[The Instructed Christian; Or, The Plain Man's Senses Exercised To Discern Both Good And Evil; A Discovery Of The Errors, Heresies, And Blasphemies Of These Times (1655), And The Toleration Of Them, As They Are Collected And Testified Against By The Ministers Of London, In Their Testimony To The Truth Of Jesus Christ (D. 1653; 1655; Philadelphia, 1847)]
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You have heard how the Arminians teach: first, that God has not chosen to salvation any particular individual persons, but only a certain kind of men, believers in general; and so, as none are excluded, so none are appointed to life but on condition of perseverance in the faith. Secondly, they teach that Christ died for all indifferently under the same condition, and not for any particular persons; and so no man is chosen or redeemed more than another by any act of God, but eventualmente, according as they will, or will not, embrace the gospel. Agreeably to which, they teach in the third place, that God has decreed to give to all sufficient means of salvation, sufficient grace exciting and preventing universally and indifferently to all, the which they who do not resist, but by the good use of free will assent to, and co-operate with, are both elected and redeemed; but they which resist, and will not join or co-operate with this motion of grace, are not elected, neither shall they be saved; so that our work in this chapter will be to solve these two questions.
First, Whether God gives to all men sufficient means and helps of grace to salvation?
The second is, Whether the use of these means being granted, it be in the power of man’s free will to convert himself, to accept or refuse the grace offered?
To the former question I shall speak but briefly, as being preparatory to the other.
Here we must first consider, what is sufficient grace? Sufficient in every kind of causes, is that which, being applied and intended to that end, procures its effect, and removes all impediments that stand in the way. If anything can hinder the cause, that it does not produce its intended effect, that cause is deficient, not sufficient. It is so in natural things, as in physic. A medicine that is sufficient for such a cure, if applied, removes all impediments, and performs all intentions of the physician requisite to the cure. But if any other medicine be required for the cure, then the first was not sufficient. So converting grace, or grace sufficient to the conversion of a sinner, is that which, being set to work upon the soul, removes every impediment and “fulfils all the good pleasure of God’s goodness in us, and the work of faith with power:” (2 Thess. i. 11,) but if some other helps are necessary, then that grace was not sufficient.
Arminians teach that grace sufficient to conversion is given to all, even to some that are never actually converted, and accordingly they distinguish between grace sufficient and effectual. Sufficient grace, say they, is of great force to the conversion of a sinner, yet not always effectual by reason of our fault. But it is then effectual, cum novam illi contumaciam et rebellionem homo non opponit, quam ex se opponere potuisset, that is, “If a man doth not withstand unto him a new stubbornness and rebellion, which he might have withstood of himself, then is he wanting in all due resistance.” And a little after, speaking of resisting God’s grace, they say that a man may carry himself in such sort against God by evil actions, ut His positis Dei gratia ipsum actu non convertat, etiam tunc, cum ipsum conversum serio vult, that is, “but that the very grace of God doth not effectually convert him, even then, albeit he doth seriously desire to be converted,” “when a man offers not that resistance, which it is in his power of himself to offer.”