the soul by the omnipotence of God, that it is in analogy with the whole teacliing of the Bible as to the relation between the outwai'd and spiritual world, and as to the relation in which God stands to the one and to the other. This doctrine assumes nothing beyond what is recognized as true in every other department of the uni- verse of God. He is everywhere present, and everywhei'e active, governing all creatures and all their actions in a way suited to their nature, working in, with, through, or without second causes, or instrumental agency, as seems good in his sight.
Argument from Epliesians i. 17—19.
3. A third argument on this subject is founded on Ephesians i. 17—19. The truth involved in this doctrine was so important in the eyes of the Apostle Paul, that he earnestly prayed that God would enable the Ephesians by his Spirit to understand and believe it. It was a truth which the illumination and teaching of the Holy Ghost alone could enable them duly to appreciate. Paul prayed that their eyes might be enHghtened not only to know the blessed- ness of being the subjects of Gods vocation, and the glory of the inheritance in reserve for them, but also " the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the woiking of his mighty power which He wrought in Christ, wlien He raised him from the dead." There are two questions to be decided in the interpretation of this passage. First, does the Apostle speak of the present or of the future ? Does he refer to what the be- liever experiences in this life, or to what he is to experience at the last day ? In other words, does the passage refer to the spiritual resurrection from a state of deatli in sin, or to the resurrection of the body and the glory that is to follow ? The great majority of commentators, Greek as well as Latin, Protestant as well as Cath- olic, ancient as well as modern, understand the passage to refer to the conversion or regeneration of believers. This general consent is primd facie evidence of the cori-ectness of this interpretation. Besides, the whole context, preceding and subsequent, shows that such is the meaning of the Apostle. In what precedes, the prayer refers to the present experience of the believer. Paul prayed that the Ephesians might be made to know the value of the vocation they had already received ; the preciousness of the hope they then enjoyed, and the greatness of the power of which they had already been the subjects. Here a reference to the future would be out of place. Besides, in what follows, the Apostle does not trace the analogy between the resurrection of Christ and the future resurree-
696 PART m. ch. XIV. — vocation.
tion of his people. He does not say here as he does in Romans viii. 11, " He that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies," but He that raised Christ from the dead, has quickened you " Avho were dead in trespasses and sins." It is clear, therefore, that it is the analogy between the resurrection of Clu'ist from the grave, and the spiritual resurrection of believers, that the Apostle has in view. And this is an analogy to which the wScriptures elsewhere refer, as in Romans vi. 4. The parallel pas- sage in Colossians ii. 12, " Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him thi'ough the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead;" renders it plain that it is the spiritual resurrection of believers which the Apostle refers to the mighty power of God, and not the future resurrection of their bodies.
But if this be, as seems so clear, the meaning of the Apostle, what does the passage teach ? What is it that Paul desired that the Ephesians should understand, when he says, that their regen- eration, or spiritual resurrection was effected by the mighty power of God ? (1.) In the first j)lace it is very clear that he meant them to understand that it was not their own work. They had not by their own power, by the efficiency of their own will, raised themselves from the dead. (2.) It is no less clear that he does not mean to teach that there was any special difficulty in the case, as it regards God. To Him all tilings are easy. He speaks and it is done. He upholds all things by the word of his power. It is not the difficulty, but the nature of the work, he would have them to understand. (3.) And, therefore, the precise truth which the passage teaches is that regeneration belongs to that class of events which are brought about by the immediate agency, or almighty power of God. They are not the effect of natural causes. They are not due to the power of God acting through second causes. This is the definite meaning of the words. There can be no rea- son for saying that the Ephesians had experienced the effects of the mighty power of God, if they were subjects of no other influence than that of moral suasion, which all more or less experience, and v.diich all may resist. The language would be incongruous to ex- press that idea. Besides, the very point of the illustration would then be lost. The Ephesians had been quickened by the very power which wrought in Christ when God raised Him from the dead. This was the immediate power of God. It was not exer- cised through second causes. It was not a natural process aided by divine efficiency ; much less was it the result of any form of
g5.J PROOF OF DOCTRINE OF EFFICACIOUS GRACE. 697
moral suasion. As then Christ was raised by the immediate power of God, so are the people of God raised from spiritual death by the same almighty power.
This was in the view of the Apostle a most important truth. It determines the whole nature of religion. It raises it from the sphere of the natural, into that of the supernatural. If regenera- tion is a change effected by the man's own will ; if it be due to the mere force of truth and motives, it is a small affair. But if it be the effect of the mighty power of God, it is as to its nature and consequences supernatural and divine. The whole nature of Chris- tianity turns on this point. The conflict of ages concerns the ques- tion, Wiiether our religion is natural or supernatural; whether the regeneration, sanctification, and salvation promised and effected under the gospel, are natural effects, produced by second causes, aided and guided, it may be, by the cooperation of God, as He aids and guides the forces of nature in the production of their wonder- ful effects ; or whether they are something entirely above nature, due to the supernatural intervention and constant operation of the Holy Spirit. Which of these views is Scriptural, can hardly be a question among unsophisticated Christians. And if the latter be the true view, it goes far to decide the question. Whether regen- eration be due to moral suasion, or to the almighty power of the Spirit.
Argument from the General Teaching of Scripture.
4. This introduces the fourth argument on this subject. It is drawn from the general account given in the Scriptures of subject- ive Christianity, or the nature of the divine life in the soul. It is the tendency of all anti-Augustinian systems, as just remarked, to represent all inward religion as a rational affair, that is, something to be accounted for and explained on rational principles; the result of moral culture, of the right exercise of our free agency, and the favourable influence of circumstances. Such is not the view given in the Bible. When our Lord said, " I am the vine, ye are the branches : he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth nuich fruit: for without me ye can do nothing" (John xv. 5), He certainly meant that the vital union between Him and his people is something more than that which may subsist between disciples and their master, — a union including merely trust, con- geniality, and affection. The influence to which the fiuitfulness of the believer is attributed is something more than tiie influence of the trutli which He taught ; however that truth ma}- be applied or enforced. Their abiding in Him, and He in the m, is something
698 PART 111. Ch. XIV. — vocation.