CHAPTER
14.
OF
OUR CONVERSION TO GOD.
How little or
nothing at all it is that the Arminians assign to the grace of God, in
performing the great work of our conversion, may plainly appear from what I
have showed already that they ascribe to our own free-will, so that I
shall briefly pass that over, which otherwise is so copiously delivered in holy
Scripture that it would require a far larger discussion. A prolix confirmation
of the truth we profess will not suit so well with my intention; which is
merely to make a discovery of their errors, by not knowing the depths whereof
so many are deceived and inveigled. Two things, in this great conjunction of
grace and nature, the Arminians ascribe unto free-will:—first, A power of
co-operation and working with grace, to make it at all effectual; secondly,
A power of resisting its operation, and making it altogether
ineffectual; God in the meantime bestowing no grace but what awaits an act
issuing from one of these two abilities, and hath its effect accordingly. If a
man will co-operate, then grace attains its end; if he will resist, it returns
empty. To this end they feign all the grace of God bestowed upon us for our conversion
to be but a moral persuasion by his word, not an infusion of a new vital
principle by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit. And, indeed, granting
this, I shall most willingly comply with them in assigning to free-will one of
the endowments before recited,—a power of resisting the operation of grace; but
instead of the other, must needs ascribe to our whole corrupted nature, and
everyone that is partaker of it, a universal disability of obeying it, or
coupling in that work which God by his grace doth intend. If the grace of our
conversion be nothing but a moral persuasion, we have no more power of obeying
it in that estate wherein we are dead in sin, than a man in his grave hath in
himself to live anew and come out at the next call. God’s promises and the
saints’ prayers in the holy Scripture seem to design such a kind of grace as
should give us a real internal ability of doing that which is spiritually good.
But it seems there is no such matter; for if a man should persuade me to leap
over the
First, for
the nature of grace: [1]“God
hath appointed to save believers by grace,—that is, a soft and sweet
persuasion, convenient and agreeing to their free-will,—and not by any almighty
action,” saith Arminius. It seems something strange, that “the carnal mind
being enmity against God,” and the will enthralled to sin, and full of wretched
opposition to all his ways, yet God should have no other means to work them
over unto him but some persuasion that is sweet, agreeable, and congruous unto
them in that estate wherein they are. And a small exaltation it is of the
dignity and power of grace, when the chief reason why it is effectual, as
Alvarez observes, may be reduced to a well-digested supper or an undisturbed
sleep, whereby some men may be brought into better temper than ordinary to
comply with this congruous grace. But let us for the present accept of this,
and grant that God doth call some by such a congruous persuasion, at such a
time and place as he knows they will assent unto it. I ask whether God thus
calleth all men, or only some? If all, why are not all converted? for the very
granting of it to be congruous makes it effectual. If only some, then why them,
and not others? Is it out of a special intention to have them obedient? But let
them take heed, for this will go near to establish the decree of election; and
out of what other intention it should be they shall never be able to determine.
Wherefore [2]Corvinus
denies that any such congruity is required to the grace whereby we are
converted, but only that it be a moral persuasion; which we may obey if we
will, and so make it effectual. Yea, and Arminius himself, after he had
defended it as far as he was able, puts it off from himself, and falsely
fathers it upon St. Austin. So that, as they jointly affirm, [3]“they
confess no grace for the begetting of faith to be necessary, but only that
which is moral;” which one of them interpreteth to be [4]“a
declaration of the gospel unto us;”—right like their old master, Pelagius.
“God,” saith he, [5]“worketh
in us to will that which is good and to will that which is holy, whilst he
stirs us up with promise of rewards and the greatness of the future glory, who
before were given over to earthly desires, like brute beasts, loving nothing
but things present, stirring up our stupid wills to a desire of God by a
revelation of wisdom, and persuading us to all that is good.” Both of them
affirm the grace of God to be nothing but a moral persuasion, working by
the way of powerful, convincing arguments; but yet herein Pelagius seems to
ascribe a greater efficacy to it than the Arminians, granting that it works
upon us when, after the manner of brute beasts, we are set merely on earthly
things. But these, as they confess that, for the production of faith, [6]it
is necessary that such arguments be proposed on the part of God to which
nothing can probably be opposed why they should not seem credible; so there is,
say they, required on our part a pious docility and probity of mind. So that
all the grace of God bestowed on us consisteth in persuasive arguments out of
the word; which, if they meet with teachable minds, may work their conversion.
