the gl )i’ii us iinmoitality of day in
^pi^e of all the principalities of hell
or powers of tlie earth. And, when
he has done this, what hand lias the
volition of the sinner in it? I see
none, i am forced to say, I was
made to hear your voice and enter
while there wa.s room.
ll(‘ar the devil’s religion : Man
.says he can resist the influence of
grace or comply with its suggestions,
in other word.s, that external grace is
necessary to excite the endeavors of
men ; hut they have no need of the
'internal operatim of God’s Spirit.
I suppose they mean motives, per
suasions, preaclung, or all those out
ward calls of God—such as judg
ments, diseases, &c.,—which is in ef
fect, directly denying the special, ir-
resistiible operations of the Spirit of
jod in the soieIs of sinners to make
tlicm saints and attributes the whole
work of.sa!vatim to the free will or
endc^avors oi' co-ordinate exertions.of
a sinner with external means to pro-
huai salvation. And without such
obedient free^wiil, or such co-oper
ation with external means no salva
tion have arminians maintained.
Nearly the same as saying, that in
t)e>
conversion of sinners there is no
such tilling as irre.sistable grace.—
.Or in/other word.s, that no sinner
has yuch an infsuence exercised i?a
or upon his heart, but such as
lie might or may resist and retider
inotfectnal to his salvation.
And the varioEJS religion sects
siwalh'Hv down these sentiments and
call it gospel until this day. The
piflpit and pres.s are flooded'^with it.
iAnd t|iey furtlu^r speak of / sinner.
^Kj.'ihcssiifig .scjlf-detPrinEiiirJ^- power,
in himself, eitlior to complyl with or
rei'.der ineffectual the influences of
the Spirit of God when he comes to
worik salvation in the hearts of sin
ners.
The Quakers believe there is a de
gree of .saving light in every person
wliicii needs only to be cultivaied,
which will grow to perfection by
mirsiiEg, and finally arise in eternal
life.
The Methodists and Free-wiHers
believe that the conversion of a sin
ner ultimately depends ia the co-
operatiou of an obedient free will,
with external mean,s and the influence
ot the Spirit, all combined—not wil
ling to say all of grace, or all «f the
Spirit’s power, or all of God. I will
and you shall!
But, that the will of the sinner
gives the casting vote to choose or re
fuse, on tire free will of the sinner, it
all depends whether the work of con
version or salvation shall f>c done or
notfor ike may render it all ineffec
tual if he chooses, by his will, or by
refusing to co-operate with the Spir
it. They also deny that God has,
by an eternal and uncliangeable pur-
pttse, determined to make the gospel
effectual to the salvation of one sin
ner more than another. They also
suppose that God chose believe»’s to
salvation upon a foreknowledge of
tlieir faith and obedience.
Thus you can see that their plan of
faith and holiness or obedience is the
cau.se why Gfxl chose them, and not
that God chose jthem to bo holy.—
The very reverse of scripture; be
cause Paul tell.s us that we were chos
en in Christ liefore the world began,
to be holy. Then the choice is the
cause of our faith and obedience, and
holiness,—and not oiir faith and obe
dience the cause why God chose us.
Then yon will see again, that if God
chose sinners on a foresight of their
faith and obedience, perseverance or
holiness, that all will rest here on the
use that a man makes of h'.s free will,
or rather the use of self-determining
])ower, that .some men make of it, and
not others. For God, foreseeing
some men would not use their wills to
choose good—tho.se he would not
elect. What a doctrine of men
taught by the devil !
So far as I can see, there is nearly
the same free will doctrine tauglit by
the various orders of so-called Co inch
es that are now jirevalent around or
among us, crying lo here, and lo
there- Because they uj^e in the same
basis free will, and meet in the same
point, for they all allow the same ef
ficacy to divine influence in their sys
tem of free will or co-operation of the
sinner, or the use the sinner makes
®f his will, or whether he will turn it
to good ar evil, or he may choose or
refu.se. It is with him.self to do
either. This is the summing up of
their religion.
Now let me ask one question:
How far is our conversion or salva
tion to he ascribed to the grace of
God? The answer of every Christian
in the world will, I think, determine
in a moment—all of grace. Grace
saves sinners at its own expense.—
For had God not given me a will to j
love him, I never should have had it, |
for it is not thi; product of nature
Wliat v^aa tliyre|in ue Q morift oKts
or give the Creator delight? It wal(
even so, Father;^* we ever must
sing, for so it .see/freth good in fhy
sight. So all is of God, from begin-
ing to end, and by grace or the gift
of God are men sived. And hence,
to will to he saved by Christ is the
gift of God. The reason why a saint
differs from a sinner is not because
he makes a better use of his will.—
Here let me ask a question : Who
made thee differ one from anoth
er? You are forced to say. In the
doctrine of Free-will, myself, my
own free will. Then where is boast
ing ? See your error when God ex
cludes boasting, not of works nor of
free will either, lest any man should
boast Now, those that contend that
God gave the sinner this will to be
come a Christian, believe the sinner
acts as freely to choose the way of
life as those who contend that a sin
ner may have this free will of him
self, and choose for hinnself unaided
by the Spirit of God. One says, no
man can have this will to come to
Christ and be saved by him ; while
another says a man can, or may have
tins will of himself, that he has a
self-determining power in himself
over his own will to incline it to good
or to evil; which is to say, a man
can give himself what will he pleas
es, or give him.self a will against the
will he then pos.sesses. How incon
sistent ! For this would be to will
against will, or to give a will opposed
to the one existing. So of course,
no choice at all, because will against
will could make no choice, for the
will must give the ca.sting vote ei-e
the choice is made ; for choice is wil-
linsr, choice is freedom of will or what
best relisl'.es with our hearts’ wants,
minds ease, taste, &c.
