November 2007 - Protestant Reformed Churches in America

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Preparatory Grace in the Puritans led to faith were associated with God’s regeneration and could not be connected with man’s efforts at salvation. 22 Although it would be unjust to group Ames with the Arminians (he very clearly opposed them 23 ), Ames’ position is a dangerous concession to the Arminian errors of resistible grace and partial depravity. We can be thankful that Ames’ views were not incorporated into the Canons of Dordt. Sadly, the leaven of Amesian preparationism would influence generations of theologians as his Marrow became required reading in the major theological schools in England, in the European continent, and in America. 24 C. Richard Sibbes (1577-1635) Richard Sibbes, writes Pettit, was much concerned with the work of the Spirit. He preached much on the subject, but “with a minimum of concern for the rigors of dogma.” 25 He spoke in the service of “spiritual warmth.” In his sermons he sought to create a concern in his hearers for a change of heart. The purpose of theology is to “warm the heart,” not impart “cold, scholastic, dogmatic” truth, he maintained. 26 Sibbes, differing from Perkins, 22. Ames, The Marrow, p. 50. 23. Eusden writes, quoting a biographer of Ames, “Ames plainly deserved our saying in his honor what the mothers of Israel once said in honor of David: ‘Other theologians have slain their thousands, but Ames his tens of thousands!’ Ames was thought to be something of a giant killer in theological debate,” The Marrow, p. 7. 24. Eusden notes, “For a century and a half William Ames’s Marrow of Theology held sway as a clear, persuasive expression of Puritan belief and practice. In England, Holland and New England nearly all those who aspired to the Puritan way read the book. No matter what their aspirations, undergraduates at Emmanuel College, Leyden, Harvard and Yale had to read the Marrow in Latin as part of basic instruction in divinity. In a burst of enthusiasm Thomas Hooker (1586-1647) of Hartford once recommended the Marrow and another of Ames’s works to fellow clergymen: ‘They would make him (supposing him versed in the Scriptures) a good divine, though he had no more books in the world,’” Ames, The Marrow, p. 1. 25. Pettit, The Heart, p. 67. 26. Pettit, The Heart, p. 67. November 2007 65
Protestant Reformed Theological Journal makes no distinction between preparation and compunction. “Reprobates, he maintained, might immediately respond to the Spirit and so desire grace without excessive preliminary restraint.” 27 What is necessary is that the sinner not resist the Spirit’s work in creating holy desires in him. The “sweet motions” of the Spirit may be resisted, claims Sibbes. Those who obey the promptings of the Spirit and “turn towards God in obedience will receive the full benefits of the Spirit; those who resist are lost.” 28 For example there are those who “will cast water themselves upon those sparks which Christ labors to kindle in then, because they will not be troubled with the light of them.” 29 Others resist the knocking of the Holy Spirit: The Holy Ghost hath often knocked at their hearts, as willing to have kindled some holy desires in them. How else can they be said to resist the Holy Ghost, but that the Spirit was readier to draw them to a further degree of goodness than stood with their own wills 30 The sense in which the reprobate “resist the Holy Ghost” needs to be clarified. They resist Him as they resist the preaching (Acts 7:51). They resist Him by opposing preaching and persecuting preachers, but the inward gracious works of the Spirit in the heart are irresistible and particular to the elect. The inward works of the Spirit in the heart of the reprobate are not gracious. They harden the wicked in their sins. Others refuse to entertain the “gracious motions” of the Spirit: The Holy Ghost is given to them that obey, to them that do not resist the Spirit of God. For in the ministry of the Gospel the Spirit is given in some degree to reprobates … they have the gracious motions offered them, but they do not obey them. Therefore the Spirit seizeth 27. Pettit, The Heart, p. 67. 28. Pettit, The Heart, p. 67. 29. Richard Sibbes, Works, vol. 1 (Banner of Truth: Edinburgh, repr. 1979), p. 73. 30. Richard Sibbes, Works, p. 74. 66 Vol. 41, No. 1
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Volume 41 • November 2007 • Num
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Book Reviews 85 Barnes, Peter. Gala
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November 2007 - Protestant Reformed Churches in America

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