18. Chapter V.

Chapter V. The nature, causes, and means of regeneration.

Description of the state of nature necessary to a right understanding of the work of the Spirit in regeneration — No possibility of salvation to persons living and dying in a state of sin — Deliverance from it by regeneration only — The Holy Ghost is the unique author of this work — Differences about the manner and nature of it — Way of the ancients in explaining the doctrine of grace — The present method proposed — Conversion not worked by moral suasion only — The nature and efficacy of moral suasion, in which they consist — Illumination is preparatory to conversion — The nature of grace morally effective only, explained; not sufficient for conversion — The first argument, disproving the working of grace in conversion to be by moral suasion only — The second — The third — The fourth — what the work of the Spirit in regeneration positively consists in — The use and end of outward means — Real internal efficiency of the Spirit in this work — Grace is victorious and irresistible — The nature of it explained; proved — The manner of God’s working by grace on our wills further explained — Testimonies concerning the actual conferring of faith by the power of God — Victorious efficacy of internal grace proved by various testimonies of Scripture — From the nature of the work wrought by it, in vivification and regeneration — Regeneration considered with respect to the distinct faculties of the soul; the mind, the will, and the affections. For the description we are about to give of the work of regeneration, the preceding account of the subject of it, or the state and condition of those who are to be regenerated, was a necessary premise. For a due apprehension of the nature of that work depends on knowledge of it. The occasion for all the mistakes and errors about it, either of old or of late, has been a misunderstanding of the true state of men in their lapsed condition, or of their nature as depraved. Indeed, those by whom this whole work is derided now countenance themselves in this misunderstanding, by their ignorance of that state, which they will not learn either from the Scripture or experience. For as Austin puts it, it is evidence of the corruption of nature, that it disenables the minds of men to discern their own corruption.634 We have previously discharged this work as far as necessary for our present purpose. Many other things might be added in the explication of it, if that were our direct design.

Particularly, having confined myself to address only the depravation of the mind and will, I have not insisted on the depravation of the affections, which yet is effectual to retain unregenerate men under the power of sin — though it is far enough from truth that the whole corruption of nature consists in this, as some weakly and atheologically have imagined. Much less have I addressed that increase and heightening of the depravation of nature which is contracted by a custom of sinning, as to all its perverse ends. Yet the Scripture much insists on this also, as what naturally and necessarily ensues in all those in whom it is not prevented by the effectual transforming grace of the Spirit of God; and it is what seals the impossibility of turning themselves to God, Jeremiah 13:23; Rom 3.10-19.635 But it is false and openly contradictory to the Scripture, to say that the whole difficulty of conversion arises from men’s contracting a habit or a custom of sinning. These things are personal evils; and they befall individuals through their own default, in various degrees. We see that among men, under the same use of means, some are converted to God who have been deeply immersed in a habitual course of open sins, while others, kept from them by the influence of their education upon their inclinations and affections, remain unconverted. So it was of old between the publicans and harlots on the one hand, and the Pharisees on the other. But my design was only to mention what is common to all, or what all men universally are equally concerned in, who are partakers of the same human nature in its lapsed condition. And what we have declared in this from the Scriptures will guide us in our inquiry about the work of the Holy Spirit of grace in our deliverance from it.

It is evident, and it needs no further confirmation, that persons living and dying in this estate cannot be saved. Up to now this has been admitted by all who are called Christians; nor are we to be moved that some who call themselves Christians begin to laugh at the disease, and despise the remedy of our nature. Among those who lay any serious and real claim to Christianity, there is nothing more certain nor more acknowledged than this: that there is no deliverance from a state of misery for those who are not delivered from a state of sin. And anyone who denies the necessary perishing of all those who live and die in the state of corrupted nature, denies all the use of the incarnation and mediation of the Son of God. For if we may be saved without the renovation of our natures, then there was no need or use for the new creation of all things by Jesus Christ, which principally consists in this. And if men may be saved while still under all the evils that came upon us by the fall, then Christ died in vain. Besides, it is frequently said that men in that state are "enemies to God," "alienated from him," "children of wrath," "under the curse;" and if such as these may be saved without regeneration, then so may devils. In brief, it is not consistent with the nature of God — with his holiness, righteousness, or truth — nor with the law or gospel, nor is it possible in the nature of the thing itself, that such persons should enter into or be made possessors of glory, and rest with God. Therefore a deliverance out of and from this condition is indispensably necessary to make us fit for the inheritance of the saints in light. This deliverance must be and is by regeneration. The determination of our Savior is positive, both in this and the necessity of it, as asserted before: John 3:3, "Unless a man is born again," or from above, "he cannot see the kingdom of God." In whatever sense the "kingdom of God" is taken, either for that kingdom of grace here, or the kingdom of glory hereafter, it is all the same for our present purpose. There is no interest to be obtained in it, no participation in its benefits, unless a man is born again, unless he is regenerate. And this determination of our Savior, as it is absolute and decretory,636 so it is applicable to and equally comprises every individual of mankind. And the work intended by their regeneration, or in being born again, which is the spiritual conversion and quickening of the souls of men, is everywhere ascribed to those who will be saved. And although, through their ignorance and prejudices, men may have false apprehensions about regeneration and its nature, or what it consists of, yet so far as I know, all Christians are agreed that it is the way and means of our deliverance from the state of sin or corrupted nature; or rather, it is our deliverance itself — for the express testimonies of Scripture, and the nature of the thing itself, put this beyond contradiction, Tit 3.3-5.637 Those who expose it to scorn — who consider it ridiculous for anyone to inquire whether he is regenerate or not — will one day understand the necessity of it, though maybe not before it is too late to obtain any advantage by it. The Holy Ghost is the immediate author and cause of this work of regeneration. And in this again, I suppose we have in general the consent of all. Nothing is more acknowledged in words than this: that all the elect of God are sanctified by the Holy Ghost. And this regeneration is the head, fountain, or beginning of our sanctification, virtually comprising the whole in itself, as will be made apparent afterward. However, it is not to be denied that regeneration is a part of this. Besides, I suppose it is equally confessed to be an effect or work of grace, the actual dispensation of which is solely in the hand of the Holy Spirit. I say this is verbally acknowledged by all, although I do not know how some can reconcile this profession with other notions and sentiments which they declare concerning it.

Setting aside what men do in this regeneration themselves, and what others do towards them in the ministry of the word, I cannot see what remains (as they express their loose imaginations) to be ascribed to the Spirit of God. But at present we will make use of this general concession: that regeneration is the work of the Holy Ghost, or an effect of his grace. Not that we have any need to do so, but we may avoid contesting about those things in which men may shroud their false opinions under general, ambiguous expressions. This was the constant practice of Pelagius and those who followed him of old. But the Scripture has express testimonies to our purpose. What our Savior calls being "born again," John 3:3, he calls being "born of the Spirit," verses 5, 6, because he is the sole, principal, and efficient cause of this new birth; for "it is the Spirit that quickens," John 6:63; Romans 8:11. And God saves us "according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost," Titus 3:5. Therefore, because we are said to be "born of God," or to be "begotten again of his own will," John 1:13, James 1:18, 1 John 3:9, it is with respect to the special and particular operation of the Holy Spirit.

These things are confessed even by the Pelagians themselves, both those of old and those at present (at least in general). Nor has anyone yet been so hardy as to deny that regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit in us, except those deluded souls who deny both him and his work. Our sole inquiry, therefore, must involve the manner and nature of this work; for its nature depends on the manner of the working of the Spirit of God in regeneration. This, I acknowledge, was variously contended about of old; and the truth concerning it has scarcely escaped opposition in any age of the church. At present, this is the great ball of contention between the Jesuits and the Jansenists;638 the latter keeping close to the doctrine of the principal ancient writers of the church. The former, under new notions, expressions, and distinctions, endeavor to reinforce Pelagianism, to which some of the elder schoolmen led the way — and which our Bradwardine639 so long ago complained of. But never was it maligned and reviled with so much impudence and ignorance as it is by some among ourselves. For we have the sort of men who, by stories of wandering Jews, rhetorical declamations, pert quibblings, and proud revilings of those who dissent from them, think to scorn and banish truth out of the world, though they never dare attempt to deal openly and plainly with any single argument that is pleaded in its defense and confirmation. The ancient writers of the church, who looked into these things with most diligence, and labored in them with most success — such as Austin, Hilary, Prosper, and Fulgentius640 — represent the whole work of the Spirit of God towards the souls of men under certain heads or distinctions of grace. And they were followed in this by many of the more sober schoolmen, and others of late, without number. They frequently mention grace as "preparing, preventing, working, co-working, and confirming." Under these heads they handle the whole work of our regeneration or conversion to God. And although there may be some alteration in method and ways of expressing it — which may be varied as they are found advantageous to those who are to be instructed — yet, for the substance of the doctrine, they taught the same things which have been preached among us since the Reformation, which some have ignorantly maligned as novel. The whole of it is nobly and elegantly exemplified by Austin in his Confessions; in which he gives us the experience of the truth he was taught in his own soul.

I might follow in their footsteps in this; and perhaps, for some reasons, I should have chosen to do so. But there have been so many differences raised about the explication and application of these terms and distinctions, and about the declaration of the nature of the acts and effects of the spirit of grace that are intended in them, that carrying the truth through the intricate perplexities which have been cast upon regeneration under these notions, would be a longer work than I will engage in here. And it would divert me too much from my principal intention. I will therefore, in general, refer the whole work of the Spirit of God, with respect to the regeneration of sinners, to two heads:

First, That which is preparatory for it; and, Secondly, That which is effective for it.

