Zion’s Landmark: Wilson, N. C.
FREE-WILL.
Plymouth, April 10th, 1876.
Brother Gold:—
After giving my impressions in
a letter recently mailed to you, I have
concluded to write to you again, and
hope that it will be comforting to the
diildren of Gosl.
Free-will is a term used by Chris
tians, expressed generally to mean
that the will of man is as free to do
good as it is to do evil ; or, in plain
er words, it is in man’s own power,
and just as easy for him to will good
as it is for him to will bad, or to will
to go to heaven or to hell ; or to will
holiness or sin; or, in other words, that
man possesses in himself a determin
ing volit’on or powerover his own will,
to turn it in which way he pleases,
just as free to good as to evil, under
no control but man himself; that a
man can be a Christian, or let it alone.
I don’t believe a word of such doc
trine, and my reasons I will assign:
“Thy people shall be willing in the
day of thy power.” David, person
ating God speaketh to his Son; by
which text you can plainly see that
men have no svill to I eve, nor serve,
nor be saved by Jesus Christ, until
Christ, in the day of liis power, by
the Spirit, makes them willing to be
saved by him. This my heart knovvs
to be an experimental as well as Bible
truth, and no man has a will to be
saved by Christ by nature. If he
has, why and wherefore is their will
in this text attributed to the day of
Chris’s power, so that the will of man
is undf^r control and he wills not to be
saved |by Christ until Christ by his
]>o»(ver^iv^ it to liim. Then a
will by jx)wer, not a free will, but
given and only free after given.—
Phli. 2 : 13. For it is God that
worketh in you both to will and to
do of his own good pleasure. Now
you can see from this text that God
works the will in a sinner, to do his
good pleasure and that pleasure is to
believe in Jesus Clirist; for this is
the will of the Father, that every one
tliat seeth the Son and believeth on
him should not perish but have ever
lasting life. Then, a sinner has no
will to do good, no will to come to
Christ to be .saved by him, no will to
go to heaven in God’s way until God
by his Spirit works this will in his
heart. Had he not worked this will
there would have been no doing
good in a right way, from right prin-
ciple.s. Therefore it is said in John,
6th chapter and 44th verse, “No
man can come unto me except the
Father which sent me draw him, and
I will raise him up at the last day.”
‘‘ It is written in the prophets, and
they shall all be taught of the Lord.”
“Every man therefore that hath
hoard and hath learned of the Fath
er, cometh to me.” You can see in
these venses, spoken by Jesus, that a
•inner has no will to come to him,
by whom is the only way to be saved,
and therefore needs the drawing of
the Father, or the operation of his
Spirit to influence his will to come to
Christ, or to teach him to hear and
learn of God how to come to Christ,
So that the cause of any sinner’s com
ing to Christ is of God’s operation
on his will, and without wliich ope
ration of God’s Spirit to draw, to
teach, and to lead the sinner, none
ever did, none can, nor any
ever will come to Christ, nor have a
will to be .saved by Christ only.—
See John 6 : 67. But there are .some
of you that believe not; for Jesus
knew from the beginning, that is, as
soon as Judas joined his little band,
who they were that believed not, al
luding to Judas and others who
should betray him, and .said, “ There
fore I said unto you, that no man can
come unto me except it were given
him of my Father.” The popular
theory of the day ignores this senti
ment inculcated by Christ, yet
such claim to be his disciples.
Now what say you, can or cannot
man of his own free will, come to
Christ? If he can, then it ceases to
be the gift of the Father. If he can
not, then the gift of God’s Spirit to
produce motive in the soul, to influ
ence the will ot the sinner, must be
necessary, and that without this gift
the sinner has neither motive nor will
to come to Christ, and as Christ .says
he cannot come without this gift of
the Father, will you dare then to say
that a sinner has a free will and can
be a Christian if he chooses, or let it
alone if he choo.ses. The truth is he
chooses to let it alone and not come to
Chri.st, unless Gcxl gives him the
power so to do. Then God gives
the will and the doing. So that
man has no free will to do good, but
Is bound ill chains of Iust,'^nd is in
bondage to the beggarly elements of
the world until the time this will is
given of God to the sinner. Now i
recollect that this was said on the
account of Judas, who Kapmed to Jiavc'
had a will, yea,^ to h^’e come to
Christ; for he was one of the twelve
and had joined and come into com
pany with the disciples to whom it
had been given to come to Clirist.—
He was purser, preacher, and pur
chaser of all the nece.s.saries of the lit
tle flock. Yet with all this he had
not believed nor come to Christ; and
why ? Because it had not been given
him of the Father so to do. Then
you must shut your eyes or see that
God gives this gift of will, this gift
of his Spirit and fiiith to some and
not to others. “Ye will not come
unto me that ve might have life.”
— Jno. 5 : 4. Here you see the will
of all men by nature. Then to have
a will to come to Christ and be sav
ed by him is the gift of God, and no
man has it nor can have it.
Take the 19 chapter and 14th verse,
We will not have this man to
reign over us.” This is the nature
of the human heart with all the
mighty boasted free will. Yea, free
indeed, but to sin and not come to
Christ, nor have him as ruler over
tliem. Nor has the sinner power
over this will—this wicked will—
free to sin and not to good.
