versal, or indiscriminate, because it is the intention of God that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, is con- trary to Scripture, the question remains, Why are those called whom it is not the intention of God to save ? Wliy are all called, if God has a fixed purpose of rendering that call elFectual to some and not to others ?
1. The most obvious answer to that question is found in the nature of the call itself. The call of the gospel is simply the com- mand of God to men to repent and believe on the Lord Jesua Christ, with the promise that those who believe shall be saved. It is the revelation of a duty binding upon all men. There is as much reason that men should be commanded to believe in Christ, as that they should be commanded to love God. The one duty is as universally obligatory as the other. The command to believe no more implies the intention on the part of God to give faith, than the command to love implies the intention to give love. And as the latter command does not assume that men have of them- selves power to love God perfectly, so neither does the command to believe assume the power of exercising saving faith, which the Scriptures declare to be the gift of God.
2. The general call of the gospel is the means ordained by God to gather in his chosen people. They are mingled with other :nen, unknown except by God. The duty obligatory on all is made known to all ; a privilege suited to all is offered indiscriminately. That some only are made willing to perform the duty, or to accept the privilege, in no way conflicts with the propriety of the univer- sal proclamation.
3. This general call of the gospel with the promise that whoever believes shall be saved, serves to show the unreasonable wickedness and perverseness of those who deliberately reject it. The justice of their condemnation is thus rendered the more obvious to them- selves and to all other rational creatures. " This is the condemna- tion, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John iii. 19, 18.) The most unreasonable sin which men commit is refusing to accept of the Son of God as their Saviour. This refusal is as deliberate, and as voluntary, according to the Reformed doctrine, as it is according to the Lutheran or even the Pelagian theory.
654 PART m. Ch. XIV. — VOCATION.
§ 3. Common Grace. The word x*V'5, Ipn, means a favourable disposition, or kind feeling ; and especially love as exercised towards the inferior, de- pendent, or unworthy. This is represented as the crowning attri- bute of the divine nature. Its manifestation is declared to be the grand end of the whole scheme of redemption. The Apostle teaches that predestination, election, and salvation are all intended for the praise of the glory of the grace of God which He exercises towards us in Christ Jesus. (Eph. i. 3-6.) He raises men from spiritual death, " and makes them sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the ex- ceeding riches of his grace." (Eph. ii. 6, 7.) Therefore it is often asserted that salvation is of grace. The gospel is a system of grace. All its blessings are gratuitously bestowed ; all is so ordered that in every step of the progress of redemption and in its consummation, the grace, or undeserved love of God, is conspicu- ously displayed. Nothing is given or promised on the ground of merit. Everything is an undeserved favour. That salvation was provided at all, is a matter of grace and not of debt. That one man is saved, and another not, is to the subject of salvation, a mat- ter of grace. All his Christian virtues, are graces, i. g., gifts. Hence it is that the greatest of all gifts secured by the work of Christ, that without which salvation had been impossible, the Holy Ghost, in the influence which He exerts on the minds of men, has in all ages and in all parts of the Church been designated as divim- grace. A work of grace is the work of the Holy Spirit ; the means of grace, are the means by which, or in connection with which, the influence of the Spirit is conveyed or exercised. By common grace, therefore, is meant that influence of the Spirit, which in a greater or less measure, is granted to all who hear the truth. By suflicient grace is meant such kind and degree of the Spirit's influence, as is sufficient to lead men to repentance, faith, and a holy life. By efficacious grace is meant such an influence of the Spirit as is certainly effectual in pi'oducing regeneration ami conversion. By preventing grace is intended that operation of the Spirit on the mind which precedes and excites its efforts to return to God. By the gratia gratum faeiens is meant the influence of the Spirit which renew^s or renders gracious. Cooperating grace is that influence of the Spirit which aids the people of God in all the exercises of the divine life. By habitual grace is meant the Holy Spirit as dwelling in believers ; or, that pernanent, immanent