What is preparatory for regeneration is the conviction of sin. And this is the work of the Holy Spirit, John 16:8. Also, conviction may be distinctly referred to three heads:

1. A discovery of the true nature of sin by the ministry of the law, Romans 7:7.

2. An application of that discovery made in the mind or understanding, to the conscience of the sinner.

3. The excitation of affections suitable to that discovery and application, Acts 2:37. But these things have been asserted before, so far as they belong to our present design. Our principal inquiry at present is about the work itself, or the nature and manner of the working of the Spirit of God in and on the souls of men in their regeneration; and this must be both negatively and positively declared:

First, The work of the Spirit of God in the regeneration of sinners, or the quickening of those who are dead in trespasses and sins, or in their first saving conversion to God, does not consist in a moral suasion only. By suasion we mean such a persuasion that it may or may not be effectual; so in an absolute sense, we only call it persuasion when a man is actually persuaded. Concerning this we must consider —

1. What is meant by that expression "moral suasion," and what its efficacy consists in; and, 2. Proof that the whole work of the Spirit of God in the conversion of sinners does not consist in this moral suasion.

I will handle this matter under the notion that it is something which is known to those who are conversant in these things from the writings of the ancient and modern divines. For it serves no purpose to endeavor to reduce the extravagant, confused discourses of some present writers to a certain and determinate statement of the differences among us. What they seem to aim at and conclude, may be reduced to these heads:

(1.) That God administers grace to all in the declaration of the doctrine of the law and gospel.

(2.) That the reception of this doctrine — in the belief and practice of it — is enforced by promises and threatenings.

(3.) That the things revealed, taught, and commanded in it are not only good in themselves, but they are so suited to the reason and interest of mankind, that the mind cannot help but be disposed and inclined to receive and obey them, unless overpowered by prejudices and a course of sin.

(4.) That the consideration of the promises and threatenings of the gospel is sufficient to remove these prejudices and reform that course.

(5.) That upon a compliance with the doctrine of the gospel and obedience to it, men are made partakers of the Spirit, along with other privileges of the New Testament, and they have a right to all the promises of the present and future life.

Now, this being a perfect system of Pelagianism, which was condemned in the ancient church as absolutely exclusive of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, it will be fully removed from our way in our present discourse, even though the loose, confused expressions of some are not considered in particular. For if the work of our regeneration does not consist entirely in a moral suasion — which, as we will see, is all that these men will allow to grace — their whole fabric falls to the ground of its own accord:

1. As to the nature of this moral suasion, two things may be considered:

(1.) The means, instrument, and matter of it, which is the word of God — specifically, the word of God or Scripture in its doctrinal instructions, precepts, promises, and threatenings. By that word alone, we are commanded, pressed, and persuaded to turn ourselves and live to God. And in this we comprise the whole — both the law and the gospel, with all the divine truths contained in them — as severally respecting the special ends for which they are designed. For although they are distinctly and particularly suited to produce distinct effects on the minds of men, yet they all jointly tend to the general end of guiding men in how to live to God, and to obtain enjoyment of him. I will not take into consideration here, those documents and instructions which men have concerning the will of God, and the obedience which he requires of them from the light of nature, with the works of creation and providence. For either they are solitary, or without any superaddition of instructive light by revelation, in which case I utterly deny they are a sufficient outward means of conversion for any soul; or else they may be considered as improved641 by the written word dispensed to men, and so they are comprised under it, and do not need to be considered apart from it. We will therefore suppose that those to whom the word is declared, antecedently have all the help which the light of nature will afford.

(2.) The principal way of applying this means to produce its effect on the souls of men is the ministry of the church. God has appointed that ministry for the application of the word to the minds and consciences of men, for their instruction and conversion. And concerning this, we may observe two things:

[1.] That the word of God thus dispensed by the ministry of the church, is the only ordinary outward means which the Holy Ghost makes use of in the regeneration of the adult to whom it is preached.

[2.] That in its kind, the word is sufficient in every way — that is, as an outward means. For the revelation which is made of God and his mind by this means is sufficient to teach men all that is needed for them to believe and do, so that they may be converted to God, and yield to him the obedience that he requires. Hence two things ensue:

1st. That the use of those means by men in the state of sin, if not complied with, is sufficient on the grounds laid down before, to leave inexcusable those by whom these means are rejected: Isaiah 5:3-5; Proverbs 29:1; 2Chr 36.14-16.642

2d. That the effect of regeneration, or conversion to God, is assigned to the preaching of the word because of its efficacy to this end, in its own kind and way, as the outward means of it, 1 Corinthians 4:15; James 1:18; 1Pet 1.23.643

2. We may now consider what the nature of this moral work is, and what its efficacy consists in. To this purpose we may observe —

(1.) That in the use of this means for the conversion of men, there is, preparatory to what this moral persuasion consists in, an instruction of the mind in the knowledge of the will of God and its duty towards him. The first regard to men in the dispensation of the word to them, is their darkness and ignorance by which they are alienated from the life of God.

This, therefore, is the first end of divine revelation — namely, to make known the counsel and will of God to us: see Matthew 4:15-16; Luke 4:18-19; Acts 26.16-18, 20.20-21, 26-27.644 By the preaching of the law and the gospel, men are instructed in the whole counsel of God and what he requires of them; and the illumination of their minds consists in their apprehension of this, which we must treat distinctly afterward.

Without a supposition of this illumination, there is no use of the persuasive power of the word; for it consists in affecting the mind with its concern in the things that it knows, or in which the mind is instructed. This is why we suppose, in this case, that a man is taught by the word both the necessity of regeneration, and what is required of him for this.

(2.) On this supposition — that a man is instructed in the knowledge of the will of God, as revealed in the law and the gospel — there is a powerful persuasive efficacy accompanying the word of God in its dispensation, to comply with and observe it. For instance, suppose a man is convinced by the word of God of the nature of sin. He is convinced of his own sinful condition, of his danger with respect to the sin of his nature, for which he is a child of wrath; of his actual sin, which further renders him liable to the curse of the law and the indignation of God; of his duty on this account to turn to God, and the way by which he may so do. In the precepts, exhortations, expostulations, promises, and threatenings of the word, especially as dispensed in the ministry of the church, there are powerful motives to affect and arguments to prevail with the mind and will of such a man to endeavor after his own regeneration or conversion to God. — all are rational and cogent above all that can be objected to the contrary.

It is acknowledged that these things have no effect on some; they are not moved by them; they do not care for them; they despise them; and they live and die in rebellion against the light of them, "having their eyes blinded by the god of this world." But this is no argument that they are not powerful in themselves — even though it is true that indeed they are not powerful towards us of themselves, but only as the Holy Spirit is pleased to act them towards us. But in these motives, reasons, and arguments, in and from the word and its ministry to them, men are urged and pressed to conversion to God. This is what the moral persuasion which we are speaking about consists of. And its efficacy to the end proposed, arises from the things which ensue from it, which are all resolved into God himself:

[1.] From an evidence of the truth of the things from which these motives and arguments were taken. The foundation of all the efficacy of the dispensation of the gospel lies in an evidence that the things proposed in it are not "cunningly-devised fables," 2 Peter 1:16. Where this is not admitted, where it is not firmly assented to, there can be no persuasive efficacy in it. But where there is a prevalent persuasion of the truth of the things proposed, there the mind is disposed645 to the things to which it is persuaded. And on this the whole efficacy of the word in and upon the souls of men is resolved into the truth and veracity of God himself. For the things contained in the Scripture are not proposed to us merely as true, but as divine truths, as immediate revelations from God, which require not only a rational but a sacred religious respect for them. They are things that the "mouth of the Lord has spoken." Isaiah 1:20

[2.] The things so assented to are proposed to the wills and affections of men, on the one hand, as good, amiable, and excellent — things in which the highest good, happiness, and utmost end of our natures are comprised; and they are to be pursued and attained. And on the other hand, things are proposed that are evil and terrible, the utmost evil that our nature is liable to, and they are to be avoided. For this is urged on them: that to comply with the will of God in the proposals of the gospel, to conform to this gospel, to do what God requires, to turn from sin to Him, is good for men; it is best for them — assuredly attended with present satisfaction and future glory. And in this is also proposed the noblest object for our affections, even God himself, as a friend, as reconciled to us in Christ; and that reconciliation has been done in a way that is suited to God’s holiness, righteousness, wisdom, and goodness, to which we have nothing to oppose or lay in the balance against it. Also, the way sinners are reconciled to God by Jesus Christ is set out as that which has such an impress of divine wisdom and goodness upon it, that it can be refused by none, except out of direct enmity against God himself. To enforce these things on the minds of men, the Scripture abounds with reasons, motives, and arguments — and rendering these means effectual is the principal end of the ministry. On the other hand, it is declared and evidenced that sin is the great debasement of our natures — the ruin of our souls, the only evil in the world in its guilt and punishment; and continuing in a state of sin, and rejecting the invitation of the gospel to conversion to God, is a foolish thing, unworthy of a rational creature, and it will be everlastingly pernicious.646

Because, therefore, in the judgment of every rational creature, spiritual things are to be preferred before natural things, eternal things before temporal things, and these things are thus dispensed in infinite goodness, love, and wisdom, they must necessarily be apt to affect the wills and capture the affections of men. And in this, the efficacy of the word on the minds and consciences of men is resolved into the authority of God. These precepts, these promises, these threatenings are His, the one who has the right to give them, and the power to execute them. And with his authority, his glorious greatness and his infinite power also come under consideration; so does his goodness and love in a special manner, with many other things, even all the known properties of his holy nature — all of which concur in giving weight, power, and efficacy to these motives and arguments.

