ministry executed merely by human powers? Will he teach us that the ministers of the gospel are sufficient for their work of themselves, and that all their sufficiency is not of God? The ministers whom the Doctor con temns, would deprecate their having any separate province of their own. They rejoice that all things are of God;* that, so far from being left to their own powers, they are "workers together with God," and that the Holy Spirit works in them and by them, "both to will and to do;"t that God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in their hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; that it is not by their might or their power, that any thing is performed or effected, but by the Spirit of the Lord. They are the willing servants of Jesus Christ, and the voluntary instruments of the Holy Spirit. Though "the word of God," delivered by * 2Cor. v. 18. + Phil. ii. 13. † 2 Cor. iv. 6. 募 them, "is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart;"* they most cheerfully acknowledge the power and the glory belong exclusively to the Lord, whose they are and whom they serve. They assume no authority, but preserve a most cheerful and entire subjection to him, whois head over all things to the church. Without him they can do nothing, for "through him, and to him, and by him, are all things."+ Not one of the evangelical ministers whom Dr. Hawker charges with preaching 'a motley religion,' and whose ministry he treats so contemptuously, would dare to ascribe so much to human powers, as in this instance is attributed to them by the Doctor himself. Nor would any one of them readily commit such an outrage upon every thing that is reasonable and just, as to represent the instrument as invading the office of the agent, *Heb. iv. 12. + Rom. xi. 36. in the execution of his own designs and work. With more propriety might he represent the servant as invading the office of his master when executing his orders; the soldier as invading the office of his general when fighting under his commands; or the hand as invading the office of the head when performing its dictates. Had Dr. Hawker considered ministers as mere machines, he would not thus have written. It is their moral agency which drives him to this glaring inconsistency, both with himself and the word of God. From the system which he has adopted and endeavours to support, it would appear, that he feels, as though the Almighty had no such control over moral agency, as to render it conducive to the accomplishment of his sovereign purposes. It would appear that, in Doctor Hawker's views, the moral agency of man and the sovereign will and grace of God are so incompatible with each other, that they must exercise different provinces, and cannot be combined in the accomplishment of the same end. Were Doctor Hawker to give a scriptural place, in his system of theology, to the moral govern ment of God, the kingly office of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the means and instruments by which the Holy Spirit executes his ministry, he would find no impediments, but rather encouragements, from the divine sovereignty, to his warning every man, and teaching every man, and to addressing all his hearers in the language of our Divine Master; "Repent ye, and believe the gospel." Then he would lay aside the restrictions which are so inconsistent with his office and patronage, as a minister of Him who is full of grace, and the possessor of all power in heaven and on earth. He would "go in the strengh of the Lord God," making mention of his righteousness, and of his only; and in the language of scripture, with wisdom "cry," and with understanding "put forth his voice." He would stand in the top of the high places, by the way, in the places of the paths; he would cry at the gates, at the entry of the city, * * Psa. lxxi. 16. Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. O ye simple, understand wisdom; and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Forsake the foolish and live, and go in the way of understanding." He would then not be reluctant to enforce the command of God upon all men every where to repent. With the most compassionate solicitude for his erring fellow creatures, he would address them in the language of the prophet, saying to all, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call yẻ upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God for he will abundantly pardon." He would admonish a Simon Magus to repent and pray; he would reason with a Felix, § and persuade an Agrippa to become a christian.T He would press upon the worldly minded, to seek first the kingdom of God and his right * Prov. viii. Acts viii. 22. + Acts xvi. 30. Isa. lv. 6, 7. § Acts xxiv. 25. Acts xxvi. 28. |