| Previous
| Next
| Contents |
Chapter X
Of
Effectual Calling
I. All those whom God hath
predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased, in His appointed time,
effectually to call,[1] by His Word and Spirit,[2] out of that state of sin and death, in which
they are by nature to grace and salvation, by Jesus Christ;[3] enlightening their minds spiritually and
savingly to understand the things of God,[4] taking away their heart of stone, and giving
unto them an heart of flesh;[5] renewing their wills, and, by His almighty
power, determining them to that which is good,[6] and effectually drawing them to Jesus
Christ:[7] yet so, as they come most freely, being made
willing by His grace.[8]
II. This effectual call is of God's
free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in
man,[9] who is altogether passive therein, until, being
quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit,[10] he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and
to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.[11]
III. Elect infants, dying in infancy,
are regenerated, and saved by Christ, through the Spirit,[12] who works when, and where, and how He
pleases:[13] so also are all other elect persons who are
incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.[14]
IV. Others, not elected, although they
may be called by the ministry of the Word,[15] and may have some common operations of the
Spirit,[16] yet they never truly come unto Christ, and
therefore cannot be saved:[17] much less can men, not professing the Christian
religion, be saved in any other way whatsoever, be they never so diligent to
frame their lives according to the light of nature, and the laws of that
religion they do profess.[18] And to assert and maintain that they may, is
very pernicious, and to be detested.[19]
| Previous | Next
| Contents |