(3.) Great power and efficacy are added to this from the management of these motives in the preaching of the word. With some, in this preaching of the word, the rhetorical faculty of those by whom the word is dispensed, is of great consideration; for hereby they are able to prevail very much on the minds of men. Preachers are acquainted with the inclinations and dispositions of all sorts of persons, the nature of their affections and prejudices, with the topics or kinds and heads of arguments fit to affect and prevail with them, and also the ways of insinuating persuasive motives into their minds. They express the whole of this in words that are elegant, proper, expressive, and suited to allure, draw, and engage men in the ways and duties proposed to them.647

Some place the principal use and efficacy of the ministry in the dispensation of the word. With me it is of no consideration, for our apostle utterly rejects it from having any place in his ministry: 1 Corinthians 2:4. "My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." Lately, some have put faint and weak exceptions into the latter clause, as though no evidence of the powerful presence of the Spirit of God in the dispensation of the gospel were intended by it, but instead, the power of working miracles. This is contrary to the whole scope of the passage, and the consent of the best expositors. Rather, the first clause excludes the persuasive art of human oratory from use and efficacy in preaching the gospel, and no one has yet had the impudence to deny this. But let this art also be esteemed to be as useful and efficacious in this work as anyone can imagine, as to the role of preaching in the conversion of the souls of men, and it will be granted.648 Only, I will take leave to resolve the efficacy of preaching into two other causes:

[1.] The institution of God. He has appointed the preaching of the word to be the means, the only outward ordinary means, for the conversion of the souls of men, 1 Corinthians 1:17-20; Mark 16:15-16; Rom 1.16.649 And the power or efficacy of anything that is used toward an end in spiritual matters, depends solely on its divine appointment to that end.

[2.] The special gifts that the Spirit of God furnishes the preachers of the gospel to enable them to effectually discharge their work, Eph 4.11-13.650 We will address this afterward. All the power, therefore, that these things are accompanied with, is resolved into the sovereignty of God. For he has chosen this means of preaching, for this end; and he bestows these gifts on whomever he pleases. It is from these things that the persuasive motives which the word abounds with to conversion, or turning to God from sin, have that particular efficacy on the minds of men which is proper to them.

(4.) We do not therefore, in this case, suppose that the motivations of the word are left to a mere natural operation, with respect to the ability of those by whom the word is dispensed. But far more than that, the preaching of the word is blessed by God, and accompanied with the power of the Holy Spirit for producing its effect and end upon the souls of men. Only, the operation of the Holy Ghost on the minds and wills of men, in and by these means, is presumed to extend no further than to motives, arguments, reasons, and considerations that are proposed to the mind, so as to influence the will and the affections. Hence the operation of the Spirit in this is moral; and so it is indirect,651 not real, proper, and physical.652 Now, concerning this whole work I affirm these two things:

1. That the Holy Spirit makes use of it in the regeneration or conversion of all who are adult, and that is either immediately in and by the preaching of the word, or by some other application of light and truth to the mind that is derived from the word. For by the reasons, motives, and persuasive arguments which the word affords, our minds are affected, and our souls are worked on in our conversion to God, from which it becomes our reasonable obedience. And there are none who are ordinarily converted, who are not able to give some account by what considerations they were prevailed upon to this end. But —

2. We say that the whole work, or the whole of the work of the Holy Ghost in our conversion, does not consist in this; but there is a real physical work, by which he infuses a gracious principle of spiritual life into all those who are effectively converted and really regenerated. And without this, there is no deliverance from the state of sin and death which we have described. This, among other things, may be proved by the ensuing arguments. The principal arguments in this case will ensue in our proofs from the Scriptures that there is a real physical work of the Spirit on the souls of men in their regeneration. The ensuing reasons sufficiently evince that all he does, does not consist in this moral suasion:

First, If the Holy Spirit does not work on men in their regeneration or conversion, except by proposing to them and urging upon them, reasons, arguments, and motives to that purpose,653 then after his whole work is done, and notwithstanding that work, the will of man would remain absolutely indifferent, whether it admits those reasons, arguments, and motives or not. It would remain indifferent whether it converts itself to God based upon them or not. For the whole of this work, it is said, consists in proposing objects to the will with respect to which it is left undetermined whether it will choose and accept them or not. And indeed, this is what some plead for. They say that "in all men, at least all to whom the gospel is preached, there is that grace present or with them that they are able to comply with the word, if they please; and so they may believe, repent, or do any act of obedience to God according to his will. And if they will, they can refuse to make use of this assistance, aid, power, or grace, and so continue in their sins."

What this grace is, or where men have this power and ability from, is not declared by some. Nor is it much to be doubted that many imagine it is purely natural; they only allow it to be called grace, because it is from God who made us. Others acknowledge that it is the work or effect of internal grace, which is part of the difference that lies between the Pelagians and semi-Pelagians of old. But they all agree that it is absolutely in the power of the will of man to make use of it or not — that is, of the whole effect on them, or product in them, of this grace communicated in the way described. For, notwithstanding anything worked in us or upon us by this grace, the will is still left various, flexible, and undetermined. It is true that notwithstanding the grace thus administered, the will has power to refuse it and to abide in sin. But it is false that there is no more grace worked in us than what may be refused; or that the will can make use of that grace for conversion which it can still refuse; for —

1. This ascribes the whole glory of our regeneration and conversion to ourselves, and not to the grace of God; for on this supposition, that act of our wills by which we convert to God, is merely an act of our own, and not an act of the grace of God. This is evident; for if the act itself were of grace, then would it not be in the power of the will to hinder it.

2. This would leave it absolutely uncertain, notwithstanding the purpose of God and the purchase of Christ, whether anyone in the world would ever be converted to God or not; for when the whole work of grace is over, it is absolutely in the power of the will of man whether it will be effectual or not, and so it is absolutely uncertain. This is contrary to the covenant, promise, and oath of God to and with Jesus Christ.

3. It is contrary to express and countless testimonies of Scripture, in which actual conversion to God is ascribed to his grace as the immediate effect of it. This will be further apparent afterward.

"God works in us both to will and to do," Php 2:13. Therefore, the act itself of willing in our conversion, is of God’s operation — even though we ourselves will it, he is the one who causes us to will, by working in us to will and to do. And if the act of our will in our conversion to God, in believing and in obedience, is not the effect of his grace in us, then he does not "work in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

Secondly, This moral persuasion, however advanced or improved, and supposedly effectual, confers no new real supernatural strength to the soul. Because this persuasion indeed works the Spirit or grace of God in and by reasons, motives, arguments, and objective considerations, and not otherwise, it is able only to excite and draw out the strength which we already have, delivering the mind and affections from prejudices and other moral impediments. But real aid and internal spiritual strength are not, nor can they be, conferred by it.654 And the one who would acknowledge that there is any such internal spiritual strength communicated to us, must also acknowledge that there is another work of the Spirit of God in us and upon us, than can be effected by these persuasions. But as some suppose, this is how it would be:

"The mind of man is affected with much ignorance, and is usually under the power of many prejudices which, by the corrupt course of things in the world, possess the mind from its first actings in the state of infancy. The will and the affections are likewise vitiated with depraved habits which are contracted by the same means. But when the gospel is proposed and preached to them, the things contained in it, the duties it requires, the promises it gives, are so rational, or so suited to the principles of our reason, and their subject-matter is so good, desirable, and beautiful to an intellectual appetite, that being well conveyed to the mind, they are able to discard all the prejudices and disadvantages of a corrupt course under which that mind has suffered, and to prevail with the soul to desist from sin — that is, from a course of sinning — and to become a new man in all virtuous conduct." That this is in the liberty and power of the will, is somehow "irrefragably proved" by that sophism655 of Biel,656 taken from Scotus and Occam,657 which contains the substance of what they plead in this cause. Indeed,

"To do thus, is so suitable to the rational principles of a well-disposed mind, that to do otherwise is the greatest folly and madness in the world."

"This work of conversion will be unquestionably worked, especially if the application of these means is so disposed in the providence of God, that they may be timely with respect to the frame and condition of the mind to which they are applied. Just as various things are necessary to render the means of grace timely and congruous to the present frame, temper, and disposition of the mind, so too, much of its efficacy consists in such a congruity.

"And this," it is said, "is the work of the Holy Ghost, and an effect of the grace of God. For if the Spirit of God, by the word, did not prevent, excite, stir up, and provoke the minds of men, if he did not help and assist them when they are endeavoring to turn to God, in the removal of prejudices and all sorts of moral impediments, men would continue and abide, as it were, dead in trespasses and sins; at least their endeavors after deliverance would be weak and fruitless." This is all the grace, all the work of the Spirit of God, in our regeneration and conversion, which some will acknowledge as far as I can learn from their writings and discourses.658 But I have declared before that there is more required to this work; and it has also been manifested what is the true and proper use and efficacy of these means in this work. But to place the whole of it in this persuasion is what Pelagius contended for of old. Indeed, he granted a greater use and efficacy of grace than I can find is allowed in the present confused discourses of some on this subject.659 Therefore it is a preposterous thing to endeavor to impose such rotten errors on the minds of men, and do so by such crude assertions, without any pretense of proof; and yet it is the way of many. The sole foundation of all their harangues — namely, the suitableness of gospel principles and promises to our wisdom and reason, antecedent to any saving work of the Spirit on our minds — is directly contradictory to the doctrine of our apostle, as it will be declared afterward. But maybe it will be said that what is to be inquired about is not so much what Pelagian is and is not, as what truth is and is not. And it is granted that this is and ought to be our first and principal inquiry. But it is not unuseful to know in whose steps they tread — those who at this day oppose the doctrine of the effectual grace of Christ — and to know what judgment the ancient church made about their principles and opinions.

It is pretended still further, that

"Grace in the dispensation of the word, works really and efficiently (especially by illumination) internal excitations of the mind and affections; and if the will acts upon that, and thereby determines itself in the choice of what is good, in believing and repenting, then the grace thus administered concurs with it; it helps and aids the will in perfecting its act; so that the whole work is of grace." So pleaded the semi-Pelagians, and others continue to do so. But all this while, the way by which grace or the Spirit of God works this illumination, how he excites the affections and aids the will, is by moral persuasion only — there is no real strength being communicated or infused except what the will is at perfect liberty to make use of, or to refuse, at its pleasure. Now, in effect this is no less than to overthrow the whole grace of Jesus Christ and to render it useless. For it ascribes to man the honor of his own conversion, his will being the principal cause of it. It makes a man to beget himself anew, or to be born again of himself — to make himself differ from others by what he has not received in a special manner. It takes away the analogy that exists between forming the natural body of Christ in the womb, and forming his mystical body in regeneration. It makes the act of living to God by faith and obedience, a mere natural act, and not a fruit of the mediation or purchase of Christ. And it allows the Spirit of God no more power or efficacy in or towards our regeneration than is found in a minister who preaches the word, or in an orator who eloquently and passionately persuades men to virtue and dehorts them from vice. And all these consequences, it may be, will be granted by some among us, and allowed to be true. Things in the world have come to this pass through the confident pride and ignorance of men. And not only maybe, but plainly and directly, the whole gospel and grace of Christ are renounced where these things are admitted.