The parable of our Lord, compar
ing the gospel and its dispensation, to a
marriage feast will, I think, place the
rnatlcr in a fair light, but not on the
ground free-willers and free-agent
men wish to take it. This ground
we will take; but let it be under
stood, in the first place, that the
marriage feast is made bv ’God the
Father for his Son Jesus Christ and
his church. You can have it for
sinners, or for all mankind, or for as
many sis feel willing to come, it will
make no difference; for when the
command, “ come, all things are now
read,” was given, they began to make
excuses, one saying, Pray have me
exciKsed, &c. Now, sir, did these men
have a free will to come? You know
better, but say you, they might have
come. How so, when one’s farm, and
another’s oxen, and an other’s wife,
influenced them another way? Could
they give thernseves the will, contra
ry to their will, a thing not in the
power of man, but in God alone.—
The second invitation found the
halt, the lame, and the blind. They
were not indiflerent when they heard
the me.s.sage. Wliy so? Because
they were characters of necessity,
which shows us that no sinner will
come to Christ until brought by
grace to a state of necessity, like the
prodigal .son, forced to his father’s
house becau.se death was everywhere
else.
Lastly, Go out and compel them
to come in, that my house may be
filled. Now sir, answer me, why
did he not compel the first? he could
but would not: if you say he could
not subdue them, you limit his
power, which would involve him in
darkness and uncertainty, like our
selves.
Here then, you must see that grace
is discriminating. Some are constrain
ed to repent and believe in Christ
and fill places in his Church, while
others are suffered to pursue their
own carnal wills and love of riches
until death, and then fall into hell.
And although all are, or may be, in-
-vet
. , . it k L -
feyo in?flieT>aine (;^.rT.st,''^iven to
home to Christ, are drawn, quicken-
.ed, enlightened, taught, lead, made
willing in the day of God’s power.
In a word, God takes them by the
hand when dead in sin, without will
e«r desire, life or light, and of his own
will, mercy and grace, and works in
them to will and do of his owm good
pleasure.
Now sir, if you have got a religion
that you were not constrained to have,
I would not give you a brass pin for
it. If you have got a religion of free
will, that you can have or let alone,
it is worth nothing. If you have got
a religion that you were not forced to
seek, but under the nece.ssity of hav
ing one that you could not get rid of,
but was laid bn you of necessity—it
is nota true religion.
Such a religion that comes of the
will of men, is nothing but the relig
ion of hypocrites, witches and devils
in human form. Such was the re
ligion of Judas, Simon Ningu.s, Ba
laam and many others.—Jude 1:13.
But, true go.spel religion is not
ot bhx)d nor of the will of the flesh
nor of the will of man, but of God :
I ask you, what will had you in your
first birth ? None. So in your sec
ond birth, if you over experienced it,
you will attribute the praise to Gol.
So that, the doctrine of Free-will, or,
that a man can be religious or let it
alone, is a false doctrine. Hear, I
will put my laws in their hearts, and
in their minds I will write them ; I
will be to them a God, and they shall
be my people. I will bring the blind
by a way they know not, and ai
many as are lead by the Spirit of God.
some it it given to be-
are the son.s of God, If any man
have not the Spirit of Cnri-'t, he i.s
not of him. His salvation Ls by
grace or the gift of God ; and, that
doctrine that contradicts thl.sin whole
or in part, is false; for, a sinner i.s
dead and cannot give himself life,
he is bound and cannot enlighteii
himself, he is deaf and cannot give
himself hearing, be is lost and can
not find himself, he is not willing to
come to Christ and cannot give him-
S"lf that will, he is the captive of tiie
devil, therefore not free, he i.s helpless
and cannot help himself, polluted and
cannot wash himself, he i.s poi.r, aul
naked, and ignorant of God’s .salva
tion, a mi.serable, wretched child of
wrath, and the works of the devil
he will do unless God take.s him in
hand and by his Spirit and influence
make.s him a new creature. So you
see you must loe born again, or Ijo
damned.
To .say a m.an may or many not btj
religioas, or that he Is left to bis own
free will, as it is called, just to do ae
he may in this matter, is to give
scripture the lie. For the scriptures
rev^ealed, in all the promises tiiat
are made, show to the contrary. And P"
the scriptures will recognize
the grounds of all true religion.—-
Religion is sought and received from
necessity. Religion is compelled on
persons, that is, they are led
to havm it, for it is a gift. Tins
iiecessitv'^ and compulsion make men
willing in the day of Christ’s power.
Without which, a .sinner never ha'^ a
free-will^ to good ; all bough a mao
may wijll to }>ray, to profess, to
preach sLkI do all the,duties of s'^’.gV
i5n, au(|pyet ftavm'no at^al!(,
for want of a right m.olive to influ
ence the will—wliich motive the
Spirit alone can give by renewing
the mind. And it was the want of
this motive that made the religion of
the Pharisees nothing worth but to
receive the greater damijation, lie-
cau.se there was no spirit in all tlieir
work.s. They were only the works
of the flesh, and the will of the flesh,
and not fruits of God’s Spirit. And
here is the grand mistake that men
make, in putting the will and works
of the flesh for those of the Spirit.—•
The tree must be gooil before the
fruit can be good ; and the man that
says that a man, before he lives by
gi'ace is capable of faith, and that
holy desire, does not know tlie first
letter in the Christian alpiiabet—if
the tree must l>o made good, bow can
a sinner, of himself, have holy desires
or a free will to good, or faith either,
since faith Is the gift of God ? For
such a doctrine is wholly suspending
the .salvation of sinners in a self-
determining power of the free will
of tiie .sinner, and frequently those
fashionable religious gentry exclaim
with a sanctimonious tune. It is all
of grace: if salvation is conditonal all
.sinners may refuse and neglect si>
great a salvation and be lost. And
so Chrl.st has died in vain.
Hear God’s religion : I will give
life to the dead, eyes to the blind,
ears to the deaf, to seek, find and
save the lost, to lead and guide, com
fort and keep by his power to salva
tion, ])ut his fear in their hearts tlrat
they shall not depart from him, plant
and rejoice over, and bring safe to
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