1. Those whom God hath predestinated unto
life, he is pleased in his appointed, and accepted time, effectually 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 by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand
the things of God; taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of
flesh; renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them to that which is
good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being
made willing by his grace.
( Romans
8:30; Romans
11:7; Ephesians
1:10, 11; 2
Thessalonians 2:13, 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; Canticles
1:4 )
2. This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all
foreseen in man, nor from any power or agency in the 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 power than that which raised up Christ from the dead.
( 2
Timothy 1:9; Ephesians
2:8; 1
Corinthians 2:14; Ephesians
2:5; John
5:25; Ephesians
1:19, 20 )
3. Elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit;
who worketh when, and where, and how he pleases; so also are all elect persons, who are
incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.
( John
3:3, 5, 6; John
3:8 )
4. Others not elected, although they may be called by the ministry of the Word, and may
have some common operations of the Spirit, yet not being effectually drawn by the Father,
they neither will nor can truly come to Christ, and therefore cannot be saved: much less
can men that receive not the Christian religion be saved; be they never so diligent to
frame their lives according to the light of nature and the law of that religion they do
profess.
( Matthew
22:14; Matthew
13:20, 21; Hebrews
6:4, 5; John
6:44, 45, 65; 1
John 2:24, 25; Acts
4:12; John
4:22; John
17:3 )
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