The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 329

:

WHAT imparted not only to the represent

but to

all

289

They

baptized persons.

as follows

it

First, all

not take the

men

are conceived and

first step, all

He imparts

Second,

elect,

NOT

IT IS

would

bom

in sin;

and

if

God

did

perish.

to the children

bom

in the Christian

Church

a sort of assisting grace, relieving inability.

Third, hence every baptized person has the power to choose or reject the offered grace.

Fourth, wherefore, out of the grace,

some choose

And

life

many who

received preparatory

and others perish.

this is the confession not of Augustine, but of Pelagius

;

not

Gomarus, but of Arminius; not of the Reformed churches, but of the sects which they have conof Calvin, but of Castellio; not of

demned

as heretical.

This impious lie, which pervades this whole representation, must be eradicated and the Methodist brethren deserve our strongest support when with holy enthusiasm they oppose this false system. If this representation be true, then the counsel of God has lost its certainty and stedfastness; then the Mediator's redemp;

work

its application then our passing from depends in the end upon our own will and the child of God is robbed of all his comfort in life and death, since his new life may be lost. It does not avail the Ethical theologians when under many beautiful forms they confess their belief in an eternal election, and that grace can not be lost, and in the perseverance of saints. As long as they do not purge themselves of their principal error viz., that in Baptism God so relieves the inability of the sinner that he can choose life of himself they do not stand on the basis of the Reformed churches, but are directly opposed to it. Nor will they be counted as children of the Reformed household of faith until, without any subterfuge, they confess definitely that preparatory grace

tive

is

death unto

uncertain in

;

life

;

—

—

all, except upon persons who will surely come and who will never be lost again. To suppose that this grace can work in a man without saving him to the uttermost is to break with the doctrine of Scripture and to turn the back upon a vital feature of the Reformed churches. We do not deny that many persons are lost in whom many excellent powers have wrought. The " They may have apostle teaches this very clearly in Heb. vi. tasted of the heavenly gift." But between God's work upon them

does not operate at

to

life,

:

19

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