Thirdly, This is not all that we pray for,660 either for ourselves or others, when we beg effectual grace for them or ourselves. There was no argument that the ancients pressed more against the Pelagians, than that the grace which they acknowledged did not answer the prayers of the church, nor what we are taught in the Scripture to pray for. We are to pray only for what God has promised, and that it be communicated to us in that way by which He will work it and effect it. Now, the one who only prays that God would persuade him or others to believe and obey or be converted, or to convert himself, is at great variance in this. The church of God has always prayed that God would work these things in us; and those who have a real concern in them, pray continually that God would effectively work them in their hearts. They pray that he would convert them; that he would create a clean heart and renew a right spirit in them; that he would give them faith for Christ’s sake, and increase it in them; and that in all these things, he would work in them by the exceeding greatness of his power both to will and to do according to his good pleasure. And there is not a Pelagian in the world who ever once prayed for grace, or for gracious assistance against sin and temptation, with a sense of his lack of that grace, that his prayers did not contradict his profession.

It is contrary to all Christian experience to think that what we desire by all these petitions — with countless others dictated to us in the Scripture, and which a spiritual sense of our wants will engage us in — is only that God would persuade, excite, and stir us up, to exert a power and ability of our own in the performance of what we desire. Indeed, for a man to lie praying with importunity, earnestness, and fervency, for what is already in his own power, and can never be effected except by his own power, is absurd and ridiculous. Those mock God, who pray to him to do for them what they can do for themselves, and what God cannot do for them, except when and how they do it for themselves.

Suppose that a man had a power in himself to believe and repent; suppose these are such acts of his will that God does not, indeed cannot work them in the man by His grace, but can only persuade him, and show him sufficient reason why he should believe and repent. To what purpose would this man, or with what congruity could he, pray that God would give him faith and repentance? Some of late, it seems, wisely observing this, begin to scoff at and reproach the prayers of Christians. This is because, in all their supplications for grace, Christians lay the foundation of them in a humble acknowledgment of their own vileness and impotency to do anything that is spiritually good. Indeed, they have a natural aversion to it; and they have a sense of the power and working of the remainder of indwelling sin in them. By this, they excite themselves to that earnestness and importunity in their requests for grace, which their condition makes necessary.661 This has been the constant practice of Christians since there was one in the world. And yet, this is derided by some, and exposed to contempt.

Therefore, in place of such despised prayers, I will supply them with an ancient form that is better suited to their principles.662 The preface to it is this:

"He lifts up his hands to God in a worthy manner, and pours out his prayer with a good conscience, who is able to say..." 663 This prayer then follows:

You know, O Lord, how holy and pure, and how free from all wickedness, and iniquity, and violence are the hands I stretch out to You; how just, and clean, and free from all deceit, are the lips by which I offer You my petition, so that You would have pity on me.664

Pelagius taught a widow to make this prayer, as objected to in the Diospolitan Synod (415) held at Lydda in Palestine, chap. 6. The only thing he did not teach her to say is that she had no deceit in her heart. One among us "wisely and humbly" vaunts that he knows of none in his own heart, and so in every way the man is perfect! Just to balance this prayer of Pelagius, I will give these men another prayer, but in the margin,665 not declaring whose it is, lest they censure him to the gallows. Because it seems to be the doctrine of some that we have no grace from Christ except the gospel teaching us our duty, and proposing a reward. I do not know what they have to pray for, unless it is riches, wealth, and preferments, with those things that depend on them.

Fourthly, This kind of operation of grace, where it is solitary — that is, where it excludes an internal physical work of the Holy Spirit — is not suited to effect and produce the work of regeneration or conversion to God in persons who are really in that state of nature which we have described before. The most effectual persuasions cannot prevail with such men to convert themselves, any more than arguments can prevail with a blind man to see, or with a dead man to rise from the grave, or with a lame man to walk steadily. This is why the whole description given before from the Scripture, of the state of lapsed nature, must be disproved and removed out of the way before this grace can be thought to be sufficient for the regeneration and conversion of men in that estate. But some proceed on other principles.

"Men," they say, "have by nature certain notions and principles concerning God and the obedience due to him, which are demonstrable by the light of reason; and certain abilities of mind to make use of them to their proper end." But they grant (at least some of them do), that

"however these principles may be improved and motivated by those abilities, they are not sufficient, or will not eventually be effectual, to bring men to the life of God, nor enable them to so believe in him, love him, and obey him, that at length they may come to enjoy him; at least, they will not do this safely and easily, but only through much danger and confusion. This is why God, out of his goodness and love to mankind, has made a further revelation of himself by Jesus Christ in the gospel, with the special way by which his anger against sin is averted, and peace is made for sinners — men had only a confused apprehension and hope about this before. Now, the things received, proposed, and prescribed in the gospel, are so good, so rational, and in every way so suited to the principles of our being, the nature of our intellectual constitutions, or the reason of men — and those are fortified with such rational and powerful motives, in the promises and threatenings of the gospel, representing to us on the one hand the highest good which our nature is capable of, and on the other hand the highest evil to be avoided, and that we are liable to — that they can be refused or rejected by none, except out of a brutish love of sin, or the efficacy of depraved habits, contracted by a vicious course of living. And the grace of God towards men consists in this, especially as the Holy Ghost is pleased to make use of these things in the dispensation of the gospel by the ministry of the church. For when the reason of men is so excited by these means as to cast off prejudices, and enabled by them to make a right judgment about what is proposed to it, it prevails with them to convert to God, to change their lives, and to yield obedience according to the rule of the gospel, so that they may be saved." No doubt this would be a notable system of Christian doctrine, especially as it is rhetorically blended or theatrically presented by some in feigned stories and apologues, if it were not defective in one or two things. For, first, it excludes a supposition of the fall of man, at least as to the depravity of our nature which ensued from that. And, secondly, it excludes all real effective grace dispensed by Jesus Christ;666 which renders it a fantastic dream, alien to the design and doctrine of the gospel. But it is absurd to discuss either regeneration or conversion to God, with men who deny these things.

We must therefore inquire about such a work of the Holy Spirit that thereby the mind is effectively renewed, the heart is changed, and the affections are sanctified, all actually and effectively; or else no deliverance will be worked, obtained, or ensue from the estate described. For notwithstanding the utmost improvement of our minds and reasons that can be imagined, and the most eminent proposal of the truths of the gospel, accompanied with the most powerful enforcements of duty and obedience that the nature of the things themselves will afford, the mind of man in the state of nature is not able to apprehend them in such a way that its apprehension will be spiritual, saving, or proper to the things apprehended — not without a supernatural elevation by grace. And notwithstanding the perception which the mind may attain to in the truth of gospel proposals, and the conviction it may have of the necessity of obedience, the will is not able to apply itself to any spiritual act of obedience without an ability that is worked immediately in it by the power of the Spirit of God — or rather, unless the Spirit of God effects by his grace the act of willing in it. This is why, not to multiply arguments, we conclude that the most effectual use of outward means alone is not all the grace that is necessary to, nor all the grace that is actually exerted in, the regeneration of the souls of men.

Having thus evidenced what the work of the Holy Spirit does not consist in, in the regeneration of the souls of men — namely, in a supposed congruous persuasion of their minds, and that alone — I will secondly proceed to show what it does consist in, and what its true nature is. And to this purpose, I say —

1. There is an efficacy in that moral operation which accompanies the preaching of the word, as blessed and used by the Holy Spirit, in and towards those who are unregenerate. Whatever it comes from, or whatever it is the effect of, or whatever it may be supposed or is possible to be from — we willingly ascribe to it. We grant that in the work of regeneration towards adults, the Holy Spirit makes use of the word, both the law and the gospel, and also the ministry of the church in the dispensation of the word, as the ordinary means of regeneration. Indeed, this is ordinarily the whole external means that is made use of in this work; and it is accompanied with an efficacy that is proper to it. Some contend that nothing more is needed for the conversion of sinners than preaching the word to those who are congruously disposed to receive it; and that the whole of the grace of God consists in the effectual application of the word to the minds and affections of men. By this means, they say, sinners are enabled to comply with it, and turn to God by faith and repentance. In contending for this, they do not ascribe a greater power to the word than we do; yet we deny that this administration of the word is the total cause of conversion. For we assign the same power to the word as they do, and more as well — only, we affirm that there is an effect to be wrought in this work, which all this power is insufficient for, if it is alone. But in its own kind, it is sufficient and effectual so far as the effect of regeneration or conversion to God is ascribed to it.667 We declared this before.

2. There is not only a moral but a direct physical operation of the Spirit, by his power and grace, or by his powerful grace, on the minds or souls of men in their regeneration.668 This is what we must cling to or all the glory of God’s grace is lost, and the grace administered by Christ is neglected. So is it asserted in Ephesians 1:18-20, "That you may know what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead." The power mentioned here has an "exceeding greatness" ascribed to it, with respect to the effect produced by it. The power of God in itself, as to all His acts, is equally infinite — He is omnipotent. But some effects are greater than others, and they carry in them more than ordinary impressions of that power. That is what is meant here: it is the power by which God makes men believers, and preserves them when they are. And there is an actual operation or efficiency ascribed to this power of God — the "working of his mighty power." And the nature of this operation or efficiency is the same kind of power exerted in raising Christ from the dead; this was by a real physical efficiency of divine power. This, therefore, is what is testified to here: that the work of God towards believers, either to make them believers, or to preserve them as such (it is all the same for our present purpose) consists in the acting of his divine power by a real internal efficiency. So God is said to "fulfil in us all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power," 2 Thessalonians 1:11; 2 Peter 1:3.

