1st. Most of the Jesuits, and the Arminians, holding that all men receive sufficient grace to enable them to obey the gospel if they will, maintain that this grace becomes efficacious when it is cooperated with by the will of the individual, and in any case is proved to be such only by the event.
2d. Bellarmine, and others, maintain that the same grace given to all is congruous to the moral nature of one man, and in that case efficacious, and incongruous to the nature of another, and in his case ineffectual.
3d. Some Eomanists have maintained what is called the doc- trine of cumulative influence. The consent of the soul is secured by the suasive influence of the spirit, rendered effectual by con- stant repetition and long continuance.
4th. The orthodox doctrine is that the efficacy of this grace is inherent in its very nature, because it is the exercise of the mighty power of G-od in the execution of his eternal and un- changeable purpose.
20. In what sense is grace irresistible ?
It must be remembered that the true Ghristian is the subject at the same time of those moral and mediate influences of grace upon the ivill, common to him and to the unconverted, and also of those special influences of grace within the will, which are cer- tainly efficacious. The first class of influences Christians may and constantly do resist, through the law of sin remaining in their members. The second class of influences are certainly effi-
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cacious, but are neither resistible nor irresistible, because they act from within and carry the will spontaneously with them. It is to be lamented that the term irresistible grace has ever been used, since it suggests the idea of a mechanical and coercive influence upon an unwilling subject, while, in truth, it is the transcendent act of the infinite Creator, making the creature spontaneously willing.
21. How can this grace he proved to be certainly efficacious t
1st. By the evidence we have given above, as to its nature as the immediate operation of the mighty power of God.
2d. By the description of the work of grace. Men by nature are " blind," " dead/' " slaves," etc. The change effected is a " new creation," etc.
3d. From the promises of God, which are certain. The means which he uses to vindicate his own faithfulness must be effica- cious, Ezek. xxxvi., 26 ; xi., 19 ; John vi., 45.
4th. From the connection asserted by Scripture, between calling and election. The called are the elect. As God's de- crees are certain, the call must be efficacious. — See above, ques- tion 15.
5th. Faith and repentance are the gifts of God, and he who truly repents and believes is saved. Therefore, the grace which communicates those gifts is effectual, Eph. ii., 8 ; Acts xi., 18 ; 2 Tim. ii., 25.
22. How may it be proved that this influence is congruous luith our nature I
While discarding utterly the distinction made by Bellarmine, (for which see above, question 19,) we say that efficacious grace is congruous to human nature as such, in the sense that the Spirit of God, while exerting an immediate and recreative influence upon the soul, nevertheless acts in perfect consistency with the integrity of those laws of our free, rational, and moral nature, which he has himself constituted. Even in the miraculous reve- lation of the new birth, he acts upon our reasons and upon our wills in perfect accordance with the constitution of each. This is certain. 1st. The same God creates and recreates ; his object is not to destroy, but to restore his own work. 2d. The Scrip-
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tures and our own experience teach that the immediately conse- quent acts of the soul in the exercise of implanted grace, are preeminently rational and free. In fact, the soul never acted normally before, Ps. ex., 3 ; 2 Cor. iii., 17 ; Phil, ii., 13. 3d. This divine influence is described by such terms as " drawing," "teach- ing," " enlightening," John vi., 44, 45 ; Eph. i., 18.
23. What do the Scriptures teach as to the connection of this influence with the truth ?
In the case of the regeneration of infants the truth, of course, is not used. In the regeneration of adults the truth is always present. In the act of regeneration the Spirit acts immediately upon the soul, and changes its subjective state, while the truth is the object consciously apprehended, upon which the new facul- ties of spiritual discernment and the new affections are exercised. The Spirit gives sight, the truth is the light discerned. The Spirit gives feeling, the truth presents the object beloved, Kom. x., 14, 17 ; James i., 18 ; John xvii., 17.
24. What reason may be assigned for the belief that the Spirit does not renew those adults to whom the truth is not known ?
Negatively. The Bible never leads us to expect such an ex- tension of grace, and neither the Scriptures nor our own experi- ence among the modern heathen ever present us with any exam- ples of such a work.