quain centurlo liabet de omnipotentia Dei et Jesu Chn'sti in sanan- tiis corporibus solo motu suae voluntatis, est imago ideae, quae haberi debet de omnipotentia suas gratiae in sanandis animabus a cupiditate. Luc. vii. 7." ^
It is not a matter of doubt or dispute that the Reformed Church adopted the Augustinian doctrine on this subject. In the "Second Helvetic Confession," it is said, " Quantum ad bonum et ad virtu- tes, intellectus hominis, non recte judicat de divinis ex semetipso. .... Constat vero mentem vel intellectum, ducem esse volun- tatis, cum autem ccecus sit dux, claret, quousque et voluntas per- tingat. Proinde nullum est ad bonum homini arbitrium liberum
nondum renato, vires nullse ad perficiendum bonum In
regeneratione .... voluntas non tantum mutatur per Spiritura, sed etiam instruitur facultatibus, ut sponte velit et possit bonum. .... Observandum est — regenerates in boni electione et opera- tione, non tantum agere passive, sed active. Aguntur enim a Deo, ut agant ipsi, quod agunt.""'^
The Synod of Dort,^ " Omnes homines in peccato concipiun- tur .... inepti ad omne bonum salutare . . . . et absque Spirit- us Sancti regenerantis gratia, ad Deum redire, naturam deprava- tam corrigere, vel ad ejus correctionem se disponere nee volunt, nee possunt." " Fides Dei donum est, non eo, quod a Deo hominis arbitrio ofFeratur, sed quod homini reipsa conferatur, inspiretur, et iiifuudatur."'* Quando Deus .... veram in electis conversicmem operatur, non tantum evangelium illis externe praedicari curat et mentem eorum per Spiritum Sanctum potenter illurainat, .... sed ejusdem etiam Spiritus regenerantis efficacia ad intima hominis penetrat, cor clausum aperit, durum emollit, .... voluntati novas qualitates infundit, facitque eam ex mortua vivam, ex mala bonam, ex nolente volentem." ^
The following proposition contains one of the positions assumed by Remonstrants on which the Synod was called to decide. " Op- eratio gratiae in prima conversione indifFerens est et resistibilis, ut per eam possit homo converti vel non converti : nee sequatur ejus conversio nisi libero assensu ad eam se determinet, et converti velit." On this proposition the Theologians of the Palatinate in their " Judicium," after referring to the Remonstrant idea that regeneration is effected by moral suasion, say, " Scriptura vero,
1 See Herzog's Encyklopddie, Art. Unigcnitus.
2 IX. ; Nieineyer, Culkcdo Confessionum^ Leipzig, 1840, pp. 479, 480.
* Cap. III. art. iii.; Nieiueyer, p. 709.
* Cap. III. art. xiv; Ibid. p. 711. 6 Cap. III. art. xi. ; Ibid. p. 710.
682 PART m. Cn. XIV. — VOCATION.
etsi moralem (quam vocant) suasionem non reinovet ab hoc nego- tio (quid enim est totum ministerium reconciliationis, quam ejus- modi comniendatio ac suasio? 2 Cor. v. 18-20), j^raecipuam ta- men vim conversionis in ea minime collocat, vei'um in actione longe diviniore, quae efficacia nee creationi, nee resuscitationi mor- tuorum quicquam concedat. . . . . Et irresistibilis quidem est turn ex parte gratia9 Dei, turn ex parte voluntatis. Ex parte gratice : quia efficax Dei operatio est in actu posita, cui nemo potest resist- ere, Rom. ix. 19, prout Christus de gratia sapientiae Apostolis
datse dixit : cui omnes non poterunt resistere, Luc. xxi. 15
Ex 'parte voluntatis : nam subdita gratiae efficaci jam non vult resistere : et quia non vult, necessario non vult, sicque resistere velle non potest salva sua libertate." ^
The " Westminster Confession " ^ says, " All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only. He is pleased, in his appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by his Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ ; enlightening their minds, spiritually and savingly, to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh ; renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good ; and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace.
" II. This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, who is altogether passive therein, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.
" III. Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when, where, and how He pleaseth. So also are all other elect persons, who are incapa- ble of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word."
In the " Larger Catechism," ^ effectual calling is declared to be " the work of God's almighty power and grace."
The Main Principle Involved.
These authoritative declarations of the faith of the Reformed Church agree as to the one simple, clear, and comprehensive state-
1 Ada Synodi Dm-drechtame, edit. Leyden, 1620, pp. 133, 139, of second set.
2 Chapter X. §§ 1-3.
8 Answer to the 67th question.