resistance, by indulgence in sin, and especially, by denying liis agency and speaking evil of his work. " Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him : but who- soever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." (Matt, xii. 32.)
§ 4. Efficacious Grace.
Besides those operations of the Spirit, which in a greater or less degree are common to all men, the Scriptures teach that the cove- nant of redemption secures the Spirit's certainly efficacious influ- ence for all those who have been given to the Son as his inheri- tance.
Wh^/ called Efficacious.
This grace is called efficacious not simply ah eventu. According to one view the same influence at one time, or exerted on one per- son, produces a saving effect ; and at other times, or upon other persons, fails of such effect. In the one case it is called efficacious, and in the other not. This is not what Augustinians mean by the term. By the Semi-Pelagians, the Romanists, and the Arminians, that influence of the Spirit which is exerted on the minds of all men is called " sufficient gi'ace." By the two former it is held to be sufficient to enable the sinner to do that which will either merit or secure larger degrees of grace which, if duly improved, will issue in salvation. The Arminians admit that the fall of our race has rendered all men utterly unable, of themselves, to do anything truly acceptable in the sight of God. But they hold that this ina- bility, arising out of the present state of human nature, is removed by the influence of the Spirit given to all. This is called " gracious ability " ; that is, an ability due to the grace, or the supernatural influence of the Spirit granted to all men. On both these points the language of the Remonstrant Declaration or Confession is ex- plicit. It is there said, " Man has not saving faith from himself, neither is he regenerated or converted by the force of his own free will ; since, in the state of sin, he is not able of and bv himself to think, will, or do any good thing, — any good thing that is saving in its nature, particularly conversion and saving faith. But it is necessary that he be regenerated, and wholly renewed by God in (yhrist, tiirough the truth of the gospel and the added energy of the H3 7 Spirit, — in intellect, affections, will, and all his facul- ties,— so that he may be able rightly to perceive, meditate upon, will, and accomplish that which is a saving good." ^ On the point
1 Confessio Remonstrantium, xvii. 5; Episcopii Opera, edit. Rotter(?am, 1665, vol ii. pn. 88,
676 PART m. Ch. XIV.— vocation.
of sufficient grace the Declaration says : " Although there is the greatest diversity in tlie degrees in which grace is bestowed in ac- cordance with the divine will, yet the Holy Ghost confens, or at least is ready to confer, upon all and each to whom the word of faith is ordinarily preached, as much grace as is sufficient for gen- erating faith and carrying forward their conversion in its successive stages. Thus sufficient grace for faith and conversion is allotted not only to those who actually believe and are converted, but also to those who do not actually believe and are not in fact converted." ^ In the Apology for the Remonstrance, it is said, " The Remon- strants asserted that the servitude to sin, to which men (per naturce conditionem) in their natural state, are subject, has no ])lace in a state of grace. For they hold that God gives sufficient grace to all who are called, so that they can be freed from that servitude, and at the same time they have liberty of will to remain in it if they choose." ^ In the Apology it is expressly stated, " Gratia efficax vocatur . . . . ab eventu," which is said to mean, " Ut statuatur gratia habere ex se sufficientem vim, ad producendum consensum in voluntate, sed, quia vis ilia partialis est, non posse exire in actum sine cooperante liberse voluntatis humanse, ac proinde, ut effectum habeat, pendere a libera voluntate." ^ Lim- borch * teaches the same doctrine. " Sufficiens vocatio, quando per cooperationem liberi arbitrii sortitur suuni effectum, vocatur effi- cax."
Augustinians of coui'se admit that common grace is in one sense .sufficient. It is sufficient to render men inexcusable for their im-
89, of second set. " Homo itaque salvificam fidem non habet ex seipso; neque ex arbitrii 8ui liberi viribus regeneratnr, aut convertitiir: qtiandoquidem in statu peccati nihil boni, quod quidem salutare bonum sit (cujusmodi imprimis est conversio et fides salvifica), ex seipso, vel a seipso, vel cogitare potest, nedum velie, aut facere: sed neeesse est, ut a Deo, in ChrisiO, per verbum evangelii, eique adjuuctam Spiritus Sancti virtutem regeneretur, atque totus reiiovetur; puta intellectu, aflfectibus, voluntate, omnibusque viribus; ut salu- taria bona recte possit intelligere, meditari, velle, ac perficere."
1 Cimfeitsiii Reimmstrantium, xvii. 8; p. 89, a, of second set. " Etsi vero maxima est gra- tire disparitas, pro Uberrima scilicet voluntatis diviiia; dispensatione: tamen Spiritus Sanc- tus omnibus et singulis, quibus verbum fidei ordinarie praidicatur, tantum gratis con fert, aut saltem conf'erre paratus est, quantum ad fidem ingcnerandum, et ad promovendum suis gradibus salutarem ipsorum conversionem sufKcit. Itaque gratia sufficiens ad lidem et con- versionem non tantum iis obtingit, qui actu credunt et convertuntur: sed etiam iis, qui actu ipso non credunt, nee reipsa convertuntur."
^ Apohniii pro Confessione Remonstraiilium, cap. vi.; ut supra, p. 144, b, of second set. '• Hemonstrantes asserunt necessilatein sive servitutem istam peccati, cui homines, per natura con<litionein subject! sunt, locum non habere sub statu gratix. Nam statuunt, vocatis om- nibus grjitiani sufficientem a Deo concedi, ita ut possint a servitute ilia liberari, et simul nianere in iis voluntatis libertatem, ut possint eidem servituti manere subjecti,si velint."
S Ibid cap. xvii. iii.; p. 191, b, of second set.
4 Tlieoloyia Christiana, iv. xii. 8, edit. Amsterdam, 1715, p. 352, b.