justification independent likewise of the institutions of the gospel itself. Without entering here into this question, it is sufficient to say, that justification is one [317] thing, and the assurance of justification, or the "full assurance of faith," another; and that, while obedience to the gospel can in no sense procure forgiveness, it may be essential to the believer himself as the divinely appointed means of furnishing to him this assurance.

      It is in setting aside baptism for remission of sins, and in confounding the gift of the Spirit to believers with the work of the Spirit in conversion, that modern systems have deprived the sincere convert of that comfort and confidence in his profession, which was given by the primitive gospel. An overweening anxiety to secure for the unbeliever the inner "witness of the Spirit," and a habitual depreciation both of the word of God and of the institutions of the gospel, upon the ground that these are merely outward or external matters, have tended to create the impression that no influences of the Spirit are of any value except those which are exerted from within. It would seem, indeed, to be supposed that the Holy Spirit is unable to exercise any influence upon men's hearts and minds by acting upon them from without; and that, in all cases, in order to move them, he must take up his abode in their hearts. In referring to John xiv: 17, Calvin says: "The words of Christ show us that we can receive no knowledge of the Holy Spirit through merely human perception, but that he can be known only by the experience of faith--'The world,' he says, 'has no capacity to receive the Spirit because it knoweth Him not, but ye know Him, for he dwelleth with you.' The Spirit, then, [318] suffers himself to be known only by taking up his abode in us, otherwise he is unknown and incomprehensible." The teaching of Calvin here is in direct opposition to that of Christ, and to the facts of Scripture. Christ says to the disciples with respect to the Spirit, "Ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you." He was not, then, yet in them, this being a matter in the future. Nevertheless, they knew him, as Christ declares. But Calvin contradicts and says: "The Spirit suffers himself to be known only by taking up his abode in us. Otherwise he is unknown and incomprehensible." In like manner, the followers of Calvin seem to recognize no work of the Spirit in human renovation, except it proceed from the Spirit as dwelling in the heart. But the declaration of Christ in the case referred to, clearly implies an influence from without. "Ye know Him," says he to his disciples, "for he is with you." The Spirit, then, had made himself known to them simply by being with them, but not in them. The failure to make this distinction has much to do with the confusion of thought which prevails on the subject of spiritual influence.

      How had the Holy Spirit been with the disciples? Certainly as dwelling and manifested in the person of Christ. To him the Holy Spirit had been given "without measure." In him dwelt "all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." He cast out demons and wrought all miracles by the "finger," or Spirit of God. The Father dwelt in him, and he dwelt in the Father by the Spirit." The words that I speak unto [319] you," said he to Philip, John xiv: 10, "I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me; he doeth the works." The disciples had heard these "words;" they had witnessed these "works," by which it had been proved to their hearts and minds that Jesus was the Messiah. "The same works that I do," said Jesus, "bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me." John v: 36. The Holy Spirit had thus exerted an influence of the most important and salutary nature upon these disciples, while merely with them, but not in them. This influence was exerted from without, by words addressed to their ears, and by miraculous evidences of an external character presented to their senses. What was the result of it? They had become believers. "I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me," said Jesus in his prayer to the Father, "and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me." They had become possessed of faith by hearing words, and witnessing the proof on which faith rests. No one can pretend it was by a special internal operation of the Spirit "working faith in the heart," according to the modern notion, for the Spirit was not yet in them, but only with them. Christ had indeed conferred upon them power to work miracles, but this, as has been shown, had nothing to do with the indwelling of the Spirit, any more than in the case of the rod of Moses; the waters of Jordan in healing Naaman, or the bones of Elijah in raising the dead to life. The entire result, in the case of [320] the disciples, is expressly attributed to the words spoken to them, confirmed, as they were, by the external evidences of miraculous power. We have here, then, an influence of the Spirit, exerted from without, producing saving faith, constituting individuals disciples of Christ, and separating them from the world. Here is a state of facts, clearly revealed, which can never be explained or accounted for on the principles of those who admit but internal influences of the Spirit and deny the possibility of true faith without a "special internal spiritual operation."