Secondly,
Having thus extenuated the grace of God, they affirm, [7]“that
in operation the efficacy thereof dependeth on free-will:” so the Remonstrants
in their Apology. [8]“And
to speak confidently,” saith Grevinchovius, “I say that the effect of grace, in
an ordinary course, dependeth on some act of our free-will.” Suppose, then,
that of two men made partakers of the same grace,—that is, [who] have the
gospel preached unto them by the same means,—one is converted and the other is
not, what may be the cause of this so great a difference? Was there any
intention or purpose in God that one should be changed rather than the other?
“No; he equally desireth and intendeth the conversion of all and every one.”
Did, then, God work more powerfully in the heart of the one by his Holy Spirit
than of the other? “No; the same operation of the Spirit always accompanieth
the same preaching of the word.” But was not one, by some almighty action, made
partaker of real infused grace, which the other attained not unto? “No; for
that would destroy the liberty of his will, and deprive him of all the praise
of believing.” How, then, came this extreme difference of effects? who made the
one differ from the other? Or what hath he that he did not receive? “Why, all
this proceedeth merely from the strength of his own free-will yielding
obedience to God’s gracious invitation, which, like the other, he might have
rejected: this is the immediate cause of his conversion, to which all the
praise thereof is due.” And here the old idol may glory to all the world, that
if he can but get his worshippers to prevail in this, he hath quite excluded
the grace of Christ, and made it “nomen inane,” a mere title, whereas there is
no such thing in the world.
Thirdly, They
teach, that notwithstanding any purpose and intention of God to convert, and so
to save, a sinner,—notwithstanding the most powerful and effectual operation of
the blessed Spirit, with the most winning, persuasive preaching of the
word,—yet it is in the power of a man to frustrate that purpose, resist that
operation, and reject that preaching of the gospel. I shall not need to prove
this, for it is that which, in direct terms, they plead for; which also they
must do, if they will comply with their former principles. For granting all
these to have no influence upon any man but by the way of moral persuasion, we
must not only grant that it may be resisted, but also utterly deny that it can
be obeyed. We may resist it, I say, as having both a disability to good and
repugnancy against it; but for obeying it, unless we will deny all inherent
corruption and depravation of nature, we cannot attribute any such sufficiency
unto ourselves.
Now,
concerning this weakness of grace, that it is not able to overcome the opposing
power of sinful nature, one testimony of Arminius shall suffice: [9]“It
always remaineth in the power of free-will to reject grace that is given and to
refuse that which followeth; for grace is no almighty action of God, to which
free-will cannot resist.” [Not that I would assert, in opposition to this, such
an operation of grace as should, as it were, violently overcome the will of
man, and force him to obedience, which must needs be prejudicial unto our
liberty; but only consisting in such a sweet effectual working as doth
infallibly promote our conversion, make us willing who before were unwilling,
and obedient who were not obedient, that createth clean hearts and reneweth
right spirits within us.
That, then,
which we assert, in opposition to these Arminian heterodoxies, is, That the
effectual grace which God useth in the great work of our conversion, by reason
of its own nature,—being also the instrument of and God’s intention for that
purpose,—doth surely produce the effect intended, without successful
resistance, and solely, without any considerable co-operation of our own wills,
until they are prepared and changed by that very grace. The infallibility
of its effect depends chiefly on the purpose of God. When by any means he
intends a man’s conversion, those means must have such an efficacy added unto
them as may make them fit instruments for the accomplishment of that intention,
that the counsel of the Lord may prosper, and his word not return empty. But
the manner of its operation,—that it requires no human assistance, and is able
to overcome all repugnance,—is proper to the being of such an act as wherein it
doth consist. Which nature and efficacy of grace, in opposition to an
indifferent influence of the Holy Spirit, a metaphorical motion, a working by
the way of moral persuasion, only proposing a desirable object, easy to be
resisted, and not effectual unless it be helped by an inbred ability of our own
(which is the Arminian grace), I will briefly confirm, having premised these
few things:—
First,
Although God doth not use the wills of men, in their conversion, as malign
spirits use the members of men in enthusiasms, by a violent wrested motion, but
sweetly and agreeably to their own free nature; yet in the first act of our
conversion the will is merely passive, as a capable subject of such a work, not
at all concurring cooperatively to our turning. It is not, I say, the cause of
the work, but the subject wherein it is wrought, having only a passive
capability for the receiving of that supernatural being, which is introduced by
grace. The beginning of this “good work” is merely from God, Philippians 1:6.