Hence the work of grace in conversion is constantly expressed by words denoting a real internal efficiency — such as creating, quickening, forming, or giving a new heart; more of this afterward. Wherever this word is spoken with respect to an active efficiency, it is ascribed to God — he creates us anew, he quickens us, he begets us of his own will. But where it is spoken with respect to us, it is passively expressed; we are created in Christ Jesus, we are new creatures, we are born again, and the like. This one observation is sufficient to evert the whole hypothesis of Arminian grace. Unless a work wrought by power is intended in this — a real and immediate power — such a work may neither be supposed possible, nor can it be expressed as "a work." This is why it is plain in the Scripture that the Spirit of God works internally, immediately, and efficiently, in and upon the minds of men in their regeneration. The new birth is the effect of an act of his power and grace; or, no man is born again except by the inward efficiency of the Spirit.

3. This internal efficiency of the Holy Spirit on the minds of men, as to the event, is infallible,669 victorious, irresistible, or always efficacious. But in this assertion we suppose that the measure of the efficacy of grace and the end to be attained, are fixed by the will of God. As to that end to which it is designed by God, it is always prevalent or effectual, and cannot be resisted; or, it will effectively work what God designs it to work: for in what he "will work, none will thwart him;"670 and "who has resisted his will?" Romans 9:19 There are many motions of grace, even in the hearts of believers, which are so far resisted that they do not attain the effect which they have a tendency to in their own nature. If it were otherwise, all believers would be perfect. But it is obvious in experience that we do not always respond to the inclinations of grace, at least as to the degree to which it moves us. Yet even such motions — if they are of and from saving grace — are effectual to the extent, and for all those ends, which they are designed for in the purpose of God; for his will, will not be frustrated in any instance. And where any work of grace is not effectual, God never intended that it should be, nor did he exert that power of grace which was necessary to make it so. This is why, in or to whomever the Holy Spirit exerts his power, or acts his grace for their regeneration, he removes all obstacles, overcomes all oppositions, and infallibly produces the effect intended.671 Because this proposition is of great importance to the glory of God’s grace, and it is most signally opposed by the patrons of corrupted nature and man’s free-will in the state of this corruption, it must be both explained and confirmed. We say, therefore —

(1.) The power which the Holy Ghost exerts in our regeneration, in its acting or exercise, is such that our minds, wills, and affections are suited to be worked on and by it, according to their natures and natural operations: "Turn me, and I will be turned;" Jeremiah 31:18 "draw me, and I will run after you." Song of Solomon 1:4 He does not act in them in any way other than they themselves are fit to be moved and move, to be acted and act, according to their own nature, power, and ability. He draws us with "the cords of a man." Hosea 11:4 And the work itself is expressed by persuading — "God will persuade Japheth;" Genesis 9:27 and alluring — "I will allure her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her." Hosea 2:14 For as it is certainly effectual, so it carries no more repugnance to our faculties than a prevalent persuasion does. So that —

(2.) In our regeneration, He does not possess the mind with any enthusiastic impressions. Nor does he act on us absolutely as he did in extraordinary prophetic inspirations of old, where the minds and organs of the bodies of men were merely passive instruments, moved by him above their own natural capacity and activity — not only as to the principle of working, but as to the manner of operation.

Rather, he works on the minds of men in and by their own natural actings, through an immediate influence and impression of his power: "Create in me a clean heart, O God." Psalms 51:10 He "works both to will and to do." Php 2:13

(3.) He therefore offers no coercion or compulsion to the will.672 That faculty is not naturally capable of opening itself to this. If it is compelled, then it is destroyed. And the mention that is made in the Scripture of compelling ("Compel them to come in" Luke 14:23), is with respect to the certainty of the event, not the manner of its operation on them. But the will, in the depraved condition of its fallen nature, is not only habitually filled and possessed with an aversion to what is spiritually good ("Alienated from the life of God" Ephesians 4:18), but it also continually acts in opposition to it. It is under the power of the "carnal mind" which is "enmity against God." Romans 8:7 And this grace of the Spirit in conversion, prevails against all this opposition, and it is effectual and victorious over it. Because of this, it will be asked,

"How can this be done except by a kind of coercion and compulsion, seeing that we evinced already that moral persuasion and objective allurement is not sufficient to do it?"

Ans. It is acknowledged that in the work of conversion to God (though not in the very act of it), there is a reaction between grace and the will, their acts being contrary to one another; grace is victorious in this, and yet no coercion or compulsion is offered to the will; for —

[1.] The opposition is not ad idem.673 The enmity and opposition that is moved by the will against grace, is against what is objectively proposed to it. So men "resist the Holy Ghost," — that is, they resist him in the external dispensation of grace by the word. And if that is alone, they may always resist it; the enmity in them will prevail against it: "You always resist the Holy Ghost." Acts 7:51 The will, therefore, is not forced by any power exerted in grace, in any way by which it is capable of opposing it; rather, the prevalence of grace is internal, working really and physically; and this is not the object of the will’s opposition, for grace is not proposed to it as something it may accept or refuse; rather, it works effectively in the will.

[2.] The will, in the first act of conversion (as even various schoolmen acknowledge), acts only as it is acted, and moves only as it is moved; and therefore it is passive in conversion, in the sense immediately to be explained. And if this is not so, conversion cannot be avoided unless the act of turning to God is a mere natural act, and not spiritual or gracious; for it would be an act of the will, not enabled to conversion antecedently by grace. From this it must be granted (and it will be proved) that in order of nature, the acting of grace in the will in our conversion, is antecedent to its own acting; though in the same instant of time in which the will is moved, it moves, and when it is acted, it acts itself; and thus the will preserves its own liberty in its exercise. In this there is therefore an inward almighty secret act of the power of the Holy Ghost, producing or effecting in us the will to be converted to God, and so acting our wills that they also act themselves, and do so freely.674 The Holy Spirit, who in his power and operation is more intimate, as it were, with the principles of our souls than they are with themselves, effectively works our regeneration and conversion to God, with the preservation and exercise of the liberty of our wills. This is the substance of what we plead for in this cause, and it declares the nature of this work of regeneration, as it is an inward spiritual work. I will, therefore, confirm the truth proposed with evident testimonies of Scripture, and the reasons contained in them, or educed from them.

First, The work of conversion itself, and especially the act of believing, or faith itself, is expressly said to be of God — to be worked in us by him, or to be given to us from him. The Scripture does not say that God gives us the ability or power only to believe— namely, such a power that we may make use of if we will, or do otherwise — but it says that faith, repentance, and conversion themselves are the work and effect of God. Indeed, there is nothing mentioned in the Scriptures concerning the communicating of power, remotely or next to the mind of man, to enable him to believe antecedent to actual believing. We have given an account concerning "remote power," if it may be called that, in the capacities of the faculties of the soul, in the reason of the mind, and in the liberty of the will. But the Scripture is silent about what some call a "next power," or an ability to believe, in order of nature, antecedent to believing itself, worked in us by the grace of God. The apostle Paul says of himself, Php 4:13 — "I can do all things," or prevail in all things, "through Christ who enables me;" here a power or ability seems to be spoken of antecedent to acting. But this is not a power for the first act of faith; it is a power in those who believe. I acknowledge such a power, which is acted by the co-operation of the Spirit and the grace of Christ, with the grace which believers have received to perform all acts of holy obedience. I must address this elsewhere. Believers have a stock of habitual grace; which may be called indwelling grace in the same sense in which original corruption is called indwelling sin. And this grace, though it is necessary to every act of spiritual obedience, is not able or sufficient of itself to produce any spiritual act, without the renewed co-working of the Spirit of Christ. This working of Christ upon and with the grace we have received, is called enabling us; but it is not so with unregenerate persons, as to the first act of faith. But it will be objected that,

"Everything which is actually accomplished was in potentia before;675 there must therefore be a power in us to believe before we actually do so."

Ans. The act of God working faith in us is a creating act: "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus," Ephesians 2:10; and the one who is in Christ Jesus "is a new creature," 2 Corinthians 5:17. Now, the effects of creating acts are not in potentia anywhere except in the active power of God; so the world itself was in potentia before its actual existence. This is termed potentia logica,676 which is no more than a negation of any contradiction to existence — not potentia physica,677 which includes a disposition to actual existence. Therefore, notwithstanding all these preparatory works of the Spirit of God which we allow in this matter, they do not work in the minds and wills of men such a next power, as they call it, that it would enable them to believe without actual grace further working faith itself. This is why, with respect to believing, the first act of God is to work in us "to will:" Php 2:13, "He works in us to will." Now, to will to believe, is to believe. God works this in us by that grace which Austin and the schoolmen call gratia operans,678 because it works in us without us, the will being merely moved and passive in this.

Some pretend that there is a power or faculty of believing given to all men to whom the gospel is preached,679 or who are called by the outward dispensation of it; and that is,

"because those to whom the word is so preached, if they do not actually believe, will perish eternally, as positively declared in the gospel, Mark 16:16; but they could not justly perish if they had not received a power or faculty of believing."

Ans. 1. Upon the proposal of Christ in the gospel, those who do not believe are left without remedy in the guilt of those other sins for which they must perish eternally. "If you do not believe," says Christ, "that I am he, you will die in your sins," John 8:24.

Ans.2. The impotency that is in men, as to the act of believing, is contracted by their own fault, both as it arises from the original depravity of nature, and as it is increased by corrupt prejudices and contracted habits of sin. Therefore they justly perished, of whom it is said that "they could not believe," John 12:39.

