generated disposing the subject of it to admire, love, and prefer what is really and relatively excellent. We also learn, that the subject of divine operation, in his religious elections, acts not only from principle but also intelligently. He knows in whom he believes, and whom he serves, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. He discovers the evil of sin and the beauty of holiness-he is wise unto salvation--he chooses an end worthy of God to reveal, and adopts the means prescribed for obtaining it-in proportion to the principle produced by divine operation. These are truths which cannot be denied, I conceive, without denying that principles operate according to their appropriate nature,-and confounding freewill with unmeaning chance,

§ 10. His Lordship next avows, that the communication of the Holy Ghost is subsequent to belief. In the following passage,' he observes, Saint Paul represents the faith of the Ephesians in Christ to have been the consequence of their having heard the gospel preached, and the communication of the Holy 'Ghost to have been subsequent to their faith, "In whom (namely in Christ) ye also trusted,

after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, after 'that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy

Spirit of promise:" The order to be here ' noticed is this,-first, the hearing of the word; 'secondly, belief produced by that; thirdly, 'the communication of the Spirit in conse'quence of that belief. From these examples, which comprehend Jewish, Samaritan, and 'Gentile converts, we conclude in general, that those to whom the apostles preached, ex'pressed their faith in Christ, before the Holy 'Ghost was poured out upon them; and that the Spirit was never communicated to those 'who refused to believe.'*

§ 11. In the passage now quoted there are several objectionable particulars, especially if it be intended to weigh against Calvinism. For, in the first place, it takes for granted what neither is, nor can be proved, viz. That there is but one kind of communication of the Holy Spirit. Now, it is plain that in the Old Testament times holy persons were the subjects of divine influence, in a manner altogether different from the communication of the Holy Ghost to which his Lordship alludes. Is it supposable that from the beginning of time to the present, there have been any holy persons, who were not the subjects of divine operation, and yet how few of these were the subjects of extraordinary

Refut. p. 24.

*

communications and miraculous gifts? Was not Peter the subject of holy influence and an enlightening principle, before he had any visibly miraculous communication of the Holy Ghost? Had not all the faithful apostles of Christ a sanctifying operation of the Spirit before the day of Pentecost? Do not men now pray, that God would "cleanse the thoughts and desires of their hearts by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit?" In short, few things are more plain, relating to divine operations, than the existence of both a merely internal, and a miraculous operation of the Spirit. And their design is evidently different;-the one being to promote religion and salvation in the individual who is the subject of it, the other to propagate Christianity in the world, during the minority of the Christian church.

§ 12. In the next place, from the unproved assumption now mentioned, his Lordship draws this general conclusion, That those to whom 'the apostles preached, expressed their faith in Christ, before the Holy Ghost was poured out upon them.' The question however ought to be, in order to disprove the doctrine of Calvinists,not, whether faith preceded the extraordinary and miraculous effusion of the Spirit, but

* Matt. xvi. 17.

whether saving faith is prior to his internal, ordinary, and enlightening influence. That those to whom the apostles preached expressed their faith in Christ, before they received the one, is no conclusive argument that they were not the subjects of the other operation prior to the expression of their faith. What is recorded of Lydia is a case in point. It is expressly said, that "the Lord opened her heart," as the predisposing cause of her attention and faith.

it

13. The statement made in the quotation, may be further observed, confounds the exercise of faith with its principle. No Calvinist denies, that the hearing of the word precedes the exercise of faith; for we constantly maintain that belief is produced by hearing, or, as . the apostle expresses it, that "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." There can be no belief without a testimony; but surely the thing believed can no more produce the principle or spirit of faith, than the act of reasoning can produce the reasoning faculty, or the act of volition produce the will, We are neither so unscriptural nor unreasonable as to suppose, that believing, trusting, or sealing, are not preceded by hearing: we set forth the testimony of God before our hearers, in order that they may believe and trust in it, and that they may be sealed with the Holy Spirit of

promise as the consequent privilege: but we should offend against scripture and reason, were we to profess that the principle of faith, any more than the testimony believed, is “ of ourselves," as the production of fice-will.

14. Equally inapplicable to Calvinists is the intimation, that they (for who else can be intended by his Lordship?) pretend that the Spirit is sometimes communicated to those who refuse to believe. We freely grant, and openly profess, that the communication of the Spirit in an extraordinary manner for the first propagation of Christianity, was subsequent to belief, and consequently was never communicated to those who refused to believe,'-and we are as ready to deny that any person is the subject of divine influence, and at the same time refuses to believe. But to suppose a person prior to such influence refused to believe, and believed in consequence of it, is neither inconsistent with scripture nor with reason. Few will deny, that Saul of Tarsus became the subject of divine operation, when previously he had refused to believe; for he was "breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord," at the very time he was arrested by divine power between Jerusalem and Damascus. But no sooner did he experience that heavenly power, than his enmity against the Saviour and