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Chapter 10:
Of Effectual Calling
10:1 All those whom God hath predestinated
unto life, and those only, He is pleased in His appointed and accepted
time effectually to call (Rom_8:30;
Rom_11:7;
Eph_1:10,
Eph_1:11),
by His Word and Spirit (2Co_3:3,
2Co_3:6;
2Th_2:13,
2Th_2:14),
out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace
and salvation by Jesus Christ (Rom_8:2;
Eph_2:1-5;
2Ti_1:9,
2Ti_1:10);
enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things
of God (Act_26:18;
1Co_2:10,
1Co_2:12;
Eph_1:17,
Eph_1:18);
taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh (Eze_36:26);
renewing their wills, and by His almighty power determining them to that
which is good (Deu_30:6;
Eze_11:19;
Eze_36:27;
Phi_2:13),
and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ (Joh_6:44,
Joh_6:45;
Eph_1:19):
yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace (Psa_110:3;
Son_1:4;
Joh_6:37;
Rom_6:16-18).
10:2 This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace
alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man ( Rom_9:11;
Eph_2:4,
Eph_2:5,
Eph_2:8,
Eph_2:9;
2Ti_1:9;
Tit_3:4,
Tit_3:5),
who is altogether passive therein, until being quickened and renewed by
the Holy Spirit (Rom_8:7;
1Co_2:14;
Eph_2:5),
he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace
offered and conveyed in it (Eze_36:27;
Joh_5:25;
Joh_6:37).
10:3 Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated, and saved by
Christ through the Spirit ( Luk_18:15,
Luk_18:16,
and Act_2:38,
Act_2:39,
and Joh_3:3,
Joh_3:5,
and 1Jo_5:12,
and Rom_8:9
compared), who worketh when, and where, and how He pleaseth (Joh_3:8):
so also, are all other elect persons who are uncapable of being outwardly
called by the ministry of the Word (Act_4:12;
1Jo_5:12).
10:4 Others, not elected, although they may be called by the
ministry of the Word ( Mat_22:14),
and may have some common operations of the Spirit (Mat_7:22;
Mat_13:20,
Mat_13:21;
Heb_6:4,
Heb_6:5),
yet they never truly come unto Christ, and therefore cannot be saved (Joh_6:64-66;
Joh_8:24):
much less can men, not professing the Christian religion, be saved in any
other way whatsoever, be they never so diligent to frame their lives
according to the light of nature, and the law of that religion they do
profess (Joh_4:22;
Joh_14:6;
Joh_17:3;
Act_4:12;
Eph_2:12);
and to assert and maintain that they may, is very pernicious, and to be
detested(1Co_16:22;
Gal_1:6-8;
2Jo_1:9-11).
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