Ans.3. There are none who refuse the gospel, who do not exert an act of the will in its rejection, which all men are free and able to do: "I would have gathered you, but you would not," Matthew 23:37. "You will not come to me, that you may have life," (John 5:40). But the Scripture positively affirms that some to whom the gospel was preached, "could not believe," John 12:39; and that all natural men "cannot receive the things of God," 1 Corinthians 2:14. Nor is it "given" to all to "know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven," but only to some, Matthew 11:25; Matthew 13:11; and those to whom it is not given, do not have the power that is referred to there. Besides, faith is not of all, or "all do not have faith," 2 Thessalonians 3:2; it is unique to the "elect of God," Titus 1:1; Acts 13:48; and these elect are only some of those who are called, Mat 20.16.680 To further clarify this, it may be observed that this first act of willing may be considered two ways:

1. As it is worked in the will subjectively, and so formally it is only in that faculty; and in this sense the will is merely passive, and it is only the subject moved or acted. In this respect, the act of God’s grace in the will is an act of the will itself. But,

2. It may be considered as it is worked efficiently also in the will; being acted, it acts itself. So it is from the will as its principle, and it is a vital act of the will, which gives it the nature of obedience. Thus the will in its own nature is mobilis (moveable), fit and prepared to be worked upon by the grace of the Spirit to faith and obedience; with respect to the creating act of grace working faith in us, it is mota, moved and acted by it; and in respect to its own elicit act, as it so acted and moved, it is movens, the next efficient cause of that act.

These things being premised to clarify the nature of the operation of the Spirit in the first communication of grace to us, and the will’s compliance with it, we return to our arguments or testimonies given for to the actual conferring of faith681 upon us by the Spirit and grace of God, which must necessarily be effectual and irresistible; for the contrary implies a contradiction — namely, that God should "work what is not worked:" — Php 1:29, "To you it is given in behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake," To "believe on Christ" expresses saving faith itself. This is "given" to us. And how is it given us? By the power of God "working in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure," Php 2:13. Our faith is our coming to Christ. "And no man," he says, "can come to me, unless it is given to him by my Father," John 6:65. All power in ourselves for this end is utterly taken away: "No man can come to me."682 However, we may suppose that men are prepared or disposed — whatever arguments may be proposed to them, and in whatever season — to render things congruous and agreeable to their inclinations. And yet, no man of himself can believe, none can come to Christ, unless faith itself is "given to him" — that is, unless it is worked in him by the grace of the Father, Php 1:29. So it is again asserted, both negatively and positively, in Ephesians 2:8, "By grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." Our own ability — whatever it may be, and however it may be assisted and excited — and God’s gift, are contradistinguished. If it is "of ourselves," then it is not "the gift of God;" and if it is "the gift of God," then it is not "of ourselves." And the way God bestows this gift on us is declared in Ephesians 2:10, "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works." Good works, or gospel obedience, are the things intended. These must proceed from faith, or else they are not acceptable with God, Hebrews 11:6. And the way by which this is worked in us, as a principle of obedience, is by a creating act of God: "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus." In like manner, God is said to "give us repentance," 2 Timothy 2:25; Acts 11:18. This is the whole of what we plead: In our conversion, by the exceeding greatness of his power, as he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead, God actually works faith and repentance in us; he gives them to us, bestows them on us, so that they are mere effects of his grace in us. And his working in us infallibly produces the effect intended, because it is actual faith683 that he works, and not just a power to believe — not just a power which we may either exert and make use of, or allow to be fruitless, according to the pleasure of our own wills.

Secondly, As God gives and works faith and repentance in us, so the way by which he does it, or the manner of how he is said to effect them in us, makes it evident that he does it by a power that is infallibly efficacious, and which the will of man never resists; for this way is such that he thereby takes away all repugnance, all resistance, all opposition, everything that lies in the way of the effect intended: Deuteronomy 30:6, "The Lord your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live." A denial of the work intended here is expressed Deuteronomy 29:4, "The Lord has not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, up to this day." In Colossians 2:11, the apostle declares what it means to have the heart circumcised. It is "putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ" — that is, by our conversion to God. It is giving "a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear" — that is, spiritual light and obedience — by the removal of all obstacles and hindrances. This is the immediate work of the Spirit of God himself. No man ever circumcised his own heart. No man can say he began to do it by the power of his own will, and then God only helped him by his grace. The act of outward circumcision on the body of a child was the act of another, and not the act of the child who was only passive in this; but the effect was in the body of the child only. So it is in spiritual circumcision — it is the act of God, of which our hearts are the subject. And because it is the blindness, obstinacy, and stubbornness in sin that is in us by nature, along with the prejudices which possess our minds and affections, which hinder us from conversion to God, they are taken away by this circumcision; for by it, the "body of the sins of the flesh is put off." And how will the heart resist the work of grace, when what resists it is effectively taken away?

Ezekiel 36:26-27, "A new heart also I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments, and do them." To which may be added, Jeremiah 24:7, "I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they will be my people, and I will be their God: so they will return to me with their whole heart." And also, Isaiah 44:3-5, "I will pour water upon the one who is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon your seed, and my blessing upon your offspring: and they will spring up among the grass, like willows by the water-courses. One will say, I am the Lord’s," etc. So too, Jeremiah 31:33, "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts."

I will first ask two things about these concurrent testimonies:

1. Is it lawful for us, is it our duty, to pray that God would do and effect what he has promised to do, and pray that for both ourselves and others? —

Ans. We may pray for ourselves, that the work of our conversion may be renewed, carried on, and consummated in the way, and using the means by which it was begun, so that "he who has begun the good work in us may perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ," Php 1:6. And for those who are converted and regenerated, and are persuaded on good and infallible grounds that they are, we may still pray for those things which God promises to work upon their conversion. And this is because the same work is to be preserved and carried on in them, by the same means, the same power, and the same grace, with which it was begun. And the reason is this: even though this work, as it is merely the work of conversion, is immediately perfected and completed at its start — yet as it is the beginning of a work of sanctification, it is to be continually renewed and gone over again, because of the remainder of sin in us, and the imperfection of our grace. And we may pray for others, that sanctification may begin and also be finished in them. And in all such prayers, do we not desire that God would really, powerfully, effectively, and by the internal efficiency of his Spirit, take away all hindrances, oppositions, and repugnance in our minds and wills, and actually confer upon us, give to us, and work in us, a new principle of obedience, so that we may assuredly love, fear, and trust in God always? Or do we only desire that God would so help us as to leave us absolutely undetermined whether we will make use of his help or not? Did any pious soul ever couch such an intention in his supplications? He does not know how to pray, who does not pray that God would, by his own immediate power, work those things in him which he thus prays for. And also for this prayer, effectual grace is antecedently required.684 This is why I ask —

2. Does God really effect and work in anyone the things which he promises here that he will work and effect? If he does not, then where is his truth and faithfulness? It is said by some that "he does so, and will do so, provided that men do not refuse his tender of grace nor resist his operations, but comply with them." But this yields no relief, for —

(1.) What does it mean to "not refuse" the grace of conversion, but "comply" with it? Is it not to believe, to obey — to convert ourselves? So, then, God would be promising to convert us, on condition that we convert ourselves; to work faith in us, on condition that we believe; and to give a new heart, on condition that we make our hearts new ourselves! All the adversaries of the grace of God are brought to this, by those conditions which they invent about its efficacy, in order to preserve the sovereignty of free-will in our conversion — that is, they are brought to plain and open contradictions which have been sufficiently charged upon them by others, and from which they could never extricate themselves.

(2.) Where God thus promises685 to work, as these testimonies witness, and he does not effectively do so, then it must be either because he cannot do so, or because he will not do so. If it is said that he does it not because he will not, then this is what is ascribed to God: that he promises to take away our stony heart, and to give us a new heart with his law written in it, but indeed he will not do so; this is to overthrow his faithfulness, and make him a liar. If they say it is because he cannot do so, seeing that men oppose and resist the grace by which he would work this effect, then where is the wisdom of promising to work in us what he knew he could not effect without our compliance, and which he knew we would not comply with?

It may be said that God promises to work and effect these things, but in such a way that he has appointed — that is, by giving such supplies of grace that may enable us to do this — and if we refuse to make use of that grace, then the fault is merely our own.

Ans. As the consideration of the passage makes manifest, it is the things themselves that are promised, and not a communication of the means to effect them (in which case it may or may not produce them); about this, observe —

[1.] The subject spoken of in these promises is the heart. And the heart in the Scripture is taken for the whole rational soul, not absolutely, but as all the faculties of the soul are one common principle of all our moral operations. Hence the heart has properties assigned to it that are specific to the mind or understanding, such as to see, to perceive, to be wise, and to understand; and on the contrary, to be blind and foolish; and sometimes properties that properly belong to the will and affections, such as to obey, to love, to fear, and to trust in God. This is why the principle of all our spiritual and moral operations is intended by it.

[2.] There is a description of this heart, as it is antecedent to the effectual working of the grace of God in us: it is said to be stony — "The heart of stone." It is not said to be stony absolutely, but with respect to some certain end. This end is declared to be our walking in the ways of God, or fearing Him. This is why our hearts by nature — as to living to God or fearing Him — are a stone, or stony; and who has not experienced this from the remainders of sin still abiding in him? Two things are included in this expression:

1st. An ineptitude to any actings towards that end. Whatever else the heart can do of itself — in natural things, civil things, or outward things — when it comes to the end of living to God, the heart cannot of itself, without God’s grace, do any more than a stone can do of itself toward any end to which it may be applied.

2dly. An obstinate, stubborn opposition to all things conducive to that end. Its hardness or obstinacy, in opposition to the pliableness of a heart of flesh, is principally intended in this expression. And in this stubbornness of heart, consists all that repugnance to the grace of God which is in us by nature. And from this, all that resistance arises which some say is always sufficient to render fruitless, any operation of the Spirit of God by his grace.

