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1. Those whom God hath predestinated unto life, he is pleased in his appointed and accepted time 1effectually to call by his word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation 2by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to 3understand the things of God; taking away their 4heart of stone and giving unto them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them 5to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come 6most freely, being made willing by his grace.
2. This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace alone, 7not from anything at all foreseen in man, nor from any power or agency in the creature coworking with his special grace, 8the creature being wholly passive therein, being dead in sins and trespasses until being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it; and that by no less 9power than that which raised up Christ from the dead.
3. Infants dying in infancy are 10regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit; who worketh when, and where, and 11how he pleases; so also are all other persons who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the word.
4. Others not elected, although they may be called by the ministry of the word 12and may have some common operations of the Spirit, yet not being effectually drawn by the Father, they neither will, nor can truly 13come to Christ, and therefore cannot be saved; much less can men that receive not the Christian religion 14be saved; be they ever so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature and the law of that religion they do profess.
- Romans 8:30, 11:7; Ephesians 1:10,11; 2 Thessalonians 3:13,14 ↩︎
- Ephesians 2:1-6 ↩︎
- Acts 26:18; Ephesians 1:17,18 ↩︎
- Ezekiel 36:26 ↩︎
- Deuteronomy 30:6; Ezekiel 36:27; Ephesians 1:19 ↩︎
- Psalm 110:3 ↩︎
- 2 Timothy 1:9; Ephesians 2:8 ↩︎
- 1 Corinthians 2:14; Ephesians 2:5; John 5:25 ↩︎
- Ephesians 1:19,20 ↩︎
- John 3:3,5,6 ↩︎
- John 3:8 ↩︎
- Matthew 22:14, 13:20,21; Hebrews 6:4,5 ↩︎
- John 6:44,45,65; 1 John 2:24,25 ↩︎
- Acts 4:12; John 4:22, 17:3 ↩︎