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 Avay inclinable [unto.] But if that term must be used, it denoteth, in our sense, only such an unconquerable efficacy of grace as always and in- fallibly i^roduccth its effect; for who is it that can " withstand God?" Acts xi. 1 7. As also, it may be used on the part of the will itself, which will not resist it: "All that the Father giveth unto Christ shall come to him," John vi, 37. The operation of grace is resisted by no hard heart; because it mollifies the heart itself It doth not so much take away a power of resisting as give a will of obeying, whereby the powerful impotency of resistance is removed.
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 spiri- tual acts, but especially presupposing tlie purpose of God, on which its efficacy doth chiefly depend.
OF OUR CONVERSION TO GOD. 135
Fifthly, This saving grace, whereby the Lord converteth or rege- nerateth a sinner, translating him from death to life, is either exter- nal 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 recon- ciled unto God," 2 Cor, v. 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 neces- sary. It may also be resisted in sensu cUviso, 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 gi'ace, and the second following co-operating gTace. 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 Ave 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," Eph. ii. 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," Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27.
Now, this first gxace 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 tlie infallible efficacy of which gTace 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 tliree 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 AVTOught in Christ when he raised him from the dead," Eph. i. 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 tliat work? He accomplisheth " the work of faith with power," 2 Thess. i. 11. It is "his divine power that giveth unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness," 2 Pet. i 3. Surely a moral, resist- ible persuasion would not be thus often termed the " power" of God,
136 A DISPLAY OF ARMINIANISM.
which denoteth an actual efficacy to which no creature is able to resist.
Secondly, Tliat which consisteth in a real efficiency, and is not at all but when and Avhere 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 conver- sion : as Deut. xxx. 6, " And the Loed 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 tliou mayest live." The circum- cision of our hearts, that we may love the Lord with all our hearts, and with all our souls, is our conversion, which the Lord affi.rmeth here that he himself will do; not only enable us to do it, but he him- self really and effectually will accomplish it. And again, " I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts," Jer. xxxi. 33. " I Avill put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me," chap, xxxii. 40. He will not offer his fear unto them, but actually ^jiti it into them. And most clearly, Ezek. xxxvi. 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 i^ersuade us to, and Avhich 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 promise th? 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 wilfully blind, they must needs here perceive such an action of God denoted, as effectually, solely, and infallibly worketh our con- version; " opening our hearts, that we may attend unto the word," Acts xvi. 14; " giving us in the behalf of Christ to believe on him," Phil. i. 29. Now, these and the like places prove both the nature of God's grace to consist in a real efficiency, and the opera- tion thereof to be certainly effectual.