Yea, faith is ascribed unto grace, not by the way of conjunction with, but of
opposition unto, our wills: “Not of ourselves; it is the gift of God,”
Ephesians 2:8. “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves; our sufficiency is of
God,” 2 Corinthians 3:5. “Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be
turned,” Lamentations 5:21.
Secondly,
Though the will of man conferreth nothing to the infusion of the first grace,
but a subjective receiving of it, yet in the very first act that is wrought in
and by the will, it most freely cooperateth (by the way of subordination) with
the grace of God; and the more effectually it is moved by grace, the more
freely it worketh with it. Man being converted, converteth himself.
Thirdly, We
do not affirm grace to be irresistible, as though it came upon the will
with such an overflowing violence as to beat it down before it, and subdue it
by compulsion to what it is no way inclinable [unto.] But if that term must be
used, it denoteth, in our sense, only such an unconquerable efficacy of grace
as always and infallibly produceth its effect; for who is it that can
“withstand God?” Acts
Fourthly,
Concerning grace itself, it is either common or special. Common or general
grace consisteth in the external revelation of the will of God by his word,
with some illumination of the mind to perceive it, and correction of the affections
not too much to contemn it; and this, in some degree or other, to some more, to
some less, is common to all that are called. Special grace is the grace of
regeneration, comprehending the former, adding more spiritual acts, but
especially presupposing the purpose of God, on which its efficacy doth chiefly
depend.
Fifthly, This
saving grace, whereby the Lord converteth or regenerateth a sinner, translating
him from death to life, is either external or internal. External consisteth in
the preaching of the word, etc., whose operation is by the way of moral
persuasion, when by it we beseech our hearers “in Christ’s stead that they
would be reconciled unto God,” 2 Corinthians 5:20; and this in our conversion
is the instrumental organ thereof, and may be said to be a sufficient cause of
our regeneration, inasmuch as no other in the same kind is necessary. It may
also be resisted in sensu diviso, abstracting from that consideration
wherein it is looked on as the instrument of God for such an end.
Sixthly,
Internal grace is by divines distinguished into the first or preventing grace,
and the second following cooperating grace. The first is that spiritual vital
principle that is infused into us by the Holy Spirit, that new creation and
bestowing of new strength, whereby we are made fit and able for the producing
of spiritual acts, to believe and yield evangelical obedience: “For we are the
workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,” Ephesians 2:10.
By this God “gives us a new heart, and a new spirit he puts within us;” he
“takes the stony heart out of our flesh, and gives us an heart of flesh;” he
“puts his Spirit within us, to cause us to walk in his statutes,” Ezekiel
36:26, 27.
Now, this
first grace is not properly and formally a vital act, but causaliter only,
in being a principle moving to such vital acts within us. It is the habit of
faith bestowed upon a man, that he may be able to eliciate and perform the acts
thereof, giving new light to the understanding, new inclinations to the will,
and new affections unto the heart: for the infallible efficacy of which grace
it is that we plead against the Arminians. And amongst those innumerable places
of holy Scripture confirming this truth, I shall make use only of a very few,
reduced to these three heads:—
First, Our
conversion is wrought by a divine, almighty action, which the will of man will
not, and therefore cannot resist. The impotency thereof ought not to be opposed
to this omnipotent grace, which will certainly effect the work for which it is
ordained, being an action not inferior to the greatness of his “mighty power,
which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead,” Ephesians 1:19,
20. And shall not that power which could overcome hell, and loose the bonds of
death, be effectual for the raising of a sinner from the death of sin, when by
God’s intention it is appointed unto that work? He accomplisheth “the work of
faith with power,” 2 Thessalonians 1:11. It is “his divine power that giveth
unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,” 2 Peter 1:3. Surely a
moral, resistible persuasion would not be thus often termed the “power” of God,
which denoteth an actual efficacy to which no creature is able to resist.
