(c.) Last, but not least, it is the doctrine of experience. The longer ministers of the GTospel live, the more do they find that theie is something to be done in every heart which neither preaching, teaching, arguing, exhorting, or means of grace can do. When all has been done, God must " draw," or there is no iTuit. — The more the holiest Christians are examined, the more general is their testimony found, that without grace they never would have been converted, and that God "drew" them, or else they never would have come to Christ. And it is a curious fact, moreover, that ms ;y who profess to deny man's impotence in theory, often confess it in their prayers and praises, almost in spite of themselves. Many people are very low Arminians in print or in the pulpit, but excellent Calvinists on their knees.
When our Lord says, " No man can come unto me," we must carefully remember that it is moral inabihty and not physical inability that he speaks of. We are, not to suppose that any man can have a sincere and hearty wish to come to Christ, and yet be prevented by some mysterious impotence. The impo- tence lies in man's will. He cannot come because he will not come. — There is an Old Testament sentence which throws mnch Ight on the expression before us. It is said of Joseph's brethren, that " they hated him, and could not speak peaceably ur.to him." (Genesis xxxvii. 4.) Any one must see at a glance what this "could not" means. They " could not" because they would not.
When our Lord says, "Except the Father draw him," we roust not suppose that the " drawing " means such a violent drawing, as the drawing of a prisoner to a jail, or of an ox to the slaughterhouse, a "drawing" in short against a man's will. It is a drawing which a Father effects through the man's own will, by creating a new principle within him. By the unseen agency of the Holy Ghost, He works on the man's heart, witli- out the man himself knowing it at the time, inclines him to think, induces him to feel, shows him his sinfulness, and so leads him at length to Christ. Every one that comes to Christ is so drawn.
Scott remarks, " The Father as it were cures the fever of the soul; He creates the appetite; He sets the provisions before the sinner ; He convinces him that they are wholesome and pleasant, and that he is welcome ; and thus the man is drawn to come and eat and live for ever."
The well-known quotation from Augustine, which seems so great a favourite with many commentators on this text, appears to me defective. He argues that God's drawing of men to Christ is so entirely a drawing through man's will, that it is like draw- ing the sheep by offering to it food, — like drawing and alluring