Tliirdly, They teach, that notwithstanding any purpose and in- tention of God to convert, and so to save, a sinner, — notwithstanding the most powerful and effectual operation of the blessed Spirit, with
' " TJt autem assensus hie eliciatur in nobis, duo in primis ncccs.«aria sunt : — 1 . Ar- gumenta talia ex parte Dei, quibus nihil verisimiliter opponi potest cur cretlibilia Jicn sint. 2. Pia tlocilitas animique probitas." — Rem. Dcclar., cap. xvii. t^ect. 1.
* " Ut gratia sit efticax in actu secundo pcndet a libera voluntate." — Rem. Apol., p. 1G4.
* " Imo ut confidentius agam, dico cfTectum gratia), ordinaria lege, pcnderc ab actxi aliquo arbitrii." — Grcviuch. ad Auies., p. 198.
OF OUR CONVERSION TO GOD. 133
the most winning, persuasive preacliing 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 the}^ will comply with their fonner 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 cor- ruption and depravation of nature, we cannot attribute any such sufficiency unto ourselves.
Now, concerning this weakness of grace, that it is notable to over- come the opposing power of sinful nature, one testimony of Arminius shall suffice : ^ " 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 ivhich God useth in the great work of our conversion, by reason of its oivn 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 infalli- bility 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 oppo- sition to an indifferent influence of the Holy Spirit, a metaphorical motion, a working by the way of moral persuasion, only proposing a
1 "Manet semper in potestate Lib. Ai-bit. gratiam datam rejicere et subsequentem rcpudiare, quie gratia uon est omnipotentis Dei actio, cui resisti a libero hominis arbi- trio noil possit." — Armin. Antip., p. 243.
134 A DISPLAY OF AKMINIANISM.
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 con- version, as malign spirits iise 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 Avill is merely passive, as a capable subject of such a work, not at all concurring co-operatively 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, Phil. i. 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," Eph, ii. 8. " Not that we are suffi- cient of ourselves; our sufficiency is of God," 2 Cor. iii. 5. " Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned," Lam. v. 21.
Secondly, Though the will of man confeiTeth 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 co-operateth (by the way of subordination) with the gi'ace of God ; and the more effectually it is moved by grace, the more freely it worketh with it. Man being converted, converteth himself.