      But the result of this external influence of the Spirit--of these "words" of the Spirit, spoken by Christ in the ears of the disciples, was not only faith, but also purification. "Ye are clean," said he, "through the words which I have spoken unto you." Well could he, therefore, say to them on one occasion, "Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear." It was "given" to them to know the truth because they did not, like the Pharisees, close their eyes to the light, and harden their hearts against the teaching of Christ. Hence said Jesus to the Father, "I have given them thy words and they have received them:" They were accordingly prepared to receive the Holy Spirit, their hearts "having been purified by faith" in Jesus.

      We have now, in the case of these disciples, a perfect exemplification of the actual state of the case in reference to all who have since been brought to Christ. All have heard the gospel, the same gospel which Jesus preached, and have had presented to [321] their minds the same external evidences of his Messiahship, furnished by the Holy Spirit, by which the primitive disciples were convinced, and which are faithfully recorded or "written;" that all in successive ages might believe the same great truth, and believing this, obtain life through the name of Christ. In all these cases, the Holy Spirit was with them but not in them. He has been with them in his words presented to them; with them in those who spoke to them the word of God; with them in every sense in which he was with the primitive believers; and, as in their case, by operating from without, by words, by the gospel of Christ which is God's power to salvation, brought them all to a knowledge of the truth, and purified their hearts by faith, so that they were prepared to receive, upon obedience, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, as an indwelling presence to abide with them forever.

      The work of the Holy Spirit in the salvation of men hence naturally divides itself into two chapters--1. The influence He exerts from without in the production of faith and conversion; and, 2. The influence he exerts from within, as the Comforter, Helper and Sanctifier of the obedient believer. The advocates of the popular theory of "spiritual operations," fail to make this distinction. They seem, as formerly remarked, to have little idea of any spiritual influence but as exerted in conversion, and that, too, from within, by an actual presence of the Spirit in the unbeliever, contrary to the word of God. It is a pity that the peace of religious society should be [322] disturbed, and the progress of the gospel hindered by a theory of "spiritual operations" which leads men to disparage the word of God as inefficient, so that the very revelation which the Spirit makes of sin, righteousness and judgment for the purpose of converting the world, is disregarded, in the pursuit of direct internal influences which, so far as they are genuine, appertain exclusively to believers. The work of the Spirit, as this relates to the world, being thus confounded with his work as it relates to saints, the anxious inquirer is unable to obtain a clear idea of either, or to ascertain what is really required of him. It is lamentable that a human theory should be allowed to place the Spirit in opposition to his own work; to exalt one part of his work against another; misplace the promises and Divine order of the gospel, and so pervert the minds of men, that they will not receive the plain teaching of the Spirit himself in the Sacred Scriptures. Why should the influence of the Spirit, exerted from without, through the gospel, not be as highly esteemed and as earnestly pressed as his influence from within? Why should the difference in the relations which the sinner and the saint respectively sustain to God, be wholly overlooked or disregarded? Why should the attempt be made to apply to the one those means of renovation which have been Divinely appropriated to the other? Alas! it is nothing but the tyranny of a theological theory which requires this, for it has been diligently inculcated, as the very basis of all religion, that such is the nature and [323] condition of man that nothing but a direct internal operation of the Spirit can enable any one to believe. Theory first establishes a mountain of "total hereditary depravity" directly in the way of the gospel, and then demands, as a matter of necessity, a miracle for its removal! In opposition to all this, however, the Scriptures teach that men are "to hear the word of the gospel and believe;" that they are "regenerated by the incorruptible seed of the word;" that God begets his children "by the word of truth," and that while it is impossible for the unbelieving world to receive the Spirit, "because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him," God will ever, according to his gracious promise, give the Holy Spirit "to them that obey him." To reveal Christ to the mind and heart, through the gospel, is the office of the Spirit, as it respects the world; while dwelling in the heart of the believer, he there establishes the reign of peace and joy, and love, bringing forth in the life the blessed fruits of righteousness, and preparing the renewed soul for the blissful enjoyment of the eternal inheritance. [324]

[OHS 299-324]