706 PART in. Cii. XIV. — VOCATION.
the immediate exercise of God's almighty power. It is in refer- ence to both classes of the dead that our Lord said, "As the Fa- ther raisetli up the dead, and quickeneth them ; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Tiie liour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God : and tliey that hear shall live." (John v. 21, 25.)
There is the same intimate connection between the doctrines of God's sovereignty in election and efficacious grace. If it were true that men make themselves to differ; that election is founded on the foresight of good works ; that some who hear the Gospel and feel the influence of the Spirit, allow themselves to be per- suaded, that others refuse, and that the former are therefore chosen and the latter rejected, then it would be consistent to represent the grace exercised in the vocation of men as an influence to be submitted to or rejected. But if God has mercy on whom He will liave mercy ; if it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that run- neth, but of God that showeth mercy ; if it be of God, and not of ourselves, that we are in Christ Jesus ; if God hides these things from the wise and prudent and reveals them nnto babes as seems good in his sight ; then tiie influence by which He carries his purpose into effect must be efficacious from its own nature, and not owe its success to the determination of its subjects.
The same conclusion follows from what the Scriptures teach of the covenant of redemption. If in that covenant God gave to the Son his people as the reward of his obedience and death, then all those thus given to Him must come unto Him ; and the influence which secures their coming must be certainly efficacious. Thus this doctrine is implicated with all the other great doctrines of grace. It is an essential, or, at least, an inseparable element of that system which God has revealed for the salvation of men ; a system the grand design of which is the manifestation of the riches of divine grace, i. e., of his unmerited, mysterious love to the unworthy ; and which, thei'efore, is so devised and so adminis- tered that he that glories must glory in the Lord ; he must be con- strained to say, and rejoice in saying, " Not unto us, O Lord ; not unto us, but unto thy name give glory." (Ps. cxv. 1.)
Argument from Experience.
7. Appeal on this subject may safely be made to the experience of the individual believer, and to the history of the Church. All the phenomena of the Christian life are in accordance with the