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operation of the Holy Spirit. In fact, they placed the emphasis more on what man did in the
means of grace than on what God accomplished through them, when they spoke of them as
mere external badges of profession and (of the sacraments) as memorials. The Arminians of the
seventeenth century and the Rationalists of the eighteenth century shared this view.
5. THE REFORMED VIEW.
While reaction to the Anabaptists caused the Lutherans to move in
the direction of Rome and to bind the grace of God to the means in the most absolute sense —
a position also taken by High Church Anglicans —, the Reformed Churches continued the
original view of the Reformation. They deny that the means of grace can of themselves confer
grace, as if they were endued with a magical power to produce holiness. God and God only is
the efficient cause of salvation. And in the distribution and communication of His grace He is
not absolutely bound to the divinely appointed means through which He ordinarily works, but
uses them to serve His gracious purposes according to His own free will. But while they do not
regard the means of grace as absolutely necessary and indispensable, they strongly oppose the
idea that these means may be treated as purely accidental and indifferent and can be neglected
with impunity. God has appointed them as the ordinary means through which He works His
grace in the hearts of sinners, and their wilful neglect can only result in spiritual loss.
D. CHARACTERISTIC ELEMENTS IN THE REFORMED DOCTRINE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE.
For a proper understanding of the Reformed doctrine of the means of grace the following
points deserve special emphasis.
1. The special grace of God operates only in the sphere in which the means of grace function.
This truth must be maintained over against the Mystics, who deny the necessity of the means
of grace. God is a God of order, who in the operation of His grace ordinarily employs the means
which He Himself has ordained. This, of course, does not mean that He has Himself become
subservient to the appointed means and could not possibly work without them in the
communication of His grace, but only that it has pleased Him to bind Himself, except in the case
of infants, to the use of these means.
2. On a single point, namely, in the implanting of the new life, the grace of God works
immediately, that is, without the use of these means as instruments. But even so it works only
in the sphere of the means of grace, since these are absolutely required in drawing out and
nourishing the new life. This is a direct negation of the position of Rationalism, which
represents regeneration as the result of moral suasion.
3. While the grace of God generally operates mediately, it is not inherent in the means as a
divine deposit, but accompanies the use of these. This must be maintained in opposition to the
Roman Catholics, the High Church Anglicans, and the Lutherans, who proceed on the