Let me say a word or two in reply to certain questions. But must not a man repent as well as believe? Reply: No man ever believed but what he repented at the same time. Faith and repentance go together. They must. If I trust Christ to save me from sin, I am at the same time repenting of sin, and my mind is changed in relation to sin and everything else that has to do with its state. ALL THE FRUITS MEET FOR REPENTANCE ARE CONTAINED IN FAITH ITSELF. You shall never find that a man who trusts Christ remains an enemy to God nor a lover of sin. The fact that he accepts the atonement provided is proof postive that he loathes sin and that his mind is thoroughly changed in reference to God. Moreover, AS TO ALL THE GRACES WHICH ARE PRODUCED IN THE CHRISTIAN AFTERWARDS, ARE THEY NOT ALL TO BE FOUND IN EMBRYO IN FAITH? "Only believe, and you shall be saved" is the cry which many sneer at and others misunderstand. Wherever there is faith in a man, let it but develop itself and there will be a purging of himself from sin, a separating himself from the world, a conflict with evil, and a warring for the glory of Christ, which nothing else could produce.
According to the freewill scheme, the Lord intends good, but He must wait like a lackey on His own creature to know what His intentions is; God willeth good and would do it but He cannot because He has an unwilling man who will not have God's good thing carried into effect. What do ye, sirs, but drag the Eternal from His throne and lift up into it that fallen creature, man; for man, according to that theory, nods and his nod is destiny. You must have a destiny somewhere; it must either be as God wills or as man wills. If it be as God wills, then Jehovah sits as sovereign upon His throne of glory, and all hosts obey Him, and the world is safe; if not God, then you put man there to say, "I will," or "I will not; if I will it, I will enter heaven; if I will it, I will despise the grace of God; if I will it, I will conquer the Holy Spirit, for I am stronger that God and stronger than omnipotence; if I will it, I will make the blood of Christ of no effect, for I am mightier than the blood, mightier than the blood of the Son of God Himself; through God make His purpose, yet will I laugh at His purpose; it shall be my purpose that shall make His purpose stand or fall, "Why, sirs, if this be not atheism, it is idolatry; it is putting man where God should be; and I shrink with solemn awe and horror from that doctrine which makes the grandest of God's works--the salvation of man-- to be dependant upon the will of His creature whether it shall be accomplished or not. Glory I can and must in my text in its fullest sense. "IT IS NOT OF HIM THAT WILLETH, NOR OF HIM THAT RUNNETH, BUT OF GOD THAT SHEWETH MERCY" (Rom. 9:16).