[3.] This heart — that is, this impotence and enmity which is in our natures, to conversion and spiritual obedience — God says he will take away; that is, he will do so in those who are to be converted according to the purpose of his will, and whom he will turn to himself.686 He does not say that he will endeavor to take it away, nor that he will use such and such means to take it away, but that he will absolutely take it away. He does not say that he will persuade men to remove it or do away with it, nor that he will aid and help them in doing so, and do it only so far that it will be wholly their own fault if it is not done — no doubt, it will not be done if it is not removed. Bur rather, positively, God says that he himself will take it away. This is why the act of taking it away is the act of God by his grace, and not the act of our wills except as they are moved by His grace; and it is such an act that its effect is necessary. It is impossible that God should take away the stony heart, and yet the stony heart is not taken away. What God promises in this, therefore, in removing our natural corruption, is infallible as to the event, and it is irresistible as to the manner of its operation.

[4.] What God takes from us in the cure of our original disease, so he bestows on us or works in us; this is also expressed here; and this is a new heart and a new spirit: "I will give you a new heart." And along with this, it is declared what benefit we receive by it: for by virtue of this, those who have this new heart bestowed on them, or worked in them, actually "fear the Lord and walk in his ways;" for so it is affirmed in the testimonies that were produced from Scripture: and nothing further is required for this, because nothing less will effect it. In this new heart that is thus given to us, there must therefore be a principle of all holy obedience to God. And the creation of this principle in us is our conversion to him; for God does convert us, and we are converted. And how is this new heart communicated to us? "I will," says God, "give them a new heart."

Some will say, "It may be that he will do what is to be done on his part, so that they may have it; but we may refuse his assistance, and go without it." No; God says, "I will put a new spirit within them;" this expression is capable of no such limitation or condition. And to make it plainer still, God affirms that he "will write his law in our hearts." It is admitted that this was spoken with respect to his writing of the law of old on the tablets of stone. As then, he wrote the letter of the law on the tablets of stone, so that thereon and thereby they were actually engraven on them, so too, by writing the law, that is, the matter and substance of it, in our hearts, it is as really fixed in this as the letter of the law was fixed of old on the tablets of stone. And this can be only in a principle of obedience and love for it, which is actually worked by God in us. And the aids or assistances which some men grant are left to the power of our own wills to use or not to use, have no analogy with the writing of the law on tablets of stone. And the end of the work of God that is described, is not a power to obey, which may be exerted or not; but it is actual obedience in conversion, and all the fruits of it. If God does not declare in these promises a real efficiency of internal grace, taking away all the repugnance of our nature to conversion, curing its depravity actually and effectively, and communicating infallibly a principle of scriptural obedience, then I do not know in what words such a work may be expressed. And whatever is excepted as to suspending the efficacy of this work on conditions in ourselves, it falls immediately into gross and sensible contradictions. We have a special instance of this work in Acts 16.14.687 A third argument is taken from the state and condition of men by nature, described before. For it is such that no man can be delivered from it, except by that powerful, internal, effectual grace which we plead for, in which the mind and will of men can do nothing in or towards conversion to God except as they are moved by grace. The reason why some despise, some oppose, some deride the work of the Spirit of God in our regeneration or conversion, or fancy it to be only an outward ceremony, or a moral change of life and conduct, is their ignorance of the corrupted and depraved estate of the souls of men, in their minds, wills, and affections, by nature. For if it is as we described — that is, as it is represented in the Scripture — they cannot be so brutish as to once imagine that it may be cured, or that men may be delivered from it, without any other aid than those rational considerations which some would have as the only means of our conversion to God. We will, therefore, inquire what that grace is, and what it must be, by which we are delivered from this estate:

1. It is called a vivification or quickening. We are by nature "dead in trespasses and sins," as it has been proved, and as the nature of that death has been explained at large. In our deliverance from there, we are said to be "quickened," Ephesians 2:5. Though dead, we "hear the voice of the Son of God, and live," John 5:25; being made "alive to God through Jesus Christ," Romans 6:11. Now, no such work can be wrought in us except by an effectual communication of a principle of spiritual life — nothing else will deliver us. Some think to evade the power of this argument by saying that "all these expressions are metaphorical, and arguments made from them are only excessive metaphors." It would be well if the whole gospel were not a metaphor to them. But if there is no impotence in us by nature to all acts of spiritual life, like the impotence of a dead man to the acts of natural life — if the same power of God is not required for our deliverance from that condition (or working in us a principle of spiritual obedience), as there is to raise someone who is dead — then they may as well say that the Scripture does not speak truly, but only metaphorically. We have proved from Ephesians 1:19-20; Colossians 2:12-13; 2 Thessalonians 1:11; and 2 Peter 1:3 that it is almighty power — the "exceeding greatness of God’s power" — that is put forth and exercised in this. And what do these men mean by this quickening, this raising us from the dead by the power of God? They mean the persuasion of our minds by rational motives taken from the word, and the things contained in it! But was there ever such a monstrous expression heard, if there is nothing else in it? What could the holy writers have meant by calling such a work as this, a "quickening of those who were dead in trespasses and sins through the mighty power of God," unless it was to draw us away from a right understanding of what is meant, by the clanging of insignificant words? It would be well if some are not of that mind.

2. The work itself that is worked is our regeneration. I have proved before that this consists in a new, spiritual, supernatural, vital principle or habit of grace, infused into the soul, the mind, the will, and the affections, by the power of the Holy Spirit, disposing and enabling those in whom it is found, to spiritual, supernatural, and vital acts of faith and obedience.

Some men seem inclined to deny all habits born of grace. But on that supposition, a man is a believer no longer than he actually exercises faith; for there is nothing in him from which he should be called a believer. But this would plainly overthrow the covenant of God and all its grace.688

Others expressly deny all gracious, supernatural, infused habits, even though they may grant those habits which are or may be acquired by frequent acts of those graces or virtues of which these acts are the habits. But the Scripture gives another description of this work of regeneration, for it consists in the renovation of the image of God in us:

Ephesians 4:23-24, "Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, which is created after God in righteousness and true holiness." In his innocence, Adam had a supernatural ability of living to God habitually residing in him. This is generally acknowledged. And because he was made for a super-natural end — namely, to live to God, and to come to the enjoyment him — it would be easy for us to prove that it was utterly impossible for Adam to respond to or comply with it by the mere strength of his natural faculties, unless those faculties had been endowed with a supernatural ability. And this ability, with respect to that end, was created with and in those faculties. Yet we will not contend about the terms used. Let it be granted that Adam was created in the image of God, and that he had an ability to fulfil all God’s commands, and that ability was in himself, and no more will be desired. This ability was lost by the fall. When this is denied by anyone, it will be proved. In our regeneration, there is a renovation of this image of God in us: "Renewed in the spirit of your mind." And it is renewed in us by a creating act of almighty power "after God," or according to his likeness: "Which is created after God in righteousness and true holiness." Therefore a new principle of spiritual life is implanted in this image, a life lived to God in repentance, faith, and obedience, in universal holiness according to gospel truth, or the truth which came by Jesus Christ, John 1:17. And the effect of this work is called "spirit." John 3:6, "That which is born of the Spirit, is spirit." It is the Spirit of God of whom we are born; that is, our new life is worked in us by his efficiency. And what is born in us of him, is spirit; this is not the natural faculties of our souls — they are once created, once born, and no more — but what is born in us is a new principle of spiritual obedience by which we live to God. And this is the product of the internal and immediate efficiency of grace. This will be more apparent if we consider the faculties of the soul distinctly, and what is the special work of the Holy Spirit on them in our regeneration or conversion to God:

(1.) The leading, conducting faculty of the soul is the mind or understanding. Now, this is corrupted and vitiated by the fall; and it was declared before how it continues depraved in the state of nature. and his law, esteeming the things of the gospel to be foolishness. This is because the mind is alienated from the life of God through its ignorance. We must therefore inquire what the work of the Holy Spirit is on our minds in turning us to God, by which this depravation is removed and this vicious state is cured, and by which we come to see and discern spiritual things in a spiritual manner, so that we may savingly know God and his mind as revealed in and by Jesus Christ. And this is declared in the Scripture in several ways:

[1.] He is said to give us an understanding: 1 John 5:20, "The Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true;" he does this by his Spirit. By sin, man has become like the "beasts that perish, which have no understanding," Psalms 49:12; Psalms 49:20. Men have not absolutely lost their natural intellectual faculty or reason; it continues in them, with the free though impaired use of it in natural and civil things. And it advances them in sin; men are "wise to do evil:"689 but its special use in acquiring the saving knowledge of God and his will, is lost: "To do good they have no knowledge," Jeremiah 4:22; for by nature, "there is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God," Romans 3:11. It is corrupted not so much in the root and principle of its actings, but with respect to their proper object, term, and end. This is why, even though we are given an understanding, it does not create in us a new natural faculty. And yet there is such a gracious work in it, that without that work, and this faculty being depraved, it will no more enable us to know God savingly than if we had no such faculty at all. Therefore, the grace asserted here in giving us an understanding, causes our natural understandings to understand savingly.

David prays for this in Psalms 119:34, "Give me understanding, and I will keep your law." The whole work is expressed by the apostle,

Ephesians 1:17-18, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being opened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling," etc.

We evinced before that "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation" is the Spirit of God working those effects in us. And it is plain that the "revelation" intended here is subjective, in enabling us to apprehend what is revealed; it is not objective, in new revelations, which the apostle did not pray for them to receive. This is further evidenced by the ensuing description of it: "The eyes of your understanding being opened."

