ment, tluit efficacious grace is tlie almio;hty power of God. Tlieie are, as has been before remarked, three classes into which all events of which we have any knowledge may be arranged. First, those wliich are j)roduced by the ordinary operations of second causes as guided and controlled by the providential agency of God. Secondly, those events in the external world which are produced by the simj)Ie volition, or immediate agency of God, without the co- operation of second causes. To this class all miracles, properlv so called, belong. Thirdly, those effects produced on the mind, heart, and soul, by the volition, or immediate agency of the omnipotence of God. To this class belong, inward revelation, inspiration, mirac- ulous powers, as the gift of tongues, gift of healing, etc., and re- generation.
Efficacious Grrace Mysterious and Peculiar.
If this one point be determined, namely, that efficacious grace is the almighty |)ower of God, it decides all questions in controversy on this subject.
1. It is altogether mysterious in its operations. Its effects are not to be ex[)lained rationally, i. e., by the laws which govern our intellectual and moral exercises. To this aspect of the case our Lord refers in John iii. 8, " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell Avhence it Cometh, and whither it goeth : so is every one that is born of the S[Mrit." Volumes have been written on the contrary hypothesis ; which volumes lose all their value if it be once admitted that re- generation, or effectual calling, is the work of omnipotence. No one is hardy enough to attempt to explain how the efficiency of God operates in creation ; or how the mere volition of Christ healed the sick or raised the dead. Neither would men attem])t to explain how Christ raises the spiritually dead, did they believe that it was a simple work of almighty power.
2. Another equally obvious corollary of the above proposition is, that there is a specific difference between not only the providential efficiency of God and efficacious grace, but also between the latter and what is called common, or sufficient grace. It is not a differ- ence in degree, or in circumstances, or in congruity, but the oper- ations are of an entirely different kind. There is no analogy be- tween an influence securing or promoting mental development, or the formation of moral character, and the efficiency exerted in raisins tlie dead.
684 PART m. Cu. XIV. — VOCATION.
Not Moral Suasion.
3. It is no less clear that efficacious grace is not of the nature of "moral suasion." By moral suasion is meant the influence exerted by one mind over the acts and states of another mind, by the pres- entation of truth and motives, by expostulations, entreaty, appeals, etc. Under the influence of this kind of moral power, the mind yields or refuses. Its decision is purely its own, and within its own power. There is nothing of all this in the exercise of omnipotence. Healing the sick by a word, is an essentially different process from healing him by medicine. A living man may be persuaded not to commit suicide ; but a dead man cannot be persuaded into life. If regeneration be effected by the volition, the command, the al- mighty power of God, it certainly is not produced by a process of argument or persuasion.
Efficacious Grace Acts Immediately.
4. It is a no less obvious conclusion that the influence of the Spirit acts immediately on the soul. All effects in the ordinary dealings of God with his creatures are produced through the agency of second causes. It is only in miracles and in the work of regeneration that all second causes are excluded. When Christ said to the leper, " I will ; be thou clean," nothing intervened be- tween his volition and the effect. And when He put clay on the eyes of the blind man, and bade him wash in the pool of Siloam, there was nothing in the properties of the clay or of the water that cooperated in the restoration of his sight. In like manner nothing intervenes between the volition of the Spirit and the re- generation of the soul. Truth may accompany or attend the work of the Spirit, but it has no cooperation in the production of the effect. It may attend it, as the application of the clay attended the miracle of restoring sight to the blind man ; or as Naaman's bathing in the Jordan attended the healing of his leprosy. It is however to be remembered that the word regeneration (or its equivalents) is used, sometimes in a limited, and sometimes in a comprehensive sense. The translation of a soul from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son, is a great event. It involves a varied and compreiiensive experience. There is much that usually precedes and attends the work of regeneration in the limited sense of the word ; and there is much that of ne- cessity and (in the case of adults) immediately succeeds it. In all that thus precedes and follows, the truth has an important, in some