Sovereign Grace Church

Thus, on all hands, we have the fullest proofs that what man calls free will, in a good or spiritual sense, is never found in scripture; but on the contrary, that which is characteristically opposed to it—the will or wills of the flesh governed and led on by the prince of the power of the air, even, Satan. This being the ease, and seeing that from head to foot there is no good thing in man, the doctrine or principle of election is most clear and simple. If God deals with man on man’s own ground or state, all must be destroyed, for all are guilty, and but one entire mass of sin, as we have seen and proved. If, then, any are saved, it must be the sovereign, electing lore and grace of God that saves, and nothing in any way on the part of man, for, I repeat it, there is no good, but only evil in him. How blessed and how beautiful, therefore, is the truth of God’s electing love, for with out it, I say again, all must be lost. Is man, then, to find fault because God saves some, when He might justly and righteously have condemned all, and no man could righteously find fault. Is it not great mercy and love to save any? Assuredly it is; for if God dealt with man according to man’s desert, when man had no merit but only evil in himself, He could not and would not have saved any.

^{This work is a republication of a gospel tract that was originally published in 1865; original may be found in the British Library archives}