They could not, therefore, be our Christian works, done in a state of salvation and subsequent to our obeying the holy calling. _These_ are the practical results, the _moral effects_, of our holy calling according to the gracious purpose of God. These could never have been done but for that holy calling. They could not therefore in any sense be the _antecedent cause_ of that holy calling. In the order both of nature and of time, both the gracious purpose and the holy calling must have preceded these works. To tell any man of common sense, that they were not the procuring cause of the grace from whence they were themselves derived, was needless. To one so intelligent as Timothy, such instruction was worse than superfluous. Works could not hold the twofold relation of cause and effect to God's grace. Nor can it be supposed that St. Paul was the author of a solecism so obvious, as that of formally setting in opposition to the _purpose_ and the _grace_ of God those evangelic works, which were the moral effects of the influence of that grace and of the execution of that purpose. The works alluded to were those which might be done before men were partakers of the Christian salvation, or independently of the dispensation of grace, and according to _such_ works no man could be entitled to the blessings of eternal redemption. This important text lends no support to the Calvinist. It cannot be cited in proof, that the election of God is arbitrary and uninfluenced by his foreknowledge of the faith and obedience of his chosen people, for the works here intended are _not Christian good works_ done in faith. Edwards did wisely in not analyzing this text. The same principle of interpretation is applicable to Titus iii. 5. "_Not by works of righteousness_ which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." These _works_ are not those of the truly regenerate, which being the _effects_ of the grace of Christ, cannot be mistaken for the meritorious cause of the communication of that grace. It is rather to be taken as a broad assertion, that the blessings of the Christian covenant, are not the result or the reward of human deserts; that apart from the redemption of Christ, there are _no_ works of righteousness by which we can be saved; and that while Christians are made really holy and good, their sanctification is to be traced to the grace of God in Christ Jesus. In neither passage is there any statement on which to rest an argument for the arbitrary and unconditional decree of the Calvinist, nor for depreciating the intrinsic value of those really good works which the Christian performs in faith. Calvinism has no foundation in the word of God. It is in direct collision with that sacred authority. St. Paul rests the divine election on the foreknowledge of the Deity, and let his decision be final. "Whom he did _foreknow_, he also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his Son."