So in spiritual tilings : when sin
and holiness are set before saints and
sinners they are called on to choose.
Saints choose lioliiies.s, and why?
Because they love it, they will it for
the same i-eason sinners choose sin ;
because it is the most agreeable with
the moral relish of their hearts. Both
ai-e free, because both choose that
course of life which is most agreeable
to their wills. But while a sinner is
under the power of sin, or while sin
is his choice, and while he wills sin,
which will is opposed to the spirit of
the gospel, would it not be a contra
diction to suppose such a sinner could
choose holiness ? Will unholinessde-
sire holiness or believe and obey the
gospel.
Such teaching clearly sirppo.ses that
a sinner can choose that which is (at
the vei-y time of making his choice,)
contrary to his choice, or the choice
he is then possessed of? Yet this is
the power of free will, that the most
of the so-called religious gentry ad
mire.
Allow me to ask a few questions.
If salvation is offered to sinners on
conditions, he who choo.ses must dif
fer from him wlio refuses, so he that
choo,«es must have had some holiness,
or will, or co-operative power from
the man himself or some other ]ww-
er, to make him make the choice.—
While the other, for tlie want of that
power (whatever that co-perating
power be), refuses the invitations of
the gospel, cso I tliink a child of
G(pd can see rtbat tills determining is
not in man fo make one choose and
another refuse; but, that it is by an
assisting, co-operating or irresistable
power from some quarter besides
man’s own free will of man who once
stood in the same ground of him that
refusetli. And it is called the day
of Christ’s power that makes this
difference of wdl and choice. It was
the gift of God’s Spirit that con
strained them to choose the good part
which shall never be taken from
them. But, the objector will ask,
why God does not give this gift to
all of Adam’s posterity? Christ
speaks for liim.self: Have not I a
right to do as I please with ray own ?
have you any claim to purchase grace
with. The son of the bond-woman
will say, Why make an atone
ment for only the sons of the free ?
I am astonished that he should make
atonement for any. Justice might
have passed them by. So each child
of God can sing,
“ Oh, to grace how great a debtor,
Daily I am constrained to be.’’
Again, Frce-willers teach that God
is only willing to save those that are
of their own accord willina: to be
saved. And this makes God’s will
dependent on our wills; or, you
must say, God is willing to save all
men, but because they are unwilling
to be saved by him, he will not save
them, and so clianges his will to as
many tis are willing to be saved.—
Yet, the scriptures tell us that he
worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. 'The very idea that
the unchangeable will of God should
turn and twist to suit a hell-deserv
ing sinner. That if a sinner will to
be saved, then God will will it too.
According to this, all that Christ can
do for the sinner is dependent alto
gether on the will of the sinner,
w'hich debases the Creator and ex
alts the creature.
This doctrine opposes God,s sov
ereignty and calls the covenant of
grace an unholy thing. It limits
God’s power, reduces him to circum
stances, renders him changeable, and
teaches in jilain English that there
is no God, as is general'y talked of
among Primitive Baptists.
N. H. Haekison,
Princeton, N C., Sept., 1876.
Elder P. H Gold,—Dear Brother:
I iiave taken my seat to try to
write out a portion of what I hope
is the work of the Lord in me, a sin
ner. If you consider that it is the
,work of Him, after correcting, you
can publish it; if not lay it aside
and remeraeraber me at a throne of
grace.
My father was a strong believer in
the doctrine practiced by Primitive
Baptists. My mother was one of that
sect, but she died when I was a baby.
When about the age of fifteen
years I joined the Methodists. They
had been working so long to make
Christians, and they .said I was one,
or that I had religion. But if I
have since experienced anything of
the grace of God, I have discovered
that we were mistaken. Then to try
to better my easel joined the Free-
wiilers, and soon after began to feel
myself a wretched character, and
asked the pastor to have my name
erased from the Church book ^ ’He
eaul tliat I wanted my navw talWS-oir
bc'^use my brother was an Old Bap
tist. I told him it was not that, but
was because I felt myself too unwor
thy lo be there. Though it was not
much satisfaction to be in my broih-
er’s presence and say that Free-will
doctrine was supported by the Bible.
I thought I could see tiiat something
was amiss, especially on my part. I
would often pray that I might under
stand, that I might distinguish light
from darkness, as darkness has cov
ered the minds of the people.
One night about 9 o’clock I saw a
little cloud in the East, it passed over
my head and then went away in span
gles ; I don’t remember how many
ascended, in my view, but under the
last one followed, apparently, a little
fire about the size of the new moon,
from the West; it arose above the
trees, and I looked at it and tlien it
went back ; the sky was then fair.--
I at first thought the Day of Judg
ment had arrived, and that I was
going to die and go lo hell. I
spent the greater part of that night
in prayer. Then was the first time
I desired to see ray brother and talk
with him about the wonderful .scene
I had witnessed.
j\Iy brother was a Primitive Bap
tist preacher, and 1 prayed that he
would visit the village where I was.
The next day he came, and I told
him what I had .seen, and that I be
lieved 1 wa.= going to die. When I
got through telling him, he said, No,
you are not going to die, no one ev
er dies in your condition; God will
finish the work he begins! I then
tliought I would sin no more; I felt