OF EFFECTUAL CALLING

1.  Those whom God hath predestinated to life, He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time to effectually call by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death which they are in 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 to them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by His almighty power causing them to desire and pursue that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet is such a way that they come absolutely freely, being made willing by His grace.[1]

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, who is wholly passive in the matter; as man is dead in sins and trespasses, until quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit; he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed by it; and that enabling by no less power than that which raised up Christ from the dead.[2]

3.  Elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit; who works when, where, and how He pleases; so also are all elect persons, who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.[3] 

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 because they are not effectually drawn by the Father, they will not and cannot truly come to Christ, and therefore cannot be saved: much less can men that do not embrace the Christian religion be saved; however diligent they may be to frame their lives according to the light of nature and the requirements of that religion they do profess.[4]