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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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with the proper evidences oC its authenticity , they cordially embrace it , submit to it * and obey it . In short , those are God ' s who act upon the divine principles of
integrity , sincerity , and a governing subjection to God . On the other hand , those are the world ' s whose governing regards are to its interests or pleasures ; and who act on the lusts and passions of the world , whilst they despise and
trample upon the authority and laws of God . Such is the distinction betwixt those who are of the world , and those who are of God . Now place the expression in my text in conjunction with these in our Lord ' s intercessory prayer , and , I apprehend , the
meaning of the former will evidently appear , and turn out thus : * , Ali that the Father giveth me will come unto me ; but he hath given me all that are his ; and the persons of sincere and upright dispositions , who are governed by a spirit of true piety , who endeavour to know and to do his will , these are God ' s , as distinguished from those who are of the world . And therefore all those of such a character ' * he hath given me . and
they will come unto me , i . e . all that fear God and love truth will come unto me . This interpretation of this passage our Lord himself , you see , leads us into ; we may therefore safely depen / 1 on it , as containing his true meaning . It is very plain also , that the interpretation now given of this passage exhibits a sense perfectly consistent with the moral character of God , and the rectitude and goodness of his government . Here are no traces of an absolute and unconditional gift ^ f election of some particulars
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96 Observation s on ohn vi « - 37 , by the late Rev . W * Turner .
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unto eternal life . But , on the contrary , " the righteous Lord , who loveth righteousness , " hath given the sincere anciupright , who truly fear and , love God , and are
desirous to do his will , unto Christ , to be further instructed by him in his will , and improved in holiness , and made meet for eternal life , They are given unto Christ for this , reason , because such is their character , and therefore they belong
unto God ; and all such will come to "Christ for . that very spirit which possesses and characterizes them will incline them to a serious , impartial examination into , and cheerful acknowledgment of the evidences of his divine mission and the excellence of his doctrine ;
and whosoever thus cometh unto him , he will by no means reject . Having tints gained from our Saviour himself , an explanation of the expression in the text , this will easily lead us to the sense of the other passages , v . 44 , " No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him . ' ! This cannot mean compel
and force him , by irresistible operations ; but draxv him , by rational persuasion and moral motive ; draw him , by the influence of those good dispositions of a sincere love oi truth and conscientious reverence and submission to God , which arc already In possession of his heart ;
drawhim by the instructions of his word already given . Whatever is the object of a man ' s supreme regards , and influences him to any particular action or engagement , it may in the most proper use of
language be said to draw him to that action or engagement . God is the supreme object of a p ious man ' s regard ^ who seeks fus favour with his whole heart as his
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1808, page 96, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2389/page/40/
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