There is an eye in the understanding of man — that is, the natural power and ability that is in it to discern spiritual things. But this eye is sometimes said to be "blind," sometimes to be "darkness," sometimes to be "shut" or closed. Nothing can be intended by this, but the impotence of our minds to know God savingly, or to discern things spiritually when they are proposed to us. It is the work of the Spirit of grace to open this eye,690 Luke 4:18; Acts 26.18.691 And this is done by the powerful, effectual removal of that depravation of our minds, with all its effects, which we described before. And how are we made partakers of this? It is from the gift of God, freely and effectively working it. For first, he "gives us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation" to that end; and secondly, he works the thing itself in us. He "gives us a heart to know him," Jeremiah 24:7, without which we cannot do so; or else he would not undertake to work it in us for that end. There is therefore an effectual, powerful, creating act of the Holy Spirit exerted in the minds of men in their conversion to God, enabling them to spiritually discern Spiritual things; the seed and substance of divine faith is contained in this.

[2.] This is called the renovation of our minds: "Renewed in the spirit of your mind," Ephesians 4:23; which is the same as being "renewed in knowledge," Colossians 3:10. And this renovation of our minds has in it a transforming power to change the whole soul into an obediential frame towards God, Romans 12:2. And the work of renewing our minds is specifically ascribed to the Holy Spirit: Titus 3:5, "The renewing of the Holy Ghost." Some men seem to fancy, indeed they declare, that there is no such depravation in or of the mind of man, but that he is able, by the use of his reason, to apprehend, receive, and discern those truths of the gospel which are objectively proposed to it. But we will address afterward the use of reason in these matters, and its ability to discern and judge the sense of propositions, and the force of inferences, in the things of religion. At present, I only inquire whether unregenerate men are, of themselves, able to spiritually discern spiritual things when they are proposed to them in the dispensation of the gospel. Are they able to do that in such a way, that their knowledge is saving, in and to themselves, and acceptable to God in Christ, without any especial, internal, effectual work of the Holy Spirit of grace in them and upon them?

If they say they are, as they plainly plead them to be, and they will not content themselves with ascribing to them that notional, doctrinal knowledge which none deny they are capable of, then I desire to know to what purpose they are said to be "renewed by the Holy Ghost?" To what purpose are all those gracious actings of God in them that were recounted before? Consider, on the one hand, what the Scripture teaches us concerning the blindness, darkness, and impotence of our minds with respect to spiritual things when they are proposed to us, and as we are in the state of nature. If you consider, on the other hand, what it affirms concerning the work of the Holy Ghost in the renovation and change in our minds, in giving them new power, new ability, and a new, active understanding, then you will not be greatly moved by the groundless, confident, unproved dictates of some, concerning the power of reason in itself, to apprehend and discern religious things, so far as we are required by way of duty. This is the same as saying that if the sun shines clear and bright, every blind man is able to see.

God is said in this, to communicate a light to our minds so we will see by it, or perceive by it, the things proposed to us in the gospel, usefully and savingly:

2 Corinthians 4:6, "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

If God did not otherwise work on the minds of men, than by an external, objective proposal of truth to them, then to what purpose does the apostle mention the almighty act of creating power which he put forth and exercised in the first production of natural light out of darkness? What allusion is there between that work and the doctrinal proposal of truth to the minds of men?

It is therefore not to be denied that the act of God in the spiritual illumination of our minds is of the same nature, as to its efficacy and efficiency, as that by which he created light at the beginning of all things. And because the effect produced in us is called "light," the act itself is described by "shining:" "God has shone in our hearts," — that is, in our minds. So he conveys light to them by an act of omnipotent efficiency. And because what is so worked in our minds is called "light," so the apostle, leaving his metaphor, plainly declares what he intends by it — namely, the actual "knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ;" that is, as God is revealed in Christ by the gospel. He declares this in verse4.692 Having first compared the mind of man by nature, with respect to a power of discerning spiritual things, to the state of all things under darkness before the creation of light; and secondly, having compared the powerful working of God in illumination to the act of his omnipotence in the production or creation of natural light— he ascribes our ability to know, and our actual knowledge of God in Christ, to his real efficiency and operation.

These things in part direct us towards an apprehension of that work of the Holy Spirit upon the minds of men in their conversion to God, by which their depravation is cured, and without which it will not be cured. By this means, and not otherwise, we who were "darkness" become "light in the Lord," or we come to know God in Christ savingly, looking into and discerning spiritual things with a proper intuitive sight, by which all the other faculties of our souls are guided and influenced to the obedience of faith.

(2.) It is principally with respect to the will and its depravation by nature, that we are said to be dead in sin. And in this is seated that particular obstinacy for which it is, that no unregenerate person does or can respond to his own convictions, or walk into His light in obedience. For the will may be considered in two ways: first, as a rational, vital faculty of our souls; and secondly, as a free principle,693 freedom being of its essence or nature. Therefore, in our conversion to God, this is renewed by the Holy Ghost, by an effectual implantation in the will of a principle of spiritual life and holiness in place of that original righteousness which it lost by the fall. That the Spirit does so, is proved by all the testimonies insisted on before. First, this is its renovation as it is a rational, vital faculty; and of this vivification, see above. Secondly, as it is a free principle, it is determined to its acts in this case, by the powerful operation of the Holy Ghost, without the least impeachment of its liberty or freedom — as declared earlier. And it might be fully evinced that this is so, as by other arguments, so too by the ensuing arguments. For if the Holy Ghost does not work immediately and effectively upon the will, producing and creating in it a principle of faith and obedience, infallibly determining it in its free acts, then all the glory of our conversion is to be ascribed to ourselves. And by the obediential actings of our own free will, we make ourselves differ from others, who do not so comply with the grace of God — but this is denied by the apostle in 1Cor 4.7.694 Nor can any purpose of God concerning the conversion of any one soul be certain and determinate, seeing that after God has done all that is or can be done towards conversion, the will, remaining undetermined, may not be converted. This is contrary to the testimonies of our Savior in Matthew 19:25-26; John 6:37; and Rom 8.29.695 Nor can there be infallibility in the promises of God made to Jesus Christ concerning the multitudes who would believe in him, seeing that it is possible that no one may believe in him, if it depends on the undetermined liberty of their wills whether they will or not. And then too, salvation must of necessity be "of him that wills, and of him that runs," and not "of God, who shows mercy on whom he will have mercy," which would be contrary to the apostle, Romans 9:15-16. And thereby the whole efficacy of the grace of God is made to depend on the wills of men; which is not consistent with our being the "workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus for good works," Ephesians 2:10. Nor, on this supposition, would men know what they pray for, when they pray for their own or other men’s conversion to God; as declared before.

Therefore, such a work of the Holy Spirit is necessary upon our wills, that it may cure and take away their depravation, described before — thus freeing us from the state of spiritual death, causing us to live to God, and determining our wills in and toward acts of faith and obedience. And he does this while and as he makes us new creatures; as he quickens us who are dead in trespasses and sins; as he gives us a new heart and puts a new spirit within us; as he writes his law in our hearts, so that we may do the mind of God and walk in his ways; as he works in us to will and to do, making those who were unwilling and obstinate to be willing and obedient — and that is freely and of our own choice.

(3.) In like manner, a prevailing love is implanted upon the affections by the Spirit of grace, causing the soul to cling to God and his ways with delight and contentment. This removes and takes away the enmity described before, along with its effects: Deuteronomy 30:6, "The Lord your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live." This circumcision of the heart consists in "putting off the body of the sins of the flesh," as the apostle puts it in Colossians 2:11. He "crucifies the flesh, with its affections and lusts." Some men are inclined to think that all the depravation of our nature consists in the depravation of the sensitive part of the soul, or our affections; the vanity and folly of this opinion has been uncovered before. Yet it is not denied that the affections are signally depraved, so that principally the mind and will act those lusts that are particularly seated in them, or that the mind and will act according to the affections’ perverse and corrupt inclinations, Galatians 5:24; Jas 1.14-15.696 This is why, in the circumcision of our hearts — in which the flesh, with its lusts, affections, and deeds, is crucified by the Spirit — he takes from them their enmity, carnal prejudices, and depraved inclinations; and this is really, even though it is not absolutely and perfectly. In their stead, he fills us with holy spiritual love, joy, fear, and delight, not changing the being of our affections, but sanctifying and guiding them by the principle of saving light and knowledge described before, and uniting them to their proper object in a due manner. From what has been said in this third argument, it is evident that the Holy Spirit, designing the regeneration or conversion of the souls of men, works effectively, powerfully, and irresistibly in this; which was proposed here for confirmation. From the whole it appears that our regeneration is a work of the Spirit of God, and not any act of our own, which is all that was intended.697 I say it is not our own, and cannot by outward helps and assistance, be educed out of the principles of our natures. The Scripture is express in this; for in mentioning this work directly with respect to its cause, and the manner of its operation in effecting it, Scripture assigns it positively to God or his Spirit 1 Peter 1:3, "God, according to his abundant mercy, has begotten us again." James 1:18, "Of his own will he brought us forth with the word of truth." John 3:5-6; John 3:8, "Born of the Spirit." 1 John 3:9, "Born of God." And on the other hand, it excludes the will of man from any active interest in this; I mean, as to its beginning: 1 Peter 1:23, "Born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides forever." John 1:13, "Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." See Matthew 16:17; Titus 3:5; Eph 2.9-10.698 It is therefore incumbent on those who plead for the active interest of the will of man in regeneration, to produce some testimonies of Scripture where it is assigned to his will, as the effect follows its proper cause. Where is it said that a man is born again or begotten anew by himself? And if it is granted — as it must be, unless violence is offered not only to the Scripture but to reason and common sense — that whatever our duty and power may be in this, these expressions must yet denote an act of God, and not ours, then the substance of what we contend for is granted, as we will be ready to demonstrate at any time. It is true, God does command us to circumcise our hearts and make them new: but he declares our duty in this, not our power; for he himself promises to work in us what he requires of us.Ezekiel 36:27 The power which we have and exercise in the progress of this work — in sanctification and holiness — proceeds from the infused principle which we receive in our regeneration. We ought to pray for all these ends from God, according to the example of holy men of old.699