Secondly,
That which consisteth in a real efficiency, and is not at all but when and
where it actually worketh what it intendeth, cannot without a contradiction be
said to be so resisted that it should not work, the whole nature thereof
consisting in such a real operation. Now, that the very essence of divine grace
consisteth in such a formal act may be proved by all those places of Scripture
that affirm God by his grace, or the grace of God, actually to accomplish our
conversion: as Deuteronomy 30:6, “And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine
heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine
heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” The circumcision of our
hearts, that we may love the Lord with all our hearts, and with all our souls,
is our conversion, which the Lord affirmeth here that he himself will do; not
only enable us to do it, but he himself really and effectually will accomplish
it. And again, “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their
hearts,” Jeremiah 31:33. “I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall
not depart from me,” chap. 32:40. He will not offer his fear unto them,
but actually put it into them. And most clearly, Ezekiel 36:26, 27: “A
new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I
will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart
of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my
statutes.” Are these expressions of a moral persuasion only? Doth God affirm
here he will do what he intends only to persuade us to, and which
we may refuse to do if we will? Is it in the power of a stony heart to remove
itself? What an active stone is this, in mounting upwards! What doth it at all
differ from that heart of flesh that God promiseth? Shall a stony heart be said
to have a power to change itself into such a heart of flesh as shall cause us
to walk in God’s statutes? Surely, unless men were willfully blind, they must
needs here perceive such an action of God denoted, as effectually, solely, and
infallibly worketh our conversion; “opening our hearts, that we may attend unto
the word,” Acts 16:14; “giving us in the behalf of Christ to believe on him,”
Philippians 1:29. Now, these and the like places prove both the nature of God’s
grace to consist in a real efficiency, and the operation thereof to be
certainly effectual.
Thirdly, Our
conversion is a “new creation,” a “resurrection,” a “new birth.” Now, he that
createth a man doth not persuade him to create himself, neither can he if he
should, nor hath he any power to resist him that will create him,—that is, as
we now take it, translate him from something that he is to what he is not. What
arguments do you think were sufficient to persuade a dead man to rise? or what
great aid can he contribute to his own resurrection? Neither doth a man beget
himself; a new real form was never yet introduced into any matter by subtle
arguments. These are the terms the Scripture is pleased to use concerning our
conversion:—“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature,” 2 Corinthians
Tw~| Qew~| ajristomegi>stw| do>xa.
ENDNOTES:
[1] “Deus
statuit salvare credentes per gratiam, id est, lenem ac suavem liberoque
ipsorum arbitrio convenientem seu congruam suasionem, non per omnipotentem
actionem seu motionem.”—Armin. Antip., p. 211.
[2] Corv. ad
Molin.—“His ita expositis ex mente Augustini,” etc.—Armin. Antip. De Elec.
[3] “Fatemur,
aliam nobis ad actum fidei eliciendum necessariam gratiam non agnosci quam
moralem.”—Rem. Act. Synod. ad
[4] “Annuntiatio
doctrinae evangelicae.”—Popp. August. Port. p. 110.
[5] “Operatur in
nobis velle quod bonum est, velle quod sanctum est, dum nos terrenis
cupiditatibus deditos mutorum more animalium, tantummodo praesentia diligentes,
futurae gloriae magnitudine et praemiorum pollicitatione, succendit: alum
revelatione sapientiae in desiderium Dei stupentem suscitat voluntatem, dum
nobis suadet omne quod bonum est.”—Pelag., ap. Aug. de Grat. Ch. cap. 10.
[6] “Ut autem
assensus hic eliciatur in nobis, duo in primis necessaria sunt:—1. Argumenta
talia ex parte Dei, quibus nihil verisimiliter opponi potest cur credibilia non
sint. 2. Pia docilitas animique probitas.”—Rem. Declar., cap. 17. sect. 1.
[7] “Ut gratia
sit efficax in actu secundo pendet a libera voluntate.”—Rem. Apol., p. 164.
[8] “Imo ut
confidentius again, dico effectum gratiae, ordinaria lege, pendere ab actu
aliquo arbitrii.”—Grevinch, ad Ames., p. 198.
[9] “Manet semper
in potestate Lib. Arbit. gratiam datam rejicere et subsequentem repudiare, quae
gratia non est omnipotentis Dei actio, cui resisti a libero hominis arbitrio
non possit.”—Armin. Antip., p. 243.